Epilogue
“Oh God.” Elliott looked around in horror.
Standing behind him, Simon thumped Elliott’s shoulder. “I warned you it would be bad. Wildlife, remember?”
“The spiders have built entire civilizations.”
“Let’s hope their weaponry hasn’t evolved yet.”
Cleaning out the downstairs of Simon’s house had been easy. Several of his older relatives had happily laid claim to the furniture, and it took only a couple of truckloads to transport Simon’s clothing and other personal effects to Elliott’s closet and drawers—which were now Simon’s closet and drawers as well.
But the second floor of Simon’s house was another story. One bedroom was a museum to his childhood, with everything from kindergarten artwork to high school yearbooks tucked away in overstuffed, dust-festooned cardboard boxes. His long-lost Legos were undoubtedly in there somewhere. The other bedroom held hideous furniture his parents had saved for the apocalypse, along with boxes containing holiday decorations, table linens, and enough dishware to serve half the county. Spiderwebs stretched everywhere, and Elliott itched just looking at them.
“Can’t we walk away and leave all this?” he whined.
“Nope. Can’t sell the place until we clear this out.”
That statement referred to the first major thaw in Simon’s relationship with his extended family, which had occurred the previous month at Aunt Soso’s annual Christmas party. Well, the first thaw had actually occurred when Aunt Soso insisted that Simon attend the gathering—with Elliott—and when Simon’s parents had shown up knowing he’d be there. They’d greeted Simon stiffly and nodded at Elliott. Then, at the point in the evening when almost everyone had imbibed a few glasses of holiday cheer and as Elliott and Simon were standing quietly in a corner of the kitchen, Sargon and Nahrina had approached them.
“Miri says you have moved to his house.” Nahrina waved a hand toward Elliott.
“Yeah. So if you want your keys back or—”
“We want to sell the house you lived in. No use keeping it now.”
Simon’s shoulders slumped a little. “Okay. Most of my stuff’s out already. I’ll get the rest out.”
“After the holidays. Nobody buys a house now.”
“Okay.”
Sargon pointed at Simon. “You take care of selling it. We have no time for that.” His stern expression eased a little. “You keep half the money.”
“It will help settle your new life,” Nahrina added. With that somewhat enigmatic comment, she sailed away, taking Sargon with her.
Since then, Simon had spoken with them briefly a few times, mostly about the contents of the house. Those bits of communication weren’t huge progress, but they were something, and Elliott could tell they’d lifted a great deal of Simon’s emotional burden.
Now Elliott looked around the room in dread. “How about if we tackle this later? I bet Ishtar wants to go for a run.” They’d left her at home, knowing she wouldn’t be much help during a cleaning project.
“You guys ran already today. She’s fast asleep.” Simon gave Elliott’s ass a friendly pat. “Shirker.”
“You and I could get another kind of exercise instead.” Elliott waggled his eyebrows.
“Are you trying to seduce me out of this job?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.” Simon dropped the broom and pulled Elliott close, then nibbled on his earlobe. “That may be negotiable.”
Elliott entered into negotiations by sliding his hand down the back of Simon’s jeans. Before Simon could make a counteroffer, his phone buzzed.
“Damn it,” he said.
Elliott disengaged his hand as Simon pulled out the phone.
“Miri,” he said with a frown. “She needs to talk to us.”
A half hour later, after Simon and Elliott had returned home, Miri’s little Honda pulled into the driveway. Elliott greeted her at the front door while Simon held Ishtar’s collar in an attempt to moderate her enthusiasm. Simon did a double take when he saw who was with Miri.
“Mom?” he said, his voice slightly choked.
She cast him a stern look over Elliott’s shoulder. “We need to talk.”
“Is Dad okay?”
Nahrina blew an annoyed puff of air. “He is home, watching television. Football playoffs.” Judging from her expression, she wasn’t a fan.
She’d never been to their house, so once Ishtar calmed down, Elliott gave her a quick tour while Simon made coffee. She seemed interested in Elliott’s gardening books, so he lent her some.
“This library you have, Miri told me about it. Now I see them in your neighbors’ yards too.”
That made him smile. While his version remained the largest, miniature neighborhood libraries had popped up in several front yards over the past weeks, each uniquely designed. He’d contributed books to several of them. Burgess, of course, hadn’t built one, but a For Sale sign had appeared in front of his house, and Elliott had high hopes for a good temperament in his future neighbor. “Yeah. I guess it’s kind of a thing now.”
“Do you have books in Assyrian?”
“I don’t think so.”
She nodded as if that settled something. “I will give you some.”
“I’d love that.”
A few minutes later, they all settled into the living room. Nahrina held her coffee as regally as a queen, but Miri fidgeted and petted Ishtar. Small talk fizzled. Simon looked as if he was running out of patience—a feeling Elliott was beginning to share.
And then at last, Miri scrunched up her face. “So there’s this baby thing.” She patted her belly, which had begun to grow.
“Baby thing?” Simon asked.
“My baby. Only, jeez, I’m not even twenty, and I really want to keep going to school, and I don’t think I’m mature enough to make a good mom. Someday, sure, when I’m, like . . . old. But not now.”
Elliott and Simon exchanged a puzzled glance before Simon replied, “We’ll support you, whatever you decide, Miri. You know that.”
“Good. ’Cause what I’ve decided is to ask you to be her daddies.”
Simon’s mouth fell open. It would have been almost comical if Elliott could have managed to breathe.
“What?” Simon squeaked.
“Her daddies. If you want to. I’ve always known you’d be the world’s most awesome dad, Simon, like blue-ribbon award-winning. And Elliott, God, you’re spectacular. I can picture you reading to her, teaching her.” She sniffled slightly. “You’d both be perfect.”
“Her?” was all Simon could say—which was still more than Elliott could manage.
Miri shrugged. “Or him. Whatever.”
“But this is your baby.”
“You guys would make way better parents than me. I’d be really happy just to be the way-cool aunt, you know?” She chewed her lip. “Not that I want to force you into anything. I know this is, like, huge. But I feel like it’s the right way to go.” She held both hands clasped against her chest.
Although Simon turned toward him, Elliott remained too stunned to speak. Stunned and . . . excited. His heart was racing. He felt as if he was on the verge of receiving the most wonderful gift ever. And Simon? His eyes glowed.
“Mom?” Simon said very quietly, looking at her.
She set her mug down. “You will be a good father. You will both be. It is always best for a child to have two parents. One should be a mother.” She shrugged. “This one can have a grandmother instead.”
“I . . . I . . .” Simon grabbed Elliott’s hand, held it tightly, and finally managed to speak. “El and I have to talk about this. It’s a big decision. Huge. It’s—”
Elliott stopped him with a gentle stroke of Simon’s beard. “Do you want this?”
His lower lip slightly wobbly, Simon nodded.
Elliott had never felt so warm and big and important. Maybe his career wasn’t as prestigious as he’d once imagined, but that faded away in favor of what was truly consequential. Love. Family. The very best of new beginnings. “I do too,” Elliott said.
There were some tears after that and a lot of hugging, and Nahrina pinched Simon’s cheek and then Elliott’s, and Ishtar knocked over a stack of books with her tail. Then Miri and Nahrina pulled out phones and began texting the entire clan.
Elliott and Simon held each other tightly.
“Baby books,” Simon said. “We’ll need to stock up on baby books.”
Elliott kissed Simon’s cheek. “Let’s start with Goodnight Moon.”