Ring in Mine #3: Nephi and Jerome: Chapter 27
Thank you for all of your well wishes and your emails.
I must be losing my touch there is no new crisis in this chapter.
Remember that Nifty Archives is not in the business of making money. The opposite is true. If you can, please click on the link and donate. If you check the list you should find my name.
Thank you, Zach for your editing skills and insights.
---------- Nephi & Jerome: Chapter 27
Rebecca pulled the drapes open. The room flooded with sunlight. "It's a beautiful day." Kenton and Sean woke from their slumber.
What was he doing on Sean's lap? Kenton scrambled to safety and retreated behind the locked bathroom door. Kenton lowered the toilet lid and sat. His breathing was fast, and he soon became light headed.
"Kenton are you okay?" Rebecca asked. She received no answer. She could hear Kenton's out of control breathing. "Sean, Kenton could be in trouble."
After the one pregnancy that ended in a miscarriage, Sean's wife would lock herself in the bathroom. He had mastered how to release the simple lock with a small screwdriver. Sean's swiss army knife had the perfect tool. In a heartbeat the door was open. Kenton was pale and leaning against the sink for support. Once again Sean picked the boy up and carried him to the rocking chair.
"Everything is all right. No one will hurt you here. Breathe in. Breathe out." Sean repeated over and over.
Kenton's color returned. He rested his head against Sean's chest. "You can stay here until you are ready. We are in no hurry." Sean sang the lullaby from the night before and Kenton relaxed.
"I think I'm ready." Sean let Kenton climb off his lap at his own speed. "Thank you."
Rebecca had their clothes laid out. It seemed odd to be dressing up mid-week. Lunch was on the table in Sean's apartment.
"Here is your schedule for today. You start with Margaret and the lawyers at noon. The address is right on top don't be late." Rebecca was very businesslike.
Thinking of leaving the compound set Kenton's heart racing again. Rebecca rubbed his back. "It will be all right. Sean will be there with you the whole time. No one can hurt you."
"Will you come too, please." Kenton pleaded.
"I will have to talk to Sariah and see if she can make do without me." Rebecca picked up the phone. For something she didn't like, she had adopted the technology. It was better than walking to the other end of the compound. The conversation was brief. "I will need to get dressed while you eat, and I will meet you at the car."
She gave Kenton a kiss as she left the apartment. Sean's kiss was more intense and the passion was mutual.
Kenton cleared his throat. "Rebecca needs to change." Something about seeing the connection between Sean and Rebecca reassured Kenton. Maybe it was a reaffirmation that Sean leaned the other way and wouldn't be interested in him.
The couple broke the kiss embarrassed. Rebecca met them at the car as promised. It was the first time Kenton had seen Aunt Rebecca in one of her new outfits. She looked nice dressed in something besides work clothes. Sean also appreciated the new look.
Margaret greeted Kenton with a hug. Kenton wasn't comfortable until he recognized her voice from the phone. Over the phone he had told her about his experiences at the places his uncle had sent him after being rescued. He hadn't told her about how his family had treated him.
"Kenton it's good to meet you. I wish it were at our scheduled appointment at three o'clock this afternoon." Margaret led the way into her office.
"Can Rebecca and Sean come too?" Margaret recognized Kenton's need for support.
"Will they promise just to sit by you and just listen?" The two nodded their heads. Sitting in her office Margaret introduced the lawyer. "I thought it would be easier to tell your story from yesterday once."
Kenton agreed.
"We stopped for lunch at the mall. I had to go to the restroom. It was just down the hall from where the guys were sitting. I was standing at the urinal when I heard the door open." Kenton's breathing increased. Margaret did not hurry him. When he was ready he continued. "I'm not sure I want Rebecca to hear this. I want her to like me."
Margaret nodded to Rebecca. "If you want me to leave I will, but I already love you and what someone else did won't change that." She stood up and Kenton refused to let go of her hand. She sat back down, and his grip relaxed but never let go.
"I was just finishing up when someone grabbed my hair and held a knife to my throat. `Look at what we have here. Clark's little bitch.' I knew the voice; it was the leader of the gang Clark hung with. Clark was my older brother."
"Unless you want to be as dead as your brother, you will give me your tight little ass again."
"What do you mean by again?" The lawyer asked. Kenton's breathing became ragged and his anxiety grew. His hold on Rebecca's hand became tighter. Margaret glared. The agreement was she would ask the questions.
"Breathe in. Hold it. Breathe out. Hold it." Kenton's breathing returned to normal.
"Just tell your story. We won't interrupt." Margaret said looking at the lawyer.
"Two of them held my hands while the one with the knife cut my pants off. I pulled loose and tried to get away. I shouted but no one came. He grabbed my penis and threatened to cut it off.
That was when they shoved my underwear in my mouth. They tied my hands behind the bowl. I heard the thunk, thunk, thunk of the hand soap dispenser. Then I felt his dick push on my hole. I thought, "At least he put soap on it." It hurt less than the last time.
The lawyer opened his mouth to ask a question, but a look from Margaret stopped him.
"None of them lasted long. The leader was last. He was as mean and violent as the time he and Clark raped me. He was pulling my hair and had his knife at my throat threatening to kill me as soon as he came." Kenton stopped and tried to control his breathing. He looked at the floor refusing to look anyone in the eye. "I felt the knife against my throat. He cut me more than once. I was sure I was dead when I felt him pull out of me, then his knife rattled on the floor. That was Sean saving me." Kenton took Sean's hand in his.
Margaret put a cup of juice and a candy bar in Kenton's hands. "Eat it before I ask my questions. It will help."
Kenton released his anchors' hands and picked up the juice in one hand and the candy in the other. Then the questions began.
"Were you raped before yesterday?" Margaret asked.
Kenton had been thinking how he would tell his story. He had practiced in his head for the past year. He didn't want to cry. -----
"My parents didn't go to church. They listened to this preacher on the television. They made us listen with them. I was afraid to let my parents know I thought guys were more interesting than girls. The preacher said God hadn't given homosexuals souls. That is why they behaved like animals and should be treated like animals. Dad agreed with him."
"When he thought I was homosexual, he chained me in the garage like a dog. Clark first raped me when his girl was on her period. He must have bragged about it because he brought his gang leader a week later and they did it again. Clark threatened to tell the gang the leader had fucked a guy.' Clark's silence had a price. Make me your number two guy.' Later the leader came back and did it again. There was blood on his clothes I hadn't noticed before. `I made your brother my number two guy. I beat the shit out of him.' Just then someone pounded on the front door."
That was the last time I saw my brother or any of my family except for my uncle. The next morning, a cop found me in the garage. They never told me what happened inside the house. I had to learn that later from the kids at school."
----- Kenton had stayed calm and disconnected as long as he could. Tears ran down his face. Kenton looked up at Rebecca and then Sean. He leaned toward Sean and Sean put his arm around Kenton and let him cry.
Margaret opened the door and ushered the lawyer out and closed the door behind her. Leaving the three of them alone. Kenton sobbed into Sean's shirt. Rebecca had her hand on Kenton's knee.
When Kenton regained his composure, they stood and opened the door. Kenton saw his uncle in the conference room talking with the lawyers. His face went white. Sean closed the door and they returned to the couch.
"What did you see that upset you?" Sean asked.
"What is my uncle doing here?" Kenton asked. "He was often there in the garage and was just as bad as my parents."
Sean left Kenton in Rebecca's care. He whispered into Margaret's ear what Kenton had told him. She pulled the lawyer out of the conference room and shared the new information. The lawyer followed her into the office.
"Kenton, do you want to see your uncle punished, or get him out of your life forever?" The lawyer asked. "Remember if you want to see him punished you will have to tell the whole story in court."
"I want him dead like my family, but I will settle for never having to see him again." Kenton sobbed.
Twenty minutes later the lawyer returned. "He won't be back. That leaves us with a problem. You need to have a guardian. How would you feel having Sean as your guardian?" The lawyer looked at Rebecca. "We are still trying to get your birth certificate straightened out."
Kenton's eyes sparkled for the first time since the rape. "That would be perfect." He laid his head against Sean's chest again. This time without tears.
The rest of the day was hard. The police asked lots of questions. Kenton would rather not have answered. When things got bad he would tell himself that Sean was his new dad.
The officers expressed an increased level of interest when Kenton mentioned Clark's threatening to rat out the gang leader to his gang and the blood on the guy's clothes.
"That's a motive for killing the boy and his parents with the baseball bat." The junior officer announced. "It's a better explanation than the boy gave us." Kenton went white. He pulled his knees to his chest.
"What's wrong with him?" The senior officer asked.
"You are talking about his family. They may have been abusive, but they were still his family. We are finished for today." The lawyer stepped into the hall. The police finished questioning Sean. Rebecca waited on a bench.
"I think your boys need you." The lawyer announced.
Rebecca sat with her two boys, each with their head resting on her shoulders. "I think we should go home."
Sean was driving. Rebecca sat in the back seat with Kenton. "Can we go back to Margaret's for just a minute?" Kenton asked.
Margaret was just finishing for the day. Her receptionist had already gone home. "What brings you back here today?"
Kenton asked Sean to stay in the waiting room. "Margaret, I want to tell Sean and Rebecca about me. I don't want them to find out later and not like me anymore."
"That won't happen. Do you want me here just in case?" Margaret asked. Kenton nodded `yes'.
Margaret invited the couple into her office. Kenton wasn't sitting on the couch, so Sean couldn't sit next to him. He settled for sitting with Rebecca. "Kenton wants you to know everything that happened now, so he won't get hurt later. Please don't interrupt. This will be hard for him. I don't even know the whole story." Margaret explained.
Kenton couldn't look at Sean or Rebecca while he talked. "My parents belonged to this crazy church on the Television..." He left out none of the details. Looks of disgust crossed Rebecca's face when he told of eating from the dog's dish. Sean's anger was building as Kenton told of the beatings and the shock collar. When he told about always being naked and his mother's suggestion to have him fixed so he couldn't pass on his evil, Rebecca clenched her fists over and over.
An hour later Margaret had ruined her makeup. Rebecca and Sean had shared a box of Kleenex. Margaret had pulled out a second box.
Kenton finished. The adults sat in silent shock. He had watched the signs and was ready to go back to the foster families. "I'm sorry. I can find someplace else to live." Kenton stood up and walked past Sean heading for the door. Sean pulled Kenton onto his lap. Kenton cringed. Sean wrapped his arms around Kenton and cried rocking back and forth. Kenton cried with him.
Driving home Kenton had time to think. He thought no one would love him if they knew his secret. Both Sean and Rebecca still wanted him. Margaret assured him it wouldn't make any difference to Nephi and Jerome. They had their own stories.
The family had waited dinner on the pair. Kenton squeezed between Sean and Rebecca making everyone move down one space.
Nephi stood at the head of the table.
"A man was traveling on desolate road, when thieves took his things and beat him. They left him to die on the edge of the road. The wealthy and the righteous walked on the other side of the way pretending they hadn't noticed the dying man."
"At Jesus's time the people of Samaria were considered outcasts the lowest of the low. A Samaritan knelt, cleaned and bandaged the man's wounds using cloth ripped from his own clothes. He took the man to a place of safety and paid for his care. Even though he wasn't like everyone else he cared for his fellow man."
"In this house for we are outcasts. We need to care for others with love and compassion. Our house needs a name. I have named it Samaria" -----
Nephi asked Sariah to pray. "Only men may pray in public." She answered.
"Will the Lord not listen to you because you are a woman?" Nephi asked.
Sariah thought in silence and began. "Heavenly Father..."
Jerome started the litany. "Micah, what did you do today?"
Kenton couldn't wait until his turn. He knew what he would say. Jerome saw Kenton antsy with anticipation. "Kenton what did you do today?"
Kenton pulled a copy of the papers he had on his lap with the Judge's signature. "Sean became my dad today!" If the lights had gone out Kenton's smile would have still lit the room. Everyone made a fuss over Kenton.
Nephi knelt next to Kenton and gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek. "Kenton remember we all love you." Nephi pulled Sean from his chair. Nephi hugged Sean. "Sean you are also an important part of our family." Nephi also kissed the older man on the cheek.
The rest of the roll call was forgotten except for Nephi's announcement. "Saturday is moving day. After everyone is in their new homes we will open the pool." Nephi looked at Rafe and Zeke. "It's not the safest thing to skinny dip in the middle of the night and never do it alone."
Rebecca was clearing the table. Kenton offered to help. In the kitchen Kenton offered to finish washing the dishes, if and only if, Rebecca would go walking with his dad. "I'm sure you need to check on the alpacas or something."
"Kenton's doing the dishes. Sean, He thought he saw a raccoon out by the chickens." Kenton heard Rebecca and smiled. Rebecca would be a great mom to go with his new dad. Then Rafe really would be his brother.
"We'll go check on it." Zeke offered.
"I think Kenton needs help with the dishes." Nephi sent the reluctant teens into the dreaded recesses of the kitchen.
Nephi sat in his makeshift office with his head in his hands. Jerome stood behind him and rubbed his man's shoulders. "Why don't you call Benny. I bet he knows a guy that can do it."
Nephi faced a dilemma every Sunday. Rebecca and Sariah had attended church in the chapel in the compound. Jacob had been their religious leader. They tried the local ward and realized none of them would be accepted when the members learned of their histories. Jacob had preached of the devil's influence in the Catholic Church.
Nephi had resorted to holding services in the chapel again. The best part was the meetings were short. They sang a hymn; Rebecca played the piano for the group. Someone prayed. Another read a scripture. As head of the household, Nephi taught a bible-based lesson followed by a song and prayer.
Teaching the word of God left Nephi feeling hypocritical. For all his talk about being a loved child of a loving God, in the night or when he was alone Nephi wasn't that sure his Lord loved him. His own father hadn't.
He would occasionally leave Jerome sleeping in bed. Wracked with doubt, Nephi would walk the house or sit at his desk with his head in his hands. Unknown to Nephi, Jerome often stood in the shadows watching his soulmate's agony; listening to Nephi's impassioned pleas for reassurance from a silent God.
Nephi was the spiritual strength for his family but there was no one for him to turn to.
Jerome picked up the phone and called Benny and explained the problem. "I think I know just the guy."
Jerome checked his watch and suggested he and Nephi go for a drive. They arrived at the parish chapel just as Mass ended. Jerome left Nephi in the hands of the priest and a higher power as he remained in the chapel and prayed for his best friend.
Kenton also faced a dilemma as bedtime approached. He went to his room, showered and laid out clean clothes for the morning. "You can sleep with us." Zeke offered.
Kenton remember beating off with his brothers. His mind went wild with possibilities. All of them made him sick to the stomach. "I'm sleeping alone tonight."
Kenton loved sleeping naked, but tonight he wanted the security of pajamas. The cotton pair Rebecca had dressed him in the previous night were under his pillow. He tossed and turned. He would slip into sleep and feel the knife against his neck and jerk awake. Jerry had promised that his dads could chase the nightmares away. Kenton was desperate enough try.
The glass of the now enclosed walked way let the glow of the full moon light Kenton's way while protecting him from the evening's chill east wind. Kenton knocked on Nephi's door. The bed was empty. Where else could he go?
Sean had driven the nightmares away last night. He knocked on Sean's door. There was no answer. He opened the door hoping not to catch anyone in an embarrassing situation. Sean and Rebecca had fallen asleep on the couch watching television. Kenton turned off the television, covered them with a blanket and made himself at home in the spare bedroom.
He woke around one o'clock. Sean had moved Kenton to the larger bed sandwiched between Rebecca and Sean. After using the toilet, he snuggled back into his cocoon of safety.
Nephi seemed at peace on the ride home. He expressed his gratitude to his partner in a variety of ways when they closed the door to their bedroom. Passion sated Jerome's head laid on Nephi's chest. Nephi's arm pulled his smaller lover closer. For tonight he slept knowing that Jerome and the Lord loved him.