Second Chance, Chapter 15
Warning:
This story is copyrighted by the author known as David Lee and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without explicit permission.
This story contains descriptions of love and sexual fulfillment between people of the same gender. If possessing or reading this kind of material is illegal where you live, please leave this site at once.
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As always, I thank my editors Tom and David for their proofing my work and giving me suggestions and lots of positive feedback. They're an integral part of this effort.
Chapter 15
Labor Day weekend wasn't the best time to canoe or camp in Minnesota. Everyone (and his brother) was trying to get in one more outing before school started.
Ben suggested that their combined family could have fun doing low-key things that didn't involve a long drive or fighting for a small patch of ground on which to pitch a tent cheek by jowl with everyone else.
There was a free concert in a nearby park on Friday night. The best thing was that it was within easy walking distance. To make sure that they got a prime spot, the guys went early. They took their canvas chairs and a cooler loaded with food and beverages.
The concert started out with patriotic music, as might be expected for a holiday. As the performance progressed, there were soft-rock numbers. Some of it sounded a bit like "elevator music" to the boys, but their fathers were reminiscing when they heard tunes from the 80's. The audience was invited to sing along with a couple of Billy Joel's hits and many people seemed to know the lyrics.
The final selection was Elton John's "Rocket Man" which was accompanied by a display of fireworks to give the kids a reward of sorts for listening to the "golden oldies".
On Saturday, Ben wanted to go to Minneapolis to tour a group of houses in the old historic district. He had seen a particular one advertised in the paper that was almost a twin to the one that they owned. From the pictures, it looked like it had been tastefully restored and might provide ideas for redoing parts of their home.
He was satisfied with the exterior because it had been largely unchanged through the years and he'd found old photos in a book at the library which had helped him in getting the details of the portico and gazebo back to looking like the originals. However, he was not completely satisfied with the interior. He was happy that he'd waited to make further changes because he wanted Scott and Eric to have input too so that they would feel like this was truly their home when it was finished.
The boys were going with their dads because they both took an interest in interior design. Josh was still thinking that he might become an architect, and Eric simply liked decorating. They joked that it must be a "gay" characteristic.
The first home on the tour was not much like theirs. It was well done inside, but seemed too minimalist given the exterior design. The second one had more furniture stuffed into it than seemed appropriate to the guys and the amount of different patterns in the upholstery of the heavier pieces made it all too busy. And so it went. Each house had something to offer, but none was perfect as far as the guys were concerned.
Eventually, they worked their way to the home that was similar enough on the outside to make them certain it must have been designed by the same architect as theirs. They were greeted at the door by a man who introduced himself as Wade Johnson. He said that he would be their guide for the first floor, and would hand them off to his partner, Roger Mills, who was showing the second story.
Ben made the introductions of his party and they accompanied Wade as he pointed out the architectural details that were original along with the new parts that had been crafted to blend with them.
In the course of their conversation, the men were able to confirm that both houses had, indeed, been designed by a man named Robert White who was well known in that era and sought after by those who could afford his services.
"I'd love to see your place too," Wade said enthusiastically. "Roger will really flip when he hears about it."
"We'd be happy to show it off," Ben exclaimed. "Scott and I would love to pick your brains about restoring the woodwork. We'd also like your input on color schemes. Of course, whatever we come up with will need to pass a family vote."
"Do I take it that you men are spouses like Roger and me?"
"Well, we haven't taken that step yet, but we're thinking about it."
"Let me bore you with a couple of wedding photos. They're in the den which is our next room to see anyway."
"Who are the young dudes who are in the pictures?" Eric asked of Wade. "Are they married too?"
"The dark-haired one is my son and the blonder one is my nephew and my son-in-law. They fell in love before they knew that they're cousins and they were able to get married in Massachusetts."
"Wow! I hope that we'll be able to do that someday," Eric said to Josh. Then turning to their host he continued, "I'd really love to meet those guys sometime."
"That can be arranged." Wade smiled. "They're in the attic story entertaining our other son, Ethan. He's a little guy we're adopting and he can be a handful when his routine is upset by herds of people coming through `his' home. Why don't you all go up and meet Roger for the tour of the rest of the house? You can meet Colt and Dane when you get bored with that. I see another group coming up the walk and I'll have to greet them. Sorry about that. Please plan to stay to visit after the tours are over. There's only about a half hour left."
Ben and Scott were taking in the beautifully refinished stairway with its carpet runner that was far more authentic than their completely carpeted steps. They would have to pull some of theirs loose to see what was underneath. Perhaps their stairway could look like this!
Josh and Eric were noticing those details too as they climbed to the second floor, but they were even more excited at the possibility of meeting another young gay couple – guys who were actually married!
Roger greeted the four guys in his gracious manner and told them about the hours he and Wade had spent doing much of the work themselves. He showed them the master bedroom first because he was especially proud of how they had turned the nursery into a full bath and walk-in closet without destroying the integrity of the architecture. They had installed a reproduction claw-foot tub and hidden the large shower (which accommodated two) behind shutters in order to preserve the "period" look.
When they got near the attic stairs, they could hear the sounds of a child's voice. Ethan seemed to be having a lot of fun with his big brother and cousin.
Josh asked if it would be okay for Eric and him to go up to meet the rest of the family. Of course, Roger gave his blessing.
"Don't be surprised if Ethan adopts you. He's really enamored with `big boys' and he's going to be so sad when Colt and Dane go home on Monday."
Josh introduced himself and Eric the minute the other two young men came into view. All shook hands warmly. Ethan quickly came up to high-five the new guys as if they were old friends rather than strangers.
"We're playing trains. Do you want to play with us?" he asked.
"Sure." Josh answered for both of them.
Ethan invited them to crawl under a section of track layout that nearly filled the room in a big square donut shape.
"This is my train," he told them. "You can play with the other two. Colt and Dane have to share with you."
"He hogs that one because it's the one he can control. Dad and Roger usually run one of the others when they play with him," Colton explained.
As the older boys were entertaining the little one, Eric and Josh asked a few questions that were on their minds. They hoped that they weren't coming off as being too nosy.
"You guys really got married this summer?" Josh exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah, is that a problem for you?" Dane asked with a slight frown.
"He-ck no!" Eric said changing his usual expression because of the youngster. "We want to know about it because we think we'd like to do that when we're old enough to."
"Well, in that case, we're open to discussing it!" Dane assured him.
"Cool! Can I ask how you met and how you knew that you were in love? Have you ever had any fights? Does everyone in your family approve?" Josh asked in one long string.
"Whoa! I'm not going to be able to do that all at once," Dane laughed. "I'll let Colt take the first one."
"We met when he transferred to my school his freshman year. I had a crush on him the minute that I saw him, but I acted like a jerk because I was afraid to come out and I knew my stepfather would beat the living, uh, daylights out of me if he found out." Colton began. "Later, I picked a fight with Dane because I thought I had to drive him away. I didn't trust myself..."
"We eventually admitted that we were attracted to each other when just the two of us were working out in the school's weight room. It was really magical. Sometime when there aren't little people around, I'll tell you some of the details, but not all!" Dane added.
"There was one major problem in our sophomore year that had to do with miscommunication," Colt said.
"He's being sweet and kind," Dane smiled. "It was entirely my fault for not trusting him and not letting him tell me the whole story. If I could give you guys three words to live by, it would be love', trust', and `honesty' because those are the key to maintaining a relationship – any relationship."
"There's another three-letter word ending in `x' that helps too," Colt snickered. "I don't think we have to tell them that one."
"Stop talking about three letters and play trains!" Ethan demanded.
"Uh oh," Dane chuckled. "Grandma always says that little pitchers have big ears."
"I'm not a picture," Ethan stated emphatically realizing that they were talking about him. "I'm a boy."
"We'd better finish our conversation quickly and get on to serious train-playing," Colt grinned. "We know that we're in love because no one else in the world is as special to us as each other. We would sacrifice our own lives to protect the other if necessary.
And yes, our whole family knows and everyone is okay with it. Grandma figured us out first and she let us know that she would stand by us no matter what. I take it that your dads know about you."
"Yeah, and they've been in love since college, so they understand." Eric told them.
"Guys, we're closing up the open house. Could you bring Ethan and join us downstairs?" Wade called.
The men had hit it off as totally as the young guys had. They were really interested in continuing their conversations, so Wade phoned in their pizza order while Roger set the table. Ben and Scott tried to split the bill with their hosts to no avail.
After consulting with Scott, Ben said that they wanted to reciprocate by treating everyone to a cookout on Sunday afternoon if they were available. Wade and Roger agreed that they could all come as long as they could bring something to share. Roger said he'd make several peach glaze pies.
It was nearing 8:00 p.m. when the Brady-Larson bunch got home. They could have talked with their new friends until midnight, but they didn't want to over-stay their welcome. Then too, they needed to plan for the impromptu picnic the next afternoon.
"May we invite Blake and Reese if they're available to eat with us?" Josh asked. "I know that we want to get better acquainted with our new friends, but I also think those guys don't have anywhere to go for Labor Day."
"Why not?" Ben responded. "What do the rest of you think? Roger said he'd bring several pies."
"It would be a kind gesture and I don't see that it would be that much more work to have two extra guests." Scott added. "But will they be comfortable once they find that the rest of us are all gay?"
"Trust me, Dad. They'll be fine," Eric smiled.
Ben went over to invite his tenants the minute he saw them come home. He was in a teasing mood and decided to have a little fun with them first.
"We need to have a serious talk," he began with a solemn look on his face.
"Oh man, what did we do? Did the boys complain about us?" Blake asked looking pointedly at Reese.
"I'm sorry guys. That wasn't nice of me," Ben looked regretful. "I was going to tease you a bit. No, there is nothing wrong! Josh and Eric think you guys are great and they're afraid that you're stuck in town for the whole weekend with nothing to do but work. We'd like to have you join us for a cookout in the backyard tomorrow around 5:00 if you're available. There will be four other guys joining us plus a small boy. The older ones, Wade and Roger, live in the area and their college age son and his husband are visiting from Iowa."
"Uh, the son is married to another guy?"
"Yes. I thought I'd say that upfront so you know what you're getting into."
"Did your son tell you about us?" Blake inquired, looking nervous.
"No. I'm not sure what you mean."
"My guilt-ridden housemate is always afraid that someone will `out' us." Reese blurted out. "He's worried that we'll get booted from school if the dean hears that we're gay."
"REESE!"
"I'm sorry, Babe. I have to be able to relax in our own place. I'd rather that Ben knew about us than to have to keep hiding how I feel about you."
"Guys, your secret is safe with Scott and me. I'm sure that you've noticed that we live together and that there are no women in the house. It's not like you're the only ones on the block."
"Josh said you'd be cool about it, but he didn't say why!" Blake said, looking suddenly more relaxed. "Neither he nor Eric said that you were gay and evidently didn't tell you that we are. Wow!"
"I'm quite proud of my very discreet son. He tries not to mind anyone's business but his own." Ben beamed. "You are available then?"
"We'd be delighted to come." Blake said. "What may we bring?"
If the success of a backyard celebration can be measured in full bellies, camaraderie, and relaxed laughter; this cookout was an undisputed winner. Everyone got along as if they'd been friends for a lifetime.
Blake was the most relaxed that anyone had seen him in a long time. He expressed his affection for Reese in little asides and touches that he almost always kept inside.
Reese invited everyone to have a look at their apartment once he found out that Wade and Roger had a similar one over their garage that was in need of remodeling. The men were impressed with how Ben had dealt with the restoration as well as how clean and organized the college guys kept it.
Josh and Eric got more of their questions answered by Dane and Colt. They had a particularly serious discussion after Ethan fell asleep on the sofa later. Reese and Blake were included in the conversation and seemed to be doing more listening than talking.
The youngest member of the party had been worn out with all the exercise he'd gotten. Josh, Eric, Dane, and Colt had taken him to the park to play on the swings for a while after they ate. He had been even more boisterous and energetic than usual with the larger audience of "big boys".
Ben and Scott particularly valued the input that they received from Wade and Roger. It was also gratifying to have their ideas validated by guys who had successfully renovated a similar home.
"Did I behave myself okay tonight," Reese asked of his lover as they were getting ready for bed.
"Yeah, you were perfect."
"But, I did flirt with Roger a bit and I couldn't keep my eyes off of Colt. Aren't you at all upset?"
"Baby, I'm going to put into practice the four words that those guys were talking about: love, trust, honesty, and sex. I'm going to trust you and be honest with you and I hope that you'll do the same. You know that I love you and I know that you love me. Now, lets spend time working on the sex part – unless you're too tired."
"I'm never too tired when you're as affectionate as you were today. It's like you're a new person. It's like when we first did it!" Reese enthused.
"It has something to do with being around other gay guys and knowing that it's safe. Now let's stop analyzing and see if you can make me prego!"
Author's notes: If some of you don't know Dane and Colt, I invite you to read: "Tales from Bentonville" which was last posted on Nifty in November of 2008. You may find all of my stories by going to the "Information for Readers" heading and clicking on "Stories by prolific net authors". Then scroll down to the "L's" and you can click onto the links.
Thanks to all who wrote since last posting. As you can see, I'm still hearing from a guy who has recently discovered "Zeke". The list this weed includes: Tom A, Rutabaga, Rad, Aaron W, Aaron (Monkey), Jim We, Jim C, Paul L, Joe S, (Zeke), Tim E, Baruch, Paul R, and Mike and his BF.
Mike told me that they fell in love and finally came told each other on a camping trip when they were about the age of Eric and Josh. How cool is that!
I hope I didn't omit anyone. No, Polar, I didn't hear from you since last posting!
David