This is a love story following the life of two young men who fall in love and have to overcome tragedies in their lives. All the characters are fictional.
Warning - it contains some m/m sex.
The Earl's Son
Julian and Robin travelled down to Abingdon on the Wednesday leading up to the big day due to take place on the Friday. His mother was arriving back on the Thursday so he wanted to be there to greet her. They also wanted to check that everything was ready for the wedding. Not that there was much to do since they'd arranged for a private caterer to come in and do the reception food. Julian felt it was rather unfair on Thomas and Nigel to be slaving away in the kitchen whilst the others were swigging back champagne in the living room.
There was only going to be ten of them attending the Registry Office and the reception, which consisted of Julian, Robin, Kevin, Thomas, Nigel, Julian's mother, Michael, Melanie and of course the happy couple. Tim had been invited but had declined to attend saying that he hardly knew Alisha and didn't feel it would be right for him to attend.
The plan was that they would be served champagne when they first arrived back at the house and then have a sit down dinner in the dining room which was large enough to seat ten. In fact in times gone by it had sat twelve so was plenty large enough. Melanie and Michael would also be arriving on the Thursday afternoon since the ceremony at the Oxford Registry Office was at ten in the morning. Alisha and Oliver were also arriving on the Thursday so it would be a full house but fortunately there were plenty of rooms for them all and Oliver and Michael had said they didn't mind sharing.
"Yeah, and I wonder what they'll be up to" Robin laughed when Julian told him the arrangements.
"Well, since they will be in the guest room on our side perhaps we can have an orgy" Julian added grinning and feeling a stirring down below at the thought.
When they arrived, there was the usual hugs and kisses with Thomas and Nigel who'd now become more than employees. They were very much part of the family, or at least that was the situation when Julian's mother wasn't around!
"Everything is ready I think" Thomas announced when Julian asked.
"Great, the ever efficient Thomas" Julian giggled as he gave Thomas another squeeze round his waist causing an even bigger bulge to form in both their trousers.
After lunch, Nigel said he had better leave to go and fetch Julian's mother from Heathrow since she was due in on the mid afternoon flight. Julian was meeting Alisha, Oliver, Melanie and Michael at the station as none of them wanted to travel by car. As far as their mother was concerned, Alisha and Oliver were going off on their honeymoon on the Saturday. In reality Alisha and Melanie were going to Spain having found a friend to look after her husband for the duration, and Oliver was going off on a gay cruise in the hope of finding a boyfriend!
Julian arrived at the station just minutes before the train came in so it wasn't long before he saw the four of them coming out. As usual Michael was bouncing along with his arm looped through Oliver's and Alisha was holding Melanie's hand. You'd never have thought that she and Oliver were about to get married!
Julian was duly introduced to Melanie who seemed a very nice girl and he took to her immediately. Oliver sat in the front, the reason being that he could casually touch Julian's thigh every so often when he had the chance, and the other three sat in the back. The Jaguar was plenty large enough to take three in the back so it was no problem.
"Mum back yet?" Alisha asked as they drove home.
"Nope, Nigel has gone to collect her from the airport so all going well they should arrive between half five and six.
"Good, that'll give me time to compose myself for the onslaught" Alisha replied.
"Onslaught?" Michael queried, "Isn't she overjoyed that her lesbian daughter is marrying a poof then?" Michael said laughing.
"Fuck off Michael and behave yourself when she's around; if you let anything drop I'll personally squeeze your balls until they drop off" Alisha replied.
"Sorry" Michael replied duly admonished, "But I rather like my balls being squeezed".
"You won't if I do it" Alisha laughed.
"Ooh Oliver, you'd better watch it then when you do your stuff to produce the heir!" Michael giggled.
Julian decided he had to let Thomas and Nigel into the secret regarding the forthcoming marriage since they'd soon think something was amiss if Alisha and Melissa visited the house and bunked down together, or for that matter Oliver brought some future boyfriend along.
"I'm not surprised about Oliver" Nigel replied having heard the news, "I'd noticed how familiar he always was with you and Robin and have caught him on several occasions eyeing up me and Thomas".
"Neither am I", Thomas added, "And to be honest I'm not that surprised to hear Alisha is a lesbian".
Julian was intrigued why he felt that but it seemed Alisha had brought Melanie to the house one weekend when Julian was not in residence and they'd slept together which made Thomas suspicious. Julian laughed and wondered what his mum would say if she found out.
"Why doesn't she just come out with it?" Thomas asked.
"It's not easy for some to be open about their sexuality you know Thomas; we're not all raging poofs like you who shout it from the rooftops!"
Thomas grinned and pulled his lover into his arms, "I know my love; some of us are such sensitive little flowers".
"Fuck you" Nigel grinned and went off to get on with jobs he had to do outside.
When Julian's mother had arrived everyone went into the hallway to greet her. She looked radiant so clearly her time away had done wonders for her.
Over their evening meal, Julian went through the plans for the next day but he had the feeling that she wasn't that interested. All she did was raise her eyebrows when he said how many guests were attending. It certainly was the smallest event ever held for a member of the Drayton family in Julian's memory but that was what Alisha wanted and her mother just accepted it. She knew there was no point in arguing with her daughter. The matter of her moving out of the house and leaving the UK was hardly mentioned.
That night, unknown to her mother, Alisha spent the night with Melanie in the usual room she used, and Oliver and Michael had a whale of a time in the guest room in the east wing. Now that Oliver had decided he liked being gay, he wanted to make the most of it. Michael certainly didn't complain. He'd been trying to get into Oliver's pants ever since they first met at university and the fact that he now had a regular boyfriend made no difference.
"The cars are here Julian" Thomas announced at the appointed hour. Robin had ordered three to take the ten of them to Oxford. Since Tim was not attending, he'd been assigned the job of letting in the caterers who were due to arrive about an hour before the others returned.
Alisha wore a simple lemon coloured dress, certainly not white since she didn't want all that nonsense she'd made clear earlier, but she looked very nice and Julian told her so as she came downstairs. To keep her mother happy, Oliver travelled in a separate car to her to the Registry Office but they would of course travel home together. The third car therefore took Julian, since he was giving his sister away, and Alisha. The other eight climbed into the first two cars. Alisha had also said she didn't want a bridesmaid which also caused raised eyebrows from her mother.
The ceremony was very simple with no frills and as she watched them she thought back to the last time she was there for Julian and Robin's civil partnership. To be honest she'd preferred that despite them being gay. She could see they both loved each other so much and always had a glint in their eyes whenever they were together. She had never ever seen such a glint in Oliver's eyes and certainly not in her daughter's but she was a cold fish so wasn't surprised. She couldn't really make them out but she assumed they were happy together and wanted to get married.
When they got back to the house, they were met with glasses of champagne being served by a very dishy waiter who Robin was convinced was gay by the way he kept looking at him and Julian, and for that matter at the other guys including Oliver.
In due course they moved into the dining room which Thomas had set up beautifully using the best china, glass and silver. The meal was also very good, much to Julian's relief, since he knew that if it hadn't been Thomas would have felt he should have handled it. The caterer had been personally recommended so Julian felt sure they would be okay.
As head of the household and the Earl, Julian sat at one end of the table and his mother at the other. Alisha and Oliver sat down one side to his right and Robin and Kevin to his left. The others occupied the vacant seats and Julian smiled to himself when he noticed that Michael had ended up nearest to his mother but throughout the meal they seemed to be laughing and joking away so he assumed all was well.
Julian had decided not to give any long speeches. There seemed little point when all those present were family or close acquaintances but he did wish the couple the best and for their life together, although as he said it he knew they wouldn't be spending much of it as a couple, and ended up with a toast. He also mentioned their father who he knew would have wished them all happiness and probably made a much better job of everything than he did.
Afterwards his mother came up to him and congratulated him on organising everything so well and added, "Don't be so hard on yourself Julian, your dad would have been proud of you today".
Finally things came to end. Michael had to go home as he was working on the Saturday and since Nigel had been drinking a taxi was ordered to take them to the station. Julian saw out of the corner of his eye Oliver giving Michael a very passionate kiss whilst Alisha looked on. Fortunately his mother was talking to him at that moment so she didn't see.
"Don't really feel I've been to a wedding" she commented as she made her way upstairs to start getting her things together. She'd arranged for Pickfords to come the following day to pack everything she was taking with her but since that only included her clothes and personal items, plus a few knickknacks she collected from various rooms having checked with Julian that he was happy for her to take them, there wasn't that much to pack.
"Thanks Julian" Alisha said once her mother had disappeared, "You handled everything brilliantly in the circumstances".
"Yeah, thanks" Oliver added and pulled Julian into a big hug and a kiss.
"Do you think she suspects anything?" Alisha then asked.
"Who knows" Julian replied, "You know mother she's not likely to say anything even if she does but I assume you two are going to sleep together tonight" he added grinning.
Oliver looked at Alisha with raised eyebrows as if to say `up to you'.
"Yeah, well, might as well give your cock some exercise one more time since it won't get any from me for a while."
"So not trying for a family yet then?" Julian grinned.
"No way, don't want to burden ourselves with that for two or three years, Melanie and I have far too many things we want to do before that" Alisha laughed.
"I'm on call" Oliver grinned.
"There are other ways of doing it you know" Julian remarked.
"Yeah, might just do that" Alisha replied, "I'll give him a load of gay porn and a bottle to spunk into!"
The following morning the guys from Pickfords arrived and packed up the boxes that were to be shipped out to Australia. It seemed Julian's mother was going to make that her home with Cousin Marcus even though she was going to spend several months of the year in Boston. She had the income to do so, Julian told himself, so why not. When everything had been packed up he stood in the room she'd used as her studio.
"Seems odd not having your easel and paintings around" he commented, "You are sure about this are you mum".
"Of course I am" she replied somewhat more irritably than she'd meant, "I'm sorry Julian, I know you and Robin would be more than happy for me to stay here but now your dad has gone I feel I need to move on with my life".
Julian looked at her and then took her into his arms, "You miss him terribly don't you" he said.
"Yes, but moving away will take my mind off it and I'll hopefully just be left with the happy memories; you must miss him too don't you; I know you and he were always very close, far more than Alisha ever was."
Julian nodded and a small tear appeared in his eyes, "Yes, but somehow I can still feel his presence which I find comforting; can you understand that?"
She nodded and said she did but for her it was different. "I shall have a life with Marcus and that is fine for me".
As Julian looked into her eyes he could tell she was very fond of Marcus.
"Are you in love with him?" he said without really thinking.
"Yes, I am; does that shock you?"
"God no, you're entitled to a life of your own so I'm pleased for you."
"We've been in love for many years, well before I met your father, but he seemed the sensible choice at the time; does that sound terrible?"
Julian wasn't too sure how to answer that. Was his mother saying she didn't love his dad? He always thought she did.
"You and dad loved each other didn't you?"
"Of course we did Julian, whatever makes you think otherwise?"
Julian smiled and gave her a kiss before moving over to the window.
"This really is a beautiful view from these rooms" he commented moving away from the previous topic.
"I take it you and Robin will move into them when I'm gone" she said moving up behind him and putting her hands round his waist. Julian placed his over hers for a moment to hold them. He'd miss his mum but at the same time he'd enjoy having the complete freedom to do what he wanted in the house and not be conscious of her seeing what Robin and he got up to.
His mother was thinking similarly that she'd miss seeing her son. She loved him the best. He had been such a lovely cheerful child whereas Alisha had always been a complete pain. Sometimes she was amazed they were of the same parentage.
"You and Robin will come and see me in Australia sometime won't you" she eventually said, "I know you were talking about going to Sydney and we're only a short flight from there".
"Of course we will" he replied turning to give her another kiss on the cheek.
"Your mum seems to have changed" Robin commented later that night when they were in bed, "Do you reckon she and this Marcus guy are having an affair?"
Julian laughed and told Robin what he and his mother had talked about earlier. "You don't miss much do you" he chuckled, "Can see I shall have to be careful when I have a lover on the side!"
"I see fed up with me already are you?" Robin teased.
"No, no my love, I was only teasing" Julian replied taking his lover into his arms and hugging him tight.
"Mm, well you'd better prove it then" Robin replied lifting his legs and offering himself.
Alisha, Melanie and Oliver returned to London on the Saturday whilst the packing was going on. Julian asked Nigel if he'd mind driving them back in the Bentley. To keep up the charade, Alisha and Oliver got in the back and Melanie sat next to Nigel. As they said their goodbyes, Alisha's mother wished them a happy honeymoon and asked once again where they were going. Alisha quickly replied `to Barcelona' since Oliver would probably not remember. As soon as they were out of sight of the house, Alisha told Nigel to stop the car so that Melanie and Oliver could swap seats. For the rest of the journey Nigel could see the girls in the back kissing and cuddling. Oliver just grinned at him and every so often placed a hand on his thigh slowly working it towards his crotch. Nigel decided to let him have his fun and allowed him to have a good feel. Needless to say he soon showed his appreciation but fortunately Oliver didn't take matters any further although he did suggest to Nigel that he might like to come up to see his flat when they finally reached their home in south London. Nigel declined the invitation saying he had to get back.
The official story was that the large Victorian house, which had been split into two apartments many years previously, housed Melanie and her disabled husband on the ground floor and Alisha and Oliver on the floor above. In reality, soon after Alisha had taken the flat, which was before she'd met Oliver, she and Melanie had fallen in love so she spent more time downstairs than up. Melanie's husband, who was fully aware of his wife's tendencies, slept in one room whilst they slept in the second larger bedroom. This often left Oliver all on his own upstairs but he'd finally decided that things were now going to change on that front. Alisha was going to move all her stuff downstairs and live with Melanie permanently which left him to entertain whoever he wished upstairs.
The pair of them had spent numerous hours discussing their situation. Melanie had been almost forced into marriage by her somewhat uncompromising parents so had eventually agreed to marry her husband even though there was no love between them. In her heart she had hoped the marriage would break up in due course leaving her free to plough her own furrow but unfortunately her husband developed MS and became very disabled. Being the kind of person she was she decided she couldn't leave him since someone had to look after the man. She therefore told him about her leanings towards other women and he agreed that she could see whoever she wished provided she looked after him. At the time it seemed a good way out of a difficult situation so she agreed. That was five years ago.
When she met Alisha who also seemed to have difficulties in coming out to her family, they fell into the pattern they were now in. When Oliver came on the scene some two years ago, Melanie thought she'd lose Alisha since she and Oliver seemed in love with each other. When Oliver started to voice his uncertainties around his sexuality the three of them developed the marriage idea. Alisha and Melanie had said they'd like children so Oliver seemed the perfect choice to provide them, or rather it, since neither wanted more than one child. This way Melanie and Alisha could continue their relationship leaving Oliver an open field whilst providing the appearance of being a married couple for family and those friends who were not in the know. When Alisha's father died she almost made the decision to tell her mother but somehow she just couldn't. She was really a coward unlike her brother who'd she always admired for being who he was.
Julian's mother was catching a flight back to Australia the following day. The problem was that it was a mid morning flight so Nigel had to be up early to take her to Heathrow. Being a Sunday the traffic would be slightly easier but even so they had to leave at six in the morning. Julian had offered to go with them to see her off but she had told him there was no need.
"I hate farewells at airports" she had said.
Anyhow, Julian certainly wanted to be up to see her off from Drayton House so he and Robin set the alarm for five thirty. They didn't bother to dress so went downstairs in their robes to find his mother who was having a cup of coffee that Thomas had made for her.
She smiled at Julian and then at Robin as they entered. She'd not seen her son naked since he was a child and as she looked at him with his partner in their somewhat short robes which barely covered the essentials her mind started wondering what he, and Robin for that matter, was like when naked. From the bare chest she could see and the firm legs, she was certain they'd both be very sexy and well endowed. She did love men who were well endowed, which was something she'd loved about his father. It was also something she loved about Marcus. He was most certainly well endowed and she loved it!
"Morning guys" she eventually said shaking herself out of her mind wanderings, "Sorry to get you up so early but at least you can go back to bed once I've gone" she grinned.
Robin grinned back, guessing what she was thinking, but Julian looked away slightly embarrassed.
Finally it was time for her to leave and they all kissed and hugged each other.
"Send me an email when you are safely there" Julian said as she climbed into the back of the Bentley.
"I'll get Marcus to do it; still can't work that stuff out yet" she laughed.
"Have you ever met this Marcus?" Robin asked as they stood waving on the front steps whilst Nigel sedately drove away.
"Yeah, couple of times when he came to London"
"What's he like?"
"Quite dishy from what I remember" Julian replied and then added, "Come on, it's too early to get up yet so let's go and have sex".
Thomas was standing nearby and grinned.
"You could always join us if you want Thomas" Robin added as he and Julian walked back inside.
Thomas wasn't going to miss an opportunity like that so hastily followed them unbuttoning his clothes as he went.
The next part of 'The Earl's Son' will be available shortly.
I welcome comments so feel free to do so by sending me an email.
Don't forget that Nifty needs donations to host stories like these. See the Donate link to make your donation. Thanks.
See Prolific Authors for a list of other stories by Adam Stewart