Authors: Kate Sherwood
One Bright Star (6 page)
“It’s the barn colors, too,” Robyn said, scooting off her seat on the couch to sit on the floor next to the quilt. “Evan, there’s no way you made this.”
That was a good point. Evan had already given the baby an iPad loaded with educational apps, which meant he was supposed to be limited to home-made gifts…
“I didn’t screen the images onto the fabric,” Evan said quickly. “Obviously. But I took the pictures, and I sewed the squares together. Then I got some help with the quilting part.”
Chris wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not. “Since when do you sew?”
“Since Dan made up a crazy rule about only one store-bought gift.”
“Damn, Evan.” Dan sounded like he was getting a little choked up. Jeff had made his picture book, Anna had crocheted a sweater set, Tat and Robyn had crafted a mobile out of origami swans… the gang was showing their love, and Danny was always a bit fragile about that sort of thing. Luckily he had a tried and tested strategy for distracting himself when he was feeling too emotional. Dan turned to Chris and said, “What’d
you
make him?”
“I bought him a single present. Your rule isn’t that everyone
has
to make a gift.”
“And where
is
that single present?” Dan raised an eyebrow.
Well, that was awkward. “It’s at home. I was going to bring it over after our trip…”
“Uncle Chris didn’t bring you a present, RJ. That one, right there. With the dark hair. He’s the one who didn’t bring you a gift. Your first Christmas, but he didn’t bring you
anything
.”
“Ryan didn’t bring anything either,” Chris said.
“Thanks, dude. Way to throw me under the bus.” Ryan smiled at Dan. “Maybe we could stuff some cash in an envelope.”
“Cash is just for weddings,” Dan replied primly. He was clearly feeling better, now. Much more in control.
Which meant it was time to throw him off his game again. “Speaking of weddings,” Chris said, and looked at Ryan for permission.
Ryan’s smile was almost shy, and Chris squeezed his hand. “We’re going to have one. Eventually. When it gets legal in California, Ryan and I are getting married. We’re engaged.”
The silence lasted a little too long. They’d been dating for quite a while, and, sure, Ryan was the only guy Chris had ever been with, but he’d been with plenty of women. Enough to know that he felt something unique, and powerful and special. Why wasn’t anyone saying anything?
“Congratulations,” Tat finally managed. “Oh my god! Congratulations! This is so excellent!”
Robyn rolled easily to her feet and leaned over for cheek kisses. “That’s wonderful. I hope you don’t have to wait too long.”
“It really is wonderful,” Anna said sincerely. “Congratulations.”
But there was something else going on. Dan was staring at Chris, and he looked strangely fierce, way too intense for simple surprise. Jeff and Evan both said the right things, but they were keeping an eye on Dan, too, obviously aware that he was reacting strangely.
“Danny?” Chris finally said. “You okay down there? Got anything to say?”
Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Dan nodded slowly. “Congratulations,” he said. He sounded sincere, but it was clear that he had more on his mind. Chris leaned back into the cushions of the couch and braced himself for whatever was about to come.
***
“Really,” Dan said. He knew he wasn’t giving Chris the reaction he’d expected, and he felt bad about that. He needed to pull it together. “Congratulations. I’m really happy for both of you.”
“But…” Chris prompted, his face still and ready for anything.
“But nothing,” Dan said firmly. He kissed RJ on the top of his head as if he were sending him off to war, then nodded in Chris’s direction and smiled at Ryan. “But nothing,” he repeated, “Nothing to do with you. Absolutely. It’s just…” He turned toward Jeff and said, “I want us to wear the rings.”
Nobody said anything. Damn. It wasn’t the right time for this, especially not if it was going to end up in a fight. Dan shook his head, trying to clear it out. When Chris had made his announcement, it was like a bright light had illuminated Dan’s thoughts, and everything had been suddenly clear. Now the light was dimming, and the ideas that had seemed so important were fading like a dream upon waking. It wasn’t fair to Chris and Ryan for Dan to be stealing their thunder, but he wanted to get the ideas out of his head before they faded entirely.
“Because it
is
great,” he tried. “It’s great that Chris and Ryan are happy, but it’s bigger than that. I mean, it’s great that they’re pretty sure they’re going to be able to get married, here in California, pretty soon. Not that long ago we wouldn’t have thought that was possible, and now, it’s legal quite a few places, and the tide has absolutely turned. Right?” He forced himself to take a quick look at Chris and Ryan, and they seemed more bemused than angry, so he let himself continue.
“And it changed because people stopped hiding. They stopped acting as if they had something to be ashamed of. They stopped worrying what other people would think, and they just loved who they loved.”
He was probably making a fool of himself, but that was nothing new, not with this crowd. They’d forgive him for it. He turned to Evan. “You know what tradition I’d
really
like you to pass on to RJ? I’d like you to teach him to be as fearless as you are. I’d like you to teach him to assume that the world is going to treat him fairly, and I’d like him to learn to be shocked and outraged when it doesn’t happen. I don’t care about the damn Starman or whatever—you can teach him all that too, if you want. But the real tradition, the thing that makes me want to raise him in this house instead of somewhere else? Is
love
. I want RJ to take love for granted, the way you and Tat do.”
And since no one had stopped him yet, he turned to Jeff. “And we need you to teach him to be wise and careful, when to fight and when to walk away. Absolutely, he needs that.” He shook his head again, trying to shake some of the details of his epiphany out of the shadows. “You weren’t wrong about the rings. But you weren’t right, either. When you said the rings don’t matter, compared to RJ? I don’t think that was right. Because the rings are us… not the three of us, as separate people; the three of us together, the way we’re going to raise RJ. And you guys… you maybe don’t know so well, but trust me… parents
matter
. Parents are important, and being parents is our biggest, hardest job, and wearing rings to remind us that we love each other and are committed to each other and are raising RJ
together
… that matters.”
There had been better words in his head. He wasn’t doing this right. He’d thought he had something to say, but now he was just babbling. What was the core of it? What was the big idea, the one thing that he needed to say? “I love you. Both of you. I’m not ashamed of you, and I don’t want to start acting like I am. Not just for me, but for RJ too. ’Cause he needs to know his parents love each other, and he needs to know that we’ll stand up for ourselves, just like we’ll stand up for him if we ever have to.”
“And just like he should stand up for himself,” Evan said firmly. He smiled at Dan, then looked over at Jeff. “I’m sold, man. But it was my idea to start with.”
Jeff didn’t say anything. He just stood up, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his ring, and he nodded. “Absolutely,” he finally said, and his voice was a little tight. He cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said more firmly. “You’re right. Thank you.”
Dan scrambled to his feet, leaving RJ playing with his quilt on the floor, and by the time he was standing, Evan was upright as well. They shared a sheepish grin as they reached into their own pockets and pulled out their own shining bands. Apparently they’d all been thinking about them.
Should there be words? Probably, but Dan had used all of his up. He looked at the ring, then at the men he loved.
“I promise to love you both, with all my heart,” Evan said, and he slipped the ring onto his finger.
“I promise to fight for you both,” Jeff said, then added, “And to fight for
us
, as well.” He stared at his hands as he slid the ring into place.
Dan had no idea what to say. “I promise to do my best. I promise to never stop trying.” he wasn’t sure if he was talking to Jeff and Evan, or to RJ. Hell, maybe he was partly talking to himself. And always, of course, talking partly to Justin.
The ring felt strange on his finger, new and unusual. But right.
“You’re a complete attention whore, Danny,” Chris said from the couch. “Ryan and I get engaged, and you just have to upstage us, huh?” But he was smiling as he stood, and Ryan was beside him, Robyn and Tat and Anna too, and Dan stooped to pick up the baby just before they were all enveloped in a warm hug of congratulations and shared happiness.
Chris took the baby from Dan and smiled into his confused little face. “What do you think? Do you, Robert Justin Wheeler, take these lunatics to be your daddies? Do you? Do you?”
“Da!” RJ said enthusiastically. “Da, Da!”
“Don’t get all worked up, Evan,” Dan said quickly. “The books say he’ll just use nonsense syllables, and Da is an easy one to start with. He’s not really saying ’dad.’“
Evan shook his head in wonder. “I’m not impressed because he said ’dad,’“ he clarified. “I’m impressed because he speaks Russian! He was saying ’yes’! I’ve been teaching this kid the wrong traditions… no more Polish! Next year, we’ll have a Russian Christmas!”
Dan had a little something to say about that, but his phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID, then answered it. “Hey, Taylor. Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas, Dan.”
“You having a good day?” It was hard to make casual conversation with all the emotions burbling through Dan’s chest, but he tried.
“Not really. It’s a long story, but… remember when you invited me and Owen for Christmas? Any chance that invitation is still open?”
Dan looked around at his makeshift family, and smiled. “Absolutely, dude. The more the merrier.”
“We’ll be there in about an hour,” Taylor said, and that was it.
“Two more for dinner,” Dan told the gang.
“Taylor?” Evan’s grin was absolutely smug. “You’re going to show him the ring, right? You’re going to make it crystal clear…”
“That you’re absolutely insane,” Dan agreed. “But Evan, he doesn’t need a ring to get the message. It’s been clear to anyone with eyes for quite a while now.”
“Yes, it has,” Anna said, but Dan knew that she, like himself, had reverted back to Evan’s original intentions. It had been crystal clear to anyone with eyes that Dan, Evan and Jeff were together for the long-term.
Dan looked down at his ring, and smiled. “Shiny,” he whispered to RJ, and the baby chortled in happy agreement.
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