Suggested Listening:
"Better Tomorrow" by Gregory Douglass
"A love that will never grow old" by Emmylou Harris
"Alive" Melissa O'Neil
"Crash into me" by Dave Matthews Band
Senator's Son -- Chapter 11
Disclaimer -- This is a work of fiction depicting a situation involving homosexual men. If you are offended or are under the legal age to view such matierials, please do not read further. By continuing, you agree that neither the author nor nifty are responsible for any actions that occur as a result of this story or an individual's interpretation. Also, if you are a "bible thumper," please email me any comments you have. I will rebuke every claim that you make. If you have other comments, feel free to email me if you wish. The address is boricuaholandes@hotmail.com.
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"Welcome to Birmingham," the pilot said immediately before the tired of plane touched back down. We were home, but it didn't feel the same. The plane came to a complete stop on the runway and was pulled up to the terminal. We unloaded ourselves from the plane and then waited anxiously as our baggage was brought from the plane to the lower level of the Birmingham International Airport.
We grabbed our bags and headed toward where we'd parked the car four days before. As we pulled out of the airport and went toward the apartment, Pedro and I said very little to each other, opting to only smile at each other as he drove. In one hand, I clutched the piece of paper. In my other, I held the hand that wasn't attached to the wheel. I guarded both with my life.
Was I nervous about what had happened? Yes, I was, but I was happier than I'd been in a very long time. We got back to the apartment and quietly made our way upstairs with our bags. Jamie, Kyle, Cole, Christopher, and Jay didn't know that we'd returned. We'd not even taken the time to call any of our family members to let them know that we'd returned.
We didn't bother unpacking the bags before heading to the showers, together. We made love in the shower, just as we had that morning before leaving Toronto to come back to Birmingham. That evening, we enjoyed a quiet evening at home, cooking dinner for each other and watching TV. We made love again before falling asleep, basking in the heat of each other produced at night.
"Good morning," he said as I opened my eyes.
"Morning. Did you sleep well?"
"I did. Did you?"
"Oh yeah. I slept well."
"I'm glad." Pedro hugged me tightly as we lay there most of the morning.
By midday, we were ready to get going. It was to Tennessee first, since we promised Rose we'd make a trip up there as soon as we got back into the town. Then it would be Maya's house for the night before going to see Abu for Lunch the next day.
We showered quickly and got dressed. As we gathered our things and walked out the door, we were ambushed by Jamie and Kyle, wanting us to give them every detail of the trip.
"So did y'all have fun?" they asked.
"Yes," Pedro said. "We saw the Historic Distillery District. It's this 13 acre art district. It's so cool."
"Did the interview go OK?" Jamie asked.
"It went so well. I got the job," Pedro said, as if there were doubt he would. The twins cheered for him, patting him on the shoulder and giving him hugs.
"That's great."
"That means y'all are leaving," Kyle realized. "Party!!!!" He turned to Jamie and began planning what they were calling `The Party of the Year' in our honor. We exited shortly thereafter, promising to tell them all the sordid details of the trip when we got back from Abu's the next afternoon.
We piled into the Volkswagen and went as quickly as we could to the interstate. The traffic was negligible for the middle of a day, despite the fact it was a Friday afternoon. We passed so many places that were quite familiar and filled with memories. We went past the Kimberly/Morris exit, where Pedro once insisted that we stop so that he could get an order of corn nuggets at a restaurant just off the interstate. Josh and I often met at the Cullman exit when he would come to Birmingham from Tennessee before he moved down. We passed through Decatur, where Jay got a job after Josh was killed.
The state line brought memories as the picture of my Aunt welcomed visitors to her "favorite place on the planet." I thought of how she was going to like Toronto when she came to visit. I thought about whether or not she would even come and visit us in Canada. Would they bring the twins to visit "E" and "Big Pedro" in Canada? Surely they would.
We reached Spring Hill. Turning off the Interstate, we took the roads I'd been up and down a million times with Josh to his mother's house. We knew we'd arrived when we came up to two large Canadian flags flying outside Rose's house. We stood out of the Volkswagen only to be greeted by Rose and Jackie singing "O! Canada," in their Southern accents, cracking from years of smoking.
"What's up?" I asked as I hugged Rose.
"Did you get the job?" Jackie asked as she hugged Pedro.
"Yes ma'am. I did."
"So y'all are leaving?" Rose clarified.
"Yes ma'am," I answered, the feelings swelled into my eyes.
"Well, I need to give you something, then," she said as she pulled me into the house. Jackie and Pedro remained on the porch as we went into the house. Rose led me into the kitchen, her favorite room in the house since Josh and Antony's dad left several years before.
"Here," she said, handing me an old spiral-bound notebook.
"What is it?"
"It's the only gift that I can think of to give you." I slowly opened the notebook to see what looked like recipes. They were all written in Rose's handwriting. "It's my recipe book. All of the dishes in there have been passed down through my family for generations. I am going to give a copy to Maria, too, but you get the original."
"Don't you need this?" I asked, wondering why she was giving me one of her most precious momentos.
"Nah. I've made every one of those dishes enough times to remember exactly how to make them."
"Oh," I said, again feeling the tears swelling.
"What's wrong, Dave?"
"I'm nervous. I'm scared. I'm already homesick, and we've not even moved yet."
"You will be fine. Pedro won't let anything happen to you."
"I know."
"And you're gonna be working on your PhD, right?"
"Yeah. I don't remember telling you, though."
"I talked to your mother two days ago," she explained, having become really good friends with both my mother and my Aunt.
"Oh!" I said, beginning to cry. She walked over and hugged me. "I love you, Rose."
"I love you too, Dave. You're one of my children. I will miss you, and if you ever need me, all you have to do is call me." A tear flowed from the corner of her eye as well. In a few minutes, Pedro and Jackie came into the kitchen unexpectedly. They noticed that we'd both been crying, but dismissed it. Pedro later commented that he knew it would happen as soon as we started making the first of our final rounds.
We sat around the table as Rose fixed her famous `Quick Tiramisù,' one of the recipes she'd included in her notebook. The phone rang around 3:30, about the time Antony was getting out of school.
"Hey. Your brother is here," she informed him. "Yes. They made it back from Canada yesterday...Yes...He'll be over here for a few minutes more...Why don't you come over here before you leave?...OK...See you in a few minutes, then...Bye...Love you, too..." she hung up the receiver and came back over to the table, where we'd all assembled.
"Hey Rose, I'm gonna go down to the field for a second before Antony gets here. You wanna come?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said as she put on her flip flops. She and I went in the Volkswagen to the field where Josh was buried. Respectfully, we stopped at the end of the path that had been worn by several cars of the almost two years since Josh's passing. We walked to the tree beside where his headstone lay.
"Hey Josh," I said as we walked up to the stone. "I hope that you're doing OK up there," I said as I sat down on the ground, clutching a manila envelope in one hand. Rose joined me. "So I've got some news for you, Mr. Moretti. I'm moving. Pedro got a job in Toronto, of all places, working for the Liberal Party. We've been up there for the last four days, looking around the city. I'm gonna be up there doing my PhD work at the University of Toronto." I began to cry as I said good-bye to Joshua. "And there's one last thing."
Rose looked at me, waiting for me to divulge the secret that I'd yet to tell her. Once I said it out loud, Rose was happy. She hugged me. "Josh would be so happy for you," she said.
"Indeed. If he were still here, it would probably be him."
"I know. I think he's smiling right now, though. He loved you so much, Dave."
"I know, Rose. I loved him far more than you will ever know."
"I think I have a good understanding," she said.
A truck blazed down the road, pulling into the field before we could even stand up. We both knew it was Antony coming in. Rose stood, strongly advising as only a mother could that Antony slow down on country roads. He assured her that he would be OK. In the meantime, I leaned down under the shade of the tree and kissed the stone that lay at Josh's final resting place. I pulled myself and went over to my little brother.
"What's up, Bro?" he asked as he gave me a hug.
"Not much. I just came down to see Josh for a minute."
"Cool."
"Well, boys, I'm gonna go back to the house. I'll see y'all in a minute," Rose declared. I threw her the keys to the Volkswagen, telling her that I would ride back to the house with Antony. She took me up the on the offer and pulled the car out of the field.
"So I heard Pedro got the job!"
"Yeah. He did."
"And y'all are moving to Toronto."
"Yeah. Are you gonna come visit?"
"Shit. I can legally get fucked up in Canada. Of course I'm gonna come visit, Bro," he said as he put his arm around my shoulder. The way he touched me reminded me so much of Josh. The way he pulled me into him in quite brotherly way reminded me of the masculine public attention Josh gave me.
"Good. I'll keep a bottle of tequila for you," I said.
"You better. Just put a little note on it that says `For Antony Only'."
"Yes sir," I said as I smiled and giggled at his joke.
"I had a dream the other night," Antony began after we were silent for a moment.
"Cool. What was it about?"
"It was about Josh. I was sleeping in my room, and he came into my room like he did when he was a teenager to check on me. He said that I was to watch over you and protect you." The silence was thick after that. There were a million things that I wanted to say to Antony.
"I'm gonna miss you," I said in a few minutes.
"I understand completely," he answered without a pause between our statements. "This is not goodbye, though. I heard Jamie and Kyle were having a party for y'all tomorrow night. I talked to Maria on break."
"They don't waste any time, do they?"
"Not a minute. Well let's go up to the house. I got to get some stuff before I head to Birmingham. Abu is gonna be gone until late tonight with Maribel and Joya," Antony said, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Oh my goodness!" I declared, remembering the many times Josh would rush to Oneonta when my parents weren't going to be at home.
We drove back to the house, where Pedro, Jackie, and Rose were standing on the front porch. Antony left after he gathered some clothes; Pedro and I left shortly after him, needing to get to Oneonta before much later.
As we pulled away from the house, I began to cry, again. (I seemed to be crying a lot that afternoon.)
"You OK, babe?"
"Yes sir," I said. "I'm fine. It's all just a bit emotional."
"I know, babe. I'll be that way tomorrow, I'm sure. We're gonna be OK, though."
"I know, Pedro. I will be OK, as log as you are there with me."
"And I will be. I promised, remember?" he said, taking my hand and squeezing it tightly.
"I know," I said. "I love you, Pedro."
"I love you, too, Dave."
We drove down the highway back into Alabama. My aunt's picture made a warm goodbye from Tennessee as one entered Alabama. We drove across the Tennessee River, toward Birmingham. Pulling off the interstate in Cullman, we made a quick stop for gas and a coke.
"This is where I met Josh the first time he came to Oneonta," I told Pedro as I pumped the gas and he stood against the car.
"He was a lucky man," Pedro said.
"Why is that?"
"He got you first," Pedro said.
"But you're the one, Pedro," I said, smiling as I pulled the nozzle from my car and placing it back on its carriage on the pump. Pedro smiled back.
As I got into the car, the woman at the pump next to us looked at us smiling, but we never figured out why. It was just cool that someone from Cullman was smiling at us and not looking at us like we were crazy queers. We drove down roads and through the country until we got to Oneonta.
We pulled into Maya and Daddy's neighborhood; red and white streamers hung from lamp poles and street signs leading to their house. As at Rose's house, Canadian flags hung from the front porch. No one was out there, though, to sing O! Canada when we arrived. Several cars were parked in the driveway, though.
Quietly, we walked into the house. Maya was giving instructions to someone we hadn't seen yet. We sneaked into the kitchen, behind Maya. I tapped her on the shoulder only to see her jump at the unexpected intrusion.
"David Jansen! Te voy a matar!" she declared. (I'm going to kill you!)
"Lo siento, Maya. Te quiero," I said childishly. (I'm sorry, Maya. I love you!)
"Te quiero tambien. Pero! Si lo hagas otras vez, te mataré!" she ranted. (I love you. BUT! If you do that again, I will kill you.)
"Yes ma'am," I said.
"Now come over here and give me a hug," she commanded. I went over to her and hug her. Ms. Bobbi and Mr. Tommy were sitting at the kitchen table, while my cousins, Scott and Tomás, were helping Maya with something. We greeted each other, and I introduced Pedro to Mr. English, whom he'd never met.
Daddy wasn't there yet, and Maya wouldn't tell me where he'd gone. Jay and Dawn showed up with the baby just after we got there, having driven from Decatur just to see us.
Maya prepared dinner for all of us, and finished up just as Daddy was coming back into the house. Pedro and I were recounting to everyone the details of the trip, leaving out some of the more graphic details. Daddy carried two large boxes and set them on the table, just far enough away for Pedro and I to wonder what the wrapped boxes contained.
Before we knew it, dinner was served, and everyone except the baby gathered around the table. Dinner was a magnificent array of food spanning our culinary preferences. At the end of the evening, Pedro and I were presented each with one of the boxes my father had brought into the house. Pedro opened his first. His box contained a wool overcoat and a sweatshirt that read "Proud to be a Liberal," with the word Liberal being stylized similarly to the Liberal Party of Canada.
He thanked everyone for what he referred to as `the wonderful gift.' I slowly opened my box, pulling a wool overcoat similar to Pedro's. Under it, though, was something that I'd not expected to get. On a random Sunday in April, my father had taken a picture of the two of us in DC, sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was already after nightfall. Pedro and I were sitting on the steps, and he had his arm around my shoulder as I rested my head on his. Daddy had converted it to a grayscale photo, blown it up, and had it framed. I cried. Pedro looked concerned for me, so I showed him. He showed the rest of the room, all of whom made an "ah."
I was beside myself. The picture was beautiful. Little did they know that in just a few weeks, their son would be moving with his partner to another country.
"This is so nice," I finally mustered, walking over to thank my father and mother for the thoughtful gift.
By the end of the evening, Ms. Bobbi and Mr. Tommy left the house. Pedro and I sat everyone else down to share some news without having to repeat it multiple times. Pedro pulled out the manila envelope we'd been carrying around for the whole day.
Maya opened and took the document out of the envelope. A shocked look seemed to come over her face as she showed the document to my father. Jay and Dawn picked up on what it was when Pedro flashed the platinum band he'd begun to wear when we were in Toronto. Maya and Daddy's shock turned to surprise and happiness as they jumped up to give us hugs. Jay and Dawn followed behind, with Skye crawling into the kitchen from the living room to see what was going on. She crawled to Pedro, who was obliged to pick her up. We quietly celebrated the rest of the evening.
Pedro and I made love that night, three times. I seemed to be insatiable, and Pedro eventually had to tell me that he couldn't take me anymore. I jacked off again before I was spent for the evening. Needless to say, I slept well that night.
We woke up the next morning to find that my mother had prepared breakfast for the two of us. We left in the early part of the morning, after showering and putting on fresh clothes.
We got to Hoover in record time, it seemed. In fact, by 12:15, we were at Abu's house, thirty minutes earlier than she'd expected us to be there. The driveway was littered with cars. I recognized some of them, and some of them I'd never seen before. Pedro was excited as he saw all of the cars there. He pulled around to the back of the house, and ran toward the front.
I tried to follow as quickly as I could, but he was like a child at Christmas. When I caught up, a band of Hispanic women joined around him, hugging him as if they'd not seen him in a while. Abu and Antony came down from the porch and greeted me, hugging me as family. She pulled me up to the porch. All of the women greeted me as they had Pedro. Maribel and Joya pulled me into hugs as well.
"Es muy chulo," one of the women said as she gave me a once over. (He's very cute.)
"Gracias," I responded, proud of the fact that I'd fooled yet another member of this family.
"¿Hablas español?" she asked, surprise coming across his face. (You speak Spanish?)
"Sí, él lo habla. Recibió su licencia en español hace una semana," Abu said proudly. (Yes, he speaks it. He got his BA in Spanish a week ago.)
"Eres el novio de mi Pedrito, ¿verdad?" the lady said. (You're my Pedrito's boyfriend, right?)
"Sí. Soy yo." (That's me.)
"Bueno. A mí, me llamo Norah," the lady said as she looked up into my eyes, "soy otra tía, la hermana de su madre." (My name is Norah. I'm another aunt, his mother's sister.)
"Norah!" I exclaimed. "Él ha dicho mucho de tí." (He's talked about you a lot.)
"Él te me has hablado mucho también," she said, turning to Pedro for a second. "I just wish he'd told you speak Spanish," she joked in a very broken English accent. Turning to Pedro, I was introduced to a slew of cousins I'd only heard about. Maria was also there, jokingly Pedro reintroduced me to her as well.
Abu ushered us into the house and into the formal living room. Pedro caught up with his Aunt Norah. I went into the kitchen to try to help Abu, but was sent back into the living room with the rest of the family. As I joked with Maria and two other cousins of Pedro, named Mercedes and Renata, Joya and Maribel pulled me away. A concerned look draped their faces as they pulled me upstairs and into a spare bedroom.
"When?" Joya asked, not cracking a smile.
"What?" I asked.
"You know what we're talking about?" Maribel said, giving me the same look her younger sister was giving me. Joya gave me a hint by holding up her left hand.
"Wednesday morning," I answered honestly. Their faces began to glisten from the tears that were swelling up within them.
"Who knows?" Joya asked.
"My parents, Antony and his mom," I explained.
"Does Abu know?" Maribel asked.
"Not yet."
"She's gonna be as happy as we are. Pedro has deserved someone as special as you for a long time," Joya said. She and Maribel simultaneously gave me a hug. "Just don't ever fuck with him," Joya continued.
"At least not in the bad way," Maribel answered. We all laughed before returning downstairs. Pedro gave me a look. I gave him one back, and a sense of relief seemed to blanket his face, knowing now that two of his aunts knew of what was going on.
Shortly, Abu called us into the formal dining room for dinner. I had been in a couple of times, but Abu preferred to use the kitchen, saying that food lost some of the love it had when it was transported from room to room. It was the only room in the house, though, that could support all of the people that had come. Abu sat at one end of the table; Pedro sat to her right; I sat to his right. As we ate the dinner Abu had toiled over, the conversation went on without a hitch. Pedro explained what it was the he'd be doing in Toronto. Everyone seemed impressed that a guy with Pedro's youth could land a job carrying so much importance.
"So are you going with him?" Norah asked me when Pedro finished telling her everything.
"That's something that I need to talk to y'all about," Pedro said before I could answer.
"Is everything OK, Pedro?" Abu said, a concerned look on her face.
"Dave," Pedro said, turning to me for a second, "Did you bring it in?"
"Yeah," I said. "I'll run get it," I answered as I stood and walked into the living room to where I'd set my wallet and keys. I returned as quickly as I could back into the dining room. I opened the manila envelope and looked at the piece of paper.
I handed Abu the piece of paper and stood behind Pedro, with my hand on his shoulder as she read the paper thoroughly. The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife. Pedro looked at me with concern in his eyes. He was worried about what she would say as much as I was worried about what Maya and Daddy or Rose would say.
"So we can celebrate 11 May now as another family holiday," Abu said as she looked at the two of us and a smile came across her face.
"Is everything alright?" Norah asked.
"Everything is fine," Abu answered. "Felicidades," she said to us. (Congratulations.)
"Can we tell everybody else?" Maribel and Joya giddily asked as they sat restlessly in their chair, much like children.
"Sure," Pedro said as he smiled at his aunts. They paused for a moment, obviously for dramatic effect.
"Pedro and David got married!" Maribel and Joya said as they ran around to hug their nephew and me. Norah smiled and came across to me as well. Antony and Maria stayed on the other side of the table, giving the aunts room enough to get their hugs in.
"Damnit," Maria said, garnering the attention of everyone in the room. Everyone looked at her. "This means I have another family member I have to buy a Christmas present for!" The women in the room began to chuckle as they turned back to us. I began to cry myself, feeling a little overwhelmed from the suspense of the moment.
In a little while, the women began to talk about a party they were going to throw for us to celebrate. I managed to pull Pedro away from his cousins for a few minutes. I pulled him into the hall outside the kitchen.
I kissed him passionately. I kissed as if it were the last time we'd be able to kiss. I slowly pulled myself apart from him when I felt myself getting hard. "What was that for?" he asked.
"Because I can kiss you...because I want to kiss you...because I love you...you decide which answer you like best."
He put his strong hands and on my shoulders and returned the kiss. I thought about him and him alone. Nothing else in the world mattered to me at that moment. I was in love. I was so in love that I couldn't imagine being without him. Maria and Antony caught us in the hallway and embarrassed us by telling everyone we were making out.
"At least get a room!" Abu yelled from the kitchen. We stayed there for a while, telling all about Canada. We told them about the sights and scenes of the city. We told them about meeting the premier and getting lost in the Greektown. We told them about the people singing hymns on the plane ride home. Pedro told them about me dripping marinara sauce onto a new shirt that I'd purchased while we were there and the large Italian woman making a big deal about it, forcing everyone in the restaurant to look at me.
The entire time we were there, the only doubt that entered my mind was if I would be able to assimilate into the culture of the city. Of course I would. I was assured of it by the look in Pedro's eyes: the look of love that so deeply rested in his eyes.
As the day gave way to the night, Pedro and I left Abu's house. After the half hour goodbye, we headed back to the apartment. It seemed surreal almost, to be going back to the place that Josh had first moved into so many years before. We passed the place where Josh died. It bore none of the scars that lived deep within me when Josh died. We passed the grocery store and the place where Pedro's own uncle had raped me. I felt none of the weakness that I'd felt for so many months after the event. I thought it would have shaped my personality, but it hadn't. I had come out of the event much stronger than I was beforehand. My love and devotion to Pedro had grown stronger as a result. We pulled into the complex to find the party had already started, spilling into the small patch of grass in front of the apartment. We climbed the stairs to our apartment, muddling through the people standing there. Once past the crowd, we slipped into the apartment. Pedro breathed relief for a second, turning to complete the kiss that had been interrupted earlier by his cousin and my "surrogate little brother."
"I love you, David Miguel Jansen."
"I love you too, Pedro Morales," I said as I kissed him. I wanted to be next to him forever.
"DAVID MIGUEL!" Christopher screamed through the door before opening it with the spare key he still carried. "You bitch you didn't call me," he said as I noticed Antony and Maria standing behind him. "My best friend goes and gets married to the finest guy ever on the face of the planet and he doesn't even call me."
"I'm sorry, Christopher."
"I'll be fine. I just always thought I would be the maid of honor," he said with a tone that let me know he was joking.
"I love you, Christopher," I said as I went over to him and hugged him deeply. "You mean the world to me."
"You are my brother," he whispered emotionally into my ear. A tear came to my eyes as his words resonated through my mind. "Congratulations for real, David. I am so happy for you. And Pedro!" he said as he walked over to him. "Congratulations. Take care of him up there in Toronto," he hugged Pedro as well.
"This is a fucking party!" Jamie said as he came into the room to find the emotional state of things.
"Do you know what these bitches did while they were in Canada?" Christopher asked Jamie, pretending once again to be angry.
"No," Jamie answered cautiously.
"These bitches went up there to Canada and got hitched!"
Jamie's eyes opened widely. "OH MY FUCKING GOD! KYLE! COLE! Y'all come here and listen to this shit."
"What babe?" Cole asked as he came in.
"You alright, Dork?" Kyle asked as he followed him in. A crowd had also formed outside of the apartment.
"Yeah. I am fine. These fuckers got married when they were in Canada."
"Congrats!" Cole said as he walked into the apartment. Kyle followed, coming over to give each of us hugs. Jamie joined in the hugging as well.
The party eventually moved freely between our apartments, with people occupying the stoop, both living rooms and even a couple of private spots in the other apartment. A good time was had by all, even the crabby man downstairs came up and had a beer with us when he found out what was going on.
After sunrise, we finally got all the people out of the house. Pedro and I were both exhausted. Making love wasn't an option for either of us, but Maria and Antony were obviously finding the time and energy in the living room as they "slept" on the sofabed.
We slept until late in the afternoon. We needed the rest after running around for two days solid. We fixed dinner and had a nice time with Antony and Maria.
Pedro went back to Toronto on Tuesday to finalize the purchase of a house we'd agreed to buy when we were up there. It was hard to be there without him for the two days he was gone. It was good when he got back, though. (We got busy for almost two days solid; he was insatiable.) Pedro was set to start working from home the next week, so we spent all the available time we could together, opting to turn down invitations from our family and friends so that we could spend time with each other, as newlyweds.
===== Questions or comments? send an email to boricuaholandes@hotmail.com