CHAPTER 5 - YOU SAY CURIOUS WE SAY MEDDLESOME...VERY MEDDLESOME!
HILTON HOTEL - AN HOUR LATER
MEL AND LINDSAY’S SUITE
MEL
I’m so glad, he got caught in traffic. It has given me a bit of time to get my head round this latest development! The hard knocking signals his arrival and he storms in like he’s trying to rescue Captain Astro from the nefarious clutches of some lame-brain-named villain!
“Michael, how are you?” I ask, unable to resist the dig.
“How do you think I am?!” He sits down hard.
“Hello, Uncle Michael!” Jenny trills, coming to sit next to him.
“Hey Jenny. How are you, sweetheart?” He smiles at her and she preens under his attention.
“Upset over this news!” She whimpers. “If it’s true, I’m going to be even more left out than before.”
“You’re not going to be left out, Jenny. You’re going to be treated exactly the same way you were before. Stop being melodramatic!” I have reached my limit with her whining about how she never gets the things she wants, when she wants them.
“Besides, there is no proof that this is Brian’s child. We have to persuade him to have a DNA test, not just take the word of some pretty princess.” Michael’s voice is dripping with jealousy, but of what? He has always expressed relief that he doesn’t carry the male pregnancy gene!
“Thankfully, I managed to persuade him to do that already and…” Lindsay begins.
“You did? I thought it was Brian, who said that he and the other father agreed to this before he called you.”
She blushes...yeah Lindsay you tend to forget you live with an attorney, who has a snap-trap-locks it in mind!
“I’m sure mommy was going to suggest that to Uncle Brian, but he read her mind. He’s very clever.” Jenny chirrups, earning a Miss Congeniality smile from Lindsay.
“So what do we do now?” Michael demands.
“Well, nothing.” I reply calmly and all three of them look incredulous. “There is no point in you getting your panties in a bunch over something that might be the case, although judging by what Ted said…”
“Ted? When did you speak to Ted?!” Lindsay demands, testily.
“While you and Jenny were downstairs having your calming drinks…” I begin and hold up my hand to stop her interrupting. “He said that there is a 99.9% chance that she’s Justin’s and Kendi is Brian’s.”
“Justin? Is that his name? Did he give a surname?” She asks excitedly with that gleam in her eye.
“No. Just said his…”
“Wait, he would had to have registered the birth!” Michael declares excitedly. “And back then it was rarer for men to have babies. There can’t be too many kids with that name, so we can look it up!”
“We would need her date of birth!” Jenny bounces to get the laptop and I shake my head, waiting for them to be stymied by bureaucracy.
TAYLOR RESIDENCE - AN HOUR LATER
JUSTIN
We ordered take-out so that we could really talk. I have just finished plating up with Kemi when my phone beeps and it’s Nya, telling me that she’s going to do some shopping with Emmett while Ted has gone back to work.
We carry the Chinese back to the lounge and I try not to remember the last time I ate food with Brian. “So what do you want to know?” I ask Kemi and she chews quickly.
“Well obviously not how we came to be, but what happened after you and dad left each other?”
“We didn’t leave each other; we left the loft.” Brian corrects her while winking at me. “And went to the diner, where your pop here inhaled his body weight in waffles before I was summoned to grandma’s to prove that I was alive!”
“Huh?” Kendi frowns.
“Michael was concerned about my whereabouts.” He recalls ruefully.
“You say concerned, I say fixated to the point that you might wake up one day with a GPS tag on.” Kemi grumbles, crossly.
“Kemi.” Brian warns.
“Well, he does! Every time dad is out of his sight and he can’t find him at the diner, at home or at work, he blows up his phone. So glad that I got the lo…” She immediately stops talking.
“You got what?” Brian slowly puts his chopsticks down.
“The locks to the loft changed.” She says, locking eyes with him. Kendi whistles and Gus just stares at her. “He kept coming in to wait for you. He’d be there before I’d get home from school, just helping himself to our food, watching TV... that kind of stuff and mostly ignoring me. That I was fine with, but you don’t come into our home and lord it over me like you belong there, telling me to go downstairs and shit like that so you could watch your crappy shows in peace! That’s what he did all the time.”
“I didn’t know that. Why didn’t you tell me?” His face softens.
“I found the solution and went with it.” She replies quietly. “Do I have to have the salad?”
“No, but you must tell me things like that, okay?” She nods. “As a matter of interest, how did he take it?”
She smirks. “Remember when he had that horrible cold, or the bubonic plague, as he described it?” He starts to chuckle and nods. “He was sitting outside the building on one of the coldest days of the year for three hours, wearing not very winter appropriate clothing. I saw him shivering there…”
“And you went round the back? I assume there is a backdoor?” Kendi snickers.
“Fuck yeah!” She laughs.
“Oh my God, you need to apologise to your grandmother. She was fetching and carrying for him for an entire week!”
“Okay. I will apologise to her, but not him!”
“Deal.” Brian starts to laugh.
“Oh hang on…Justin Taylor speaking. Yes, this is Justin Taylor. It’s who, sorry? Oh. Um yes, you can...oh wait, I don’t have email on my phone...hang on. Do any of you have email on your phone?”
“I do.” Gus replies. “Gmail okay?”
“Perfect. Hello. Yes can you send it to my Gmail account please? Thank you, bye.” I hang up frowning and take Gus’s phone.
“Papa J, you okay?”
“Not sure.” I nibble on my nail as I wait for the mail to come through and quickly open it when it beeps. As I read it, I start to get pissed. “What’s your friend’s surname?”
“Which one? Michael?” Brian replies.
“Yeah.” I can feel my anger rising.
“Novotny.”
“Read this...” I hand him the phone and his eyes widen. “Is it him?”
“Yeah, it looks like it! Fucking hell and I bet anything, he’s with Lindsay right now. Hold on a second!” He pulls out his phone and after a quick conversation, nods at me. “Yep, they are all together!” He growls.
“What’s going on, pa?” Kendi demands, going around to check over his shoulder. “What’s the MPREG Registry?”
“When you were born, it wasn’t as common for men to have babies and some babies didn’t survive. So all births and deaths had to be registered, naming the child and…”
“The father!” Gus huffs. “He’s trying to find out who you are?!”
“See? This is why I changed the locks!” Kemi spits triumphantly.
“He can’t find out anything without my permission. When you were first born, a simple verbal confirmation with social security number would’ve gotten whoever the information that they wanted. People weren’t as tolerant as they supposedly are now. But with the high profile male carriers, more security was needed. So they require written and verbal permission from the father before any information can be given out.” I take a breath. “Call Kenya and ask her to come back here. Where are you staying, Gus?”
“Hilton Hotel Downtown.”
“Kenya, it’s dad...no, he’s fine but he’s good and mad. Can you come back? I’ll explain when you get here.” She hangs up looking worried, but I stroke her cheek and she smiles. “She’s on her way.”
“Come on, let’s go! They want to meet me, then meet me they shall!” I growl.
“I’ll see you guys soon, I hope.” Gus stands up sighing sadly.
“Gus, where are you going?” I ask.
“I’m not going home now?” He looks hopeful.
“No, you’ve got a sister and Nya to get to know. We won’t be long. Only open for Nya, understand?”
“Okay, dad. Don’t get arrested please!”
“I always warn first. You know that.”
HILTON HOTEL - AN HOUR LATER
MEL AND LINDSAY’S SUITE
MICHAEL
“I knew Kiki was wrong!” I crow as I wait for Brian to come. “And here he is!”
“Let me get it!” Lindsay calls out. “It is our suite, after all. And I want to speak to him before you take him off!”
She opens the door and I hear her say his name. Then she asks who someone is, so I go to see.
“The name is Justin and I want to know why in fuck you…” He hisses at me. “...are asking for information about our child!”
“Wh-what?” I stammer and look at Brian, who doesn’t say anything.
“You requested information on our child from the MPREG Registry and they contacted me to get my permission to give it. So I thought I would come round and tell you that you will find out about our daughter when we are good and ready to fucking tell you! Try that shit again and I shall, to paraphrase our daughter...knock you on your ass so hard you won’t sit down or piss straight for a fucking week! Do you understand?!”
JUSTIN
“Now just a minute! You don’t come into our…”
“Shut up, Lindsay!” Brian snaps. “Take on board what he said, Michael, and know that he speaks for both of us here! And in case you’ve not figured it out, the drinks you were planning on us having tonight are cancelled!”
“Come on Brian, we’ve got children to get back to.”
“Wait, where’s Gus?!” Lindsay demands.
“Getting to know his sister, of course. Where else do you expect him to be?! And know this, Lindsay, is it?” I pause and look her up and down sure that I smell pure, stinking WASP. “Give Gus any, and I mean any shit and you will answer to me! Come on Brian, let’s go!”
I hear the bang of the door as I stalk to the lift and then footsteps behind me as Brian runs to catch up to me.
“That was fucking hot!” He growls in my ear.
“Oh, Christ! Don’t! I believe that’s what you said the first time!” I whimper and as the lift doors open we find it empty.
“Stairs! We are definitely taking the stairs!” He orders and pulls me to the stairwell.
MEL AND LINDSAY’S SUITE - 40 MINUTES LATER
MEL
Well that was fun to watch! They are both still bitching about it and looking stunned but, in Lindsay’s case, pale as well.
“How’d that work out for you, then?” I ask them.
“Did you know about this?!” Michael demands.
“Oh yes and for your information, I know his surname.” I laugh at their incredulous expressions.
“How do you know that?!” Lindsay is almost puce with fury.
“Simple. I phoned up Gus, you know our son, and asked him to ask his dad if he could tell us Justin’s surname and Brian said he could.”
“So, what is it?!” Michael demands.
“Taylor, Justin Cole Taylor of Fox Chapel.” Lindsay’s face almost goes through the floor. “Yes Lindsay, that Justin Cole Taylor of Fox Chapel…”
“What’s so big and important about him?” Michael sneers and Lindsay almost breaks her neck, whipping her head round.
“In WASP terms, his family is the equivalent of the Asian Giant Hornet and Lindsay’s family...well, isn’t. And after the things you said about him, all those years ago, Lindsay...” I scold her and try to and suppress my mirth. Looks like her chickens are finally coming home to roost...again!
“Excuse me, I need to make a call.” This time, I can’t control the chuckle that escapes as there are no prizes for guessing exactly who she’s about to phone. Her goose is cooked, Justin is going to serve it and she is going to choke!
BEDROOM
LINDSAY
I pace and wipe my suddenly clammy hand on my skirt. “Mother, it’s me, Lindsay. Fine, fine, yes it’s wonderful to be back in Pittsburgh. Look, the reason for my call, do you remember that teen male pregnancy about 15 years ago?” I groan as she blathers about something about her badminton friends. “Mother, sorry to interrupt but I have to go to dinner soon...the male preg...was it Justin Cole Taylor?” I swallow hard and thank her, saying a weak goodbye after she confirms what Mel has said.
I sink onto the bed, hoping and praying that his mother and father, if they are still alive, don’t remember me. I remember the very public dressing down I got from his father and being banned from their very prestigious cotillion dance after describing him as a freak of nature with loose morals! My jealousy over him having the support of his parents while he was quite obviously gay, never chafed as much as in that moment. It was a testament to me of how different we were in station. It wasn’t until later that I realized just how low on the proverbial food chain my family was, and still, is. Because of that banishment, Lynette went and she met her husband and has been living the Life of Riley ever since while I’m stuck here with Melanie! Not only that, but my career hopes were forever tarnished because I had the temerity to speak everyone else’s true thoughts. No one would hire me for fear of incurring the wrath of one of the most prominent families in Pittsburgh. Ultimately, it made the move to Toronto that much easier since I was stuck in a low-paying job, while my son was considered a bastard in the interim.
But how I loved being pregnant, especially with Brian Kinney’s child. However, I was yet again, in the shadow of someone else and that had to be Brian, of all fucking people! I wanted to bask in the notoriety of being the mother to his child. When he proudly decided to keep the little freak he birthed, I was so hurt. But Mel seemed weirdly proud of his decision, pointing out that this is Brian ‘The Stud of Liberty Avenue’ Kinney, who is stepping up and taking responsibility instead of fucking and sucking all over the place. He completely changed overnight! And of course, the fucking Avenue had to support their king, while I was struggling with Gus on my own as Mel worked. He had reams of people on standby to help with babysitting and the like. Okay, I will admit that when we were on the Avenue, they never treated Gus any different, but they never called me to offer any help!
After two years, my anguish settled down until I wanted another baby and I wanted my do over with Brian as the father. To my mind, he owed me for hogging the spotlight and attention from me the last time. His vehement objection to fathering a second child for us cut me to the quick, especially when he said he would never put himself in the position of being a walking bank account for me again. I never told Mel that as she kept harping on about us supporting ourselves, without having to rely on him all the time. But when Jenny was born, he thawed a little and I used that to my advantage to make him help take care of Jenny as well. Although, not being biologically related, it was still as if she had Brian Kinney as a father to some extent. But now with this new little madam and her high-profile ingrate of a father’s arrival, it will be even more apparent that he doesn’t owe Jenny, or me for that matter, a fucking thing!
But with every disappointment is hidden luck. Gus is my chance to finally be as connected as the Taylors are, and I have no compunction in using him to be so. Perhaps Justin’s daughter is less barroom brawler in her attitude than Kemi; a bit more refined in her manner since she was born into a life of privilege. I shall encourage Jenny to befriend her at all costs, especially if she wants the finer things in life, just as she and I deserve. It should be as easy to mold that young mind as it has been with my daughter, especially since she’s never had a true mother’s influence. And Mel will either come aboard or be left by the wayside; it’s her choice. But either way, I will have what the fuck I want for once in my life...power, prestige and a purse to rival Lynette’s, and all at the expense of fucking Brian and Justin. Time to make nice!
