CHAPTER 63 - A PROMISE IS A PROMISE...REMEMBER THAT

CAR TO MICHAEL’S APARTMENT

PHOEBE

I know that he is doing it for shock value. So if he thinks I’m going to show my revulsion at them making out, he’s mistaken. Ray keeps surreptitiously checking to see if I’m watching. Even if I wasn't, I can hear them slurping away...seriously, makes me want to heave!

“You two will want to get unstuck since we’re here.” I tell them, keeping my tone neutral and judging by that dazed expression on his face, he was feeling it a lot more than Ray was.

“Sorry if that was a little uncomfortable for you, but I just couldn't help myself. He has a certain charm, don't you think?” Ray smarms.

“If you say so.” I reply, smoothly. “Can you get his things out of the trunk please, Rod?” I ask one of my guys.

“What time’s your flight?” Novotny rubs Ray’s thigh.

“I don't know. Ask my gaoler.”

They both look expectantly at me. “Private plane; it leaves when you get there. Yeah they want rid of you that badly.” Ray sits back in his seat. “And that is in the next hour, even if we have to take you both there. You will be on that plane.”

“Phoebs, you need some help getting him out?” Rod asks, looking rather eager to flex some muscle.

“Well?” I look at him with my eyebrow raised. He’s staring back but the second he understands that it’s not an idle threat, he slowly starts to shuffle along the seat. Ray stops him and hands him a card. “What’s this?”

“My address in London. Look me up sometime.” He leans across and pulls him into another kiss. “Make it soon.”

“I will, I promise.” Novotny says and finally gets out and Rod gets in.

“Let’s go!” I call out and we pull out into traffic.

“I know you are going to tell my father and grand…”

“No, I tend to forget about you as soon as you are out of my sight. But I will tell you something. You’ve got yourself a problem there.”

“How do you reckon?”

“He’s going to take you up on that.” I smirk, but he shakes his head.

“He’d be an idiot to do that.”

“You can't say you weren't warned.” I giggle, imaging his face when he gets that knock on his door!

SCHICKEL MANSION

LOUNGE

MEL

“Should we check on them?” I ask Leda. “They’ve been in there for a long time.”

“Maybe send Vic or Debs.” She suggests and I head in their direction.

“Sorry guys but they've been in there a while. Could one of you…”

“I’ll go.” Debs pats Vic’s arm. “You go and relax Vic.”

“Want me to come with? The hyperventilating was a surprise. For it being Brian doing it, I mean.”

“Yeah. Vic briefly told me what happened. Can you explain how this led to Michael being kicked out?”

“Vance had set up Brian for a meeting and one of the terms would've been to give the shares that Franc has in Vance’s company as part of the deal. The guy would then sell or give them to Vance, giving him back full control of his company.”

“But that still doesn't explain…”

“If Michael hadn't told Vance what Brian was doing against Stockwell, then he wouldn't have had to buy him out of the partnership.”

Debs goes still and stares at me. “Michael did what?!” She hisses, her face starting to drain of colour. “Why would he do such a thing?! What thing was Brian doing with Stockwell?!”

Oh shit, this is not going to be pretty!

“Let’s see how they are then I will tell you everything.” I sigh.

She knocks on the door but there’s no response. We slowly open the door and Brian is asleep with his head in Justin’s lap, who is also sleeping. “The window.” She whispers and I go across to close it.

“How are they?” George asks quietly, making Debs and I jump. “We’ve got some blankets. Unless you think we should wake them and send them to bed?”

“Give me the blankets; I’ll sort them out. Be right out.” Debs smiles.

DEBS

I wait for the door to shut before I cover him with a blanket, tucking it all round him making sure his feet are covered. As a kid, he always hated his feet getting cold. I squeeze my fists real tight to stop the tears but one ekes out. How could he?! How could he do this to his best friend?! Brian could’ve been left destitute! He could’ve lost Gus to that gallivanting fucking nightmare called Lindsay!

“What were you doing kiddo?” I whisper. “And why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Doing what he does best. He was looking after those who are important to him.” Justin’s quiet voice has me reaching for his hand. “He’s not told me about it. But I think it would be best if you heard it from him first.” He looks beat. “Will you stay with him? Above all else, he needs his mom.”

“As if you had to ask. Let me get some more blankets.”

“No. I’ll get them. And after that I’m going to check on Gus.” He lifts Brian’s head and slides out and I slide in. “Do me a favour and respect his decision. That’s all I ask you to do. Respect it.”

“I will.” He comes back less than two minutes later with the blankets and I cover myself up and watch my boy sleep. An hour later, he starts to open his eyes and looks confused as he sits back up. “Hey sweetheart, how you feeling?”

His eyes are red rimmed and he looks twice as exhausted as Justin, but I just had to ask the dumbest question in the world! For all intents and purposes, Brian Kinney is my son and always will be. I can’t help but want to know that he’s okay from his own lips.

“I’m okay. Where’s Justin?”

“In the lounge, trying to pick out a name for David’s dog with the rest of the adults! Tinkerbell is getting an alarming amount of votes!”

“David has a dog? When did David get a dog?” He lies back down and rests his head back in my lap.

“About two or three hours ago. She’s Grady’s sister.” I explain and he nods tiredly.

“They should call her Grace.” He mutters.

“So you going to tell me how you protected us all by your damn self?!” I demand. “And no bullshitting or missing bits out; I want to know everything!”

By the time he finishes, I have tears streaming down my face and we are completely unaware that the door has been opened and there are stunned faces outside.

“Brian?” Ems gasps. “That was you? You did those adverts? The posters? Everything? Please tell me this wasn’t at the same time as the cancer...oh fuck!”

“CANCER! WHAT FUCKING CANCER?!” Vic bellows.

“Please, can everyone just stop shouting? And no Emmy, it was after that. Although not much time went by between each clusterfuck. A month or two at the most.”

“Kiddo, you ever fucking do that to us again I will kill you and then resuscitate you so I can kill your ass again!” Vic punches him in the arm and he gives a tired smile.

“Okay, this kiddo is going to go to bed with his favourite blonde and does not want to be disturbed unless their names are Ruby or Gus before at least 1100 tomorrow morning. Do we have a deal?”

“Deal! You all heard me. Deal!” I look round our family and they wisely nod.

BRIAN

I trudge wearily up the stairs with Justin leading and for the second time since I’ve been with him, I am too emotionally wrung out to do anything but sleep some more. As we get to the attic room, he puts his fingers over his lips.

“He insisted.” He whispers points to the bed...and there sleeping with Leather Bear is Gus. “I said you were a little upset over something and he said that he wanted to sleep with you to make it all better. Go brush your teeth and just get in so we can get some proper sleep.”

Twenty minutes later, we manage to manoeuvre our way in without waking him up or so we thought. He wiggles his way between us and puts Leather Bear above his head. “Daddy, papa? I think we need to speak to Mr Michael again. He upset Rebecca and all she did was say sorry.”

“Yeah there will be a lot of talking to Mr Michael but on Tuesday. Now we need to go to sleep.”

“Okay daddy, okay pa…” Gus turns over and looks at me. “Papa falls asleep really quickly, doesn’t he?”

“Well he would if a little gremlin and his daddy would stop talking!” He grumbles from under the pillow.

“Night papa, love you!”

Night Gussie, love you too!” We say as usual.

“Daddy, papa, they can’t come!” Gus exclaims.

“Who can’t?”

“Rhubarb, Custard and the kittens. They can’t come because of Grace and Grady.”

“We’ll figure something out Gus. Now go to sleep.” I tell him gently.

“Night night.”

“Night night.” I reply.

MEL AND LEDA’S ROOM - SUNDAY MORNING

MEL

Ruby is just waking up and as per usual, she’s amusing herself. I am making phone calls to the office to get everything prepared for the ass kicking of Vance’s life. I might try for punitive damages against Libierwize Pharmaceuticals as a company or just Reinhard by himself. However, George wants at him first!

Leda turns over. “So what’s happening today?”

“An hour of me working and then we’re going to finish off the rest of the party.”

“Okay. Shall I take the little miss to her daddies?” She asks, sitting up. “Oh no, it’s too early.”

“Just a bit. But I don’t think they’ll mind.”

ATTIC ROOM

BRIAN

Leda came up with Ruby but has now gone back to their room with Gus and Ruby as he wanted to help with breakfast. Now it’s just us.

“You are just amazing.” He whispers from my chest, playing with my nipple.

“I’m not. I just stand by my principles.”

“And your decision regarding Michael, will you stand by that?”

“Yes.” I state firmly and I feel him smile. “Now we are no longer talking about him until we absolutely have to. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” He kisses my chest. “We’re going to have to say no to Gus about the cats. With all the kids plus Grady and Grace, it won’t be fair on them.”

“Speaking of Grace, how did she come to be here?”

“Andrew went and got her after he begged the breeder to keep her for him. And then there was the kiss!”

“Kiss? Who kissed whom?” I ask, rolling him onto his back.

“David kissed Andrew, first to say thank you for bringing Grace and then Andrew kissed him with a bit more passion that had nothing at all to do with gratitude.”

“Speaking of passion, we need to find your mother!” I grouse. “These are Prada and I am not rolling up the leg to pee again!”

KITCHEN

FRANC

Emmy is still looking thoughtful. “What’s up, buttercup?” I ask him.

“Ted told us what happened in the office. I can’t believe Michael did what he did!” I look puzzled. “Oh you don’t know, do you, you minx?”

By the time he finishes, I am incandescent! Immediately, I call my folks and explain what has happened. “Oh dad is on it. That fucker is going to get hit by all sides. And speak of the fucking devil!” I take a deep breath. “Franc Charles-Prince...ah Gardner.” I mouth get Mel and grandpa at him and they join us within minutes. “This had better be good!”

“Francesca about our telephone discussion last night…. obviously, I was very distressed and said some things that I shouldn’t have said.”

“You said that my dad and Brian had a knee trembler! You tried to set Brian up so that you could get the shares back! What about those two statements was at all to be misconstrued?”

He stammers. “Br-Brian will understand. What would you have done in my position? It’s a dog eat dog world out there. And…”

“I would’ve honoured the deal I shook on!” I spit. “But because he’s arrogant and less of a man, you didn’t!”

“Well I…”

“And I have told my father what you said…”

“What?!” He gasps. “Why have you done that?!”

“Because you besmirched and defamed both his and Brian’s characters. He’s coming for you too and...”

“Francesca! I profusely apologise! Please accept it?!”

“You lied to Brian. You lied about Brian. But more importantly, you lied about my dad! As my Haitian grandmother would say pa pral gen anyen ki kite men zo. Bye now!”

I take a deep breath and look at my grandfather. His look of pride has me blinking back tears.

“What did that mean?” He asks gently, taking me into his arms.

“There will be nothing left but bones.” I wipe my eyes. “But enough about that. It’s time to finish off the party!”

MICHAEL’S APARTMENT - SAME TIME

LOUNGE

I can’t believe that Uncle Vic had me thrown out! And I don’t believe it was Brian that did that! He’s changed so much since he took up with Rodney, and not for the better. He has gotten snobby, forgetting who his family really is. I think that Ma needs to talk to him about his attitude!

I cast my mind back to the kiss between Ray and me last night. He wasn’t bad. I will take great pleasure in making sure that David hears about that! I will email them both later.

SCHICKEL RESIDENCE

GARDEN

GUS

I am following Auntie Emmy and Franc, who have our brunch. All my friends have gotten changed and are waiting for it with their mommies and daddies. I helped with the fruit pizzas but we’re also having bacon and egg rolls! This has got to be the bestest birthday party ever!

“Gussie! Can you come here for a minute?” Papa calls out.

“Yes papa.”

“It’s about the cats and kittens.” He kneels down. “Because Grady and Grace are going to be coming back, it would be unfair of them to be here. Do you understand?”

I think about this for a minute and then nod. “I understand, papa.”

“Good boy.” He smiles. “Now go and have your brunch so you can do your presentation and open one present before we go home.”

“Yes papa.” I start to go to my friends before stopping and looking around. “Where’s Mr Michael?”

“He wasn’t feeling well so went home early. So we will see him on Tuesday after school.”

“Okay papa. Can you tell him about Rebecca for me, please? And when’s Mr David coming?”

“Oh I will Gussie. As for Mr David, I think right about now.” He’s smiling and looking behind me. “Now let him come to you because Grace isn’t used to you all.”

Mr David and Mr Andrew are coming over with Grady and Grace. “Oh I’m so happy. Best birthday ever.”

“I’m glad you are enjoying it, Sonny Boy. Now go and have your brunch.” Daddy pouts as papa takes the roll off him and takes a big bite before handing it back. “Oh, you are so going to pay on date night.”

“Look forward to it.” Papa smiles that smile at daddy...he really likes that smile!

DAVID

She really is the most adorable little puppy. I completely weakened and instead of leaving her in the kitchen like I was instructed to by Andrew, she ended up sleeping at the bottom of my bed…well that’s where she started…

“Mr David.” Chandra smiles at me. “We have something for you.”

“Let me just put Grace down. She’s still a little wary. So everyone must be quiet, okay?” They all nod and smile. “Okay, so what is it you want to give me?”

“Our hero pictures!” She hands me a whole pile of pictures. “For saving Grady yesterday.”

I feel a little lump in my throat. “Th-thank you very much. I’m very touched.”

“Round of good claps for Mr David!” Chandra calls out and as everyone claps, I feel my face going bright red.

“My hero! I shall give you my own present after our date, if you want?” Andrew whispers in my ear and I shiver with anticipation before nodding.

The rest of Sunday at the Schickel Residence is spent in the most enjoyable way and on the way back to mine, Andrew and I set up a date!

DEBS’ HOUSE - TUESDAY LATE AFTERNOON

LOUNGE

DEBS

We’re waiting for Michael. This is going to be a very difficult but a necessary thing.

“When did he say he was getting here?” Rodney asks, looking across at Vic. There’s something going on there too?!

“In about 10 minutes.” I jump as the door knocks but its Brian and Justin.

“How you feeling, kiddo?” I embrace him tightly.

“Fine… definitely a lot better than Vance. He got served by me and Franc’s dad yesterday afternoon and has been on the phone ever since begging me to let this go. But I’m not backing down on him, either!”

“Good!” I beam at him with pride and then sigh when the door knocks signalling his arrival. I wait for a few seconds to gather myself before opening the door.

“Hi Ma, oh Uncle Vic, I’m glad you’re here. I want to talk to you about…”

“Why did you go to Vance? Why did you put my future in danger? Why did you hurt me this way?” Brian interrupts, his voice clear but laced with hurt and anger.  “With what Stockwell represented, why?”

“What are you talking about?” Michael looks confused.

“Vance told me that you, as my fiancé, came to him and told him what I was doing against Stockwell…”

“I didn’t!” He objects.

“Just like you didn’t put a notice in Pittsburgh Out? Just like you didn’t order invites with yours and Brian’s names on it? Stop fucking lying!” Vic snaps.

“What?!” Brian and Justin say at the same time and actually start to back away.

“Uncle Vic!” Michael gasps going red. “There was no…”

“There was every need for Brian to be told about that!” Vic shouts. “And we do not want you at the wedding.”

“What? But Uncle Vic! I apologised for what I did before! Why are you punishing me for this again?!”

“No you didn’t apologise! You just explained away what you did and why! Besides, it’s our wedding and we can have who we want there and we don’t want you!”

“Brian! Ma! Do something!! Rodney has turned his head against me! He’s never liked me! I bet it was Rodney’s idea to have Brian give you away?!”

“Michael! I am not some mindless simpleton doing his bidding. And you’re right, he doesn’t like you and neither do I at the moment! I may love you because we’re blood related but liking you is a very different thing. Besides, let’s get one thing straight... It was me who told Rodney first that I didn’t want you at the wedding. This just proves that I should have stuck to my guns, so I am uninviting you again!”

“But…!”

“Answer my questions Michael.” Brian demands.

“You were working too hard and besides you got Kinnetic out of it! So in a way it’s down to me that you are in the position you are in now! You owe me for your success.” He smirks unwisely then yelps as Vic cracks him across his face. “What the...Uncle Vic?! Can everyone just stop?!” He holds up a placating hand. “I’m going to go now, but I will come back so that we can talk calmly about this.”

“That’s what you do best Michael. You do what you want and fuck everyone else. Well that shit ends right now! This shitty friendship is over! Go away. You no longer know me.” Brian is scarily calm.

“Brian, can you just calm down?! Right now you’re angry and…”

“No, I’m not angry Michael. I’m done.”

“You don’t mean that! You can’t… I know you Brian! You can’t ever be done with me. We love each other; we’re eternal. Always have, always will, remember Brian? Remember? You promised me that and you never break your promises! So I’ll come back once you’re calmer and…”

“Come near him and I will put you on your ass!” Justin growls.

“No one was talking to you!” He snarls before looking at Brian. “Brian….Brian, please...” He begs and tears start to form but Brian is unmoved.

“Michael, listen to me. Are you listening?” He nods, tears instantly stopping. And I wonder just how many times he’s done that to all of us; just how many times we’ve all fallen for his version of Lana Turner... “You know me, right? And you just said how I never break my promises. So here’s one just for you... I promise you Michael that I am done with you. Now stay the fuck away from me!”