Justin made his way back to his cabin, utterly exhausted. To think even for a moment in time his father thought about stabbing him just broke him. Daphne had pulled him out of there after security rushed in. If it hadn’t been for Brian and another man, they would have been too late. Everything was just so royally fucked up. It just didn’t matter to anymore to him. Nothing did, after talking to his mother he knew who she blamed.

“What did your mom say?” Daphne asked as he entered the cabin.

“She’s going to get off the ship when we dock in the Bahamas, fly back home with dad. They can’t really charge him with anything, even if they did nothing could really come of it. If he would have stabbed me then they would try but with this, nothing. Mom said that if I hadn’t been thrown my life in his face none of this would have happened.”

When he and Daphne had gotten to the dining room, his parents were already waiting. When they walked up to the table his mother made a comment. “About time you two lovebirds show up.” They had looked at each other before he pointed out that he was gay, and there would be nothing between him and Daphne beyond friendship. That’s when his dad surged to his feet and slapped him so hard, he lost his balance and fell.

“That’s crap, all you did was point out that we weren’t together. He’s the one that couldn’t handle it. What about Molly? She had been so looking forward to this trip.”

“I convinced her to let Molly stay with us. We’re adults and can take over her care. There’s no way she can fit in here with us, so Mom is talking to the someone about us staying in their suite.”

“They can do that?”

“I guess, you know my mom, it’s only with my dad she’s a pushover. With everyone else she’s the prim and proper schoolmarm that gets her way.”

“We’re supposed to dock early tomorrow. I love Molly but she’s going to put a damper in this trip for us,” Daphne said.

“You’re the one supposed to be putting a happy spin on this. I think we just make the best of it. Having time away from Mom and Dad will be good for her. There’s a kid’s activities class, Mom told me. She’s signed up already, it’s from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, including when we are docked unless we take her.”

“It feels very Kids’ Day Out doesn’t it?” she asked with a small smile.

“Yeah, we have to put what Dad did behind us, Molly doesn’t deserve it. Who knows what kind of house she’ll be coming back to when she goes home? Right now, Mom is all about defending my dad, but you know her, she’ll realize if it wasn’t for Brian and that other guy, Dad would have stabbed me.”

“Wait! That was Brian? The Brian?”

He hadn’t told her much but finally told her some on the way to dinner. “Yep, that was him.”

“Which one? The one that looked like Summer’s dad or-

“Eww, the other one. The gorgeous one.”

“So, ready to tell me all about it?”

“Fine, if I must, then we’ll go get Molly from Mom and take her to see the fireworks.”

“What if the boat catches on fire?”

“It’s a ship and they have precautions.” His niece was going to drive him crazy. She was at that age where she was forever asking questions, question about questions even. His dad just loved it, felt that he could share his wisdom. Sadly, his dad and aunt wouldn’t be joining them tonight so she could annoy them. To make sure his dad stayed healthy enough for the whole trip he had to stick to his regime and that was going to bed early.

They were taking a short cut he found on the map. It was more deserted than the other walkways, but they would come out at a perfect spot for watching the fireworks. As they walked further down, he heard a noise, a very familiar noise. He turned, not wanting his niece to see but it was too late. She saw same time as he did.

“Why is Uncle David kissing that man? That’s not Uncle Mikey. Why was his hand in his pants? Only Uncle Mikey should kiss Uncle David.”

“Come on, Bug, we’ll miss the show if we don’t hurry.” As much as he fought with Michael, it didn’t mean he wanted him to be made a fool of, he did that enough on his own. Brian knew something was up, Michael had been overcompensating. Saying how well their relationship was, how faithful and loving David was. The whole faithful thing didn’t make sense to him but if you said you were going to be, you damn well better be.

The fireworks show was nice, and Polly loved it. He thought he caught a glimpse of Justin, but it was so crowded he couldn’t be sure. When he got back to Claire’s room, she answered the door with tears in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

She looked at Polly then back up to him. Turning she looked at the young woman she brought as a babysitter. “Kayla, can you put Polly to bed while I go for a walk with Brian?”

“Sure,” the perky, pink haired girl said, giving Claire a weak smile.

Claire didn’t say anything for a while, he just walked beside her, waiting.

“He said he just wants to meet her once but doesn’t want her to know who he is. He’s going to be doing something that people will look for things to use against him.”

It’s what he expected. You didn’t wait all this time and then come in and be father of the year.

“What’s the deal, Claire? Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?”

“You’ll hate me. Everyone will.”

“You were just stupid and had unprotected sex on vacation, getting pregnant. No one’s going to hate you. Just spit it out, you’re giving me a headache.”

“I didn’t meet him on vacation.”

Brian thought back to the time, it was hard because both of them liked go off when they wanted. It was a trait their father gave them; he would tell them about his adventures, and they wanted to have adventures too. Claire had even gone to France for six months for Work-Study as an Au-pair. She had graduated top of her class, just like him. She had become a software engineer and made great money. Unlike him though, she lived the life of a pauper, but only since she got pregnant. He was surprised she agreed with their dad and came on this trip. But it seemed she had an ulterior motive. “Well?”

“Brian, it’s Jim.”

“Jim? Jim who?”

“It’s James Stockwell.”

She couldn’t have surprised him more if she had said it was Santa Claus. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

“I knew you’d hate me.”

“He’s a fucking homo-bashing cop who wants us dead.”

“I didn’t know that at the time. I was working on a project for the city and he was so nice and gentle. It just happened. I was already pregnant when I left, I left to have an excuse; make up a handsome stranger. I just wasn’t able to tell the lie of some no named man being her father.”

“I thought she was pretty fat for being a preemie.”

“Stop. It just happened. When I told him, he ended it and said to never show my face there again.”

“But you did when Dad was arrested, did you forget that?”

He could feel his blood boiling. Their father was arrested last year by some cop trying to catch gays. All he did was go to the bathroom in the mall. They had raked his father’s good name over the coals. The good Chief went public calling his father a pervert and a deviant. They had sued the city and it was settled out of court. He wanted to bury them all but his father, the gentle man he was just wanted it over. He had wondered why Stockwell backed down once they all confronted him. He was scared Claire would tell his dirty little secret, probably had something to do with the settlement so soon.

“It was all before that.”

“Tonight wasn’t, you wanted this asshole to be her father. I-I can’t look at you right now.”

He turned and stomped off before he said something he regretted.