The next day Justin had Ciaran in the beautiful sunroom that faced the east. It was morning, and he was relaxing on the chaise lounge with Ciaran sleeping on his chest. The room was completely warmed by a fireplace, even though it had ceiling to floor windows filling the room.

Vic had taken Joan to her doctor’s appointment and it was Debbie’s day off. Daphne was in school but he didn’t need full-time child care anyway. In fact, he didn’t need it at all but didn’t want to hurt Joan’s feelings. Not only that, but Daphne was working her way through school, she needed the job.

He expected to hear from Brian again today but he was pleasantly surprised when he hadn’t. Something about the man freaked him out. Maybe it was because he had a feeling that he knew he was lying last night about his memory returning. He would have to find out more about Brandon and Ardan if this farce was going to last. It felt wrong to lie, but he had nowhere else to go. If he and Ciaran had to leave, they’d be homeless.

The snow fell quickly, covering the ground. He couldn’t wait until Ciaran was old enough to play in it. He didn’t know where he’d be next year, but he knew it wouldn’t be in this lavish mansion. This grace period was only for a few weeks, he knew. Soon, they would put everything together and he’d be out the door. He just hoped it didn’t cause any more damage to Joan’s heart.

The night before, after everyone left she rocked Ciaran to sleep. It took Daphne three tries to pry the baby away from her. Justin wasn’t going to get into the middle of it. He had just watched as Joan kept glaring at the younger woman.

Just after noon, Joan and Vic got back from her appointment. This time Justin was in the sitting room with a book. Ciaran was in one of the many bassinets that were now scattered around the mansion.

“Darling, I’m so glad you’re making yourself at home,” Joan said as she picked Ciaran up and sat down in the striped arm chair.

“Should you be carrying him around?” he asked.

“Don’t you start on me too, he’s not a toddler yet. I plan to be around for a long time.” She looked into Ciaran’s sleeping face. “Isn’t that right?” He slept on. “Well, he would agree if he was awake.”

“Yeah, he loves to sleep unless it’s one in the morning. That’s his rock and roll time.”

She cackled. “You’re lucky, you only have one. Brian and Ardan would set each other off. One would wake up then it would take four hours to get them both down.”

“Was your husband helpful?” he asked, hoping to learn more about the family that took him in.

“Jack wasn’t the paternal type. He only showed interest in the boys when they were old enough to start interning at the company. Brian was the only one that wanted anything to do with it though. He was the only one that had talent for it too. Ever since he started working there after college, they had been more profitable.”

“Really? It looks like you’ve always had profit.” He slapped a hand over his mouth. That was the rudest thing he had ever said.

Instead of getting mad she just laughed. “The Kinney’s aren’t from old money. Brian’s grandfather, Allister, was much like Brian. He was a hard worker and had talent. He started Kinney Advertising with a small loan and a dream. He built it up to be the best on the east coast. My late husband on the other hand, was better at drinking the profits. We were lucky that he was surrounded by competent workers. Brian said after he started interning there he didn’t know why his father spent so much time at work, he rarely did any. Brian cashed in his trust to save the company, convinced Jack to rename it Kinnetik. Now, it’s back on top.”

“What about Ardan?”

“Ardan, wasn’t the business type. He was a sweet boy, not the cut-throat his brother is.”

“Brian doesn’t seem bad.”

She stood up and put Ciaran back into his bassinet. “Brian isn’t bad, he’s passionate and a high achiever. I think he would go crazy if he had just lived off his trust like Ardan had.”

“Ardan lived off his trust?”

She walked after and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t let Brian hear you say that. It might make him worried that you didn’t know his brother at all.” With that she left the room. Did she know?

The next few weeks past in a fog it seemed. Not wanting Daphne to help at night, Justin was exhausted every morning. Ciaran, it turned out was a night owl. It was his favorite time. Debbie had joked once asking if Brian was the baby’s father instead of Ardan. Then it seemed to hit her what she said. It took fifteen minutes for her to stop crying.

That was the biggest reason he couldn’t leave. Yes, if he left he would be homeless. Yes, they would hate him. But the biggest was that they were all still grieving. But every day, Joan smiled more. Every day, Vic laughed more. Every day, Debbie cursed more, that was something he just recently found out. He hadn’t known the woman cussed like a sailor. He thought at first that Joan would be unset but she would just smile.

Brian nor his friends had come back since the welcome party. Justin had found out that they hadn’t lied about Brian being a workaholic.

Justin was reading a new book that Vic had gifted him while Joan had her country club friends over. Since it was a few days before Christmas, they were having brunch in the dining room. Justin found out during spring and summer they’d have it outside. It was too cold and snowy to eat in the garden now though.

Joan had wanted to show Ciaran off, so both Ciaran and Daphne were with her in the dining room. He was lucky that they didn’t feel the need for him to join them. All those people made him uncomfortable.

The cellphone that Joan insisted he kept, rang. He didn’t recognize the number but answered anyway.

“Hello?”

“Sunshine, get your ass out of the house.”

“What? Debbie?”

Had she found out? Was she kicking him out? Oh god.

“The Carter’s are coming over for dinner tonight. They are bringing their son with them. Patrick had a huge crush on Ardan. He’s not a very pleasant boy, if he meets you he will say awful things.”

“I can eat in my room.”

“No. I know you miss Ardan but you can’t live like a hermit. I’m not saying you should move on with someone else right now. Lord knows, I can’t judge anyone there. But you need to get out of the house. Brian is coming to pick you up. Don’t worry about the baby, Daphne does know how to take care of him.”

“I don’t know,” he hedged. Going out with Brian seemed like a recipe for disaster.

“No arguing, now go get dressed. Wear something tight, he’ll be taking you out clubbing.”

“Tight? I thought you said this wasn’t about moving on.”

“It’s not, but looking nice always helps a person feel better about themselves.”

“Do you go out clubbing to make yourself feel better?” he asked, a little bitterly.

“I’ve been going to Babylon since I was sixteen. That was when it was still taboo to go there.”

“What’s Babylon?”

“The club Brian is taking you to. Vic and I used to go all the time.”

“Taboo. What’s taboo about it?”

She laughed. “It’s a gay club.”

“Why is Brian taking me to a gay club. He’s straight.”

It was so quiet on the other end he thought she had hung up.  “A few years back Brian and Michael went in together and bought it.” He guessed that made sense.

“Brian needed a partner?” He thought the man was loaded.

“Needed? No. Brian’s always taken care of Michael. When Michael ended things with his ex, Brian thought the venture would help. It did but now he spends most of his time in his new business venture. With his profits Michael just recently bought a failing comic book store. Brian is doing his advertising, Teddy is doing his accounting and Emmett reorganized everything to make it more exciting.”

Justin would kill to have friends like that. “It must be so great to have friends like that.”

“They can be your friends too. I called Ardan’s childhood best friend too, he’ll meet you there.”  

“Umm…I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He had lucked out so far, someone had to know what Brandon looked like. And if he was going to take a guess it would be a best friend.

“Don’t be silly. Connor will love you, his girlfriend too.”

“Ardan’s best friend is straight?”

Debbie sighed through the phone. Finally, she spoke, “Of course, not everyone is gay.”

“I know that, look at Brian.”

“Yes, of course. Well, you are going out and that’s the end of it. Okay?”

“Fine.”

There were worse things in the world than going out with his pretend brother-in-law. Not many, but there had to be a few.