They drove along the dirt road studying the mailboxes looking for the name Anderson. Most of the boxes were old and battered, names long since worn off. Suddenly Brian turned into a driveway and stopped the Jeep.

"What's wrong?" Justin asked. "Do you think we've missed it?"

Brian stared up the driveway at a brick house with a large addition on the back. Trees lined the path to it and a huge maple stood to one side.

"I climbed that tree," Brian said proudly.

"What? You mean this is it? This is the farm?"

Brian nodded. "I think it was on that last trip when Jack brought me here … before I fell in the stream. I was trying to get up into the tree but I was too little. My grandfather came out and lifted me onto that big branch, the one to the left. I climbed around on the branch and ventured a little bit higher. It was scary being up so high, but I loved it. I remember waving to Jack who was drinking a beer. When wasn't he drinking a beer? I don't know how long I stayed up there but I remember I wished I could have a treehouse and I could live up there high above everybody. Nobody would be able to find me … or hurt me."

"Just like the loft?" Justin asked.

Brian glanced at him and stuck his tongue in his cheek. "Maybe," he admitted.

"So, are we going to the house, or do you want to turn around and go home?"

Brian considered for a minute. "We came all the way here to get some answers. We need to see it through."

"Then let's go," Justin said touching Brian's arm in a gesture of reassurance.

Brian put the car in gear and drove the last bit up to the house. They climbed out of the Jeep and looked around. Suddenly a dog came bounding out from behind the barn barking loudly. Brian and Justin both jumped and stepped back towards the Jeep ready to get inside if the dog proved to be vicious.

"Beau!" a female voice called sharply. The dog immediately stopped barking and ran over to the woman who had just emerged from the screen door at the back of the house. A beautiful octagonal gazebo had been added to the house. It would be a great place to sit in the evenings on a warm night. The woman patted the dog and stepped closer to where Brian and Justin stood. "He's not going to bite you," she said. "He's just protective when strangers appear. Come over and I'll introduce you."

Warily the two men approached. Beau smelled them and started wagging his tail. If these people were acceptable to his mistress, then they were acceptable to him too.

Justin leaned down and held out his hand to the dog. Once Beau had smelled it he started licking Justin's face as the man rubbed the fur around his neck. "I'm Justin Taylor," Justin said looking up at the woman. "And this is Brian Kinney."

Justin watched the woman's face and her sharp intake of breath as she heard Brian's name. It obviously meant something to her. "I'm Claire Anderson," the woman said extending her hand to Brian. Brian shook it somewhat hesitantly. "Are you Jack's son?"

Brian felt the petite hand in his start to tremble as he answered, "Yes ma'am."

"I think I need to sit down." Brian clasped Claire about her waist and guided her to a grouping of chairs that were arranged in the screened gazebo.

"Forgive me; I'm not usually this emotional."

"I'm sure this is a shock."

"Yes, although Charlotte called to tell me you were on your way. Seeing you in person, well..."

"I know. Mrs. Anderson, if you don't mind, could you explain all this to me. I remember this farm as a child even though I only came here a few times. I don't remember you. Are we related in some way?"

"Brian, may I call you Brian?"

"Yes."

"Then please call me Claire or Miss Anderson, if you like. I never married. I'll try to answer all your questions but please tell me something first. Jack, your father, how is he?"

"Miss, Claire, I'm sorry, he's ..."

"Dead, he's dead, isn't he?"

"Yes, I'm sorry."

"When? How?"

"Almost two years ago, lung cancer."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. Look, I won't pretend and tell you how wonderful he was or what a great father he was. He was a mean, angry man and he took it out on me and my mother. I came here looking for this man." Brian pulled out the photograph of Jack and Claire, smiling together on the beach and placed it in her hand. "That's the man I want to know about. And why he..." At that point Brian got up and stormed off into the woods, leaving Justin and Claire sitting alone.

"Miss Anderson, are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Justin. It's just all overwhelming. For most of my life I've been waiting for Jack to come back, to claim this house, claim me. Now to find out he's dead and he has another family, it's a bit much to take in. Will Brian be all right?"

"Yes. Give him a few minutes. He likes to think he's a big he-man, no emotions, that nothing gets to him. But he's just the opposite; he just doesn't like to show it."

"That's just the opposite of the Jack I knew. When we were together he was kind, sensitive and loving. He hated to leave and he swore he was coming back. I knew about the visits. It hurt that he never asked for me. I never knew what happened. I thought I did something. His parents, especially Jack's mother, treated me like I was their daughter even when..."

"When what?"

"I think we better wait for Brian to come back. This may take some time. Let's go inside. I have some iced tea or milk, if you prefer, and a fresh batch of tollhouse cookies. It must have been some drive from Pittsburgh." Justin answered with a growl from his stomach and a blush to his cheeks.

"That settles it. Milk and cookies for now and I have a pot roast planned for dinner. I have a feeling we may need something hearty to help us get through this."

"Yes ma'am!" Justin exclaimed with a smile as he followed Claire indoors to her kitchen.

Out near the stream Brian sat on a boulder that was warm from the sun. Puffing on a cigarette, he pondered the thought of getting back in the Jeep and making a beeline back home. He didn't need any of this bullshit. He certainly didn't need to hear what a great guy Jack was from someone who knew nothing about his background. What he needed was Justin to tell him that everything was going to be all right. He half expected Justin to trot after him but Justin knew Brian needed some space to let all this settle. Making sure the cigarette butt was completely snubbed out, Brian pushed himself off the boulder and walked back to the house.

Expecting to be greeted by a concerned bundle o' blond, Brian was a little pissed when he saw an empty porch and heard his blond's giggles from inside the house.

"Justin?"

"In here, Brian."

"Please come through, Brian, we're in the kitchen."

Brian opened the screen door and caught a whiff of the homemade cookies that his concerned boyfriend was scarfing down with gusto. Following the heavenly aroma, Brian discovered Justin sitting at the kitchen table, cookie in hand and Claire peeling potatoes.

"Please join us, Brian. Would you like some cookies? I've put on a pot of coffee. Justin says you prefer coffee."

"Oh, he does, does he?" Brian glared at his boyfriend who was innocently looking up at him and munching on another cookie. "Thank you, Claire. I could do with some coffee."

"Help yourself to a cookie."

"I don't eat..." Just then, Justin gave Brian a look that told him to be nice. "They look good." Brian picked up a cookie, broke it into smaller pieces and began to nibble on the smallest piece. Smiling, he looked up at Claire, "It's delicious."

"Thank you, Brian. Now, I think you came here for some answers. Justin has already told me what you two have found out. I can tell you what Jack meant to me but I'm not sure you'll like hearing it. No child likes to hear about their parents' sordid past, the mistakes they've made. We all like to think our parents are perfect or near perfect."

"Claire, if it'll help. I have done quite a lot in the past that I'm not very proud of; I don't think you can shock me. And as I told Justin before we started this scavenger hunt into the Kinney past, it can't be any worse than when I was growing up."

Claire studied the young men sitting at her table, took a deep breath and told her story.

"About the time when that picture was taken, we were very happy, making plans for our future. I just graduated from high school and we were going to get married. But the farm had started to fail. Your grandfather held out as long as he could but he had to sell off parcels of land to pay the mortgage and the farm hands. Even then the money was tight. My father worked one of the biggest parcels; we lived off the land and sold the extra. Our acreage was just beyond the stream adjacent to this house. I spent most of my days here. Jack wanted to go to Pittsburgh. There were a lot of factories springing up, all hiring. Jack swore he'd make it rich, come back and buy up the land his father sold off. We spent the summer together and then in the fall, he left for the big city. It was the last time I saw him." Claire paused and took a sip of coffee to fortify herself before she went on.

"He wrote his parents every week and included a note for me. We all waited each Friday for his letters. They came without fail. By Thanksgiving I found out I was going to have a baby. Jack's baby. You can imagine how I felt, what a scandal it would cause. Just because the town's population is separated by miles of farmland and woods doesn't mean we don't know the comings and goings of each family. My family was mortified and they wanted to send me away. Your grandparents invited me to stay with them. They missed Jack and would embrace his child, they insisted. I was relieved to have a home but I didn't want Jack to find out about the child. He was working so hard and sending money back to his parents. He didn't need to be burdened. Eventually my mother came around and gave whatever she could to your grandmother. Your grandmother was a sweet woman and she lived up to her name, which was quite a feat considering how stubborn the Kinney men were. And I get the impression that you uphold that little tradition."

"So I've been told," Brian snorted out.

"Excuse me, Claire, but what were Brian's grandparent's names?"

"Your grandfather was a tall bear of a man. You favor him in height and in coloring although you could stand to gain some weight."

"My weight is just fine. What was his name?"

"Aidan."

"Brian, like the artist and your middle name!"

"Yes, that makes sense. The artist was John Aidan Brian Kinney. Aidan named his son John, but we all called him Jack. Jack named you Brian Aidan."

"My grandmother?"

"Patience."

"I think I've been very patient."

"No, no, Patience, that was her name. She was a tall woman, almost as tall as Aidan and thin. Long fingers and surprisingly strong. You wouldn't think she was so strong being so thin but she was. Bet you're like that too."

"He is, very strong."

"Need to be to keep up with you. Claire, you said you were pregnant and that Jack didn't know."

"I wouldn't allow Patience to tell him. I figured he'd make good on his promise and come home after he saved up enough money. My son John was born in May of 1966. Jack kept writing to us. He was gone almost three years when the letters stopped. At first we thought he got too busy to write, then we got a letter from a different part of town. He moved, then he moved again. Eventually they stopped coming."

Brian picked up another cookie and took a big bite, savoring the big chunks of chocolate. He also took a gulp of the strong coffee and filled in the pieces of Jack's life for Claire.

"Somewhere along the line, Jack met Joan and she got pregnant. Her parents were strict Catholics; it was a shotgun wedding."

"And you were born?"

"No, my sister, Claire."

"He named your sister after me?"

"I suppose he did. He must have loved you very much. He certainly never showed any love toward Joan or me. And I never met anyone in the family with the name Claire. Most people name their children after someone and there isn't any other Claire in the family."

"Brian, where do you come up with this stuff? Gus isn't named after anyone."

"Sure he is Sunshine, didn't you name him after your stuffed bear?"

"Who's Gus?"

"My son."

"Oh, I thought you and Justin are, uh..."

"Partners. It's a long story which may require a lot more cookies to get through. Let's get this one over with first. My sister is two years older than me. So she was born about the time Jack's letters stopped coming. I always knew he loved her more than me, now I know why. Your son, where is he?"

"He's working; he'll be home for dinner. He's an architect. I think he gets his creativity from the artist."

"That's where I think Brian gets his from. Brian's in advertising; he owns an ad agency. Do you think John will be okay with all of this? And us?"

"Justin, I don't give a fuck whether John is okay with this or not! Excuse me."

This time Justin followed Brian out the back door, into the yard.

"Brian! That wasn't very nice."

"Nice?! Nice? I just found out I have an older brother, who probably will punch my lights out when he finds out what a fucking bastard he has for a father. And I find out that my sister, the cun...."

"Brian, don't."

"That my dear sister is named for Jack's long lost lover. Who, by the way, is a very lovely woman and in an alternate universe could have been my mother and I wouldn't have grown up to be such an asshole! For Christ's sake, Justin, what the fuck am I doing here?"

Brian turned and stood facing away from Justin, shoulders slumped so low, looking like a sad little boy. Justin watched the shoulders shake, slowly, he approached Brian.

"Brian, we'll go home. You found out about Claire, that's enough for now. We can come back some other time." Brian sniffled a couple of times then rubbed the tears from his eyes before turning to face his lover who by now, was in full butch protective mode.

"I'm sorry I lost it back there. We should go back in, I need to apologize."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Brian held out his hand for Justin. With Justin's hand firmly clasped in his, Brian straightened his shoulders, inhaled deeply, and the two headed back into Claire's kitchen.