Should Old Acquaintance

Chapter 17

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The week before the baptism was a hectic one around the Kinney-Taylor estate. Brian had arranged for Emmett to cater the affair. The number of guests seemed to be growing by the day. Nick had arranged to come with Hunter. Daphne and her latest beau were going to make the trek to the cottage.

The only one who hadn't committed to coming was Justin's father. Justin didn't really expect his father to attend, but as always, there was that small glimmer of hope that ran through Justin. Justin had learned the hard way that a relationship with his father was about as likely as a relationship between Brian and his mother. And yet, Joan was planning to attend. Claire even said that she had taken Joan shopping for a new dress for the occasion. The universe seemed to be unfolding in a very bizarre way.

On the Friday before the baptism, Gus arrived with his mothers and Jenny Rebecca. Brian had been going to go pick up his son, but the munchers had other ideas. They had brought Gus as soon as Melanie had been able to get off work. They told Brian they were planning to stay for dinner and would bring dessert with them. Brian had tried to get them to change their plans but they wouldn't hear of it. Brian knew something else was definitely up, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what might have caused them to get their knickers in a knot.

Brian watched the car pull into the driveway with some apprehension.

"Hi, Dad," Gus said giving his father a hug as he came through the door.

"Sonny Boy," Brian said.

"Where's Bree?"

"In the sun porch with Justin."

"Can I take her outside? I want to show her how to catch the new nerf ball I got for her."

Brian smiled. He loved the fact that Gus wanted to play with Briana, and usually came with some little gift for her. Briana loved her older brother with all her heart. "Of course you can. Go get her."

"Hi, Brian," Lindsay said coming into the house and giving Brian a peck on the cheek. "I brought dessert."

"Greeaaat!"

"Brian," Melanie said abruptly coming along behind her wife. She had a firm hold on JR's hand.

"Hi, Uncle Brian," the little girl said.

"Hello, my beauty," Brian said using his best flattering voice. JR giggled.

"You are so full of…" Melanie began.

"Mel," Lindsay stopped her. She gave Mel a funny look and Mel closed her mouth tightly making her way into the kitchen.

Brian and Justin had planned to barbeque because the weather was great, and the kids would love it. Brian was in the middle of making salad when the girls arrived.

"Go play with Gus and Bree," Melanie ordered giving her daughter a push towards the doorway to the sun porch.

JR looked at Brian who gave the slightest nod to the little girl, followed by a smile. JR skipped out the door. Brian always felt the poor child had been hampered by her unlucky choice of parents.

Brian began chopping more vegetables while Lindsay put on a pot of coffee and exchanged knowing looks with her wife. Brian groaned inwardly. If they had something to say to him, he wished they'd just fucking say it. But he would never be that lucky. They'd make him sit through a long, tedious and digestion wrecking dinner before they bombarded him with some new cruelty or twisted piece of logic about how he was handling his life. It was going to be a long evening.

And tomorrow would be even longer. It was supposed to be a good day, a joyous day, but Brian suddenly had such a feeling of foreboding that he felt his stomach tighten and clench. He felt like he might be sick to his stomach.

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Meanwhile back in Pittsburgh, Jennifer Taylor was on the phone to her ex-husband.

"You're not going to go, are you?" she demanded.

"Of course not," Craig Taylor replied as if it was the most natural response in the world.

"You son of a bitch! This is your granddaughter's baptism, your only grandchild. It's a major event in her life."

"We're not fucking Catholics and what kind of a baptism is held at the home of homosexuals instead of in a church?"

"Your granddaughter's baptism, that's whose!" Jennifer couldn't believe the arrogance and stupidity of her former husband. She wondered how she could have ever loved him.

"Who is this Father Tom that is overseeing this farce?"

"He's the priest at Joan Kinney's church," Jennifer replied trying to be reasonable and keep her voice level. She really did want Craig to attend for Justin … and most of all for Bree.

"That old bat must be turning over in her grave," Craig sneered.

"She's not dead and she will be attending the ceremony."

"Well, fuck me!" Craig said. "I thought the old biddy hated her son."

"Maybe she's willing to put aside her feelings in order to attend the baptism of her granddaughter."

"It's not even her fucking granddaughter from what I hear."

"Brian has adopted her. Justin and Brian are the legal parents."

Craig snorted. "What kind of a fucked up society do we live in, where the state allows two fags to adopt a little girl?"

"Justin is her biological parent, Craig. I would think you would want to meet her and be there."

"Well, you thought wrong!"

"Then … then … go fuck yourself, you stupid asshole!" Jennifer slammed the receiver down hearing her blood pound in her ears. Craig still had the power to upset her unlike almost anyone else.

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Dinner was winding down. Justin and Brian had barbequed hamburgers for the kids and steaks for the adults. John, Bobby and Patrick had joined them. Brian had hoped if they had more people it might make the dinner go faster. He had picked at his food waiting for the bomb to drop.

When Justin and John took the kids outside for a little walk before dessert, Bobby went into the kitchen to make coffee and get the dessert dished up. Brian looked at the two women sitting at his table in the sun porch. He had had this drag on long enough. His last nerve was wearing very thin.

"Tell me what the fuck is going on!" he demanded.

Lindsay looked at Melanie and Melanie looked at her. Finally Mel shrugged and took the bull by the horns.

"What provisions have you made for Gus now that you have this daughter?" Melanie asked trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"This daughter? Her name is Briana, and it's none of your fucking business what I do or don't do for Gus."

"It most certainly is my business, Brian," Lindsay said in an accusatory voice.

"I've told you that Gus will be well looked after."

"He's in high school, and we need to know where he stands with regards to college," Melanie stated bluntly.

"If Gus wants to go to university, I'll make sure that happens," Brian stated.

"And what about your will?" Melanie continued.

"What about it?" Brian snapped.

"Does Gus get anything?"

"I'm not fucking dead yet! You'll find out when that joyous occasion comes about." Brian shoved back his chair ready to get out of there. He should have gone on the walk with the kids.

"Brian, sit still," Lindsay asked placing her hand over Brian's. "We're just trying to make sure Gus is treated fairly."

"And why the fuck would you think I wouldn't treat him fairly."

"With you, who knows," Melanie sniped.

"Well, fuck you!" Brian said vehemently and stood up.

"There's something else, Brian," Lindsay said in her softest voice.

Brian groaned. "Haven't you caused enough shit to fly already?"

"This is important," Lindsay said. "It's about JR."

"What about her?"

"We … Mel and I don't want her to feel like a second class citizen if her siblings suddenly have these trust funds, and she has nothing."

"I'm not JR's father," Brian declared. "Get Michael to look after that."

"He doesn't have the resources that you do," Melanie stated.

"Then maybe you should have chosen me as her father," Brian glared and stomped out of the sun porch. He wanted to go find Bree and Gus and hug them, and maybe even JR to make up for her bitch of a mother.

Bobby walked into the sun porch carrying coffee and mugs. "You two are something else," he observed as he set down the tray. He had heard everything from the kitchen.

"Kindly keep your opinions to yourself," Melanie told him in no uncertain terms.

"Normally I would, but you've upset Brian on what should be one of the happiest days for him and Justin. So, I'm going to tell you something that never gets spoken of again. Understood?"

Melanie and Lindsay stared at the redhead wondering what he was going to tell them.

"Brian has set up trust funds for all the children. They will be well provided for."

"But what about JR?" Melanie asked.

"There's one for her too. I drew up all the paperwork."

"Well, fuck me!" Melanie said. "Why couldn't he have just told us that?"

"You know Brian never volunteers information like that. He keeps his cards close to his vest."

"Thank you for telling us that, Bobby," Lindsay said. "Melanie, let's go find the kids and make nice with Brian. We owe him an apology even though we can't actually apologize." She yanked Melanie's wrist hard and they headed out the door. Bobby had to smile to himself. Brian would kill him if he ever found out what he had told the women, but it was worth it to see Mel have to eat humble pie.

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The rest of the evening passed congenially. The girls decided to use the brass bed in the porch. The night air was still warm enough to sleep with just the screen door in place. Gus and JR took the bunk beds in Gus' room. Sensing that his cousin was a little 'not right,' Patrick decided to sleep with her. Briana settled down immediately with her older cousin there to protect her. It was all rather hushed at 'Edna's Treasures.'

The one advantage of having a sun porch was the ability to see the sun rise. One disadvantage was the ability to experience the sunrise. As the sun began to peek through the trees, its first rays hit Lindsay right in her eye. Melanie, asleep on her stomach, merely drew the sheet over her head to further block out the sun's annoying way of waking one up. Lindsay, on the other hand, was now wide awake. And she thought it best to get up and try to make up for last night's drama by putting the coffee on and starting breakfast. It was the least she could do.

Emmett would be arriving around ten with his delicacies, and his minions to serve them up. Bobby would be heading for Harrisburg airport to pick up their special guests from Central America. The family would arrive at one and the ceremony was scheduled for two. Emmett had planned enough finger food, salads, punch and other beverages to take them all into the evening. And then afterwards, he planned a barbecue. There was enough food to feed the entire state and then some.

Lindsay threw on her robe and carefully padded through the porch toward the kitchen. As she passed the master bedroom, she couldn't help but notice the door was slightly ajar. Unable to quell her curiosity, Lindsay took a peek inside. Justin was slightly propped up on the pillows with Brian's head on his chest. Justin's arm was around Brian and one hand was gently combing through the brunet hair. Justin looked up and acknowledged Lindsay who began to blush at her intrusion. Justin brought his finger to his lips and then mouthed, 'I'll be out in a minute.' Lindsay nodded then continued to the kitchen. When Justin came out the kettle was on the stove and the coffee maker was bubbling.

"I'm sorry, Justinl it was rude of me to have looked in your room," Lindsay said contritely.

"It's okay but don't let the big guy know; he's been jumpy for days. It might throw him over the edge."

"Last night didn't help either."

"No, it didn't."

"He told you."

"Yes, he did. Lindz, he's not the same man who keeps everything to himself. Well, not everything."

"Bobby told me that Brian provided for everyone, including JR."

"Yes, I imagine Brian did."

"Imagine? He didn't tell you?"

"Not the specifics, he hinted. And I really don't want to know. All that I want to know, that I need to know, is that he loves me and that he's happy and above all, that he's healthy. That's all I really care about. The rest of it will work itself out."

Justin poured some hot water into mugs and offered Lindsay a choice of teas.

"You surprised me," Lindsay said as she blew into the hot mug.

"How?"

"The way he was laying in your arms. I always imagined it the other way around. With big bad Brian protecting his little Sunshine." There was no malice or sarcasm in Lindsay's voice, just a statement of fact.

"Eighty percent of the time, you'd be right. I always sleep better when I'm in his arms. I do feel protected by him. He cares so deeply about things, about people, about us. It hurts him when those he loves forget that he has feelings. We all forget. I'm just as guilty, and he easily forgives."

"But does he forget?"

"No, he never forgets. And sometimes it becomes too much for him."

"And then he needs your strength."

"Yes. And I give him whatever he needs, whenever he needs it," Justin said solemnly. Just then Brian breezed into the room.

"What I need is coffee. Plenty of coffee, black, with..."

"I know, your majesty, with a pound and a half of sugar. Coming right up," Justin said with a flash of his smile and a kiss to Brian's lips.

"Where is the star of this show? I'd thought she'd be out here with you?" Brian asked as he looked around for Briana.

"She and Patrick were still asleep when I came out," Justin replied, just as curious as Brian.

"Here they are!" John announced as he and Bobby walked into the kitchen. John had Patrick over his shoulder like he was carrying a sack. The boy was laughing loudly. Bobby had Bree under his arm.

Handing her over to Brian, Bobby acknowledged the ownership. "I do believe this one belongs to you."

"Squirt, did you pounce on your uncles with Patrick?" Brian raised the child so that they were nose to nose, Briana giggling madly.

"Yes, Dada," Bree answered softly.

"And was it a big pounce?"

"Yes, Dada."

"That's my girl!" Brian kissed the child on her nose and gave her a wet raspberry to her cheek, then sat down with Bree in his lap. "So what's for breakfast, Sunshine?" Justin rolled his eyes as he threw a dish towel at Brian and Bree, landing it on their heads. Under their tiny towel tent, father and daughter cracked up into giggles.

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"Bobby, where are you?" John asked into his phone.

"I'm still at the airport," Bobby replied, just as frustrated as his husband. It was eleven, the plane carrying Juan, Miguel, Edna's Miguel and Marta should have landed an hour ago.

"Bobby, I really want you here."

"I know. I'm going to arrange a car and a driver for them and leave specific directions for Juan. If the plane lands anytime soon, Juan will be able to get them here in time."

"Okay. Father Tom won't mind starting a little late. And God only knows if and when Joan will get here. I'm sure they'll get here in plenty of time. Come home, Bobby. If all his pacing is any indication, I think Brian needs all the support he can get." Bobby smirked at the thought of Brian needing anyone but Justin but he agreed with John.

"I'll be home soon," Bobby made his arrangements and then high tailed it back home.