Til Death Do Us Part

by Jenny Wood

  “Holy shit!” Kayson barks a laugh, “That is the most epic beard I have ever seen!” The man has no couth. The guy on the screen looks startled, then maybe embarrassed, but then he laughs.

  “Excuse him; he hasn’t taken his medication today.” Kingsley offers as an apology.

  “It’s okay; I’m used to it.” The guy says with a smile. He looks friendly as hell, and it’s such a different contrast to his voice. He sounds scary.

  “Oh my gosh, you sound like Paul Bunyan,” Kayson said, again, like a moron.

  “What is wrong with you?” Jase slaps him upside the head, good-naturedly as Conner just scoffs.

  “How do you know what Paul Bunyan sounds like?” Joker asks at the same time Morgan chimes in.

  “You guys are idiots. Hi, I’m Morgan, that’s Kingsley.” He says pointing us each out. “Over there is Jody, his boy, Jase and Jase’s boyfriend Joker; and this idiot with the big mouth is my brother-in-law, Kayson, and his new husband, Conner.”

  “You’re all married?” The guy looks taken aback.

  “Well, not to each other.” Kayson teases, earning another slap, this time from Conner.

  “Yeah, is that going to be a problem?” Kingsley asks all joking aside. We wouldn’t hire anyone if they had a problem with any of us or our partners. He needed to know upfront; it wouldn’t stand. I thought we were well known for being a crew of “queers” anyway, but apparently, this one missed the memo.

  “No, not at all.” He blushed. “I um, I can’t be out, here. I’m just surprised.”

  “Well shit,” Kayson whispered.

  “That’s no way to live,” Jase commented, concerned for the guy on the screen. My boy had a good heart, that way.

  “We’re all impressed with your resume and equally as floored with your portfolio. Where’d you learn to draw like this?” Kingsley started asking the questions.

  “I’m not sure, I just always could do it. Kept me out of my head, growing up; kept me out of trouble, out of my parents’ way. It was just a hobby until I hit high school. I applied to art school, but my parents would never go for it. Not a lucrative career, it was a waste of time. They wouldn’t pay for it or even help me pay for it as they did for my sister. She went to medical school, but we lost her to breast cancer about three months after her daughter was born. She stopped treatment when she got pregnant and refused to terminate the pregnancy. It wasn’t safe for chemo while she was pregnant. So, that’s that.” He trailed off, clearing his throat and looking around the room before settling back on us. I heard Morgan sniffle beside me, and Kingsley looked over to him, but Jase wrapped him up in a hug, and I saw him wink at Kingsley. He was okay, probably just remembering his own battle.

  “Anyway, after high school, I lied about my age and worked in a pretty seedy shop for a while until I got certified. Nobody checked, fuck they didn’t even get a copy of my license. I’ve been hopping from shop to shop for the last seven years, but I’ve been with Envy for the last two. As I said, I have a kid now; I got custody of my niece through the courts, I’m raising her as my own. She’s my first priority; she’s my number one, but like I told Kingsley; I need roots. I’m not jumping around with her with me, she needs stability, and I need steady work.” He lays it all out on the table. I respect that, he doesn’t seem to be about bullshit and Kingsley said from his conversation, he laid it out for him too.

  “What about child care? We work crazy hours sometimes, though usually no weekends.” Kayson asks. I see King look to Morgan and I already see that idea forming.

  “No, I don’t know. Not yet. I’d figure something out once I got there though.” He shrugs, but I could see the tenseness in his shoulders.

  Daddy!

  We hear wailed in the background. Finn spins in his chair and looks behind himself, but before he can stand up or excuse himself; the cutest little, black-haired, red-faced, little girl runs into his room. She’s crying, and by the looks of it, she’s still got on her jammies. She runs to him, and he scoops her up and plops her on his lap.

  “Sorry about this.” He looks ten shades of embarrassed but I can already see, Morgan, Conner, Jase and fuck if Kayson isn’t melting right in front of them.

  “She’s gorgeous,” Morgan says, sweetly. She really is, though I don’t say anything.

  “This is my baby girl, Lennon. Can you say ‘hi’?” He asked, cooing at her, trying to get her to wave.

  “Noooo.” She sniffled and hid into his chest. Other than Jinx and Layla’s baby girl, we weren’t very practiced with babies. I wondered what Cameron would be like as a father. I bet he’d be amazing; I wondered if he wanted kids or if we would ever have any.

  “Sorry about this, guys.” Finn smiled and pushed the hair from the little girl's eyes as she calmed down. She really was adorable, and I could see Finn fitting in here. There was just something about his friendliness that I liked. He reminded me of Kingsley, in some weird way.

  “It’s okay, no problem. We really like your work, Finn. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that you’d be a good addition to our family and that’s what you’d be. We’re family here. In saying that, you mentioned on the phone that you ran into some trouble, can you expand on that?” Kingsley asks, his professional voice back on. I see the man take a deep breath before releasing it.

  “It’s kind of a long story, I mean… my parents, as I mentioned, weren’t the greatest. They’re country club members, high society, or pretend to be, snob-asses. Nothing my sister or me done was good enough, and when we did do something redeeming, they only cared how it made them look like great parents, never about us doing something as great kids. Leena, my sister, left home the second she could, but I still had a few more years to go. They demanded more and more from me and eventually, I just quit giving a shit. I started acting out and getting in trouble, to piss them off, so maybe they’d leave me alone. Started smoking pot and got caught with it a time or two, to tell you the truth, one of those times, I did it on purpose at a gala I was made to attend with a doctor’s daughter. I’m gay; I didn’t want to date trust fund girls.” He ranted. “I fought the pretty boys who thought they were better than me and my dad called the police when he ordered me home, and I refused. He said I’d stolen his car, which was my car but was legally in his name. Just another way to keep me under his thumb. Things like that, nothing major and nothing since I moved out at nineteen, but, it’s still on my record.” He shrugs. It’s a relief, and I can see it on Kingsley’s face as he looks around the room. We all give our silent support with head nods and winks. When Kingsley turns back around, he offers Finn the job. Before Finn ended the call, he took the job.

  Kingsley

  “Baby, I can’t find my funeral pants,” I say, stalking back into the closet and searching for the pants I was planning to wear to Jody and Cameron’s small, outdoor wedding. They’d only invited our close family and friends; it wasn’t going to be quite the fanfare as Kayson and Conner’s wedding.

  “Sweetheart, you’ve worn them to one funeral and two weddings. Can’t you call them your wedding pants?” He asked seriously. To be honest, I didn’t realize I’d even called them my funeral pants, that’s just what they were to me because I’d first bought them to wear to my mother’s funeral. We didn’t have cause to dress up very often, so it was often I needed them.

  “Sorry, yeah, my wedding pants.” I shook it off and kept looking while he went straight to the back of the closet and pulled them out. Handing them to me, he arched on the tips of his toes to kiss me. I leaned down and accepted.

  “You’ve been broody lately, not like my Kingsley. What’s going on with you?” He poked me in the side and caught my attention. I had been a little broody but not in a bad mood, just contemplative, really, and quiet. I guess that’s a giveaway; I’m never fucking quiet.

  I grab my tie and sit on the bed and look at him as he pulls his pants on.

  “Do you think we’ll have kids?” I blurt and watch his body turn solid.

&n
bsp; “You want kids?” He squeaks. .

  “I dunno, maybe. I wouldn’t be against talking about it.” I tell him honestly. If I'm real, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since seeing Finn with his baby. It’s possible now, marriage and adopting is legal for us. Why couldn’t we have that?

  “I’ve thought about it. A lot, actually.” He admits. I have to say I’m surprised; it’s not something we’ve talked about.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask, kind of upset that he’d not brought it up before I had. Would he have ever, if I hadn’t?

  “Well, you haven’t brought it up, either!” He says, defensively.

  “No, I’m not mad about it, don’t get upset.”

  “Sorry.” He mumbles.

  “So, you’ve thought about it, as in…you’d want to, or you thought about it and wouldn’t want to?” I ask, confusingly. It honestly isn’t something I’d thought of until recently, so for him to say he had, I’m curious of his thoughts. He comes and sits beside me on the bed.

  “I think you’d be an amazing dad.” He whispers, looking straight into my eyes. It rocked me a little bit.

  “You do?”

  “100%” He answered, no hesitation. I have to admit, that made me feel really good.

  “The only thing I’m worried about is if I get sick again. Ya know?” He admits. I know he’s scared of that, it’s a possibility, of course, it’s something to worry about.

  “You’re not going to get sick again,” I tell him confidently. I’m convinced that if we say it, it won’t happen. He smiles a sad smile at me, but nods.

  “I don’t think I will, either. But, if I do… could you be a daddy by yourself? Helping me go through treatment and all that, all over again. You wanna bring a kid into that?” He asks. I don’t even have to think about it.

  “I think I don’t want to live half of a life with you, being afraid and not doing things we want to do because of a ‘maybe.' I think I’d rather have kids with my husband and get however many years we get together, being daddies. I think you’d be the best one.” I tell him honestly.

  “Would you want to adopt or get a surrogate?” He asks; eyes lighting up with hope. I had no idea this was something he wanted. I wish I had; I’d have thought about it a couple of years ago.

  “I think there’s a lot of kids out there that need families and love. If you want to adopt, we’ll adopt, if you want a child of our own, we’ll do that. But, I don’t care who made it, I’d love a kid with you just as much as I’d one that came from one of us.” I vow. It’s true.

  “It takes a while, to adopt I mean.” He tells me. I’d heard that it does, though I can’t imagine why it would with so many homeless, abandoned children in this world.

  “We better get started then, eh?” I smile at him, and he leaps onto me, causing me to fall backward onto the bed. He frames my face and kisses me hard.

  “Are you serious with me right now, Kingsley Kennedy?” He demands to know.

  “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life, other than you, Morgan Kennedy,” I reply. We’re going to be late for the wedding.

  “I cannot believe y’all are late!” Jase scolds us in a whisper. Morgan smiles at me and releases my hand as he goes to find Cameron. I want to immediately tell my brothers what we talked about but two reasons why I don’t. One, this is Jody and Cam’s day and two, we don’t even know if we’ll be able to; if we’re eligible. We’re calling our attorney tomorrow. I’m over the fucking moon about it though, and I have really high hopes now that I’ve entertained the idea, it’s the best damn idea, I’ve ever fucking had.

  “What’s going on with your face?” Jody asks, standing in front of me now, in a button down dress shirt and nice pants. Thankfully, it’s not a tux kind of ceremony; there are literally about 12 people here in total; the majority of them is standing in this room.

  “Morgan and I are getting a baby!” I explode, smiling from ear to ear.

  “Kingsley Kennedy! We said we weren’t going to tell!” Morgan says loudly, laughing as he walks into the room with Cameron and Kayson.

  “What?” Kayson almost yells.

  “I’m sorry, okay? I can’t help it. I’m happy!” I tell them all, claiming my husband and wrapping my arms around him tightly.

  “You’re having a baby?” Kayson says confused.

  “We’re going to talk to someone about adoption. It’s a long process; we’re just getting started, that’s all. It’ll probably take ages.” I tell him. His face breaks out in the most cheesy smile, and he throws himself on me, much like Morgan did…except, not as sexily.

  “I’m going to be an uncle!” He exclaims.

  “Someday, don’t go expecting it to happen overnight.” Morgan admonishes. Kayson doesn’t care; he’s as excited as me.

  “Conner!” He says, searching for Conner in the room.

  “Don’t even think about it, we’ve been married for five minutes.” He says.

  “I want King and me to have kids the same age! They’ll be brother/cousins.” He says seriously. We all laugh at the absurdity.

  “Baby, that’s not a thing,” Conner tells him softly. The rest of us are laughing at the ridiculousness that comes out of this man’s mouth.

  “I’ll talk ya around.” He winks at Conner and shoves me backward, playfully.

  “I’m proud of you! You’ll make a great dad.” He says.

  “Who’s going to be a dad? Is someone pregnant?” Kady yells, walking into the room with her mom, Merissa.

  “Jody is, that’s why he’s getting married.” Kayson lies, easily. I see he and Merissa share a look and I’m sure he’ll fill her in, later. I have a feeling him not wanting to tell Kady yet, has to do with it being so new and not knowing if it’s even a possibility yet. I’m grateful he done that.

  “Well, speaking of getting married, the minister is here. Everyone ready?” She smiles at us and we all couple up and follow her into the back yard, where Jody and Cameron are going to say, ‘I do.'

  No one is standing with either of the guys. We all just stand back and watch them do their thing. Their standing under the giant weeping willow tree that looks gorgeous with the little creek behind it. Morgan is taking pictures, not being shy about getting up in everyone’s faces to do it. They’ll be glad to have memories of this day though.

  The start of the ceremony is traditional, it doesn't take any time at all, but surprising us all, Jody says he wants to say his own vows. I see Cameron about swallow his tongue. Either they didn’t talk about it, and Cameron didn’t plan anything, or Jody’s about to make him cry.

  “Cameron, I’m not good with words. We all know that.” Jase scoffed in agreement. Jody shot him a look but Jase blew him a kiss, and he turned back to his man and continued. “Sometimes, I say and do the wrong thing, and I get myself into trouble or piss someone off…” “Sorry,” he says to the minister, shifting his weight from foot to foot, nervously.

  “You’ve always stood by me. You’re always on my side, even when I’m wrong. Even when I make you so mad, you wanna strangle me. Even then, you keep loving me. The only time I’ve had that was with my brothers, and with Jase. I feel like I apologize, more than I say just about anything else and yet, you’re standing with me, here today. You’re going to promise forever with me, and I’m that selfish, I’m going to take it; because there’s nobody else in the world that I want to spend my forever with. I love you, so fucking much.” … he peeps at the minister and apologizes again, making us all laugh, and the minister just roll his eyes. “I love you, Cameron. I love you in a way that I know; I’ll never stop. Thank you for making me happy. Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for marrying me.” He says and leans forward to kiss a teary-eyed, Cameron.

  “That was really sweet, bubby!” Kady exclaimed, tearing up herself. We laugh at her outburst and Merissa hands her a tissue.

  “How can I top that?” Cameron whines, making Jody smirk but kiss him again. The officiant asks if C
ameron has anything he’d like to say and of course, he does.

  “I won’t lie and say loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done….But, I will say, that loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. You’re hard to handle sometimes, that’s true. You talk out your ass (sorry) and speak before you think, that’s true too. And I get frustrated, and I hate when you hurt someone’s feelings; but those are just things that you do, baby. That’s not who you are. You’re a great, Papa Bear and the best big brother. Right, Kady?” Jody asks Kady.

  “Right!” She agrees.

  “Things aren’t always going to be perfect; I know that; but, I don’t care. It will be perfect, because, we’re perfect, together… Because of that, you make loving you easy. The way you love me makes loving you easy. The way you care about your brothers and little sister makes loving you easy. The way you set my coffee up at night so I can just flip the switch in the mornings, makes loving you easy. The light you have in you, that you only show the people you care about…makes loving you easy. So, even when it’s hard… it’s still easy. I love you, and I can’t wait to be your husband. So, can we finish this up, please?” He asks the minister and has us all laughing again. Seconds later, they’re announced: man and husband. An hour later, we’re all in our living room in our comfy clothes, getting wasted to celebrate.

  All in all, it’s been the perfect day.

  Joker

  “Hey, man. I’m Finn.” The new guy says, as Kingsley introduces him to everyone and then heads to his office, letting Finn look around and get a feel of the place. He’s been into town for several days, staying at a hotel in town.

  “Hey, great to meet you,” I say honestly. His smile is contagious, even though it’s half hidden behind a mound of facial hair. He looks hipster to the extreme, but with an edge.

  “How are you getting along around here?” Jase asks from beside me.