by Ian Finn
So, I start to unwrap it, and when I go to open it, a bunch of that shredded paper stuff pops out.
I look to Ryan, and he simply nods, “Go ahead, you have to find it.”
Eli has come to join us, as I place my hand in the box and search. At first, I feel nothing. Until I hit something hard. I clasp my hand around it and pull it out.
I look at Ryan again, and he’s smiling. By its size, it’s more than obvious that Ryan has bought me a ring. Engraved on the bottom is Ryan & Zach - December 11th. I put the gold band on and give Ryan a kiss.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” I tell him.
Ryan explains, “This ring symbolizes Eli’s and my promise that we made to you.”
Then I reach into my pocket.
“And I have something for you, too,” I say, as I hand to him the same present he bought me.
“I can’t believe that both of us bought the same thing for one another,” he says, wide-eyed.
But I can. Ryan and I are on the same wave-length now, and I’m loving it.
After opening it, he places the ring on his finger and admires it.
“And this is my promise to you and Eli,” I tell him.
When he leans in to kiss me, some flashes go off, and we notice that some reporters from our local paper are snapping them.
“Looks like we may just be in tomorrow’s paper!” I tell Ryan.
Eli then announces, “I want to be in the paper, too.”
We laugh and ask the photographers if they wouldn’t mind taking some photos of the three of us. They oblige.
Afterward, I lean into to Ryan’s ear and whisper, “Betty has agreed to watch Eli until tomorrow. Will you sleep over with me tonight, so I can wake up to you in the morning?”
Upon hearing this, Ryan grins widely, “Heck yeah, I can’t wait to finally stay over at your house.”
But soon we’ll have our own home. We still have to decide whether Eli and Ryan should move into my house, or whether we should get a new place. It matters little to me where we end up, as the most important thing is that we’ll be together.
Ryan then stands up.
“Well, I’d better go back and mingle with my future customers,” he says, and when I ask how the grand opening sales are going, he smiles and give me a thumbs up.
“Really good!” he says, before disappearing into the crowd.
Soon my friends join me in the seated area. Candy is seated next to me, and at one point she tells me, “Cissy and Darla really loved Ryan!”
She then gives to me a look of reassurance.
“You did good, Zach! Fuck Jake; he wasn’t good enough for you. You and Ryan were made for each other.”
I smile and thank Candy. It then dawns on me just how little I’ve thought of Jake the past couple of days. In fact, my first thought when she mentioned him was Jake who?
Could it be that I’ve finally put that relationship behind me, once and for all?
Chapter Fifteen
Zach
Ryan is full of cheer when he enters my house, carrying two large grocery bags.
“The grand opening was a rousing success,” he says, enthusiastically.
“I took in six thousand dollars tonight, and I think this calls for a celebration!” he says, holding up a bottle of champagne that was left over from the party.
When I get up from the couch, Ryan tells me, “Sit down. I’m going to take care of everything.”
Then he pops open the bottle and pours each of us a glass of the bubbly champagne.
Once he hands me mine, he tells me, “Sit tight. I have a few things I need to do.”
Then he picks up the remote and resumes the TV show I was watching, before heading down the hall, presumably into the bedroom. I get back to watching my program, but I can no longer concentrate, wondering to myself what Ryan is up to.
After about ten minutes or so, I hear him call out, “Okay, ready!”
I begin to get up, but he meets me back in the family room, where he helps me up from the sofa, then hands me my crutches. I follow behind him, down the hall and into the master bedroom, where he makes me wait while he opens the door.
The room has been transformed into a brilliant, illuminated glow of Christmas lights, dozens of tea light candles, and a small Christmas tree on the night stand. I’m in awe of the spectacular transformation of my room and thank my boyfriend with a kiss.
“Now I want you to sit up in bed. You don’t have to do anything tonight but relax and let me take care of everything,” he says, as he hands me my glass of champagne.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask.
But my question is quickly answered when Ryan begins to undress me, carefully removing the oversized sweatpants I have on to cover my cast.
“This is what I had in mind. What did you think?”
Then he looks around the room, adding, “And the ambience to go along with it.”
After undressing me, he undresses himself, then hands me the flute of champagne.
“Cheers,” he says, clinking my glass. “To our new family, and continued success!”
After taking sips, Ryan begins to drip droplets onto my chest. I get instantly aroused, when he begins to use his tongue to lick it up, focusing on my nipple area. He stays there, flickering his tongue, and making small bites with his lips pursed together.
“How does it taste?” I joke.
He moves back up to my face, and before kissing me, he says, “Almost as good as your lips.”
I stop to tell him, “You do know that I’m immobile, right?”
I ask him this, knowing he’s fully aware I can’t move around too much, but I’m anxious and getting more and more excited to see what he plans on doing next.
He then looks down at the length of my body, saying, “I’m not going to be focusing on your leg.”
He proceeds to make his way down to my cock and takes a strong hold of it. This sends a shiver throughout me and causes my lower body to constrict.
I prop my head up slightly with a pillow and watch below as he holds up my cock at the base and begins to lick the head. And before you know it, he swallows it in one fell swoop. Between the champagne, and Ryan’s warm throat encasing my cock, my body feels tingly all over.
He uses one hand to stroke me as my cock is making its way in and out of his throat, and the other hand to cup my balls and lightly squeeze. The slight pressure I now feel there only intensifies the already incredible sensation I had been feeling.
I suddenly feel two of his fingers begin to travel down and enter me. The slight pain causes an even greater thrill that makes me call out with a loud grunt. My whole lower body is now writing, in a combination of sensitivity and excitability.
When Ryan stops what he’s doing and stands up, he jokes, “Don’t go anywhere.”
I laugh, because it’s preposterous to think I would, even if I had the easy capability. He returns promptly with a condom and covers my rigid cock with it, before dripping on it a lubricant.
He then proceeds to climb on top of me, whereby he begins to kiss me on the lips. I’m so worked up that our kiss soon turns fiery and passionate. Our tongues are colluding together as Ryan wriggles his lower body, so my cock is now upright, against his ass cheeks. I can feel as he tightens his glutes around my cock, grasping at it as if he’s using his hand.
All of a sudden, my cock makes contact with his anus, and he pushes down slightly, until the head of my cock enters inside him.
He lets out a gasp followed by a “Fuck!”
After a few moments, he allows my cock to travel further, and deeper, until he’s completely sitting down.
Ryan leans back into me, and we resume our passionate kissing. Our bodies are so intermingled now. Our lips are locked, and our tongues are tightly woven together, while my cock is deep inside him and gliding up and down, sending us both into a passionate fury.
My heart begins to race, even though I’m mostly lying in the same position, and doing little of t
he work. Nonetheless, all my senses are heightened. At one point, I clasp my hands on the back of Ryan’s head, drawing his mouth and tongue deeper and stronger into mine.
We’re both panting, with a mixture of warm breathes, sharp grunts, and unbridled passion. When Ryan begins to stroke his cock, his sphincter muscles grip even tighter around my cock, sending me to a new level of intensity.
Now Ryan’s breathing grows even more shallow, and his moans longer and breathier. I feel like he’s about to climax at any second, and I quickly realize I’m about to do the same. Suddenly his body jerks, and he cries out. In that moment I feel his cum begin to cover my face. That’s when I begin to orgasm myself.
When both of our bodies have come to rest, we lock eyes with one another. Ryan gives me a slight smile, before he collapses his body onto mine. He lies with his head to the side on my chest, and I cannot help but feel an even greater bond –– a closeness with Ryan that only continues to grow every time we’re together.
Now rubbing his back, I tell him, “You really made this night special. Thank you.”
It’s true. The warm ambiance that Ryan created in the room has really made everything so perfect. And more importantly, it shows me just how much he cares. Not only about me, but about us.
Ryan then draws a bath for me, complete with bubbles, and fragrance. He’s also brought in the tea lights and dimmed the lights. The best way to bathe for me right now, is to relax with my cast leg extending out of the water.
As I lay back, feeling the warm water engulf my body, Ryan sits on the other side of the tub and uses a washcloth to clean and massage my body. It’s yet another way to express how much he cares and show me affection.
After a while, he helps me out of the tub. Now clean and relaxed, we quietly snuggle up to one another in bed.
I begin to think to myself how my house feels so much more like a home now. Even with my ex, I never felt the kind of peace and satisfaction that I do with Ryan. My home feels alive now, and I can sense a new level of optimism in the air for the three of us and our future life together as a family.
I preface my thoughts to Ryan by saying, “I don’t expect you to answer this now, but I just want you to think over what I’m about to tell you.”
“Okay,” he agrees.
Then, I proceed to ask, “How would you and Eli feel about moving in with me?”
Before he can say anything, I further add, “I’m saying this, because I just want you to know that the option is open.”
He turns around to face me with a smile, and pauses before answering, “Thank you. I do want the three of us to live together, but why don’t we at least wait until the holidays are over, before making that decision? There’s no rush.”
I nod in agreement.
“You’re right.”
Then I suddenly come up with a new idea to present to him.
“Why don’t we make a room here, just for Eli? That way you both can stay the night if you’d like.”
Ryan’s eyes grow wide, and he sits straight up in bed upon hearing this.
“That’s a fantastic idea! Let’s do it.”
He then looks down at me, before saying, “I’ll move some of his things here starting tomorrow.”
He then lays back down and cuddles up to me again until we fall asleep. But before I doze off, I begin to have mental images in my mind of our life together, and all that that will entail. I think about all my friends, and how we’ll spend holidays together… birthday parties for Eli, and vacations in the summer.
I fall asleep with a smile on my face, knowing that this will be my new life.
Chapter Sixteen
Ryan – Ten days later
I’m on pins and needles as I wait with the audience for the Morning Madison Christmas Show to begin. While I’m seated between Candy and Wes –– with Flynn and Betty on the other side of Wes –– the current focus of my attention is Zach, who is up front and nervously waiting with his boys’ choir for the countdown to the live special.
His overall demeanor and posture are not exactly conveying what I’d call a sense of confidence, and I’m worried about how his now dour-like face is going to appear on camera.
Zach, get it together! I want to shout out to him.
I feel as though I should walk over to comfort him and tell him to take deep breaths or something. That, or let him know he’s going to do a great job. Anything that will get him not to worry, and to believe that the show is going to go off without a hitch.
Which is easy for me to say, I suppose –– I’m not the one who’s about to be on live TV!
But then I see Eli walk down from his place on the riser and approach him. Zach leans down as Eli whispers something into his ear, and they end up hugging one another. Eli must have seen the nervousness in Zach, just like I did, and must have been thinking the same thing.
Once Eli returns to his position in the choir, Zach looks over to me and smiles. It’s as if Eli had the magic touch and that’s all it took for him to transform back to the confident person I know and love. Ever since the night of the party, the two of them have really bonded, and it fills my heart with so much joy to see.
The countdown to the show is now starting, and the audience begins to clap. Zach is opening the show with Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, and so far, the boys are sounding pretty impressive.
Both Will and Brent are hosting the Christmas special, and once the song ends, they do a segment where the two exchange gifts.
Will is the first to open the flute, and once he does, Brent announces to the audience, “Will is going to be learning how to play for the next several months, and we hope to have an Easter special where he will perform in front of a live audience.”
The audience claps enthusiastically, and Zach does a little improv, holding the flute up to his mouth and pretending to play.
Now it’s time for Will to present his gift to Brent. Will takes the mike and turns to face Brent, before announcing, “No price tag can be placed on my present to you, Brent. My gift to you is actually a gift for the both of us. For all three of us.”
The audience begins to mumble and stir.
He then asks his production team, “Lights, please.”
Brent’s face is suddenly transformed, and he holds his hands up to his mouth as the spotlight shines at the top of the audience stairway.
“I’d like to introduce everyone to our son Nick, the newest addition to our family!” he says, as the boy walks down the stairs to join them on stage.
The audience is going wild, as Brent joyously embraces his husband. Once Nick reaches them, Brent picks him up, and the three of them stand together with each other until the segment ends, and a commercial break follows.
But the audience doesn’t stop cheering at that point. Instead, everyone gets up from their seat for a standing ovation. Brent has tears of joy running down his face, as do I. Even though both Zach and I knew ahead of time about their plans to adopt Nick, I’m ecstatic, nonetheless.
How lucky for Eli to have his best friend now be a part of our group of friends. Our family of friends. And now Nick will finally have a home of his very own, with two loving guardians who will probably spoil the heck out of him.
The next segment follows after the commercial break, and the spotlight is once again on Zach. All the anxiety I had seen on his face earlier is gone, and he now appears to be enjoying himself immensely.
He begins a monologue with, “Christmas is a time of giving, and I’ve been blessed this year with the opportunity to give my directing talents to this wonderful St. Patrick’s Boys’ Choir.”
A round of applause follows, as Zach turns to the boys, now clapping himself.
“Thank you,” he says. “Father Joseph at St. Patrick’s founded this choir, which primarily consists of young boys from group homes who have been placed there due to unfortunate circumstances in their lives.”
He pauses, then continues, “It’s been an honor, and the best gift I’ve ever receiv
ed, to get to know this group of talented young kids. I believe wholeheartedly that every one of these boys deserves a fresh start in life. They deserve to have a loving family of parents, brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles. Things that you and I take for granted.”
A round of applause follows.
What a perfect way to bring attention to the boys and put their cause in the spotlight. Zach is so eloquent and heartfelt in his delivery, that I wouldn’t be surprised if this particular segment of the show gets the most attention, and hopefully gets picked up by the media.
My hope is that this year’s show achieves high ratings and is seen by a large number of people. With this kind of exposure, it’s certainly possible that some of the other boys in the choir will finally get their chance at being adopted, just like Nick.
Zach then begins the introduction to the newly composed piece of music.
“And now, for the very first time ever, the boys will be singing a new Christmas song, which was a gift to us from the talented composer, Oliver Dubois.”
More clapping ensues, and Zach pauses until the crowd quiets down.
He then continues, “I’d like to dedicate this new song to a very special person in my life. Even though time has kept us apart for many years, I recently came to realize that the love I once felt for him had never left me. The love we had for one another never left either of us. This wonderful and extraordinary person is my boyfriend, and best friend, Ryan Kelly.”
Zach turns to where I’m sitting in the front row and smiles brightly at me, after announcing this. The audience begins to cheer, and at first, I stand up and wave, but without giving it a second thought, I run up to the stage and kiss my boyfriend.
The love I feel emanating from Zach and the crowd is exhilarating. The emotions that are going through me are so overwhelming that I can no longer hold back my tears. When I catch a glimpse of Eli, he too is in high spirits. He is jumping up and down and clapping, and then he waves to me when I make eye contact with him.
Once I’ve returned back to my seat, Zach announces the song.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome The St. Patrick’s Boys’ Choir, singing, A Christmas Wish for Me.”
