“Why not leave it to him?” she was incredulous, she could only imagine what his estate was worth. She already knew how much she was worth.
“Because he would spend it as fast as he could. I want you to keep him on the insurance and make sure he doesn’t have this God-damned disease,” he grinned as she cringed at taking the Lord’s name in vain, her words from long ago. She didn’t swear like anyone he knew and her upbringing kept her from saying certain things.
“How the hell am I going to keep an actor on the books of a tech company?” she asked, reeling at all she would have to do for Ryan in his final days. She would do it too.
“We aren’t just a tech company,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she grouched.
“Keep him on as an advisor or something. Ask accounting how it’s done so that he is fully insured. We still don’t know if he caught this,” he indicated himself and his chest with his thumb. “I want him to live in the house as long as he wants to.”
“Done,” she told him without batting an eye. Whatever he wanted, if it was within her power, it would be done.
“And don’t be so serious. Live a little,” he told her, while he was busy dictating the terms of her life for her and she was willing to listen.
“Uh huh,” she grudged.
“I’m serious Red. You need to give up the past and start living. Find someone you can love. I did and look how happy he made me?”
“Bill is different. He isn’t going to screw you over. Do you know how rare that is?” She was getting annoyed, not only over the conversation they were having, but the incessant beeping of his machines.
“I never screwed you either, despite offers,” he joked.
She finally grinned half-heartedly. “Yeah well, maybe it’s in the gay-genes you two are spreading around.”
“Uh huh, like I made you gay?”
“Well, didn’t you? It was your idea I start dating women instead of men!”
“Only because those assholes were beating you up! Both mentally and physically and I didn’t want to go to jail!”
“Go to jail?” she frowned.
“Yes, from having to kill one of them!”
She grinned again. “Say, tell me something…”
“Anything,” he grinned in return. It was really pathetic on his sunken face with the oxygen piped into his nose.
“Did you and Greg ever hook up?” she asked slyly.
“Greg? Greg who?” he frowned trying to remember all the guys he dated over the years.
“College Greg, the football player? My first roommate’s boyfriend. Remember Blossom?” she asked, and smiled as she saw a shadow of pleasure slide over his face for a moment.
He smiled showing the loss of many of his teeth. He nodded silently and then, “Yeah, I did, but I’m certain Blossom didn’t mind since I also tried her.”
Ellen lost her smile in surprise. “You had them both?”
He nodded and grinned impishly, with the tooth loss it was a caricature of his former smile. “Yeah, those were the days. Ah, college. I was still experimenting with bi-sexuality then,” he said nostalgically.
She slugged him in the shoulder, not hard because his frail body couldn’t handle the strain.
“Ow!” he said pretending that it really hurt and rubbing it appreciatively. “What? I was young, I was experimenting. Who knows, if she had taken me seriously I might have been a heterosexual?!” he said earnestly.
“You know she caught him with someone, that’s why they divorced,” she informed him.
“It wasn’t me. I only knew him during college, I didn’t get her until graduate school,” he clarified.
“Oh, my, gawd,” she drawled, her accent coming out at this odd moment and he grinned appreciatively.
“You know, I might have been a faithful husband and father if you’d given me a chance,” he teased. Only he knew that he might have given up his homosexuality for her, but then knowing how men actually scared her, had scarred her, he knew that he was in the relationship he needed to be, and he had loved Bill.
“Uh huh, you were a man-whore for a while there,” she told him honestly in return.
“A man-whore? Who me?” he asked horrified. He was smiling though.
“Who’s a man-whore?” Bill came into the hospice room with a big bouquet of flowers.
“Your man here was a man-whore until he fell in love with you,” Ellen quickly told him. It lightened the room’s atmosphere immediately. She knew Bill would be hurt to find out that Ryan had been with a woman, any woman.
“Oh, he could have been,” he responded lightly, he was sure they were teasing each other as they always did. He knew he had nothing to worry about with Ellen. Her girlfriends were legendary; she went through them like water.
“I think you two are ganging up on me. You better go and catch that meeting,” he said meaningfully to Ellen with a look.
“My meeting?” she asked, confused for a moment.
“Yes, your meeting!” he emphasized and when Bill looked at her and her confusion, he made a jerking motion with his head to indicate she should leave.
“Oh, my meeting,” she parroted. “Yes, I should be going.” She made a great show of looking at her watch, chosen for her by one of her lovers; it was a beautiful Gucci with gold around the bezel. “See you both tomorrow,” she said and kissed them each on the cheek as she said her goodbyes.
“I love you Red,” Ryan said, trying to give her an additional squeeze of meaning, but he was just too weak to manage it beyond his feeble attempt.
“Uh huh, that’s only because I keep you out of trouble,” she sallied with him.
“Be good,” he said, and gave her a shove towards the door.
“Be careful,” she automatically responded as she looked back once more, but the two men were already looking at each other. The love she saw between them caused a lump in her throat.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DEATH TAKES ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS
Ryan Mahoney died on a Friday night. No one was in his room as he drifted away. The machines that monitored him told his care-givers of the end of his valiant fight. They hurried in but he had a DNR, a Do Not Resuscitate order in place, and they could do nothing but note the time and turn off the machines and their annoying alarms. Bill was called but as his ‘brother,’ which they all knew was bogus, he was one of Ryan’s next of kin. His ‘sister’ was called as well and Ellen immediately made arrangements including the call to his real sister and brother back in Michigan.
“God Ellen, how am I ever going to go on without him?” Bill sobbed on her shoulder.
Ellen sighed, knowing that Ryan would want her to be patient with Bill; she held him awkwardly and patted his shoulder. It wasn’t like they hadn’t known he was going to die. He’d been in hospice for weeks, he had made up his will well over three years ago when they diagnosed him with the fatal disease, and the plans were in place for his funeral. All Ellen needed to do was enact them. She knew what he wanted, what he planned, and what she could do. Dealing with an over-dramatic partner was just part of her duties as his business partner and friend. She’d been his ‘sister of another mother’ for as long as the two of them had known each other. She felt her own grief, her own loss, what would she do without his sense of humor, his irreverent comments, and his more pointed ones? He knew her. He knew most of her story, she knew his. No one on Earth knew her better. She remembered one conversation in a flashback as she looked over Bill’s shoulder and patted his back;
“I refuse to be a victim again!” she stated angrily.
“Wait a minute?” he asked astutely. “Again?”
Blushing she tried to brush it off, but he persisted, it wasn’t often he got these nuggets of information and he wanted to pry while he had the chance.
“My father was an asshole. I refuse to let anyone victimize me again!” she explained. She went on to cite many of the things her father had done to her, from the hitting, to the berating o
f her, to the sexual abuse that he allowed from his friends. How she wished him dead, and how it happened. How the tornado had come, and she hadn’t warned him. She hadn’t even tried.
“I’m never going to love again,” Bill spoke, breaking the spell of the conversation she was remembering.
“It’s too soon to think like that. Think of the wonderful life you and Ryan had,” she told him firmly. She knew he needed a firm hand, and hoped she wouldn’t strangle him. His needs had always been before Ryan’s, or so she thought. He was spoiled, Ryan had been indulgent, and he was now bereft of that strength that Ryan had been.
“Did you phone Medusa?” he asked with a sneer.
Ellen laughed as she nodded. “And their brother,” she added.
“Oh gawd, Homophobia Central here we come,” he lamented.
She chuckled. “C’mon, it won’t be that bad,” she teased. They both knew it could, and probably would.
“You know they are going to only come to see what they can get out of his will,” he said knowingly.
She nodded. “Yes, but Ryan tied that up years ago so no one can do anything about it.”
“Do you know what’s in it?” he asked and tried to hide the eager note in his voice.
She shook her head. “No, not completely, and you don’t have to worry,” she reassured him. She wondered what kind of actor Bill was when he couldn’t even act that he wasn’t eagerly anticipating the windfall that he would receive from Ryan’s estate.
“How do you know I don’t have to worry?” he pushed, looking at her earnestly. It was the sad look that she knew Ryan would have fallen for.
But she was made of sterner stuff and didn’t fall for it as she answered, “I’ll make sure you are taken care of, no need to worry.” She knew that being vague was the best answer she could give him. He was greedy, but it had been so charming, and Ryan so wealthy, he had indulged. The clothes Bill wore, the car he drove, and even the film he was in the process of making, were all financed by Ryan.
“Oh God, I’m all alone,” Bill sobbed dramatically, and fell back into Ellen’s arms.
She rolled her eyes, but it was for her benefit, they had no other audience. Bill would be back on his feet in no time at all. He’d find another sugar daddy to support him and take care of him. That was unless he became a sugar daddy for some young stud. He wasn’t destitute, but the money Ryan had left for him was held in trust and she was the administrator of that trust. He didn’t need to know that until the reading of the will. Ignorance was bliss in this case, and she knew pretending to not know much would keep down the questions. She knew she was a better actor than Bill would ever be. She glanced at him in a mirror beside them; his crocodile tears were fading away as his mind worked on the problem of going on without Ryan. She had often wondered what Ryan saw in him, but she knew, Bill was a very handsome man, and if not so selfish and childish, would have made a mint as a model. He had been a minor model of sorts when Ryan spotted him in San Francisco. He had helped him, supported him, and gave him a home. Bill, unaccustomed to such luxury had eaten it up and expected more, ever more. Ryan, with no one to spend his money on, spent it lavishly on his younger lover. Except for the sex, Ellen had often thought of Bill as Ryan’s child.
* * * * *
The minister droned on and on and Ellen was starting to feel the effects of the over-crowded church and the heat. The church obviously didn’t have an air-conditioner and while many of the older buildings in Silicon Valley didn’t have or need them, it would have been nice today. She was pleased at the turn out. Ryan would have loved to see his peers, competition, and associates all come to pay their last respects. His body would be cremated after the services and Ellen and Bill would be going out into San Francisco Bay to discretely dispose of the ashes. It was illegal to do that technically, but no one needed to know. They were supposed to go out three nautical miles from the city, but Ellen knew that Ryan would have wanted his remains scattered in the actual bay and planned to do so.
She glanced over across the aisle at Ryan’s brother and sister. His brother had greeted her cordially, but his sister had been the bitch they all expected her to be. She was playing at being the lady of the manor born, letting everyone and anyone know that she, and not Ellen, was Ryan’s sister. She wasn’t nicknamed Medusa for anything. Her hair was in knots, a style that didn’t become her florid face. The mats that the tangles had become she thought stylish and on the edge, instead looked unflattering and dirty like everyone else thought. Even in ultra-liberal California people were looking and shaking their heads at the mess, Ellen had to wonder what people thought of it back in Michigan. Ellen shuddered to think of what might actually live in that mess.
“The service was nice Ellen, thank you for arranging it,” Rudy said pleasantly to her afterwards as she chatted with those from the electronics industry.
“Thank you for coming for it Rudy, I know Ryan would have liked it,” she said nicely. She knew Ryan wouldn’t have given a care either way. Their parents had written him off long ago as a queer and fag and for many years he had nothing to do with any of them. It was easier after their parents had passed away, but still there was a tension and Medusa didn’t help things.
“Where is the reading of the will going to be held?” she asked rudely and her tone of voice was enough to set anyone’s teeth on edge.
“Tomorrow in the lawyer’s offices,” Ellen replied calmly, as she eyed the woman distastefully.
“Why isn’t it today? We can’t hang around here for days you know. We have lives back home,” she said rudely.
“Because the funeral was held on a weekend, the offices of the attorney are being specially opened for us, but tomorrow rather than today because they had other plans,” Ellen patiently explained. She didn’t tell her that the lawyers were here at the service out of respect for their wealthy client.
“Are you coming?” Medusa asked.
“Yes, the attorney gave me a list of those named in the will so that I could inform a few of them myself. The rest he informed through his staff.”
“I don’t see why you have to be there, you were only his business partner,” she stated.
Ellen didn’t reply, she thought it prudent to not say a word, but she eyed the woman with the incongruous name of Melody. It not only didn’t fit her, but her voice was definitely not melodic. Her parents must have had high hopes in the child before she became the nightmare she was. Ellen and Ryan had changed it to Medusa long ago because she screeched when she didn’t get her way. She had visited once out of ‘duty,’ under the premise of kissing and making up, but really to get the ‘lay of the land,’ and met all of Ryan’s friends at that time.
“Is that going to be there?” Melody asked pointing towards Bill who was chatting with some of Ryan and his friends.
“Bill? His life-partner? Of course,” Ellen answered with relish.
“It ain’t natural,” Melody pointed out.
“Ryan loved him and Bill loved Ryan. There isn’t anything anyone can say to the contrary,” Ellen answered with a bit of spirit. Most who knew Ellen Christenson and the light of battle that was in her eye would have subsided to the side-lines and not opened their mouths again…wisely. But Melody wasn’t wise.
“He better not get it all. I already spoke to an attorney and as his only legal blood-relatives we should get it,” she said snidely.
“Perhaps he left you something,” Ellen said stiffly. She would have gone on, but was interrupted by the twit.
“Something? He was worth billions! We better get it all!” she said, her voice rising, as she used her thumb to point to her brother and include him in it.
Rudy shook his head and made a face to Ellen behind Medusa’s back to indicate he was out of it and it wasn’t him but Melody with this point to make.
“Well, thank you for coming,” Ellen said instead of what she wanted to say. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the lawyer’s office.”
“Why didn’t you get us a hote
l?” Medusa asked snidely. “I don’t like staying at that house with it,” she pointed again at Bill, who was sobbing dramatically on someone’s shoulder. “It’s not like you couldn’t afford it and I could have used the spa.”
Since she was sorely in need of spa with that hair-don’t and could probably use it, Ellen generously offered, “We have a spa through the company. I can call and make arrangements for you if you wish.”
“Good, and I’d like one of those big fluffy white robes they have at all the spas,” she said authoritatively, as though she knew all about it. “Make it two, I can take one home to a friend of mine,” she said greedily.
Ellen sighed and nodded. “I’ll tell your driver,” she said and tried once again to get away.
“And make sure that driver knows who he’s working for now,” Melody nearly screeched loud enough for the driver to hear her from the street. Several heads turned as Ellen made her way hastily away to go speak with the driver. As she walked down the stairs of the church and to the limo that had been chauffeuring around the bereaved brother and sister she pulled out her phone to call the company spa and warn them of Melody’s imminent arrival. She quickly gave Tony his instructions and apologized for anything Melody had said to him.
“No worries ma’am. You get some good ones, you get some bad ones. I just drive,” he smiled showing perfectly white teeth in his African-American face.
Ellen smiled up at him, grateful for his tolerance and familiar face. “Thanks Tony, I’ll make sure you are taken care of,” she assured him.
He saluted her as he went to open the car door, having spotted Melody and Rudy approaching the car, not far behind his boss. Ellen quickly went to her own waiting limo to have it drive her to the wake that neither Melody or Rudy had been invited to. She had thought of inviting Rudy, but didn’t know how she could do so without Melody finding out. The wake was to celebrate Ryan’s life and not berate it and Melody would not be welcome there amongst Ryan’s true friends and family.
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