“Who’s coming?”
“Brian’s brother. Brian hasn’t seen him in a while.”
“If he’s Brian’s brother and Brian is my new daddy, does that make him my uncle?”
Brian and I were stunned by this question. It was one that neither of us had thought of. Personally, I was amazed at how easily Tiger could accept Brian as his “new daddy.” I looked at Brian because I didn’t know how to answer that question.
“Uhh… Maybe we should wait and see how he feels about it, Tiger,” Brian said.
“Why? Won’t he like me?” Tiger asked, the disappointment evident in his voice.
“NO! He’ll love you, Tiger. It’s just that he doesn’t know about me and your dad and I don’t know how he’ll feel about it. You see, I’ve not been a very good brother for a long time. I haven’t seen him for a long time. I’m hoping he’ll forgive me.”
“Were you mad at him?” Tiger asked.
“No. I just thought he didn’t need me as a brother anymore. I was really stupid. Your dad’s the one who made me realize how stupid I was.”
“I wish I had a brother. I’d never stop seeing him,” Tiger said.
Oh, fuck! I forgot to warn Brian about that subject. Tiger has been begging me for a brother for years and I didn’t have any way to explain to him there was no way I was going to go through that again.
“Brian, I’ve tried to explain to Tiger I can’t give him a brother,” I said pointedly.
“Oh,” Brian said.
Thank God, he got it.
“Tiger, we’ll talk about this later. Okay?” I said in a tone Tiger knew well.
“Yes, Daddy,” he said quietly, disappointed as always when he brought this subject up.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful. However, when we got home and Tiger went to his room to change his clothes, Brian pulled me aside.
“Maybe we should think about getting Tiger a brother.”
“Brian, I’m not going to get involved with another woman.”
“You don’t have to. What about hiring a surrogate?”
I looked at him in surprise. I’d never thought of that. More importantly, it would be a way for Brian to finally have a son of his own. It was certainly something to think about.
“We should talk about this more, but I think we need to get ready for your brother.”
“Yeah. You’re right.”
His voice sounded very disappointed.
“Brian, I really mean it. I really do want to talk about this. I just want to get this thing with your brother over first.”
He brightened up immediately, realizing I really meant what I was saying.
“Okay. I can see your point. I guess I’m just really scared about Matt coming over and want to talk and think about anything else.”
“Brian, I promise you, I am sure your brother loves you very much. I think he’s going to be thrilled to have you in his life again.”
“Yeah, but what about you and Tiger? How is he going to deal with that?”
“Remember how he supported you when you broke up with Kyle? I don’t think, despite the noxious church he belongs to, he’s going to be very much bothered by our relationship. Otherwise, I’d have never even suggested this.”
“Well…I just hope you’re right.”
“I’m always right. Lawyers are always right. If you pass the bar exam, it means you can never be wrong again.”
“What’s that saying about how you know when a lawyer is lying ‑‑ he has his mouth open?”
“We do not tell lawyer jokes in this house!”
“Wanna bet?”
He laughed, then grabbed me and kissed me.
“No fair!” I said when he finally broke the kiss.
“All’s fair in love and war. I think a lawyer said that.”
I don’t now how far this would have gone, but just at the moment, the doorbell rang. Since we were both standing in the kitchen, we both went to answer it. Brian opened the door and there stood a man who could only be Brian’s brother, Matt. He was taller by at least several inches and he was slightly older but there was no way you could miss the family resemblance. Especially the beautiful, deep blue eyes.
“Brian!” Matt said.
“Matt,” Brian answered.
Then there was dead silence. The two brothers just stood there, looking at each other. I was afraid that perhaps I had been wrong. That maybe they couldn’t patch things up. Both being male, they each must have the male problem with showing their emotions or admitting they were wrong. I was about to intervene when, all of a sudden, Matt held out his arms to Brian. It took about two seconds then Brian all but leaped into those arms. They were both hugging each other, kissing each other’s cheeks, both of them crying. It was at that point I realized I had forgotten to breathe and took a much needed breath of air.
It took several minutes for the two of them to calm down and then Brian turned around to me.
“Tommy, this is my brother, Matt. Matt, this is my lover, Tommy,” Brian said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Matt and I looked at each other for a moment. I was, of course, wondering exactly how Matt was going to deal with this situation. Despite my belief that Matt wanted Brian back in his life, I wasn’t too sure how a Catholic priest was going to deal with his brother’s male lover, so it was a total shock when Matt reached out and took me into his arms, giving me a huge and hearty bear-hug.
“Hey! Glad to meet you, Tommy,” Matt said.
“Thanks! Glad to meet you,” I said.
“Daddy, is this my new uncle?” I heard the small voice behind me ask.
Brian and I turned around in shock and all three of us looked down into the smiling face of Tiger.
Chapter Seven
Neither Brian nor I knew quite how to answer Tiger’s logical but quite shocking question. Fortunately we didn’t have to. Matt took over that duty himself.
“So! Who do we have here?” he asked, smiling down at Tiger.
“I’m Thomas Wells Atherton the Fourth!” Tiger said proudly. “But you can call me Tiger.”
Matt laughed at this.
“Well, I’m Father Matthew Baldwin but you can call me Matt. I’m pleased to meet you. Now what’s this about me being your uncle?”
“Well…Brian is my new dad and if you’re his brother, doesn’t that make you my uncle?”
“Well, yes. I suppose it does.”
“Why are you called Father? Do you have a lot of kids?”
Matt laughed at this.
“No, Tiger, I don’t have any children. I’m called Father because I’m a priest.”
“I thought priests wore funny clothes with a funny collar?”
“I do sometimes, but I’m not ‘working’ right now so I’m just wearing regular clothes.”
“Oh…” said Tiger, obviously confused over this.
“Please, why don’t you come in? We can explain all this,” I said.
“Yeah, Matt, come on in and sit down,” Brian said.
We led Matt into the living room.
“Can I offer you something to drink, Matt?” I asked.
“Would you have any Irish whiskey?”
“I have Bushmills, Jameson, and Fitzgerald’s.”
“I’ve never heard of Fitzgerald’s.”
“It’s just about the best there is. It’s an old label called Redbreast, and I get it directly from Ireland.”
“Great. I’ll have some of that.”
“What do you want in it?”
“Just some ice ‑‑ and not too much of that.”
“Brian, how about you?” I asked.
“Just a beer,” he answered.
“Tiger, you can have a Coke. One,” I said.
I went over to the bar, pulled out two crystal rocks glasses and put two ice cubes each in them and then poured the Irish whiskey over them. I grabbed a beer for Brian and a can of Coke for Tiger, put them all on a small tray, and handed each of them their
drinks, finally settling onto the couch next to Brian with mine.
“So, Brian, I take it there have been some changes,” Matt said, quietly.
“That’s an understatement!” Brian laughed.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. I take it you and Sandy divorced?”
“We’re in the process of it.”
“I’m sorry to say this but I didn’t figure it would last. I guess I understood why you did it, but I thought it would turn out disastrously. I knew how much you loved Kyle.”
“Yeah, but after the way he left me, I didn’t want to ever try to have a relationship with another guy. Plus the fact that I wanted kids.”
“But I take it you never had any.”
“No, we never did. I don’t know why, either. I don’t know if it was Sandy or me.”
“So how long have you two been together?” Matt asked, looking at me.
I looked at Brian, not knowing how I should answer. After all, it had only been a few days. I wasn’t sure Matt would quite understand.
“Matt, Tommy and I fell in love kind of quickly ‑‑ sort of ‘love at first sight.’ I had gone to him to see about a divorce. Tommy’s a lawyer.”
Matt looked more closely at me.
“Oh! You’re that Thomas Atherton! I thought your name rang some bells. Boy! They really hate you down at the Archdiocese office.” Matt laughed.
I blushed a deep red and Brian looked at me and then at his brother questioningly.
“Why do they hate him?” Brian asked his brother.
Matt looked at me as if to ask if I wanted him to answer or whether I wanted to.
“They hate me because I’ve cost them a huge amount of money. I’ve represented several boys and men who were molested by priests. Molestations the Archdiocese tried to cover up.”
“Good for you!” Brian said. “I’ve heard about some of this. Anybody who would hurt a child that way deserves to be strung up and horsewhipped.”
The vehemence of Brian’s statement somewhat took me aback. After all, here was his own brother ‑‑ a priest ‑‑ sitting right there.
“Brian, I couldn’t agree with you more. Now, I can understand sin and I can understand mental illness, but that doesn’t change the fact those men were a disgrace to the priesthood and the way in which the church tried to cover up their crimes was equally disgraceful and disgusting,” Matt said.
I looked at Matt in shock. In all my dealings with the Archdiocese, not once had I ever heard those sentiments expressed. Matt saw my look.
“I know. I’m a very maverick voice in the chancery. I’m sure you never heard anyone else say anything like that.”
“No. I never did.”
“No, you weren’t allowed to. Even though I’m not the only one who feels this way about it, none of us were permitted to go anywhere near you on orders from the Archdiocese’s attorneys.”
“That’s to be understood. If I had been able to subpoena you and get you on the stand in front of the jury, I could have gotten an even greater settlement from the jury. But that’s all water under the bridge now. The case is over, my clients have received their compensation, and I have as well. I wish I could say I hold no malice toward the church, but I do. Not just for those cases and cases like them around the world but for some of the other statements and stands your church has taken in the last ten years.”
I didn’t want to fight with Brian’s brother but, at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to him, either.
“Tommy, if I may call you that?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And you can call me Matt. Believe me, I understand the animosity toward my church that you feel. Quite frankly, were I in your position, I might well feel it, too. I would only remind you churches are made up of people ‑‑ fallible people.”
“Well…except, you have one who claims to be infallible,” I said.
Matt threw back his head and roared in laughter at this.
“My God! You are a good attorney, aren’t you? You’ve found yourself quite an advocate, Brian.”
I hung my head and blushed in embarrassment. Brian, for his part, put his arm around me and pulled me close to him.
“I found a man to love and to love me,” Brian said quietly to his brother.
“So, how did you two meet?”
Brian and I looked at each other and grinned.
“He just walked into my office, looking for an attorney to handle his divorce.”
“And that was it?”
“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that,” I said, embarrassedly.
“Not for me it wasn’t! I knew the moment I saw him he was the one,” Brian said, squeezing me to him.
“I fought it. I’d never been in love before and I didn’t believe I ever could fall for someone. Plus, I had some responsibilities that gave me some difficulties,” I said, letting Matt see me glance over toward Tiger.
“I understand,” Matt said, catching my glance. “So what changed things?”
“It was a combination of two things. I have this yenta living in the house who decided I should be married and chose your brother.” I laughed, then I looked at Brian. “Plus, your brother turned out to be the kind of man I thought I’d never find ‑‑ that I thought didn’t exist.”
“What’s a yenta?” Tiger asked.
“That’s someone who sticks their nose into things that are none of their business,” I growled at him.
Tiger of course, knowing my bark was way worse than my bite, simply laughed at me.
“They’re going to Massachusetts,” Tiger said to Matt.
“They are?” he asked, surprised. “You’re going to move?”
Brian and I both groaned at the same time, which caused us to break up laughing.
“That’s Tiger-speak for us getting married,” I explained. “He has a friend whose two dads went there and got married.”
“So are you going to get married?” Matt asked.
“Yes. We are. Just as soon as my divorce is final.”
“But the marriage is only legal in Massachusetts,” Matt said.
“It’s symbolic,” Brian said. “We realize that.”
“So if it’s only symbolic, why go all the way to Massachusetts? Why not just get married here?” Matt asked.
“Well, because in Massachusetts, there’s plenty of justices of the peace and notaries who can marry us,” I said.
“Ever thought about getting married by a priest?” Matt asked.
Brian and I looked at each other in shock!
“What are you saying, Matt?” Brian asked.
“I’m saying I would love to marry my brother to the man he’s in love with,” Matt said smiling.
“Are you serious? Can’t you get in a lot of trouble for doing that?” Brian asked.
“Well, the archbishop isn’t going to let us do it in the cathedral.” Matt laughed. “But if we do it privately, no one needs to know.”
Brian looked at me. I knew he knew a religious ceremony was not what I wanted but I knew he wanted this from his brother. This symbol of his brother’s acceptance of our relationship. And, what the hell? It did beat flying to Massachusetts and just having some stranger marry us!
“I guess, in this case, it doesn’t matter that I’m not Catholic?” I asked Matt.
“No, I don’t think that’s a problem.” Matt smiled. “What religion are you? If I can ask?”
“A very lapsed Episcopalian.”
“Well, that’s about as close to Catholic as you can get,” Matt said. “I think the ceremony is pretty similar. Of course, if you want, I could always modify the service in the Book of Common Prayer.”
“You could?” I asked.
I would feel a lot more comfortable with a service I was at least familiar with.
“Sure, why not? Neither of our churches has a ceremony for marrying two people of the same sex. No matter what ceremony I use, we’ll have to modify it.” Matt smiled.
“
Would you like another drink?” I asked, noticing Matt’s glass was empty.
“Don’t mind if I do! This is really excellent whiskey.”
“Do you want another beer, love?” I asked Brian.
“Yeah. I could go for another one.”
It was only when I went over to the bar that I suddenly realized I had called Brian “love.” I had never used a term of endearment for anybody. Well…except for Tiger. Suddenly a feeling of such deep, resounding happiness went through me. The warmth and power of the love I felt for Brian ‑‑ and the love I could feel from him, all but overwhelmed me for a moment.
I finished making the drinks and brought them back to Matt and Brian. They were lost in talking about their past as brothers. I sat down and listened to their memories of being together as boys. Having never had a brother, and wanting one, I was amazed at the fights the two of them used to have ‑‑ at least from their memories. But I had to laugh at all the mischief they used to get into and was touched when Brian talked about how Matt had always protected him from bullies.
Finally, we went out onto the deck and I cooked dinner. There was lots of joking around and laughter all through the meal. Matt helped me clean up afterward and we spent some time in the kitchen talking while Brian and Tiger played video games. As usual, I was a softy and gave in to letting Tiger off his punishment of no video games when Brian decided he wanted to play them with him. I’m sure Tiger was beating Brian.
“You really love him, don’t you,” Matt said quietly, not as a question but a statement.
I looked at him.
“Yes, more than I ever thought possible to love someone.”
“I can see it when you look at him and hear it when you talk.”
“For someone who isn’t allowed to fall in love, you seem to be very well versed in the emotion.”
“Comes with the job.”
“Being a priest?”
“Well, that and being a psychologist.”
“You are? I don’t think Brian knows that.”
“I got my doctorate at Berkeley. What I do is work with priests who are having problems.”
“Brian told me you had studied in Rome.”
“I did. I went to the Gregorian seminary there. But that degree was in theology. I wanted to help people, and theology isn’t very useful for that most of the time.”
Rock Paper Scissors Page 11
