Jeff and Colonel were on their way home the next day and were listening to the CD of Chris and his friends. The boys were amazingly good. Jeff even commented on that fact as they were hearing the CD for the third time. Colonel at first didn't seem to hear him. Several minutes passed before the boy spoke suddenly.
"Dad, these songs are so great," he said in awestruck voice.
"Hmm, seems like I've heard someone say that just a few minutes ago," Jeff smiled. "Oh, that's right, it was me."
"What did you say, Dad?" Colonel asked looking up at his father.
"Never mind son," Jeff laughed. "Geeze you've got it bad, kiddo."
"Are you trying to say that you don't?" Colonel asked pointedly.
"Well, adults can handle this sort of thing more maturely without it affecting their attention to their environment," Jeff informed his son.
"You can, huh?" Colonel asked. "If that's so, Dad, why did you drive past the turn to Gramma and Grampa's house?"
"I…umm…I'm thirsty and want to stop at the gas station ahead to get a drink," Jeff said stutteringly, but he did pull over and turn around.
"Right, Gramma might forget to meet you at the door with a glass of iced tea this time," Colonel said sarcastically. "I mean she's only been doing that every visit since I can remember."
"You, young man, are entirely too smart for your own good sometimes," Jeff laughed.
"Dad," Colonel began suddenly serious. "Are you nervous about seeing Gramma and Grampa?"
"Why would I be nervous?" Jeff returned. "Just because I found someone new that I want to spend my life with and they are the parents of my former lover? They'll understand I'm sure."
"Dad, you just drove past the turn again," Colonel observed.
"Stop talking to me," Jeff said as he stuck his tongue out at his son. "You're distracting me."
Colonel very melodramatically made a zipping motion across his mouth as his father turned the car around once more. Once they were finally on the correct street, he took the risk of speaking once more.
"Dad, what you said was right," he told his father seriously. "Gramma and Grampa want you to be happy. They know you're not going to forget Poppa."
"My head knows you're right, son," Jeff replied. "My heart hopes you are. Your Gramma and Grampa have been like parents to me, but they aren't my parents. They're Kyle's parents. They loved him in their way just as much as I did in mine."
"Dad, I loved Poppa too," Colonel told him. "I understand that you want to be happy and your Chris makes you happy."
"My Chris?"
"Yeah, you have your Chris, and I have mine," Colonel beamed.
"Gotcha," Jeff nodded. They were now in the driveway of the familiar two story home. As the car doors opened, Kyle's father Ben opened the front door of the house.
"Where's that good looking grandson of mine?" Grampa bellowed. His wife Laura came out just behind him. Just as Colonel had mentioned, she had a tall glass of iced tea in her hand.
"Yoo Hoo, Jeff, come on in and tell us all about this new man of yours," she bubbled. Jeff turned to glare at his son.
"I might have mentioned something to them when they called me to tell me happy birthday," the boy admitted nervously. Seeing the look on his father's face was priceless, but it also sent Colonel scurrying out of the car. "Grampa, HELP! He's going to kill me."
"Colonel, that's no way to talk about your father," Gramma scolded with a smile. "You know he would never hurt you."
"I kinda didn't have his permission to tell you about him and Mr. Chris," the boy confessed as he hid behind his Grampa as his father followed him up the walk.
"That does make a difference," Grampa mused aloud. With a hearty chuckle, he spun around, scooped Colonel up into a bear hug the likes of which a boy can only get from his Grampa, and carried him into the house. "I guess we'll have to hide out in your room upstairs while your dad satisfies your Gramma's curiosity. You can show me how to hook up that new fangled video game system we bought the other day."
Gramma spoke up before the boy could respond. "It's not a birthday present, honey. It's a distraction for to keep them occupied while the grownups do other things."
"Well, if it had been a birthday present, I could make an exception, just for you guys, especially this year," Colonel said with a bashful grin that seemed to dissolve into a melancholy sigh at the end.
The adults all noticed the shift in his attitude, but didn't want to push the boy. He had made his mind up about his birthday, and they would honor his decision for as long as he wanted. They all suspected that someday he might change his mind about it, but they were determined that it be his decision just as much as giving up the celebration had been. That didn't mean that his Grandparents didn't prepare just in case he already had reversed his thinking on the matter.
"Well, in that case, you might just find a few other things in there besides the video game thing," Gramma said softly, as she leaned over and kissed the boy in her husband's arms.
"Thanks Gramma, you too Grampa," Colonel responded. "You guys are the only ones allowed to give me birthday presents since Poppa was your little boy."
"Well now you are our boy," Grampa assured him with another crushing hug. "You always will be. Nothing will ever change that."
"Please don't talk like that," Colonel said suddenly crying. "It's hard enough now."
"Colonel, sweetie, what's wrong?" Gramma asked him.
"This is our last time together," the boy wept.
"What?" all three adults chorused.
"Colonel, do you think that because I am with someone else now, that Gramma and Grampa aren't going to be a part of our lives?" Jeff asked the boy. The increased sobbing gave the answer. "Harlan Sanders Beckman, where in the world did you get an idea like that?"
"I don't know," the boy mumbled through his tears.
"As long as your Gramma and Grampa want to be a part of your life, they will be," Jeff vowed.
"Just a minute," Grampa said firmly. "Jeff, you sound like you won't be part of that equation yourself."
"Well, I just figured since you were Kyle's parents, and….."
"And nothing, Jeffrey David Beckman, you are as much a son to me as Kyle ever was," Gramma scolded as she wiped tears from her cheeks. "If you don't want us around then we'll have to respect that, but don't you dare ever think for one minute that I want it that way."
"The same goes for me, son," Grampa said emotionally. "You weren't just the best thing to ever happen to Kyle, you know. You're pretty special to us too. We've been afraid just like Colonel here that this would be the last time we would see you boys ever since he told us that you had reconnected to your old high school flame."
"Just how much detail did you go into with your grandparents, Colonel?" Jeff asked his son directly. The boy giggled and cuddled safely in his Grampa's arms. "I think we should go inside and sit down."
"Jeff?" Gramma whispered nervously.
"I just want us to be comfortable as we cover any details he left out, Mom." Now she was sobbing as she practically suffocated Jeff in her embrace. "Air, need air," Jeff choked out.
"You've just made us very happy, son," Grampa announced as he joined in the now group hug, crushing both Jeff and Colonel.
"Help, I'm being squished to death," Colonel called out giggling. This of course made all three adults squeeze the boy even more. "AAAAAA!!" he laughed out as he struggled to get free. As soon as the grownups let him go, he darted into the house and up the stairs.
Jeff did indeed wind up spending most of the rest of the afternoon answering questions about Chris and their history together, and their future plans. He talked for a long time with Gramma in the kitchen while Grampa and Colonel rewired the playroom upstairs for the new flat screen television and video game system. When that chore was completed, Grampa came downstairs to join Jeff and Gramma.
"What's this I hear about an intercom system, Jeff?" the man asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"COLONEL!!!!" Jeff yelled out as he blushed from head to toe.
"Jeffrey, don't yell in the house," Gramma scolded.
"Yes, Mom," a properly chastised Jeff mumbled.
"Now, it seems you neglected to mention some details when you were telling me about your new young man," she added pointedly. "What does an intercom system have to do with anything?"
"Nothing," Jeff blushed again.
"That's not the story I heard upstairs," Grampa laughed. "It seems that our Jeff here and his new beau neglected to turn off the intercom to the front desk of the hotel when they got… err… better acquainted in Chris' office." Jeff doubted at this point if it was possible to turn any redder, and actually wondered if it really were possible to die of embarrassment. "Apparently, not only did the staff of the hotel get quite an earful, but several guests did as well."
"I don't doubt it," Gramma announced matter-of-factly. "Jeff always was rather loud. I doubt they even needed the intercom system. You remember what it was like around here when he and Kyle would visit." Jeff now knew it was possible, because he was sure he was doing it.
"I'm going to have a few words with my big-mouthed son now," he announced as he practically ran from the room as the older couple just erupted in laughter. "I may pull his tongue out."
"Don't you dare touch that boy," Gramma warned, even though she was still laughing. "He's our perfect little spy."
Jeff had seen Colonel lurking at the top of the stairs, listening in to their conversation. "Well maybe I should tell you about his Chris, in that case. Two can play this spy game," Jeff said deliberately loudly.
"DAAAAD!!!" Colonel cried out as he ran down the stairs.
"Ah ah ah," Jeff told the boy, as he shook his finger. "All's fair in love and war, my son, and this is both." He turned to Gramma and said, "Did you guys know there was a double moon last night?"
"Dad!!" Colonel pleaded.
"What do you mean a double moon?" Grampa asked.
"I went into Colonel's room last night to say goodnight and there they were all cuddled up together, sound asleep in each other's arms, with their naked little butts shining in the breeze," Jeff explained.
"AAAWWWW! That's so sweet," Gramma gushed as Colonel buried his very red face in his hands. "Our baby boy is growing up just like his fathers."
"This wouldn't happen to be the same boy you were telling me about upstairs, would it?" Grampa asked, snickering. "The one that scored the terrifically awesome goal at the soccer game?"
"That's him alright," Jeff answered for him. "They met a few minutes after we got to the reunion. They even made out in the shower room."
"The men in this family have always moved fast when they made up their mind," Gramma sighed as she looked around the room.
"Not fair, Dad," he complained when he finally looked up again. "I can't tell anything else about you because all the other times you were alone together with Chris all you did was talk. Old people are so boring."
"Hey!" Gramma exclaimed.
"We don't just talk when we're alone, and we're older than your dad by a long shot," Grampa announced.
"EEWWW!!" Colonel squealed.
"T. M. I." Jeff added with a shudder.
"Snow on the roof doesn't mean there's no fire in the hearth," Grampa chuckled. "I happen to think my wife is every bit as sexy today as she was the first time I laid eyes on her."
"They're going to kiss, Dad. Let's get out of here," Colonel begged.
"Right behind you, son," Jeff said in mock desperation.
A little while later when Jeff and Colonel came back downstairs from the playroom for dinner, Jeff was confronted by the whole family. Kyle's sister, Becky was now here with her husband and their toddler daughter. This of course meant that all, yes all the details already revealed about Jeff and Colonel's newly developing love lives were gone over again.
Late that night as Jeff was headed to bed after tucking Colonel into his sleeping bag on the floor of the playroom Gramma and Grampa stopped him before he could get to his own room. They were very serious looking and he couldn't help but wonder what was on their minds.
"We've talked it over and settled it, Jeff," Ben told him. "Tomorrow morning we want you to call Chris. If he can, we would love to have him join you here."
"He is welcome to stay as long as you want him and he is able," Laura added. "It looks to us like he's going to be a part of the family now. We want to meet him."
"Well, he is very busy," Jeff said nervously.
"Relax, Jeff," Ben advised. "We're sure to like him. We already know you have excellent taste in men. You picked Kyle, didn't you? Chris must be very special as well if you have loved him all these years."
"I loved Kyle," Jeff pointed out. "I never once even dreamed of cheating on him with Chris or anyone else."
"Oh, honey we know that," Laura assured him. "I saw the way you two would look at one another all the time. We don't think you ever had any doubts in your love for him. The look on your face on the mornings after you had sex would have convinced a blind man that you two were completely taken with one another." Jeff felt his face burning again and was glad of the darker lighting in the room.
"We know you must have had feelings for Chris in another part of your heart, though," Ben picked up again. "You did say he was your first real crush as a youngster."
"Yes he was," Jeff confirmed.
"I know it's possible to love more than one person at a time, Jeff," Ben told him. "Laura and I can understand what you're going through a bit better than you think, son."
"I'm not Ben's first wife, Jeff," Laura explained. "He isn't my first husband either."
"In fact, Kyle was my son by adoption," Ben said. "We first met in grade school, and never dreamed there would be anyone else for either of us as we grew up."
"When my father got called away by business and we had to move when I was in high school, I was devastated," Laura continued. "Another young man saw my pain and took advantage of it. He convinced me to do things I wasn't truly ready to experience. He also said that nothing would happen our first time. He lied about that too."
"Her parents insisted that they marry," Ben picked back up. "When I learned what had happened, I was the one that was devastated. We had only been apart for such a short time. I was planning to wait for her, and couldn't believe it when I was told that she hadn't done the same. I didn't know at the time that it was a case of near rape."
"He didn't…." Jeff whispered unable to say the words.
"Yes, Jeff, I'm afraid that is what happened," Laura confirmed. "While I had been willing at first, he was very forceful and insistent. When I told him no, he said it was too late. He took by force what I had been dreaming of giving Ben."
"I'm so sorry," Jeff told her. "I can't begin to imagine what you have gone through." It was clear that he had started to say something else, but stopped himself.
"Kyle knew his father was no good," Laura answered his unspoken question. "Once we were married, things went from bad to worse. Michael hated the fact that he had been forced to marry me. He openly cheated on me, and he was a horrible father to Kyle."
"Meanwhile, I had turned to Phoebe, Laura's best friend here in town, for consolation after Laura had moved away," Ben explained. "There had been a spark there, but hearing of what I felt was Laura's betrayal motivated me to move on. What had begun as just two people who missed the same person grew into something wonderful. We got married right after our graduation."
"It was their deaths that brought Ben and I back together again," Laura told Jeff. "Michael was a traveling sales representative for a chemical corporation. He was here in town on a business trip when he went out one night to a bar. This was nothing unusual for him; he drank heavily all the time. What was different about that night was that he had an accident on his way back to the hotel. He hit a woman on her way home from the grocery store. She was killed instantly, and he was taken to the local hospital and put into intensive care. I got here as fast as I could, not so much out of concern for my husband, but more out of guilt for what he had done. I wanted to at least apologize to the family of whomever it was he had killed."
"Phoebe had just told me that day that she was pregnant with our first child," Ben said as he wiped a tear from his cheek. "She was so happy and so was I. I had no idea how we were going to make it financially of course, but that didn't bother us. We were young, in love, and delirious from both." He paused to wipe his face again, and by this time Jeff was doing the same. He had already reasoned out what he was about to be told. "That evening she had a craving for something hideous to eat; I don't even remember what it was anymore," Ben continued emotionally. "I was knee-deep in applications for grad school and she didn't want to interrupt me, so she took the car and went alone. She never came back. The police showed up to tell me that she had been killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver."
"He came to the hospital so angry," Laura said as she too wept. "I couldn't blame him a bit once I heard the story from the nurses at the hospital. He wanted to confront the man who had killed his family. He walked in the room just as Michael screamed loudly and died."
"It was the most horrifying sound I had ever heard," Ben recalled. "It was so much more intense than what you hear in movies. It was as if he were truly terrified of something only he saw in that last moment."
"I felt that I was a terrible woman because I couldn't cry at the death of my husband," Laura confessed. "I just couldn't feel sad. I was free of him and his cheating, and his drinking, and his temper. I was free." Jeff could see her squeeze Ben's hand as she continued. "That's when I heard someone start crying behind me. I turned around and there was Ben, collapsing on the floor in tears."
"I had been robbed of my family and now I was robbed of the chance for justice," Ben explained. "My anger and frustration just overwhelmed me and I fell to the floor sobbing. When I looked up I saw this angel's face looking at me with all the love and concern she always had."
"I couldn't believe it was really him," Laura said with a sigh. "I hadn't ever stopped loving him really. That's why I know how you can still love this Chris."
"I understand it even better, you see," Ben told Jeff. "I have loved both of the women in my life. I never truly stopped loving Laura, but I put that love aside for a time. I was fortunate enough to get a second chance at my first love. Now it looks like you get that same chance. We would never want to stand in your way son. We only hope that you will always feel comfortable with us in your life."
"No worries there," Jeff assured them. "I never really knew my own mom and dad, and was raised by my grandmother. I don't plan to lose another set of parents any time soon."
"We don't want to lose you either son," Laura said as she wiped a tear from her cheek. "Give us a hug before you turn in?" she asked cautiously.
"I would be glad to," Jeff smiled. "Goodnight Mom; goodnight Dad."
Comments always appreciated at Boudreaux