by A. J. Marcus
The kid reached up and desperately tried to put his hair back in place. “Dad, I’m getting too old for that.”
Ed smiled at his son. It was a warm, inviting smile that lit up the handsome face. “You’re never going to be too big for me to do that to you. Even if you get taller than me, I can still ruffle your hair.”
“One day, I’m going to be as big as Cara. Then you won’t be able to play with my hair.” The boy stood straight and tall for a moment.
“Deal, if you get as big as Cara, I won’t ruffle your hair anymore.
Now why don’t you go back and talk with Trish and keep your Uncle Bryan out of trouble. I’ll be back over there in a bit.”
“Okay, but you should hear more about my sister.”
“I will, later. Trish is going to be around through faire.” Ed ruffled his son’s hair one last time before the boy hurried back through the crowd.
“Cute kid,” Adrian said as Ed turned back toward him. The parental glow wasn’t something he was used to seeing in guys he met. He liked it on Ed. It softened the ruggedness of the man’s handsome face.
“Yeah, he’s the world to me,” Ed replied. “You have any kids?”
Adrian shook his head. “Nope, never really thought about it. It’s not something that a lot of men I know think about.”
Ed’s thick brown eyebrow rose. “So you hang out with a lot of solitary, lonely people then?”
The question struck Adrian as odd, but there was a lot of truth to it. Most of the men he knew, even in the orchestra world, were loners. That probably explained why most of them had such a hard time having any kind of relationship that lasted.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, most of the people I know are fairly lonely. How sad is that?”
“How about pets?”
“Pets?”
“Yeah.” Ed nodded. “Pets help alleviate a lot of loneliness in people. We’ve got elephants. Most people do cats and dogs.”
“Nope, no pets either,” Adrian admitted. “We had a dog growing up, but I just haven’t had time since getting out of college to think about a pet. They’re a big commitment.”
“Some more than others,” Ed admitted.
Adrian chuckled. “I can see where elephants and camels would be a major commitment. Almost like a kid.”
The warm smile graced Ed’s face again. “The kid’s cheaper. Trust me. So what brought you to be working at the faire this year?”
“Technically, it’s a long, convoluted story. The short version is that my friend Sebastian suggested it as something to do for money and for a change of pace.” Now that they were talking, Adrian didn’t want to risk driving Ed away with the sordid tale of pissing off Mr. Blankenship.
“I can see where it would be a change of pace,” Ed agreed. “Work here long enough and you’ll find out that we’re just one big family at heart. Each faire is a little different, but there’s a family in each one.”
“So you’re one of the folks who work the circuit?”
Ed shook his head. “Not really. I stay in Texas for several reasons. I do Scarborough, Hawkwood, and TRF. I might do Sherwood Forest next year.”
“What’s TRF?” Adrian couldn’t remember hearing those initials before. He’d at least heard of the others, even if he hadn’t made it down to Austin to go to Sherwood Forest yet.
“Texas Renaissance Festival,” Ed supplied. “It’s held down in Houston in the fall. One of the biggest festivals around. I make more there than the other two combined.”
“Houston in the fall, that sounds better than Houston in the summer. North Texas in the summer is bad enough. How do you survive Hawkwood?”
Ed smiled. “Lots of showers for the elephants and my skimpiest mahout costume.”
He couldn’t help it, Adrian smiled back. “Okay, another silly question, what’s a mahout?”
“It’s an Indian term for elephant trainer. I wear a thin vest and gauze pants. In a couple weeks I’ll probably be wearing them here. It gets rather toasty here by Memorial Day.”
Adrian wasn’t looking forward to the heat at the end of May when the faire closed. “I wonder if they’ll let me get away with a thin vest and gauze pants then.” He didn’t add that he would hope it’d get warm sooner if it meant he’d see Ed leading elephants in less clothing. The man’s broad shoulders filled out the skin-tight burgundy button-up shirt he wore that tapered nicely around his slim waist. The tuft of brown hair peeking out from the collar looked enticing. He must be quite the specimen in a thin vest, and does he wear anything under his gauze pants? Adrian tried to chase the image out of his mind. He was actually enjoying talking with Ed. Something about the man’s demeanor calmed him. It had been a long time since a man had calmed him and at the same time excited him the way Ed did.
“You work for Paul and Holly, so ask them. If you were actual faire staff, like Rudy, I doubt it. They can be sticklers for authentic at times.”
“Hey, Ed.” A heavy voice interrupted them. Adrian looked up and saw two men walking toward them. The darker of the two was nearly as tall as Adrian, another rugged man with a short-cropped black beard and short hair. The other man, slightly shorter, had long brown hair with a neatly trimmed goatee. The way they walked in perfect time with each other told Adrian they were most likely a couple.
“Dale.” Ed embraced the darker man. “Good to see you. At TRF they said you’d been hurt in Colorado.”
The dark man nodded. “Yep. No more jousting for me. But I’m now one of the joust managers for Joust America. I know all the Scarborough folks, so I got sent here. I’d have stopped by and said hi sooner, but it’s been busy.”
“Hey, if I’d known you were around, I would’ve stopped over.” Ed nodded. “I understand busy.”
“So, Ed, let me introduce my new partner, Austin Renfro.” Dale gestured to the man beside him.
Ed accepted the offered hand. “Partner? So someone finally managed to make an honest man out of you.”
Dale laughed. “Yeah and it took a pirate to do it.”
“Pirate?” Adrian asked before he could stop himself.
“Ah, Dale, Austin, this is Adrian.” Ed quickly made introductions. “He’s the new satyr at the ceramic shop that sells the pipes and horns.”
“Nice to meet you, Adrian,” Austin replied. “Yeah, I used to work at a pirate shop in Colorado. That’s where we first met, not long before Dale’s… accident.”
Ed smiled at Dale. “I never figured you for the settling down type, but congratulations.”
“Yeah, Austin’s made a world of difference in my life. I’m not sure how well I’d have handled my career change without him.”
Austin reached over and took Dale’s hand. For a second it surprised Adrian that no one around them reacted. Then he remembered Sebastian saying the Ren faire world was a bit different. “You would’ve done just fine. I’m just lucky I found you.”
Dale looked up. “Ed, I need to say hey to a few more people. I’ll try and stop by sometime soon so we can catch up. Someone said you have a new baby elephant that I need to see.”
Ed nodded. “Ciro’s a real cutie. You know me. I’ll be around for the next couple of months.”
Dale and Austin made their departure.
“Hey, Adrian, you’ve got to come over here and meet some folks!” Sebastian appeared out of the crowd.
“Can it wait? I’m talking with Ed.”
“Oh hey, Ed. That new baby elephant is just fabulous,” Sebastian replied. “Come on, Adrian, I really want you to meet these guys.”
“You go on,” Ed said. An odd look that might have been disappointment lingered in his brown eyes. “We can talk another time. You’re not that far from our place.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Adrian said. He offered his hand, but Ed stepped in close and hugged him. He closed his arms around the broad shoulders, and the strange feeling ran through him again. He tried not to let his hands linger too long on the man, but waited for Ed to turn loose first.
�
��You’re faire folk now.” Ed smiled at him as they moved apart. “Welcome to the family.”
“Thanks. I’ll stop by next weekend. If you’re not busy, you can show me that baby elephant.” Adrian blushed as thoughts ran through his head about what might be in the man’s trunks.
“Good. See you then.” Ed turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Sebastian stood there with an almost comical look on his face. “I think he might like you. I’ve never seen him hug anyone before.”
Adrian forced himself to stop watching the spot where Ed’s broad back had disappeared. “He hugged the jouster a few minutes ago.”
“Which jouster? Where?” Sebastian scanned the room. “Oh God, nobody told me Dale was here. Who’s the guy beside him?”
“His new partner, Austin.” Adrian didn’t bother keeping the gloat out of his voice. He felt good knowing something Sebastian didn’t.
“Partner?” Sebastian croaked. “Damn, he was one of the best lays out here.”
“You said you wanted me to meet someone?”
“Oh yeah!” Sebastian changed course as only Sebastian could. He led Adrian through the crowd to a group of people in the back corner. As they went, the flutist kept trying to envision Ed in a tiny vest. Now that he’d met the elephant handler, mahout, he was more interested than ever to get to know the man a little better.
Chapter 8
Ed kept thinking about the handsome satyr. Adrian, will we become close enough friends for me to call him Dio, was sexy, both in and out of his Ren faire persona. There was something under his surface that called to Ed. Maybe there was loneliness there that needed someone to reach out to him.
Cara’s wet trunk landed softly upside his head, reminding him to keep his mind on what he was doing, which was washing the elephants. Even though it wasn’t hot yet, the pachyderms needed daily showers. On the weekends it was part of their morning routine, before the cannon sounded, but during the week, Ed preferred to do it in the afternoon. That way, it gave the girls a little more relief from the heat, which would become more needed as spring rolled on.
Ed checked to make sure Ciro wasn’t nursing. “Down, Cara,” he directed.
The elephant gently lowered herself onto her knees so he could easily reach her back with the broom to help slough off any dry skin that might irritate her while she was carrying the howdah. Cara and Gwen enjoyed their showers. Little Ciro wasn’t always cooperative, but his mother often helped corral him. It was important to make sure the little guy got comfortable with all the daily handling that went into his captive life. As Ed moved from washing Cara to working with Ciro, it was easier to force thoughts of Adrian out of his mind. The smallest of his elephants could be a handful as he dashed under his mother to get away from the cool water coming out of the hose. For several minutes they played the game, before Cara placed a restraining trunk on her offspring and he stopped long enough to get a good cleaning.
“Hey, Ed, you back there?” Dale O’Toole’s voice called out from the front area of the ride, where Gwen and the camels currently wandered about.
“Come on back, Dale. Just finishing giving a shower to the baby,” he shouted back. Seconds later, Dale appeared around the wall that separated the arena from behind the scenes.
“So this is your new little one.” Dale smiled at Ciro. “Looks like he could be a proper jousting mount without too much work.”
Ed chuckled. “In a couple years, maybe.” He dropped the soft sponge he used for the little elephant in his bucket and walked over to turn off the water. “How are you doing today, and where’s that handsome pirate of yours?”
“Austin went into Dallas today with several folks who wanted to get some shopping in. I had to run the jousters through some of their paces,” Dale explained as he leaned up against the wall. “So where’s Eddy?”
“Same place Austin is, in Dallas.” Ed rolled up the hose so the elephants wouldn’t step on it. “Trish took him in, said she wanted to get him a couple of things.”
“This is the first year she’s been back at Scarborough since she had the twins, isn’t it?”
Ed nodded. “Yeah, I wasn’t even expecting her, and she just showed up Sunday. Quite the surprise. I didn’t have a chance to prepare Eddy for it or anything. She says Trina and Samantha will be here Friday. Eddy’s all excited about meeting his sister.” He dumped the soapy water out of the bucket and dropped his sponges into it. “Sometimes I wonder if Trish and I did the right thing keeping the kids apart… not that it was on purpose. We just went our separate ways. Life got busy.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Eddy. Every time I see him, he’s grown a bit more and is still a wonderful kid. Better than some I see on the circuit, with folks who worry more about partying than raising kids.”
Ed shook his head as he carried his showering supplies to the small shed where he kept them and some of the other things he didn’t want the elephants getting into. “You know me, Dale. That’s not how I am. Even before Eddy, my critters were more important than all the partying and stuff that goes on with a bunch of the folks around here.”
Dale nodded and walked tentatively over to Ciro. The little elephant looked at the former jouster with wide eyes, until his mother stretched out her trunk and ruffled Dale’s short black hair. He laughed and reached up to rub the elephant’s trunk. Then Ciro trotted over and sniffed the man. “See, that’s one of the good things about you, Ed. You put everyone and everything else first. Your animals reflect that, and so does your kid.” He kept rubbing the mother elephant’s trunk. “Yes, he’s a good daddy, isn’t he, Cara?” The elephant blew through her trunk.
“Thanks, Dale. It means a lot to hear you say that.”
“So while you’re out taking care of everyone else, have you been taking care of you and your needs?” Dale reached out a large hand and started rubbing Ciro’s fuzzy head.
Ed cocked a bushy eyebrow as he came up to the little elephant’s side. “How so?”
“You were talking with that guy… Adrian? The one who plays the satyr, the other night. Anything going on there?”
“Just met the guy. He’s hot, but he’s also a concert musician.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“He might be a little more sophisticated than I am. Used to a better life.”
“But you think he’s hot?”
“Yeah, one of the sexiest guys I’ve seen in a while. I’m not sure if he’s interested, looking… I don’t know.” He didn’t bother mentioning he’d been having trouble getting the man out of his head.
“From the looks I saw him give you the other night at the party, I think he’s interested.” Dale smiled as he worked his hand down Ciro’s ear to rub the sensitive spot where the elephant couldn’t reach, but enjoyed having scratched. “You remember. I used to be one of the big players around the fairs. I can spot these things.”
“So why did you settle down with Austin?” Ed jumped at the opportunity to change the subject. “He’s a great looking guy, but you were always about the next hot guy that crossed your path.”
Dale gave a contented sigh that Ciro copied. “Yeah, I had tricks always coming and going through my trailer door. Last year, I realized I was lonely. Some of the other guys in the jousting troop were settling down. They looked happy with their wives. Then I found Austin. We got off on the wrong foot, but things worked out better than I could’ve hoped for. Yeah, he’s sexy… man is he sexy. But it’s more than that. We connect on a level that I’ve never connected with anyone before. After the accident, I don’t know if I could’ve gone on if Austin hadn’t been there. We also made some great friends in Colorado. I never thought I’d be the type of guy who’d be happy waking up next to the same man every morning, but it’s so amazing. Not quite a year yet, but even the sex is still amazing. We keep finding new and interesting things to do with each other.”
“You know, Eddy’s old enough to understand stuff now,” Ed replied, leaning against Cara’s q
uickly drying leg. Whenever he was thoughtful, leaning against an elephant always helped him solidify his thoughts. There was just something peaceful and calming about elephants. “And, I have to admit that I’ve been thinking it might be time to start dating again.”
“When was the last time you went out on a date? Hell, Ed, when was the last time you even had sex?”
“It’s been over five years,” he admitted. “Since before Eddy was born.”
“You are devoted to your kid.” Dale nodded. His hand wandered over to Ciro’s other ear, and the little elephant pressed his head toward the scratching fingers. “Why don’t you see if Adrian is at least interested? It’s the Ren faire. Even if he’s not, there’s no harm in it. If he is, then the two of you go out a few times and try things out. You might be surprised at the things you have in common.”
From deep inside, Cara rumbled. It was a low, soothing sound, and for a moment, Ed wondered if she was agreeing with the man.
Dale paused in his petting of Ciro and pointed at Ed. “You know, with Trish around for a bit and Trina and Sam coming into town too, this might be an opportunity for you to have a little time to yourself. Coordinate with Trish. She wants to spend time with Eddy. If Adrian is interested, then you can spend time with him, and it’s not as big a deal for the kid, until you’re ready to make it a big deal.”
“I think Cara is agreeing with you.” Ed chuckled. “Maybe I’ll see if he’s interested. What can it hurt, right?”
Ciro pushed against Dale to get the man to start scratching him again. Dale laughed and reached back for the elephant.
“Don’t.” Ed caught the man’s hand before it could return to the animal. “We can’t let him get away with even the slightest negative behavior. Push back against his head and tell him ‘no’ very firmly.” He released Dale’s hand and watched while Dale did as he requested. The little elephant backed up a step, then tentatively reached out with his trunk. Ed nodded. “It’s okay now. It’s just with how big he’ll be one day, we have to start shaping his behavior now. He starts pushing on people now, it’s cute, in a couple of months, he’ll be pushing people over, and when he’s full grown I’ve got a real problem on my hands.”