Clayton James: A Sweet Gay Romance (James Brothers Book 1)

by C. E. Wilson

  “We have to go, Mom. John and I are going to lunch before we go back to his condo. I will be there until Tuesday morning. Then I will go to my house so I can get ready for work.”

  “You are living together?”

  “Not really we just stay at each other’s houses for the weekend and then go out to dinner and all during the week. Someday soon we will be moving in together. Eventually, we are getting married and going to have a couple of children. We want two. One from me and one from him.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “It’s going to be with a surrogate and artificial insemination. That is how most gay men get children.”

  “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. All right. I’ll call you soon. Take care, Clay. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Mom. I love all my family. I just wished they all loved me back.”

  “Your father loves you, Clay. He is just disappointed that you like men and not women.”

  “It’s who I am Mom. I can’t change that.”

  John took Clayton’s hand, and they walked down the hall to the elevators. They got in the first one and went down to the garage.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that babe.”

  “I’m not John. It’s good to talk to Mom, even if she is too afraid of Dad to stand up to him.”

  “Does he abuse her?”

  “Not physically, but sure does mentally. He is a mental bully. I don’t care what he did to me. I came out of it better, I think, but I worry so much about Brad. If Dad finds out he is gay too then, he won’t get to go to college, and that is what he is living for. He told me Dad is making him play football, so he won’t turn gay.”

  “Your Dad sure doesn’t know much about the gay lifestyle, does he? Since when do you get to choose if your gay or not?”

  “Yeah, my Dad is a real bright man there. He knows nothing about being gay. He thinks it is a choice and I choose to be gay just to make him angry, I guess.”

  “What about your sister? Is she gay as well as you boys?”

  “No, she is straight as an arrow. She has a boyfriend that’s well off. I don’t think much of him, but she seems to like him just fine.”

  “What’s wrong with him that you don’t think much of him?”

  “He’s very controlling. He tells her what she can and cannot wear. He tells her where she can go and who she can talk to. I’m surprised he isn’t at the hospital to make sure she doesn’t talk to a man. I just don’t understand people like that.”

  John rolled his eyes. “Here, I am telling you what to eat for breakfast. I’m so sorry about that.”

  “That’s different. You’re doing it because of my health. You’re not telling me that because you’re afraid I will talk to another man.”

  “No, I trust you completely. If not, I wouldn’t be with you.”

  “Same goes for me. I don’t cheat. I don’t think that’s something I want to get into. If I didn’t want to be with a man, then I wouldn’t be with him before I found someone else.”

  They pulled into the restaurant, and John parked the car. They went inside, and the hostess seated them. The waitress came over and got their drink order. She stared at John a little too long. Clayton grinned. She walked away, and Clayton said, “Looks like you have an admirer babe.”

  John chuckled. “If she only knew. When she comes back with our drinks, is it all right if I hold your hand? I don’t want her to get any ideas.”

  “I would love it if you held my hand anytime. Not just to ward off women but because you want to.”

  “I always want to touch you. I don’t seem to be able to keep my hands off of you.”

  “Who said you had to? You will never hear me say not to touch me. I’m yours, babe. You can touch me anytime you want to.”

  John reached across the table and took Clayton’s hand and held it in his. “You have beautiful hands, Clayton.”

  “You have very talented hands, John. Look what you can do with your hands. You have been blessed with hands like yours.”

  The waitress walked up with their drinks and set them down on the table. She looked at their hands and rolled her eyes. John smiled at her. “Yes, we’re a couple. Isn’t he cute?”

  “Do you know what you want yet?”

  “Yes, I will have a chef salad and the breadsticks.”

  Clayton said, “I’ll have the same with thousand island dressing on the side.”

  John nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  The waitress wheeled around and headed to the kitchen to put in the orders. She couldn’t believe that two men that were that handsome were gay. Seemed all the handsome men were either married or gay.

  When she brought the salads, she set them on the table hard. John looked up at her and frowned. “What is your problem?”

  “I don’t have a problem. You two are the ones that have the problem. You should both make a woman happy instead of making each other happy.”

  Clayton sat up straight in his chair. “I would like to talk to the manager. We don’t have to take this. Now call the manager out here.”

  The waitress went back into the kitchen, and John and Clayton waited, and a few minutes later, a man came to their table. “Can I help you, gentlemen? Your waitress said you wanted me. I’m the manager here.”

  John said, “Do you have a problem with gay men in your restaurant?”

  “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

  “Your waitress said we should not be a couple that we should both make a woman happy instead of each other.”

  “I’m so sorry. No, this restaurant does not feel that way. In fact, I am gay myself. I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again. Your lunch is on me today. Please don’t let this stop you from coming back. That waitress will be gone. I won’t put up with that kind of disrespect in this restaurant.”

  “Thank you. We’re glad to hear that’s not your policy.”

  They finished their lunch. They went home, and Clayton sat down on the couch. He was lost to his thoughts about his father and his upcoming surgery. John sat down and started rubbing Clayton’s back. “Tell me what I can do to make you come back to me. You seem to be hundreds of miles away.”

  “I’m sorry, babe. I’m just thinking about Dad’s surgery and if he is going to make it.”

  “He’ll make it. I promise you he’ll be fine. I’m good at what I do, and I’ll make sure that your Dad pulls through. This procedure is one that I have done many times, and I haven’t lost a patient yet. You can trust me. If you want to come to the hospital, you still can stay in my office until I’m finished. That offer stays open for you.”

  “No, I don’t want to make things worse for my family. Just call me when you're done and let me know how he is.”

  John put his arms around Clayton and held him close. He turned on the television and found a movie that he and Clayton could watch and maybe take Clayton’s mind off his Dad.

  Chapter 8

  Early Tuesday morning John left for the hospital, and Clayton left to go home and shower and get dressed for work. Clayton knew his mind wouldn’t be on work. He knew that he would spend the morning worrying about his dad. He trusted John to do what he was supposed to, but he also knew that tomorrow was not promised to us. His dad was about to go through a lot, and he wished he could see him before it did. That just wasn’t possible because of the way his father felt about him.

  Clayton left the house and stopped by the fast food place and got sausage biscuits and had to laugh when he thought of what John said. He knew he would get a lecture from John, and that was ok with him. John was only thinking about his health.

  ****************

  John walked into the hospital and went to the nurse’s station to check on his patient. He got the chart and walked down to Mr. James’ room. He went in and sat down on the side of the bed. “Well, Mr. James, are you ready to get this done?”

  “Yes, I want to get it over with and go back home. How long will I
be in the hospital?”

  “Probably a week as long as there are no complications. I don’t foresee any in the procedure, but it is serious surgery. You never know, but I promise you that I will do the best I can and that’s the best there is.”

  “I don’t want your boyfriend here, though. I don’t even want him in the hospital.”

  “Staying away from Clayton is your loss. He is a really good man. He is an attorney and works hard and has made something good of himself.”

  “He is gay, though.”

  “Being gay isn’t a choice. It is what you are born as. Do you think that gay men or women want to be gay? No, they don’t. It is what they are just like you have dark hair and brown eyes. It is who you are and being gay is the same thing.”

  “Are you saying that Clay is gay because of me?”

  “No, not at all. I'm saying that Clayton is gay because that is who he is. He is a wonderful man. You should meet him now and get to know who he has become.”

  “How do your parents feel about you being gay?”

  “They love me, unconditionally. They love that I can be myself, and they love Clayton. They wanted us to stay the whole weekend at their house over Memorial Day. We decided to come home, and it was a good thing we did, or I would have been several hours away when I was called in for you.”

  “So, you are living together then?”

  “No, I have a condo, and Clayton has a beautiful home. We take turns staying with each other on the weekends. I have a spare room he stays in when he is at my condo, and he has a spare bedroom. I stay in when I’m at his house.”

  “You’re telling me that you two aren’t sleeping together?”

  “We have been dating for a couple of weeks. We are just getting to know each other and decided to spend all weekends together. We want a relationship that will eventually lead to marriage and adopting a couple of children.”

  “They won’t let you adopt children. They won’t give you children that you’re going to corrupt and make them gay like you two are.”

  John shook his head. He got up and said, “I’ll see you in the operating room. Maybe you need to do some studying on gay people. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  John went out to the nurse’s station and sat down. He shook his head and read the chart. He made sure that the operating room was reserved, and the anesthesiologist was there, and his cardiology nurses were there for the surgery. Everyone was there and ready to do the surgery. He had another surgeon there to assist. All was ready, and it was show time.

  He got up and went to the surgical floor and scrubbed up. Then entered the operating room. Mr. James was already on the table, and the nurses had him covered, and the surgical instruments laid out on the table. When the anesthesiologist had him under, he nodded at John. He stepped up to the table and started to do the incision. He had to crack his sternum to get to the heart. He cut the arteries and hooked him up to the heart and lung machine that his blood would run through to be oxygenated. He left the old valve in his heart but added the new one. Then he did the maze on top of his heart so that he would not have Afib again. It was a cross type of stitch all over the top of his heart.

  John put his heart back in his chest and hooked up the arteries to it and then hit it with electric paddles and got it beating again and watched for a few moments to make sure that no blood was leaking through the sutures. He wired his sternum together, and then the other doctor took over and stitched him up. John watched the monitors, and it looked like a normal sinus rhythm. When the other surgeon was finished, he checked the sutures and was satisfied, so he left the operating room. He stopped in the hall and called Clayton first. “Hey, babe. He came through the surgery just fine. He will probably be here about a week and then go home to recover.”

  “Oh, thank God. I was just thinking about you, babe. Thank you for getting him fixed up.”

  “I have to go talk to your mom and sister so I will call you tonight. I know after your appointment, call me. I don’t know what time you will be free.”

  “I’ll call you when I leave the property. He wants me to see if it is worth the money. I don’t know why they think I am an appraiser. I am an attorney.”

  “I know babe. I will talk to you tonight.”

  John hung up and walked out to the waiting room. There were several people in the waiting room, so he called Mr. James’ family into the consultation room and sat them down. He said, “Everything went well. He will be in recovery for a few hours until they can get him to wake up. Then he will be moved to surgical ICU for a couple of days and then to a room. He will have some drainage tubes in his lower abdomen, but we will take them out after a few days to make sure that he is not draining anymore. When you go into the surgical ICU, he will not know you for now. He will be given pain medicine, and his hands will be tied down. That is only to keep him from ripping the tubes out.”

  “Is he going to be alright now that he has had that surgery?”

  “Yes, he will be just fine. That biological valve that I put in there will last twenty years. Maybe more. At that time, we might have to replace it, but that’s fine we can do that.”

  “Did you call Clay?”

  “Yes, I called him on my way down here. He was relieved that his Dad was going to be just fine. He loves all of you. I hate to see him hurt. I tried to talk to your husband about gay people, but he’s pretty headstrong. He thinks we are gay by choice. It doesn’t work that way at all. He just needs to read about us or something.”

  “I’m afraid that my husband is too set in his ways to change his mind. He doesn’t want to see anything except what he thinks. I don’t know what to do with him, but I want a relationship with Clay again.”

  “I know Clayton would love that. He is a really good man. I would love for his Dad to meet the man that he has become. He means a lot to me.”

  John said he was going to the recovery room to check on Mr. James, and if anything had changed, he would let them know. He walked down the hall and went into recovery. He walked up to the bed and watched the monitors for a few minutes. Everything looked great.

  The nurse came up beside John. “He looks really good, John. You pulled off another good surgery.”

  “Yeah, I don’t see any problems at all. Make sure you give him some antibiotics in his IV. I want him started on a blood thinner for three months. Then he can go off them and take a low dose aspirin a day. Make him an appointment for two weeks in my office, and I’ll take the clamps and stitches out. I’ll be by in the morning to check on him and then every day until he is discharged.”

  The nurse nodded and wrote the information down on his chart as John told her. She hung it back on the foot of his bed.

  “I’m going to my office here in the hospital to do my paperwork. If you need me, call me.”

  The nurse nodded and went to check on another patient.

  John went to his office and sat down in his chair so he could rest. That was a long and tedious surgery. It worked out fine, though. He did not see anything that could go wrong as long as the staff did what he said. John was glad to see the clock point to five o’clock. He got up and checked on Mr. James, and he was doing great, so he left the hospital and went home. He got in the shower and then put on some soft pajama pants and a t-shirt. He went into the kitchen and made himself dinner. He had just sat down to eat when there was a knock on the door.

  John went to the door and opened it, and Clayton was standing there with a sorrowful look on his face. John got his hand and pulled him into the condo. Clayton put his arms around John and laid his head on John’s shoulder. John didn’t say anything he just held Clayton. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, but he would give him the support he seemed to need.

  Finally, Clayton said, “Sorry to barge in here like this, John but I just didn’t want to go home alone. I just needed to hold you.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No, I just needed you. I’ll leave now. I j
ust felt so alone. I wanted to know that you were still here for me.”

  “You’re not leaving to go home and eat a TV dinner. I just made dinner, and you can eat with me. Come on I have coffee made and everything.”

  Clayton nodded. “Sure, it will be a lot better than a TV dinner, I’m sure. I just got to thinking about not having my family behind me, and it felt like I was all alone. I just needed you.”

  “Babe, I am here anytime you need me. Your Dad is doing so good. I stopped in and saw him before I left the hospital, and he was awake. He’s in pain, but that’s to be expected. He has good color and seems to be in pretty good shape.”

  “I wish he would let me see him. I know he thinks the worst of me. I was so afraid he would die, and I would never get to see him alive. At least there is a chance that someday he will let me back in.”

  “I had a talk with your Dad and told him how wrong he was about gay people. I told him he needed to read up on our lifestyle, and then he might understand that it isn’t a choice to be gay.”

  John made Clayton a plate and a cup of coffee, and they sat down to eat. “Thank you, John. I don’t know how to approach him and right now with him recovering from the surgery I don’t want to upset him.”

  “No, don’t bother him now. I don’t want him upset either. I’ll let you know how he’s doing in two weeks when I have to take the staples out of his chest, and if he’s all right, we will go to the house one day and have a long talk with your Dad.”

  Clayton cocked his head to the side. “You would do that for me?”

  “Of course, I would do that for you and for us. I want both our parents on board with us being together so when we get married, we will have both families at the wedding.”

  “That would be nice. Also, both our parents being grandparents to our children.”

  “Do you know how spoiled they are going to be? My parents alone will make them spoiled brats. We are going to have to work very hard to make sure that they are raised right. I’m thinking of a nanny full time. What do you think about that?”