by Land, Alexa
She still wasn’t convinced. “But, it was so quick. And the cake....”
“Kieran saved the top tier. What’s the tradition? That you stick it in the freezer and eat it on your one-year anniversary? We can still do that.”
“There’s one other tradition,” Kieran said, “and we can still do that, too.”
“You’re right,” Christopher said. He handed Nana the top tier for safe keeping, then took his husband’s hand and led him to the little round table that had held the towering masterpiece. Everyone gathered around. Half of the bottom tier still sat on the edge of the tabletop.
Christopher grabbed a triangular cake server and neatly cut a little wedge of cake, then picked it up and fed it to his husband. Kieran ate from his husband’s hand and smiled at him, then cut just a tiny sliver of cake. He took this between two fingers and held it to Christopher’s lips.
For just a moment, Kieran and Christopher stared in each other’s eyes. And then Christopher opened his mouth and took the morsel from his husband’s fingers. After he swallowed it, he said, “You know, squished cake tastes just as good as whole cake.”
A hush had fallen over the wedding guests, and at first I didn’t understand why. A moment later, they erupted into cheers and applause. It was only then that I remembered Hunter talking about a horrible incident in his friend’s past. Christopher had survived a sexual assault which had begun with a drug-laced meal. It had left him with food issues so severe that for the last two years he could eat almost nothing but a couple really specific things. Given that, the simple act of eating that piece of cake must have been monumental for him.
“Hey, don’t we get cake?” little Brennan called out, and the small army of children that had been chasing the cat and dog perked up and clustered around the couple.
“Sure you do,” Kieran said. He and Christopher carefully lifted the little round table over the wreckage of cake tiers on the lawn and set it down in the midst of the children. They then handed spoons to each of the kids, and Kieran said, “Go for it.” The kids all squealed delightedly and descended on the cake like vultures, shoveling what was left of the once magnificent confection into their faces while the adults laughed and snapped pictures with their camera phones.
Most of the wedding guests, along with the newlyweds, now moved over to the brightly lit dance floor. It had been set up beside the big floral arch, right where the chairs had stood for the ceremony. I noticed that someone had wisely used a lot of the chairs to erect a big barrier at the edge of the cliff. It made me think of Skye. I didn’t see him anywhere, and wondered what had become of him and the cat.
As a DJ that had been setting up during dinner started cranking some dance tunes, I went back to the kitchen and found Skye getting patched up by his brother. He had several long scrapes on his forearms, and I asked, “Was that the cat, or the bushes?”
“Both.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, fine. I’m just embarrassed about ruining Christopher and Kieran’s fireworks display,” he said. “That cat’s okay too, by the way. He’s back in his cat carrier in the garage, just until the reception’s over.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” I said. “It was an accident, you were just trying to save that stupid cat. Besides, that really was a spectacular way to watch a hundred fireworks – all at once!”
River was down in the dumps, too. “If anyone’s to blame for ruining stuff, it’s me. I should never have brought that damn cat. Do you know how much that wedding cake must have cost? And now most of the guests didn’t even get any cake!”
“So, let’s do something about that,” I said. “First we need to clean up that mess, and then we can whip up a quadruple batch of cupcakes, one for everyone. The guests will love it, you’ll see.”
River perked at that idea and got busy baking. Meanwhile, Skye and I found a shovel in the tool shed and used it to scoop the wrecked cake into garbage bags. “Holy buttercream, Batman, this cake weighs as much as you and me combined,” Skye exclaimed as we tried to drag the heavy bags to the trash. A tall, handsome wedding guest with dark brown hair overhead us and said, “Let me give you a hand with those.”
“Thanks,” Skye said with a smile. “You must be a Nolan, so many of you have those same gorgeous, bright blue eyes.”
The guy grinned and told him, “I’m Shea, Kieran’s cousin. One of many.” He helped us lug the bags to the trash cans along the side of the house before returning to the party.
Skye watched him walk away, then said, “Damn. If I hadn’t promised River not to hit on anyone at the wedding, I’d be flinging myself at that like a fat kid on a Snickers bar.” He looked at me and added, “I’m not being mean. I was a fat kid, and believe me, no Snickers bar was safe in my presence.” I grinned and took his hand, leading him away from the hottie and back to the kitchen.
In less than an hour, a hundred and twenty cupcakes were cooling on the counter, awaiting my killer buttercream frosting, which we’d loaded into pastry bags after I whipped up two double batches. Now that there was a break in the action, Vincent, who’d been hanging out with us in the kitchen, turned to me and said, “Will you come with me for a few minutes?”
I followed him to the dark living room, and he went to the back wall and slid a window open. Briny sea air wafted in, along with the slow, romantic music the DJ was playing. Vincent approached me and held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”
“Absolutely,” I murmured, sliding into his arms. The next song was just beginning and it was one I’d always liked, ‘You Send Me’ by Sam Cooke. We swayed to the music, totally caught up in the moment and in each other.
After a while, Vincent said quietly, “I don’t remember a lot about my parents. I was only five when they were killed. But I remember them dancing to this song. My mom loved vinyl records, she had a huge collection. And I remember one time, she was playing this album when my dad came home early. She’d been cleaning the house, her hair was tied back with a blue bandana. He tossed her duster aside, took her hand and spun her, and then they started dancing around the living room. I remember the way she laughed and told him to stop it. She told him he was nuts, and that she still had a lot of cleaning to do. But she kept right on dancing.” I held him a little tighter.
After a few moments he said, “I shouldn’t have brought that up. Not now. I should have let you enjoy the moment. That memorial at the start of the ceremony just really got to me, I guess.”
“I’m so glad you told me that story. I now know that there’s a history to our song, that it was already a part of you, and now it’s a part of us.”
Vincent looked into my eyes, then kissed me gently before whispering, “You’re beautiful inside and out, Trevor. It’s really no wonder you have me under your spell.” I smiled at that and kissed him again.
It was pretty hard to go back to work after that, but I returned in time to help River quickly frost the cupcakes and load them onto serving trays. The wait staff was busy clearing and rinsing all the plates and glassware, so River and I took the trays out to the garden and began handing out dessert. Almost everyone was standing around the edge of the dance floor, since they’d just concluded a series of speeches and toasts to the happy couple.
Now Kieran’s brother Brian rolled forward in his wheelchair, stopping in the center of the dance floor. He looked a little nervous. There was a knit blanket draped over his lower half, and he wiped his palms on it as he cleared his throat. He’d already given a toast to his brother and Christopher earlier, so I wondered what he was doing.
He said, “Everyone, can I have your attention please? Since most of my family is gathered here today, I thought I’d take this opportunity to let all of you share in the most important moment of my life.”
Brian cleared his throat again, and swiveled around to face his boyfriend Hunter. He set the brake on his chair, took a deep breath, then pulled the blanket off his lap and set it down beside him. A brand new pair of metal and plast
ic prostheses extended from the legs of his khaki shorts. He picked up a collapsible cane from his lap and unfolded it, then used it to steady himself as he stood up on the artificial legs. Everyone gasped and started talking at once, and his brother Kieran let out a laugh of pure joy and pressed his hand to his mouth as Christopher grabbed his new husband in an embrace.
Brian took a couple steps toward his boyfriend, and then carefully lowered himself onto one knee as a hush fell over the crowd. “Hunter,” he said, setting the cane down and taking his hand, “I love you more than anything, and I’d be so honored if you’d agree to spend your life with me. Will you marry me?”
Hunter burst into tears and nodded, then dropped to his knees and hugged Brian as the crowd went absolutely crazy, cheering and applauding. When he could finally speak, Hunter stammered, “How did you do this? You didn’t even tell me you were getting prosthetics! And oh my God, you want to marry me! I have to be dreaming right now.”
Brian grinned at him and said, “If this was a dream, I’d now gracefully leap to my metal feet and whirl you around the dance floor. But since it’s not, I kind of need a hand getting back up.” He picked up his cane, and his brother quickly stepped forward and took one arm, Hunter the other. Together, they helped him stand.
Brian continued, “I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise. This is what I’ve been doing during all those extra physical therapy sessions. I still have a long way to go and can’t quite find my balance yet, but I wanted to be able to dance with you at my brother’s wedding. So, can I have the next dance? No fancy spins and dips though, okay?”
“Okay,” Hunter said. “We can save those for our wedding.” He stretched up and kissed his fiancé, then laughed and said, “You’re tall. I never knew that.” Brian grinned and took Hunter in his arms. The DJ put on a sweet, slow ballad, and the newly engaged couple swayed to the music as the crowd watched.
As soon as the song ended, the entire Nolan clan descended on the couple, showering them with congratulations and welcoming Hunter to the family. It was a while before I could squeeze in and give my friend a hug. I’d never seen anyone look so happy.
Christopher was next up, grabbing Hunter in a huge embrace as Kieran hugged his brother. Brian said, “I didn’t mean to steal your thunder. I just wanted to surprise you too, Kier. You stuck by me all those years, you took care of me and loved me even when I was completely unlovable. Thank you for helping me get to a place where I could stand on my own two feet, literally and figuratively.”
*****
Hours later the party started winding down, the families with young kids leaving first, carrying their sleeping children. Christopher and Kieran had rented a convertible and were going to drive to a bed and breakfast, then on to southern California in the morning. As the remaining partygoers gathered to see them off, Brian said to his brother, “You never told me why you two decided to honeymoon on Catalina Island.”
“Well,” Kieran said, “we didn’t really want to travel that far, and when we were talking about destinations, I mentioned a family vacation to Catalina when I was a little kid. I remember really liking it, and after we did a little research it seemed like the perfect choice.”
“Dude, I remember that vacation,” Brian said. “You ate too much saltwater taffy and puked in the pool. They had to drain it, and for the whole rest of the week no one could go swimming! That’s what you want to relive on your honeymoon?”
Kieran chuckled. “Well, hopefully I’ll skip the puking part this time. Though I do intend to eat a lot of saltwater taffy.”
Nana pushed through the group of well-wishers and grabbed first Kieran and then Christopher in a crushing hug. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for all you did, Nana,” Christopher said. “This was absolutely amazing. I felt like I was living in a movie.”
She sighed and said, “I really wanted everything to be perfect for you. I’m disappointed that it didn’t all work out like I’d planned.”
“But it was perfect, Nana,” he insisted. “I got to marry the love of my life with all our family and friends here to support us, in the most beautiful setting imaginable.”
“But, the cake, and the fireworks....”
“Everything doesn’t always have to go according to plan,” Christopher said. “Sometimes the magic is in life’s imperfections, in the things that make us laugh and take us by surprise. I wouldn’t change a single moment of this day.”
She looked a little misty-eyed as she grabbed him in another hug. “You’re a good boy, Christopher Robin.” When she released him, she said, “Now go have fun on your honeymoon!”
“Yes ma’am!”
Once the couple took off, the rest of the guests headed home, too. Skye and Vincent helped River and me, and eventually the four of us got the kitchen back to its original pristine state. We’d been prepared to head back to the city, but Gianni insisted we spend the night since it was really late by then. Vincent and I returned to our guestroom and Skye and River took a couple of the recently vacated rooms.
I fell onto the bed in my clothes and said, “We actually pulled it off. What a relief.”
Vincent took my shoes and socks off and massaged my feet. “The food was wonderful. You both did an outstanding job.”
“Thanks. Too bad about the thing with the cat, though. I know River feels really guilty about that chain of events.”
“The cupcakes were a good save. And I actually really liked the all-at-once fireworks show. It was a lot more exciting that way.” He stopped what he was doing long enough to strip off my pants and shirt, then returned my feet to his lap and continued the massage.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “You must be tired too.”
“You spent an entire day on your feet in new shoes, so you probably really need this.”
After a while he asked me to turn over, then worked his way up my legs before massaging my back and shoulders. “Thank you,” I murmured, my eyelids heavy. “You’re really good at this.”
When he finally stripped down to just his briefs and climbed into bed, I wrapped myself around him, fitting perfectly in his arms. He said softly, “I’m so glad I came back.”
“Me too.”
After another pause, he said, “Part of the reason I did is because I’m going to be really busy the next couple weeks. We’ll still have our date tomorrow night, of course. But after that...well, a few things are happening a lot sooner than I anticipated. That was the upshot of the meeting I attended Thursday night. So, I may not be around much.”
Something in his tone made me sit up and look at him. There was enough light filtering through the curtains to see his face. He was trying so hard to keep his expression neutral, but I’d heard a tiny trace of fear in his voice. “Vincent, is everything okay?”
“No, not really,” he said.
“But you’re not going to talk about it, are you?”
“I can’t.”
I brushed his hair back from his face. “This is so hard for me, caring about you, knowing there’s something frightening you, and not being able to do anything about it. Not even getting to know what it is.”
“Please bear with me just a little while longer, okay? The good part about this happening faster than I expected is that maybe it’ll all be over that much sooner.” A strong emotion flared in his dark eyes before he pulled up a mask of practiced calm.
“The more I get to know you, the more I grow to care about you, the harder this becomes, Vincent. I thought I could be okay with not knowing what you’re involved in, but you’re obviously not okay with it, either.”
“I’m not,” he whispered. “I’m not okay. I’m so fucking scared.”
Hearing him admit that tore at my heart. “Let’s just leave,” I said. “You and me. Let’s get in the car and pick any direction, and let’s just put San Francisco and whatever’s going on there in our rearview mirror.”
“I wish I could. God I do. But this isn’t something I can ru
n from. If I did, a lot of people could get hurt. There’s no place to run, anyway. I’d be tracked down no matter where we went. I have to see this through.”
“I hate that you’re bearing this burden alone, I absolutely hate it. I wish you’d talk to me. I mean, I get why you’re not, Gianni explained that people in the mafia don’t talk about their business in order to keep their loved ones safe. But I’d much rather help you through this than be kept safe,” I said.
“You are helping me through this, Trevor.” He pulled me into his arms and held on to me. “This, right now, is helping more than you know.”
I forced myself to put aside my unanswered questions. He was already under so much pressure without me adding to it by pushing for answers. As I hugged him tightly, I felt him relax. He fell asleep after a while, and I watched him in the darkness.
This past week had been such a welcome break from the rest of my life, a vacation from my stresses and worries. But all that stuff never really went away, and I could only distract myself from it for so long. Cold, hard reality was always right there waiting for me, ready or not.
Chapter Fifteen
“Hey there, Cuz!”
I was so startled to find Melody in our apartment when I got home from Big Sur the next day that I yelled when I saw her. She’d pinned back the sheet dividing the space in half, and was lounging on her bed with a gossip magazine and a bag of chips, perfectly at home, as if she’d never been gone at all.
“Oh my God, Mel!” I dropped my backpack and the shopping bags from Nana at the door and rushed over to give her a hug. Then I held her at arm’s length and said, “How are you? Let me look at you!”
“No, don’t. I’m big as a house! And my feet are so swollen that I can barely cram ‘em into a pair of flip flops.”
“When did you get back? And how did you get here?”
“I got back about an hour ago. I had some money that Slayer had given me, so I used it to buy a bus ticket after we had yet another fight. I was so damn sick of him going off every night and leaving me alone! Finally I just had enough of it, so I came home.”