The Hard Way

by Austin Bates

  Issac’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink and he replied, “No, I wasn’t until you said that.” He straightened his tie. “Noah and I probably won’t be back until late. I can come by to get Jade and Wyatt when—”

  “Don’t even worry about that right now. Just worry about making sure that Noah is happy,” she insisted. Madeline pulled a strand of pale blonde hair behind her ear and nodded. She sniffled, and Issac paused.

  “Madeline? Are you crying?”

  Madeline fanned herself as she said, “No, I’m just… I’m just…”

  “Crying?”

  “No, I’m just so happy with how things have turned out. Nine months ago, I thought that you were just some asshole that broke my son’s heart, and it turns out that you’re this amazing man and Noah—Noah really deserves the kind of happiness that you give to him. I—thank you, Issac. I’m happy to have you in my family,” Madeline said as she wiped the corners of her eyes and cleared her throat. “Sorry, that’s my emotional bit for the day—”

  Issac brought Madeline to his chest. “Don’t be sorry. Thank you for welcoming me into your family.” He kissed the top of her head and said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an important meeting to get to.”

  Issac waved goodbye as he walked out the front door and got into his car. He hit the road fast, jumping on the expressway to carry him across town. Noah should be back at the office by now, it’s after one. He’s far too neurotic to take an appropriate lunch.

  Issac pulled into the parking lot of the Law Offices of Hugh Walsh and was greeted by a few familiar faces upon strolling up the walkway. Parker held the door open for him and said, “You just missed Noah. I just saw him heading upstairs to the second floor. Are you coming to bring him lunch or something?” he asked.

  Issac shook his head. “No, I’m actually here to see Hugh. He owes me a favor and we’re cashing it in today.”

  Parker wore a puzzled expression. “Hugh? Hugh owes you a favor?” he asked.

  “Something like that,” Issac said as he strolled past Rhonda’s office and headed straight for Hugh’s door. He knocked twice and a muffled “Come in!” came through from under the door. Issac pushed his door open and said, “Good afternoon, Hugh! It’s been a while.”

  Hugh pushed away from his desk and broke into a huge grin. “I am elated to see your mug these days, Fitzgerald. Especially today.”

  “Yes, especially today,” Issac agreed. “So, is he sweating his ass off about this ‘meeting’ that you told him to come to?”

  Hugh laughed and said, “According to Rhonda, he’s asked her three times today if it wasn’t anything that they could talk about in his office.” Hugh shook his head. “That man is always one to worry.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to tell me twice, he’s had my baby. If he’s around Wyatt, he spends half of the time fretting over whether or not we’re giving him enough attention.”

  Rhonda opened the door to Hugh’s office and stuck her head in. “Hello Issac! It’s been too long!” she said. “Noah is on his way down, Hugh.”

  Issac chuckled and took his place behind Hugh’s chair. He squatted behind the wide office chair and listened for Noah’s voice. The door opened, and Noah could be heard saying, “Good afternoon, Hugh. Is there something that I can do for you, sir?”

  Hugh grunted and said, “Have a seat, Mr. Wilson.”

  “Okay.” The wooden chair creaked as Noah took a seat across from Hugh.

  Hugh cleared his throat and went on to say, “I wanted to address a few concerns that I’ve been having about your performance.”

  “Okay. Well, I would like to say that I’ve definitely had a rocky adjustment period after having the baby. I do feel that I’m on my way to being able to handle just as many cases as I could before,” Noah said.

  “That’s great and all, but how are you supposed to do any of that with how you are right now?

  “Excuse me?” Noah asked.

  “Well, you’re unmarried. And that’s a shame.” Hugh paused and took a sip of the espresso on his desk.

  “Are you saying that you don’t believe in my abilities as a lawyer because I’m raising two kids? Sir, that’s against the law and you of all people should know that,” Noah said, with his voice raised just above a conversational tone.

  Issac cringed as Hugh laughed and said, “No, I’m not. I’m saying that you need to fix your marriage problem.”

  Hugh pulled open a tray in his desk and pulled out a piece of cardstock. He handed it over to Noah and said, “I think that you’ll find the information on that sheet to be extremely helpful.”

  Noah frowned as his eyes scanned over the dark, bold text printed on the cardstock.

  Be sure to say yes.

  Noah looked up at Hugh. “What the hell is this about, Hugh?” he asked.

  Hugh pushed away from his desk and walked around it. Noah watched as Issac rose up from behind Hugh’s chair and pushed it to the side.

  What the hell is going on here? “Issac? Did you come to ask Hugh for your job back?”

  Issac shook his head as he walked around the desk and knelt down onto one knee in front of Noah. Noah gasped as Issac reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He pulled back the lid and a bright white diamond ring on a modest silver band was nestled between two small cushions.

  Hugh grinned as he leaned against the wall.

  “Noah Connor Wilson, I never thought that my life would change the way that it has when you walked into our cubicle on our first day here at the firm. I thought that you were a little no-nonsense, and an insane workaholic. I was partly right.”

  Noah laughed as Issac took the ring out of the case and slid it onto one of his fingers. Issac grinned and said, “I didn’t think that I would meet the love of my life, that you would give me my first child. We’re making a lot of changes together, and I’m hoping that we’ll make one more. Noah, will you marry me?”

  Hugh opened the door to his office and Rhonda stepped in.

  Noah marveled at the ring and lifted his eyes to see a beaming Hugh and Rhonda standing off in the corner. He looked back to Issac, and he squeezed his hand, his cerulean eyes scanned Noah’s face.

  “Yes, of course,” Noah said. Hugh and Rhonda erupted into a chorus of cheers, and Noah pulled Issac up off of the floor. He kissed Issac on the cheek and turned to Hugh.

  “I can’t believe that he talked you into this!” Noah exclaimed; he wore a smile on his face as he wrapped his arms tighter around the man that he would marry.

  Noah playfully punched Issac in the shoulder. “I’m going to marry an asshole—that was so dirty!”

  The room erupted into laughter and Issac kissed Noah on the lips. “Call me whatever you want, as long as you still walk down the aisle with me.”

  Chapter 37

  Noah slammed a cardboard box filled with old novels and educational workbooks down onto the floor. Issac and Tristan hurried past him with Issac’s old sofa from his apartment.

  Issac grunted and then shouted an instruction at Tristan, “Tristan, no, turn the couch the opposite way so that we can align it right—”

  “Does it matter?!” Tristan asked, his face turning bright red as Issac navigated them throughout the living room.

  “Fine, just drop it!” he shouted, and the couch went sailing towards the floor. Jade jumped at the sound and turned to look at Noah. “Is everything okay in there?”

  Noah shrugged. “They’ll work it out. They’ll especially have plenty of time to do so since Tristan is going to be staying with us for little while.” Noah stepped out of Issac and Tristan’s paths as they stomped out of the house and back outside to the moving truck.

  Noah sighed and worked his fingers into the small of his back as he drifted around the house. It was quickly filling up with their things and Jade zipped around the house, looking for a room to claim. Noah winced at the stiff pain in his lower back and wrists. Maybe I’ll finally get some sleep tonight, he thought. He and Issac had
not gotten a full night’s sleep in three whole days. Wyatt was colicky, and when he wasn’t uncomfortable, he cried out for attention. Issac seemed to have more trouble fighting off the irritation from sleep deprivation as a first-time parent, and it was especially obvious if anything went wrong with the move.

  When Noah found out that they may not receive the extra large moving truck that they had requested, Issac had words for each employee at Mover Co., and a new extra large truck had surfaced by the time Issac had made his rounds throughout the store. Noah looked down at his hand and admired his ring.

  I wonder if it was a bad idea to have the wedding at the new house so soon after moving in. I wonder if it will be too much for us, Noah thought. They decided to celebrate their new home and their marriage in the spacious backyard of the new house. Noah, always one for practicality over opulence, wanted an inexpensive wedding. Issac wanted whatever his new husband desired.

  Jade zipped back around to Noah and ran into his aching knees. He gripped her shoulders and said, “Jade, what the hell is the hurry?”

  “Dad is here!” she said, and Noah looked up from her face to see Cullen and Andrew standing in the doorway. Cullen held a bottle of wine in his hand and Andrew stood next to him, smoothing his hands over a developing bump.

  Noah shook himself awake as he walked up to them. “Hey, guys! Thank you so much for stopping by!” Cullen handed him the bottle of wine. “Thank you, we’re needing red wine more and more nowadays because the kids are driving us to drink!”

  Cullen grinned while Andrew frowned and asked, “You drink because of your children?”

  Noah looked from Andrew to Cullen and said, “Well, it’s just a joke about staying up for three days with babies.” He pointed to Andrew’s baby bump. “You’ll find out soon enough.” With a snarky look in Cullen’s direction, Noah shuffled off into the kitchen.

  “Cullen!” he called.

  Cullen moved into the kitchen and his eyes roamed over the nice trimmings of Noah’s new home. “I love this place. The ceilings are so high, and everyone does such a great job of keeping up their lawns around here too.”

  “Yeah, we love it so far,” Noah said as he dug into a box marked KITCHEN and pulled out two plastic drinking cups. Noah shrugged. “I don’t know where Issac packed up the wine glasses but this will do for now.” He unscrewed the cap on the wine bottle and poured a generous serving of wine into both of their cups.

  “Wanna sit on the patio with me?” Noah asked.

  “Sure,” Cullen said and followed Noah out to their patio. They hadn’t set out the patio chairs yet, but Noah just took a seat on the edge of the stone patio. Cullen sat next to him and took a sip of wine.

  “So, are you excited?” Cullen asked. “Don’t you have about two more weeks left until the big day?”

  Noah nodded and took a long sip of wine. “Yup. Soon I’ll really be falling into the routine of married life and I’ll come home every day to a full house. I just can’t believe that all of this is happening. Wyatt and Jade are going to grow up in a home that their father owns.” He turned to look at Cullen. “Is this how you felt when you bought your house with Andrew?”

  Cullen laughed and said, “Not really. I was looking for a place that Jade might not feel too displaced in, and Andrew was really concerned about how nice the house looked to other people.”

  “Really?”

  Cullen looked over his shoulder and then turned back to Noah. “That’s a lot of what Andrew cares about. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy. It would be nice if he would let loose every once in a while. He can’t even enjoy his pregnancy because he’s worried about everything.”

  “That’s a part of being pregnant,” Noah said. “I was overwrought with worry when I had Jade, and then I worried myself sick about the law firm with Wyatt. He’s going to be giving birth to a baby in four months, all he wants to do is worry.”

  Cullen tapped a package of cigarettes against his knee. He pulled one white stick out of the package and put it between his lips. He pulled another one out and handed it to Noah.

  “I needed this,” Noah said, and they chuckled as they lit their cigarettes and took a deep inhale of the nicotine. “My children drive me to smoke and to drink.” Noah took another long drag. “I say that they’re the bad influence.” He took another sip of wine and Cullen chortled.

  Cullen flicked the ashes of his cigarette onto the patio and said, “I can’t believe Andrew overreacted like that. I think that he’s worried that he’ll be just as tired as you are when the baby is born. But he will be, it’s unavoidable.”

  Noah nodded. “Oh yeah. Remember when Jade was born? I hadn’t gotten any good sleep in almost a week and Mom was making me fend for myself for some of it.” Noah shuddered. “I could never do that alone again.”

  Cullen’s laugh died off as he puffed on his cigarette and drank his wine. “Hey, Noah?”

  “Yeah?” Noah finished off his cigarette and tossed it onto the ground. He extinguished any embers that may have been left with his shoe.

  “I’m sorry that you were alone for a while when Jade was a baby.”

  Noah sighed and said, “You’ve said that a million times, Cullen.”

  “No, really,” Cullen insisted. “It’s just that I’m seeing how happy you are with Issac and how much easier it seems to be this time around. You don’t have an asshole screwing things up and running away. I’m… really happy for you. Even though it’s not me in the end, I’m happy that Issac makes you happy.”

  Stunned, Noah directed his eyes from Cullen and back to his wine. He stared at the disappearing liquid as he finished off his wine, and embraced the pleasant dizziness that he felt upon finishing it. “Well… thanks, Cullen. If you’re worried that things won’t work out the same for you because of what happened before, I’m giving you permission to let that go.”

  Cullen smiled and took out another cigarette. “Thank you, Noah.”

  Chapter 38

  Issac ran his hand along the back of his sore neck as he stood over Wyatt’s bassinet. Wyatt was starting up again. Issac was the first to hear his cries from his bedroom next door. I don’t think I’m going to sleep again until he’s eighteen. I need to ask Noah when Jade finally started sleeping through the night. Issac bent over and started to scoop the baby up and into his arms.

  The wood floors creaked as Tristan approached his brother. He stood next to him, yawning as Issac cradled the baby. “How is he?”

  “Sleepless,” Issac answered as he tried to fall into a gentle rocking motion with the baby. Tristan reached over and caressed the baby’s cheek. “I could rock him back to sleep,” he offered.

  “What?” Issac said. “No, I couldn’t ask you to stay up and make sure my son goes back to sleep. You should head back to bed.”

  Tristan shrugged. “I don’t sleep anyway.”

  “How are you feeling, by the way?” Issac asked.

  “I’m feeling better than I was before. Better than when I lived with Mom and Dad.”

  Issac smiled and picked up the speed of the rocking as Wyatt broke into another full-bodied wail. “That’s great. Maybe we can do something about your erratic sleep schedule.”

  Tristan held his arms out for the baby and Issac sighed. He transferred Wyatt over to Tristan, and Wyatt’s cries died down as he rocked him back and forth.

  Issac scoffed. “I can’t believe this. If his own dad holds him, he cries and screams, but if you hold him for two minutes, he calms down.”

  Tristan grinned. “He likes his uncle.” He sat down in one of the two rocking chairs in the nursery. “You know, you can just ask for help, Issac. You go out of your way to help me all of the time.” Tristan’s voice carried over into the next room where Noah lay awake.

  Don’t get up. Issac can handle this on his own, and it looks like Tristan is going to help him through it. I’m honestly worrying for nothing. Noah thought, as he rolled over onto his stomach and groaned. “I can’t sleep anyway,” he mumbled. He
sat upright in bed and reached over to his end table.

  He pulled out his laptop and winced as the bright computer lights blinded him for a moment. He opened his browser and typed in the question that had been keeping him up at night for weeks. Are you supposed to feel nervous before you get married?

  Thousands of online chat rooms populated on his screen and he sighed, knowing that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He closed his laptop and laid back down in bed. I’m supposed to be one hundred percent sure. I know that I want to get married but… Noah looked to the doorway and he smiled as he pulled back the blanket. Issac slid into bed next to him and wrapped his arms around Noah’s waist.

  “You won’t believe this. I go in and give my best effort to rock Wyatt to sleep, and he keeps crying. Then, Tristan comes in and rocks him for two minutes and he goes to sleep.” He kissed Noah’s neck. “I mean, I’m glad that he’s asleep, but still. You spent all of that time baking him for us and he decides that his uncle is his favorite.”