An Earlier Heaven

by D. W. Marchwell

“I know,” David whispered, putting up no resistance to being pushed toward the master bedroom, “but I just wanted to see for myself.”

  “Liar,” Jerry whispered against his ear. “You just want to make sure that I didn’t dent him or let him go hungry.” David turned to protest, but Jerry had him through the bedroom door and on the bed within seconds. “So, William tells me that he’s excited about coming to the art exhibition in Edmonton.”

  “I was going to tell you,” David said as he felt the flush of color rise to his cheeks. “It was actually going to be a surprise, and I was going to tell you last night, but I got distracted.”

  “Thought we agreed he was too young.”

  “I know, but hear me out.” David removed his shirt and threw it toward the hamper by the bathroom. “I thought I’d get a hotel room and William and I could put in an appearance just so he could see what it is you do and hear how much some people love your pieces, and then I could take him back to the hotel room, and then you’d be free to schmooze, and you wouldn’t have to worry about anything but—”

  “You think I’d think you two were in the way?”

  “Uh, no, I didn’t mean—”

  “Relax,” Jerry chuckled and pulled David so that he was on top. “It’s a great surprise, and I can’t wait to show off my family.”

  “But I overstepped?”

  “No, not at all.” Jerry kissed him tenderly. “But I don’t want to force things on him. My parents did that with me all the time, especially with sports, and I hated it when they did that. I don’t want him to grow up hating me.”

  “Hate you?” David pulled his head back, his face a study in confusion. “He’d never hate you; he loves you.” David accepted another quick kiss from Jerry and then asked, “And you didn’t hate your parents, did you?” Jerry shook his head slowly. “Good, so one hour, I promise, and then we’ll leave… sooner if he doesn’t like it.”

  Jerry gave a grin and with one hand on the back of David’s neck, pulled his lover in for a lingering kiss. David responded to the kiss and to the stroking of those hands over his back, wishing he could crawl inside of this man forever.

  WHEN David awoke the next morning, he could already smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen and hear voices, taking a few moments to recognize Jerry’s and then Kitty’s. He glanced over at the clock, wondering what Kitty was doing here so early. I thought she was in Edmonton preparing for the show.

  He threw off the duvet and headed for the bathroom to shave and shower. He did some quick mental math in his head; William would have another hour to sleep before David would go check to see if he was any better today. And if he wasn’t any better, David would have plenty of time to call the middle school to warn them of William’s absence.

  His mind was occupied, flitting from one thing to another, as he shaved and then lingered under the hot water of the shower for fifteen minutes, hoping that he wasn’t going to get sick with whatever had William under the weather. It wasn’t the being sick that bothered him so much as having to go in and teach while he was sick. He knew he should probably stay home, but preparing for a substitute teacher was so much work that he always found it less stressful to just go in himself.

  It was only Tuesday, but he threw on a pair of chinos and a polo shirt and his loafers, and then headed to William’s room. He didn’t knock this time and turned the knob very slowly so as not to wake the little guy. Where William should have been was a mass of blankets and pillows. Must be feeling better, David thought and headed for the stairs.

  Once he was in the kitchen, he saw William sitting at the table munching on some toast, an empty bowl pushed off to the side. Definitely feeling better, then.

  “Good morning.” David took the seat beside William, smiling at the sight of the flushed cheeks fresh from sleep and the little legs dangling over the side of the chair. “Feeling better, William?”

  “Uh huh,” William said as he chewed on his toast. He took a big gulp of orange juice and turned to look at David. “I heard voices, and I wasn’t sleepy anymore, so I came downstairs.”

  “Two bowls of cereal and three pieces of toast.” Jerry smiled at his son. “Definitely feeling better.”

  “Kitty? Can I get you anything?” David didn’t have anything against Kitty; he just didn’t know how to take her, especially this early in the morning.

  “No, sweetie, thank you.” Kitty smiled and nodded toward Jerry. “I was just trying to convince your husband that his acclaim is in jeopardy. Surely you don’t think he should keep certain pieces out of the show because they’re portraits of the family, do you? There are at least five that are some of his best work, and you can’t recognize faces in them.”

  “What I think,” David said through a tight smile, “is that those are his decisions. If he can live with them, then that’s all fine with me.”

  “Philistines,” Kitty opined with a flourish of her manicured nails. “I’m surrounded by Philistines.”

  “What’s a Philis—Philistine?” William turned to David, who only smiled.

  “Your father,” Kitty snorted with an exaggerated roll of her bright green eyes.

  “The Philistines were an ancient people who lived in the Middle East and were considered very good-looking and very intelligent.” Jerry lifted his mug to his lips and smirked at Kitty. “Isn’t that right, Aunt Kitty?”

  “Yes, William,” Kitty said as she stood up from the table and reached for her bag on the counter behind her. “Your father is a Philistine.” David watched as she turned toward Jerry and could barely overhear her remind Jerry not to call her Aunt Kitty. “William? You have a nice day at school, and I’m glad you’re feeling better. David?” Kitty nodded at Jerry. “I hope you come to your senses soon.” And with an annoyed look at Jerry—who was far too amused by all of this—she headed for the door. He could hear her protests anew as Jerry followed her out to her car.

  “She’s weird.” William took another bite of his toast.

  David stifled a laugh. “I think the word is eccentric.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means she’s different. And different is sometimes a good thing.” David brushed his hand over the short blond hair. “How did you sleep?”

  “Good.”

  “No throwing up?”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay, but if you start feeling sick today—”

  “I know, call Dad, and if he doesn’t answer, call you on your cell phone.”

  “Good boy,” David said through a smile. He leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of William’s head, taking a mere moment to delight in that smell that seemed to be all William. “I love you,” he whispered against the short tufts of blond hair.

  “I love you, too, David.”

  “And if you see Cory today, no pestering him about coming over for dinner on Friday.” David saw the red cheeks turn and the brilliant blue eyes look at him, but before William could say anything, David added, “Cory’s a few years older than you, sweetie, and he probably has his own plans, his own friends.”

  “But he said he’d think about it.”

  “I know,” David said as he reached out to fix the collar of William’s pajama shirt. “And I know how much you like him, but I don’t want you to be disappointed if he can’t come on Friday.”

  “Okay.”

  David placed another kiss, his heart breaking a little at the resignation in William’s voice, and made another mental note to talk to Lenore about how he and Jerry could encourage William to make friends. She’d already suggested sports at school, and that was a rousing success, but not in terms of William making friends. The only lasting bond he’d established through soccer was a sixteen-year-old boy who didn’t even go to the same school. “Besides, if he can’t make it, then you and your dad and I can all go do something crazy like drive to Edmonton and stay in a hotel and eat lots of pizza on the bed.”

  “Really?” William looked over at David. “When Mr. Boyd brought me here, w
e stayed in a big hotel in Calgary, but we ate at the table in the room. Or we went out.”

  “Hey, cowboy,” Jerry’s unseen reappearance startled David from his efforts to prepare William for potential disappointment. “You’ve got about forty-five minutes before you have to start getting ready. Wanna see if you can finally beat me at PlayStation?”

  David chuckled and then looked at Jerry with a resigned grin when he saw William get out of his chair, plate in hand, and head to the sink before the words were out of Jerry’s mouth.

  “You go set it up and I’ll be right there, partner.”

  “’Kay.”

  David stood up and moved to the sink to rinse off William’s plate, but Jerry grabbed him before he could get there and wrapped him in his arms. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know she was so set on making you and William famous.”

  “Why is she so hell-bent on having those pieces included?”

  “I don’t know,” Jerry sighed. “I think she’s hoping the family portraits will make me seem accessible, or maybe she’s just trying to stir up some sort of frenzy.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “I’m too old for frenzy.”

  “And what would you call how you’ve been in the bedroom lately?” David whispered as he looked toward the living room.

  “I love painting, but it’s never done for me what you do.”

  David stood on his tiptoes and accepted the kiss that Jerry was offering. “But William’s your son now. You don’t have to worry about being too public, so maybe a little frenzy might be good for your exposure.”

  “Our son,” Jerry corrected and grinned when he saw the smile those two words brought to David’s handsome face. “And I don’t care about becoming famous or having people buy my work.” Jerry kissed the top of David’s head. “I want people to buy my work because it says something to them, because they love the colors… hell, I’d be happy if they buy my work because it matches the sofa. I didn’t start painting to become famous, baby. I paint because it makes me happy.” Jerry slapped playfully at David’s ass as he headed to the living room. “But not as happy as the two of you.”

  “Hey,” David called as he put William’s dishes in the dishwasher, “I’m with you whatever you decide.”

  “Good to know, baby.”

  Chapter 6

  JERRY stood back from the easel and tried to figure out what was wrong with the painting. He’d already spent most of the day staring at it, then adding or subtracting, but he still wasn’t happy with it, and he was getting frustrated. Before he did anything foolish, he decided to head inside and maybe do something else. It wasn’t often that his muse abandoned him, but when it did, it was very slow to return. For some reason, he found himself thinking more and more about the mystery that was Cory Flett. It had been two days since David had mentioned that Cory’s mother had passed away years ago, and it was only yesterday that David had returned home from school and told him about the conversation he’d had with Lenore. As far as Lenore knew, Cory’s dad had never remarried and was still a single parent, at least that’s what Cory’s file indicated. It wasn’t that Cory had lied about something that probably wouldn’t have made any difference to William or Jerry or David, it was that William was so attached to someone with a secret. And whatever the secret, and whatever the reason for lying, Jerry didn’t like the idea of William getting hurt in all of this; he’d been through enough already. And Jerry was pretty sure that David would feel the same way.

  At the thought of David and William and where they were as compared to this time last year, Jerry couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t completely comfortable being a parent yet, but he was definitely more comfortable than he was a year ago. He knew that he still had quite a bit of work to do when it came to dealing with William’s solitary nature or how to handle some of the people that seemed intent on making William suffer for what Jerry and David had found in each other, but he also knew that he and David made a formidable team; they would be able to handle anything that came their way.

  Married and with a child. He’d certainly never imagined that this was where his life would lead him. He shook his head as he descended the thick, wooden ladder that connected his studio to the barn, equally amused and awed by the realization that—each in his way—William and David had saved him from himself. He wasn’t what anyone would call a people-pleaser, but when he saw the look on William’s face the first time they met last year, saw the look in those sad, resigned blue eyes, Jerry would have done anything to make it all go away.

  As he approached the stall of Mountain Lion—William’s horse—Jerry tried to imagine how his life would have turned out. He didn’t honestly know, but he was quite certain that he would have continued to fumble his way through every day completely convinced that he’d been rich in the only way that mattered. “I am a very lucky man,” he whispered to Mountain Lion, chuckling and patting the horse’s nose when it whinnied.

  Very lucky indeed, he repeated to the open sky as he made his way back into the house. Neither William nor David liked his cooking—and if he was honest, he preferred David’s as well—but he felt like doing something for his family. They’d be away in Edmonton for most of the weekend, so Jerry decided to barbecue. Even William and David agreed that Jerry’s barbecued ribs were the best they’d ever tasted. It might not be ideal barbecue weather, but the snow was gone and the temperature had peaked today at just under seventeen degrees Celsius. Besides, he rationalized as he fired up the grill, we can go inside if it gets too cold and have a carpet picnic. We’ll do that anyway, he thought and smiled, catching a glimpse of the framed poster that David had brought with him when he’d moved in with Jerry and William almost a year ago. He couldn’t remember who the author was, but he’d read that poster several times, and he would definitely agree with the author’s observation to hold hands when going out into the world. And after letting William and David into his life, Jerry now had two hands to hold when he was out in the world.

  He felt the vibration against his hip and quickly dug out his cell phone. Glancing at the screen, he could see it was William calling. “Hey, partner, how’s practice?”

  “Cory’s not here!”

  “Okay, uh….”

  “He’s always here, Dad!”

  “Listen, William, maybe Cory is busy with other things. We’ve had this talk before—”

  “He told me he would be here.” William sounded on the verge of tears. “He always keeps his word, Dad. We have to find out what’s wrong.”

  “Okay, William, you need to calm down.” Jerry waited for another interruption; none came. “It’s only the first practice he’s missed.”

  “Second.” William was probably pouting now, Jerry guessed. “He missed last night too.”

  “I’m sorry, buddy, but Cory’s probably got some things to do.”

  “He promised.”

  And here we go, Jerry thought. He took a deep breath and sat at the kitchen table. “I know he did, William, and I’m sorry that he had to break his promise, but he might have a good reason for it. Remember when you told Grandpa Niels that you’d go to the circus with him and you got sick? That was a good reason for not being able to go, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” William conceded. Jerry’s heart broke a little; he could just picture William sitting all pinched and closed-off—like he usually did when he felt the world was unfair—and his bright blue eyes would be almost black with resentment.

  “I think I’ve got an idea that might help you feel a little better.”

  “What?”

  Oh, yes, Jerry thought, my boy is in full pout alright. “Let’s just say you’re going to get to do your most favorite thing in the whole world.”

  “Ride Mountain Lion?”

  “Okay, second favorite.”

  “Stay up past bedtime and watch movies with you and David?”

  “Okay, third favorite.”

  “Eat with my fingers?”

  “Bingo
!”

  “Are we having ribs?” William’s voice betrayed the excitement that Jerry’d hoped this news would bring out.

  “Sure thing, partner,” Jerry laughed into the receiver. “And now that I know that David and I are your second favorite, maybe we can do that too.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure, why not?” Jerry shrugged, knowing full well that David would tease him about being wrapped around William’s little finger but not really caring too much. He would do his fair share of teasing in return when he got David alone later in the evening. “Try and have some fun at practice, okay, buddy? We can figure out what to do about Cory later.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “Go score a couple of goals so you’ll have some news for Cory when you see him again.”

  “’Kay.”

  Jerry said his goodbyes and disconnected the call, not as upset as he thought he would be by the inevitable disappearance of William’s newfound friend. But how do you explain this kind of thing to an eleven-year-old? He stared at his cell phone, now on the kitchen table. I wonder what David would think of fixing a play date with Lenore’s twins? He decided to let the inevitable conversation wait until David was home. They were going to have to put some serious thought into this situation; William needed some more friends his own age.

  As if on cue, the cell phone vibrated, dancing its way across the thick wooden surface of the kitchen table. “Hi, baby, I was just thinking about you.”

  “Really? Are you naked?”

  “Not at the moment, but now that I know you’re interested, I can be there in a couple of seconds.” Jerry felt himself grinning from ear to ear. There was nothing he loved more than teasing David.

  “A couple of seconds?” David laughed into the receiver and Jerry knew what was coming. “You’re slowing down, cowboy.”

  “Thought you liked it slow.”

  “Quick and dirty works sometimes too.”

  “That what you’re in the mood for right now?”

  “No,” David announced bluntly. “I’m heading over to catch the last half-hour of William’s soccer game. Wondered if you’d like to meet us and then head out to dinner? My treat.”