An Earlier Heaven

by D. W. Marchwell

  “What do you think, William?” Jerry turned to look quickly at his son. “Do you think I should become famous?”

  “No,” William said as he shook his head. “When I was at boarding school in Switzerland, I was always glad that I didn’t have photographers hounding me like some of the other boys.” William turned to look at his father. “That’s why we make such a good family, us three like privacy too much.”

  “Amen,” Jerry said through a smile as he looked into the reflection of David’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

  Smiling at the looks on Jerry’s and William’s faces, David sat back against the soft leather and stole a quick look at his watch. Within another hour or so, they would be dropping off the luggage at the hotel in Edmonton. And after another hour or so at the gallery, he and William would be back at the hotel room watching movies and eating junk food. David had been looking forward to this trip for almost an entire month. A chance to get away from the looks of disapproval he pretended not to notice at the grocery store, or the dry cleaners, or even at school.

  He’d almost lost the chance at this life with Jerry and William because he’d always been more comfortable with avoiding confrontation, and it was still a relatively new experience for him to stand up and defend his right to live whatever life he wanted. But there were moments every now and then when he just didn’t want to deal with any of it, when he just wanted to forget about everything other than having Jerry and William all to himself. It was times like this weekend that David would plan all sorts of little surprises for both of his men and take a tremendous amount of pleasure in how happy they all seemed just being together.

  The first surprise was that they wouldn’t be staying at a hotel but at one of the houses owned by David’s father. Niels had actually suggested it when David had invited him to the gallery show, encouraging him to spend a few days with Jerry and William at the mansion that had a staff of five full-time employees. The mansion actually belonged to the corporation, not Niels personally, and was normally reserved for visiting business associates and their families. David remembered seeing the mansion only a few times when he was younger, his father having needed him as a translator for certain visitors.

  The estate was on Wellington Crescent NW and was mere minutes away from the Paula Redmond Gallery on Jasper Avenue via 102nd Avenue. David couldn’t wait to show William the indoor pool and the huge bedroom, complete with its own bathroom and big-screen television that William would have all to himself. Nor could David wait to show Jerry the master suite with a huge walk-in shower that sported seven different types of shower heads and a bench that ran the length of the stall. He felt the heat brush over his face as he thought about the silicone-based lube he’d bought especially for using in that shower.

  They would come back after the gallery show tonight and then have two full days to spend lounging, relaxing, and forgetting all the stress and frustration they’d all been through over the last several months: Jerry’s nerves about the show and what he perceived to be his own failings as a father, William’s worries about Cory, and David’s concerns over everything that his two men were going through. This weekend would be exactly what all three of them needed.

  Chapter 9

  WILLIAM sat quietly in the passenger side of the car as his dad and David changed places. They were dropping off Jerry at the art gallery, would go to the hotel to drop off the luggage, and then come back to the gallery for an hour or so. As William waited in the car—David and Jerry standing just outside the driver’s side door—he was beginning to feel the excitement of being in a different city, was beginning to feel nervous for his dad. He closed his eyes and offered a little prayer so that everything would go well for his dad. Jerry’d never admitted to being nervous, but William could tell all the same; why else would Jerry have asked—over and over—about whether the lights had been turned out back home and whether everyone had their cell phones?

  Something three or four blocks down the road drew William’s attention, but as David pulled open the driver’s side door, William heard the last few words of the conversation, and then he and David were heading back the way they came to a section of Edmonton that had large mansions with tall gates and long, winding driveways.

  “I thought we were going to stay in a hotel?” William tried not to sound too disappointed.

  “We are, sort of,” David said as he smiled.

  “There’s no hotel around here.” William sat up straight and looked out all of the windows, disappointment a little more evident in his voice.

  “This,” David said as he pulled the car into the driveway of a large, three-storied brick mansion, “will be better than a hotel.” David stopped the car and then turned to regard William. “There’s a pool, your own room, a sauna and,” he whispered as he leaned closer, “best of all, you won’t have to clean up after yourself.”

  “A pool?” William asked, his disbelief evident.

  David nodded.

  “Just for the three of us?”

  David nodded again.

  “Cool.”

  David chuckled. “Let’s take the luggage inside, and you can pick out your room.”

  William jumped down from the car and reached inside, grabbed his backpack, and hefted it over his right shoulder. He met David at the trunk and reached inside for his small, black suitcase and then held out his free hand. “I can take one of yours for you, if you want.”

  “That’s very kind of you, William, but your dad and I only have these two small suitcases.” David stood aside and let William pass. “I’ve only ever been here a couple of times myself, when I was much younger.” David stooped to take the small suitcase from William’s hand, placed it beside his and Jerry’s and then pointed to the door knocker.

  “Neat,” William said as he raised his arms so that David could lift him to the same height as the heavy ring through the lion’s mouth. “It’s heavy,” he whispered over his shoulder as David put him back down. Within a few moments, both of the tall doors opened, and William saw a man standing there dressed in a white shirt and black suit.

  “Mr. Loewenberger?” The man extended his hand towards David. William looked at David and then back at the man.

  “Yes. This is William. And you are Mr. Sloan?”

  William watched the man shake David’s hand and then reach to shake his.

  “I am, yes.” The man stood aside, and William felt himself pushed forward a little by the hand that David had on his shoulder. “Very nice to meet you, William. Please come in. I’ll take your luggage up to your room as soon as I’ve shown you around the estate.”

  “Oh, please,” David said as he stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Please don’t let me make you late. It’s Friday evening and I’m sure you have plans at,” William saw David check his watch, “almost seven in the evening. Please, we can take care of ourselves from here.”

  “Very well,” Mr. Sloan said as he handed over an envelope. “All of the meals have been prepared and are in the fridge. And the pool and Jacuzzi have been cleaned.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Sloan.” David reached into his breast pocket and William saw several other envelopes, which David passed to Mr. Sloan. “Please accept my thanks. If I could ask one final favor? Could I ask you to ensure that the other staff receive their envelopes as well?”

  Mr. Sloan bowed slightly and then exited the large entrance hall. “Is he a butler?”

  “I believe he prefers the term concierge.” David stooped to retrieve his and Jerry’s suitcases and then made his way to the stairs. William grabbed his own luggage and hurried to catch up. “Your Opa Niels’s company owns this house,” David offered as William tried to look around at his surroundings without tripping on the stairs. “This is where his very important guests stay when they come to Edmonton.”

  “What if they want to stay in Calgary?”

  “There’s a big house there as well.” David made his way to the end of the hallway and placed the suitcases by the large, woode
n double doors. “Now,” he said, rubbing his hands together, “which room do you want?”

  “Can I have the one closest to yours and Dad’s?”

  “Of course you can, William.”

  David pushed open the tall door and stood aside to reveal the bright blues and whites of the nautical themed room. “Hope you don’t get seasick, you scurvy dog.” David growled out the last few words.

  “Cool!” William placed his suitcase and backpack neatly on the nearest chair and stood in the middle of the room. “Can we do this with my room at home?”

  “I don’t see why not,” David said through a smile. “We’ll ask your dad after the show tonight.”

  “Hey, look at that!” William ran across the room to the wide gate-leg table that held a large aquarium. “Look at all the different fish.”

  “When I was your age, I had an aquarium like that with three different kinds of gold fish.”

  William turned to look at David. “How long do gold fish live?”

  “I don’t know, maybe ten years or so, give or take.” David came to stand beside William. “Should we ask your dad if we can get an aquarium too?” Before William could say anything, David held up his hand. “It’ll mean you’ll have to be responsible for them, feed them, clean the aquarium….”

  “Is it hard? Taking care of them, I mean.”

  “No,” David said as he sat in the armchair closest to the aquarium. “And we’ll help you with the heavy stuff, like cleaning the aquarium.”

  “Hey,” William said, his eyes going wide as the thought came to him. “If I show Dad that I can take care of fish, maybe he’ll let me get a dog.”

  “Maybe,” David said with a chuckle. He pulled William to him and planted a quick kiss on the soft blond hair, his hand staying and stroking lightly over the buzz cut. “What kind of dog do you think you’d like?”

  “When Mr. Boyd told me that I’d be moving to Alberta to live with Dad, I spent a lot of time searching the internet for stuff about Alberta.” William let his body lean against David’s; he always felt so sleepy whenever David stroked his hair like that. “I came across this site that didn’t have anything to do with Alberta, but showed dog sled races up north.”

  “So you’d like a husky?”

  “A Siberian husky, yeah,” William said through a yawn. “There were pictures of pure white huskies with really light blue eyes.”

  “That’ll mean I’ll be outnumbered,” David said with a chuckle. “You and your dad and the dog will all have blue eyes; I’ll be the only one with brown.”

  “We can get one with brown eyes.” William started to say.

  “I’m just kidding, William, we can get one just like you described when your dad says you’re ready.” David stopped stroking William’s short hair and glanced at his watch. “Okay, we’ve got fifteen minutes to take a look around the house, and then we have to get to the art gallery.” David stood up and William looked up at him. “Something tells me you want to start with the pool.”

  DAVID watched as William ran for the door and toward the stairs. “Careful, William, the floors are slippery!” David hurried his pace so that he could keep an eye on the little guy who seemed so tired a few moments ago. He was glad that this weekend seemed to have delayed William’s preoccupation with Cory and his unexpected absence from soccer practices, but David still found himself worrying about William’s progress. Most of the time, David wasn’t really sure he wasn’t projecting his own feelings onto William’s actions.

  He’d resisted the urge to wrap the little man in a big bear hug when William had asked to have the room next to theirs. Even though he’d heard no more about Cory for the past several days, David was becoming very aware that perhaps he would need to start encouraging more independence from William, who was no longer the same scared little boy he’d met a year ago. David wasn’t sure if he was entirely glad for this transformation, albeit a slight one. On the one hand, he wanted so much for William to grow up and become independent, but on the other, he wished—every now and then—that William could stay this shy, quiet little boy for a few more years. He told himself to be glad that he’d found this family, at last, and he tried to keep things in perspective, but he just couldn’t help the feeling of uncertainty that had settled over him since they returned from visiting Frau Zimmerman in Switzerland.

  “Hey,” David said as he walked down the stark white-tiled hallway to the pool room. “Look at this.” William had already beaten him to the room, but David found himself thinking out loud. It had been a while since he’d been at this house, but he certainly didn’t remember this wing—in fact, he was quite certain that he’d never even seen the pool before.

  “Look, David,” William yelled from the other side of the huge room. “They have floaties and noodles and mattresses and rafts and kick boards and—”

  “You’ll have to come and get one of us if you want to go swimming, right? I don’t want any bad decisions to spoil our weekend.”

  “Okay,” William said as he nodded and kept picking through the large chest of pool accessories.

  “William?” David suppressed a grin as William stopped searching and turned to look at him, a huge smile still firmly planted on his face. “Or I’ll have to lock the door, yeah?”

  “I promise,” William said as he nodded and made a big X over his heart. “No swimming unless one of you is with me.”

  “Agreed.” David reached into his pocket and pulled out the envelope that Mr. Sloan had given to him. “Do you need to go to the bathroom? We have to get going to your dad’s show soon.”

  William placed all of the toys back in—or nearly in—the chest and came around to the same side of the pool as David. “No,” he said after a few moments, “I think I’m good to go.”

  “Good,” David said and pointed to William’s shirt. “You’re coming undone.” David smiled as he watched William tuck in his shirt. “Okay, so one hour—give or take—and then we can come back here and go for a quick swim before you’re off to bed.”

  “’Kay.” William stood still as David kneeled before him to fix his tie. “Sorry, I tried to stay neat.”

  David gave another quick kiss to the top of William’s head. “I think you’re really neat,” he whispered as he pointed to the door to the tiled hallway.

  “Not that kind of neat,” William groaned as he led the way to the front door.

  ONCE they’d arrived safely at the art gallery, David was filled with the same mix of emotions as he noticed William clinging to him, uncertain of these new surroundings and the loud voices. There were probably a few more people than they’d ever had at the family barbecues, but none of the guests seemed to be overdoing it with the wine—a fact for which David was very grateful. David and Jerry had discovered last year that William had not had a lot of experience with adults who were drinking. David felt his stomach lurch at the memory of the panicked phone call he’d received from the frightened and confused little boy who didn’t understand why his Uncle Jerry was acting so strangely.

  For almost thirty minutes, David had kept an eye on William, finally letting him go exploring. Jerry had done some brief introductions, calling both William and David my family whenever he’d introduced them. And David was so relieved to see so many familiar faces that he was able to relax a little at the thought of letting William out of his sight for more than a minute or two.

  And so David stood back, beside a landscape that Jerry had done just shortly after their return from Switzerland, and let himself—white wine in hand—dwell on how he and William had been introduced to the various guests in the gallery. He hadn’t expected being introduced as Jerry’s family to have such a powerful effect on him. Nor had he expected himself to be so unprepared for seeing Jerry in this environment. There was no doubt that Jerry could handle himself among the members of the wealthy elite. Nor was there any doubt that Jerry was enjoying this immensely. And as conflicted as he’d been over urging himself to let William gain some independence, Da
vid found himself staring into the beautiful canvas in front of him, the Swiss countryside reminding him of a time when he’d had Jerry and William all to himself.

  David’s mind jumped around, unable to settle itself on any one particular subject. He thought about his father. He’d invited his father—both of his parents actually—but David knew that neither of his parents would attend. David assumed that his mother was still adjusting to her husband having re-established contact with their gay son. And his father? David figured he was far too immersed in his most recent business venture. And as disappointed as David was, he was also rather relieved that he’d have Jerry and William to himself.

  “I give private showings.”

  David was startled at the hand that was snaking its way around his waist. He turned, so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t recognize Jerry’s voice—or touch. “Jesus, you startled me.” He smiled and leaned into his lover’s body, accepting the quick peck that Jerry placed on his lips. “How are you holding up?”

  “Me? I’m fine.” Jerry left his arm around David’s waist and shoved the other one into his trouser pocket. “How are you and William doing?”

  “I’m fine, and William seems to be enjoying himself.”

  “Where is our son anyway?”

  “Right over there.” David nodded and held up his wine glass in the direction of the table with assorted cheeses, crackers, and imported pâtés.

  “I wonder how many of those he’s managed to scarf down,” Jerry said as he laughed and pointed at the crumbs around William’s mouth, David noticing them without any difficulty.

  “I’m just glad he’s not glued to my leg anymore. But I do wonder sometimes where he puts it all.”

  Jerry just shook his head, his smile big and broad as he watched William weave his way toward the spot where he and David stood.

  “I’ve promised him a swim in the pool before bedtime, so we’ll probably be going before he has a chance to eat too much more.”