by Pandora Pine
“Mine is a picture of our little family.” Carson turned it around so Truman could see it was a drawing of the two of them and Sadie.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d forgiven Truman yet, but I figured what the hell, it’s Christmas.” Cole laughed. He stood up and pulled Cassie to her feet along with him. “It looks like the two of you have a lot to discuss. We’re gonna go grab some of that top-shelf chocolate pudding in the cafeteria, but we’ll be back in time for Christmas dinner. Rumor has it, Carson’s going to be able to have some broth.”
“Oh joy, a Christmas miracle,” Carson deadpanned.
“Text if you need anything,” Cassie called over her shoulder.
As they were leaving, Truman walked over to the little tree and grabbed the presents he had for Carson. “Am I forgiven?” he asked sheepishly.
“Maybe. Mostly.” Carson shrugged before wincing in pain. “You were a huge tool, Truman, but you were here for me when it counted, so that levels the playing field a bit. Where do you stand now when it comes to my visions? Because according to my dead mother, I’m going to have a lot more of them.”
Truman barked out a rough laugh. “God that felt good. After being hurt and angry and then terrified out of my mind that you weren’t going to pull through this, it feels good to laugh again.”
“Shit, if I tried to do that, I’d probably pop all of my stitches and I’d end up bleeding to death.” Carson rolled his eyes.
“You’re going to be fine. The doctor said it’s going to take a while to get all of your strength back, since you almost did bleed to death, but you’re not going to pop a stitch if you laugh.”
“You didn’t answer my question, Truman.” Carson arched an eyebrow.
“Oh, right the visions…” After the last one came true with chilling detail, how could he ever doubt Carson again? “I’m a believer now. I should have been a believer then.”
“Damn straight.” Carson grinned, them grimaced.
“Carson, can you tell me about the one I wouldn’t listen to?” Truman sat on the edge of the hospital bed.
Carson looked at him like he didn’t understand. Then his eyes lit up. “Truman, the future is fluid. My mother always used to tell me that. What I saw in that vision could have changed already. Those little souls might not be destined to be ours anymore.”
“Please,” Truman begged.
Carson nodded. “I was making tomato sauce when I felt you hug me from behind and then kiss the back of my neck. When I opened my eyes, I could see I was standing in your kitchen and there was also a pot on the stove with boiling pasta. Twin toddlers were strapped in to booster seats at the table and they were scribbling with crayons. Both of them were screeching your name: Daddy. You were peppering their little heads with kisses.”
“They were calling me Daddy?” Truman couldn’t believe it. “Are you sure they weren’t my niece or nephew?”
Carson shook his head. “One baby had your eyes, the other had mine. I assumed we used a surrogate to have them, rather than adopting. Their names floated through my head and when I reached out to touch them, the vision ended.”
Truman’s heart broke that he got to kiss their children and Carson hadn’t been able to. “What were their names?”
“Don’t you want there to be any surprises?”
Truman shook his head.
“Brian and Stephanie.”
Truman gasped. “Those were my favorite baby names when I was a kid. I always said when I grew up I’d have two kids named Brian and Stephanie.”
“Looks like you might get your wish.” Carson smiled.
“Do you think you can forgive the horrible things I said to you?” More than anything, he wanted to hold those vision babies in his arms and raise them with Carson by his side.
“I’m going to have to if we’re going to be parents to twins, right?”
Truman burst out laughing. “I have something for you.” He hurried over to the two presents he’d bought Carson for Christmas. He handed him the bigger one first.
“Truman, you didn’t have to get me anything.” Carson looked thrilled that he had. He ripped off the paper to find the stuffed Prince Charming doll. “Oh my God. You got me my own prince.”
“You said on our first date that you were always partial to Prince Charming, so I got you one of your own.”
“You are my Prince Charming, Truman.”
“I hope you mean that, Carson.” Truman set the smaller box in front of him.
“What’s this?” Carson asked, picking up the box. He rubbed his fingers against the black velvet. Understanding dawned in his misty blue eyes. Carson knew exactly what the box was.
“Open it and see.” Truman had never been more nervous in his entire life.
Carson did what Truman asked, gasping when the platinum ring glittered up at him. “Oh my goodness.”
“I bought this ring when we were crazy in love with each other. Before I was an asshole and before you were my hero. Now that we’ve seen what life can throw at us and what we can survive together, I’m more convinced than ever that we belong together. Carson, will you marry me?”
Carson looked back and forth between the ring and Truman’s face. “I think we are still crazy in love with each other. When my mother told me to fight, I was fighting for you, Truman. Everything I’ve done since the moment that first vision ended was to get to this moment with you.” He swiped at the tears gathering in his eyes.
As pretty as Carson’s speech was, he didn’t answer the question. Truman took the ring out of the box and held it up. “You didn’t answer the question, Carson.”
“Forgive me, you stubborn man, I have a hole in my chest that makes me a bit forgetful. What was the question again?”
“Carson Craig, will you marry me?”
“Yes!”Carson laughed. “I heard you the first time. I just wanted to hear you ask me again.”
Slipping the ring on Carson’s finger, Truman bent forward to kiss the love of his life. “I love you so much, Carson.”
“You better. I took a bullet for you.”
“I’m never gonna hear the end of that, am I?” Truman laughed.
EPILOGUE
Six months later…
Carson
The battery on his iPhone was about to die. Between the number of pictures he’d taken since midnight and the music that had been playing non-stop since the DJ abandoned ship around 1am, the end was definitely near.
The same could also be said for his newly-minted husband. Truman had been on his last legs for an hour now, but they were so close. The sun’s awakening rays were just beginning to light up the morning sky.
They’d been married at midnight on the beach at a quaint little hotel in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Carson and Truman loved Cape Cod and this hotel was run by four gay men who’d been friends since high school. The topping on the wedding cake was the lighthouse tower on the roof of the hotel.
Carson and Truman had been dancing together on the beach and taking selfies ever since they’d cut the wedding cake around 12:30am.
“For the love of God, Carson. Are we there yet?” Truman groaned.
“Five more minutes, husband,” Carson drawled. “You promised we could dance until the sun came up on our wedding day. It’s 5am, sunrise is in five minutes.”
“Why can’t I ever deny you anything?” Truman asked, pressing a kiss to Truman’s lips.
“Because I’m handsome and charming!” Carson laughed.
“And you saved my life in more ways than one,” Truman added.
Truth be told, Carson never brought up the shooting that nearly took his life six months ago. He saw the scar over his heart every day when he took a shower or changed his shirt, but after he was discharged from the hospital on New Year’s Day, he and Truman had made a pact never to talk about it again.
The physical therapy he’d had to endure to get himself back into shape had been grueling. When he’d first come home from the hospital, he’d lived on Truman’s
couch with Sadie. He didn’t even have the energy to make it up the stairs to sleep in Truman’s bed at first.
His shiny new fiancé had slept in front of the Christmas tree on an air mattress until Carson had been strong enough to make it up the stairs on his own.
So many changes had gone on in those early days of the cold and snowy New Year. Cole had taken over the psychic readings at the shop while Carson was recovering and since Truman had left Gemtronics after the shooting, he’d been helping Cole to run the front end of the store.
It turned out Truman had a Corny-like knack for running the store and booking appointments. So many customers had come into the store in the aftermath of the shooting and Truman had been there to speak with them and hold their hands through their worries. He’d even had them record messages for Carson on his phone to help with his recovery.
West Side Magick’s customers had also been there with food, dropping off casseroles and other baked goods. Mrs. Salazar had been the one to organize the volunteers. Now that she knew her husband wasn’t cheating on her, she’d had more free time to volunteer in her community.
Cassie had left the safe confines of her mother’s house to move in with Cole to the house above the store. Nearly losing Carson had convinced the young couple there was no time like the present to move their relationship on to the next step. They’d gotten married in a surprise spring equinox wedding at the beach. Sadie had been the flower girl and Truman had given the beautiful bride away. Their first child was due around Christmas.
As luck would have it, the store front adjacent to West Side Magick had been available for rent and Cassie, with a little help from Truman on the business side of things, opened her own bakery. The first two months had been a little slow, but once the summer had arrived, and with it the tourists, the crowds had turned out in droves and orders were already piling in for the Halloween season.
“Here comes the sun!” Carson spun Truman to face the breaking waves.
“Now that we’re married, it’s time to start talking about starting a family, don’t you think?” Truman kissed his husband again. “We can try surrogacy again since it failed the first time a few months ago.”
Carson hadn’t told his husband yet, but he had a present waiting for him that he was going to go bananas over. He’d spent a lot of his free time convalescing to hone his psychic abilities. Although he kept his crystal ball in the reading room, he didn’t need it anymore to channel Spirit. “Come sit, I want to show you something.”
“Thank Christ. I wasn’t going to make it through one more song!” Truman half-collapsed into one of the chairs at the head table that had been set up on the beach for them.
Carson took the seat beside him. He lifted the plate with the remains of their shared slice of wedding cake and pulled out a sealed envelope. “This is your wedding present. I know I promised never to keep anything from you again, but I think once you see what is inside you’ll forgive me.”
Truman shot him a fake frown and opened the envelope. He pulled out a sheet of paper and looked up at Carson before he flipped it over. His husband shrugged at him.
“Go on, flip it over. I love you and I guarantee you’re going to love this surprise.” Carson’s eyes were misty.
Truman flipped over the paper and gasped. “It’s a sonogram,” he half-laughed. “Wait, is this ours?”
“It’s ours!” Carson agreed, before Truman pulled him into his arms. “I may have misled you when I said the in-vitro procedure didn’t work.”
They’d talked a lot over the last six months about Carson’s vision where he’d seen twin toddlers at the kitchen table. They’d both agreed they wanted to start a family sooner rather than later. They’d initially gotten a negative pregnancy test back when they’d done the procedure with their surrogate, but Carson’s visions kept telling him the test was wrong.
“But the test was negative.” Truman looked confused.
“The test was defective.” Carson smiled at his husband. “When we retested a month later, we were so close to the wedding that I thought it would be amazing to surprise you with this tonight.”
“It’s one hell of an amazing present, but I don’t understand.” Truman set Carson down to pick the grainy sonogram image back up again. “Why are the letters A, B and C marked on here?” Truman asked, sounding confused.
“The letters stand for each of the babies…” Carson trailed off, waiting for understanding to dawn on his husband.
“Three babies? We’re having three babies? But, you only saw two in your vision!” Truman’s eyes were practically popping out of his head.
Carson laughed. “Maybe baby C was in the living room or hiding under the table where I couldn’t see her.”
“Her?” Truman gasped, tears gathering in his eyes. “Baby C is another girl?”
Carson nodded. “Stephanie, Brian and Bertha, after my mother.”
“I love it. That’s perfect.” Truman agreed. “Just like you.”
“You’re not mad I kept our surrogate’s pregnancy a secret?”
Truman shook his head. “This is the best wedding present ever.”
Carson couldn’t agree more. It had been a tumultuous six months filled with laughter, love and a little bit of pain. And to think it all started with a vision of love.