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By: David H
(© 2011 by the author)

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Chapter 12

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Eudora.  Sure, it was hot as the blazes of hell, as a local might have said, but it was beautiful none the less.  At Seth and Jenny’s house, the women were already up and moving around, albeit slowly.  On the night before Jenny’s wedding, after the rehearsal dinner, Becky, Janelle, and Linda had brought her and some other ladies back to their house for a party that would have made most of the guys blush.  The stripper arrived at eleven or so and given a show that made Jenny wish that Seth was there, for his oral abilities more than anything else.  At 11:55, the ladies let her call him one last time before midnight.

At his party, Seth was drunk off his ass and laughing as the stripper that Jimmy and Ron had hired for him was trying her best to get a bigger tip from Matt, who had already told her that he was very happily married to the man of his dreams.  He’d already given her a C-Note, but she wanted more, it seemed.  Their conversation ended with sweet ‘I Love You’s’ at exactly 11:59 by the watches on the Moms’ wrists.

The next morning, they all woke up in a haze.  The women were drinking coffee in the kitchen as Linda and Becky both told stories about losing their virginity in that house.  “May many more virgins be deflowered here then,” Janelle, still a little drunk, said as they toasted tapped the rims of their coffee mugs together.  Jenny woke up in her pajamas, waddling down the stairs and into the kitchen as the moms sat there.

“Y’all.  I thought about it last night, and I’m not sure that I want to walk down the aisle by myself,” Jenny told them as she relished the fact that she could sit there in the tank-top that she’d worn to bed along with a pair of Seth’s boxers. 

“OK.  Your dad’s not coming, he said,” Janelle said.

“Oh trust me.  I don’t want him here,” Jenny told the woman who’d given her birth.  With a smile, she continued.  “I’m thinking about asking Nick, even though he’s already my Gentleman of Honor.”

“Awww…” Janelle thought she would start crying but Becky and Linda, who were sitting on either side of her, instinctively put their hands on her shoulders.  “Y’all.  Thank you so much,” she said, looking between the ladies who had become better friends to her than anyone had been since Patrice passed away.

At Ron and Linda’s, Ron had been awake for a little while, sipping coffee when Matt rolled from the bed on the third floor and fumbled his way to the kitchen.  “I have a weird feeling about something,” he said as he took a juice from the fridge, shaking it as he walked toward the table to sit with his dad.

“Did some lady make me give her a motorboat last night?” Matt asked as Ron smiled.

“Son,” Ron said to him, “it was just as weird for me to watch!”

“Damn…” Matt shook his head as Ron laughed.

It wasn’t long before Matt’s absence in the bed woke Nick as well.  He took his morning piss and then started to walk from the room when his phone began to ring.  He answered it, hoping that the caller wouldn’t yell at him as his head was pounding.

“I need a favor,” Jenny said.

“What’s that?”

“I’ve changed my mind about something, and only you can help.”

“Uh oh…” Nick smiled.

“No.  Nick… I want you to walk me down the aisle,” she told him.

Nick, beaming with pride, sat on the side of the bed for a second as they talked.  He accepted her request, promising to try his best not to fall over on the way.

“If you do, Nicholas, I’ll kick your ass right in the chapel,” Jenny smiled.

“Yes ma’am,” Nick said.

Their conversation came to an end a moment later, and Nick made his way downstairs in a pair of gym shorts that Matt had left over there at some point in the past.  “Baby.  I’m gonna have to give you head in a little while,” Matt said as he rounded the corner.

“Not that I’m opposed to that, but why?” Nick asked after Ron stopped laughing.  Matt told him the story as Nick wondered where he’d been while it was going on.  He fixed himself a cup of coffee and then sat at the table, telling Matt and Ron about Jenny’s phone call the moment before.

At around ten, the ladies went out to get their hair done for the morning at around the same time that Jimmy and Seth were getting to the other house, joking about having to walk over since they were still drunk.  They arrived to find Matt and Nick working on breakfast together, having showered already and taken care of a couple of other, personal things, before dressing in gym shorts and t-shirts and returning downstairs.  At eleven, as the girls were returning to the house after finish their things, the guys went to get ready.  Given the number of bathrooms at the Harper abode, each guy had their own room.  Matt and Nick went upstairs to get dressed, to what had been Matt’s room for so long.

“So I did something,” Matt said as they walked into the room together.

“Oh no… what?” Nick grinned at him.  “Was that that we just did in the shower a preliminary ‘I’m sorry’ for something?”

“No…” Matt answered, a grin on his face.  “That was just because you were so damn hot that I couldn’t control myself.”

“OK.  Good,” Nick told him as he walked into his old closet and opened a door, pulling from inside a huge suit bag and setting it on the bed.  He turned to Nick and smiled, presenting it to him in what he called ‘The Barker’s Beauty Pose’.  Nick walked over, having a feeling that he knew what it was, but not saying anything until he opened it and saw it.  “Matt.  Seriously.  You can’t keep spending money on me like this.”

“I promise I won’t… all the time,” Matt told him, “but Nick.  You have been so good to me, not just in the last few weeks, but since we met.  If Pa were still here, he’d have bought it for you himself.”

“Matt.  I love you,” Nick said.  “And I really love the uniform.  In fact, I think I’m gonna wear it today.”

“Good,” Matt said.

“But you have to stop spending a ton of money on me,” Nick smiled.  “While it is nice, from time to time, to be spoiled a little bit, I don’t want people thinking that I’m with you for the money.  And sometimes, I want to do the spoiling.  Like the trip, I wanted to give that to you.  Call me selfish, but I didn’t want that to be our trip.  I wanted it to be your trip, a trip that I was able to give to you.”

“I know, Nick,” Matt told him, “and I don’t think I go too overboard.  A uniform isn’t that expensive.”

“Not for you, but it would have taken me months to pay that off,” Nick told him.

“So I have an idea,” Matt said as he wrapped his arms across Nick’s shoulders.

“What’s that?”

“Why don’t we have a weekend each month where I can spoil you, and then a weekend each month where you can spoil me?  The rest of the time, we’ll go about our business like normal,” Matt told him.

“I can handle that,” Nick told him, understanding that it was as much a compromise for Matt as it was for him.

“K…” Matt smiled.  “So put on the uniform, and I’m gonna go put on the tuxedo.”

“You know that these things don’t often leave room for the imagination,” Nick told him.

“Why do you think I bought it?” Matt winked as he walked into the closet to get his things.  Nick just shook his head as he pulled it from the bag.

Within just a few minutes, they were both dressed and headed downstairs.  At around the same time, at Seth and Jenny’s, a man dressed in all black was coming up to the back door of the house, as he’d been instructed to do.  Knocking, Linda was the first down and went to answer it.  She invited the man in and told him that they were still getting ready upstairs.

It wasn’t long before Seth and the guys were leaving the house, on their way to the Wedding Chapel that had been constructed on the campus of Parsons University.  As they were arriving, Jenny was walking down the grand staircase in her dress, the train dragging down the steps as all the women on both sides of the family were standing there, admiring her for all her grace and beauty.  As they walked outside, Janelle and Jenny climbed into the car that Matt had ordered for the day as his gift to Seth and Jenny.  The other women climbed into their own cars and headed, behind the limo to the chapel.

They arrived to find that all the guests were already there, waiting on the show to start.  The guys were standing at the back door to the chapel, waiting in those final moments before the show started.  Linda volunteered, as the ladies stood outside, to go in and tell the guys that they’d arrived.  As they’d already decided, Seth crooked his arm and escorted her to a seat on the front row.  She was his Othermom, his godmother, and a woman in whom he had immense respect.  After she was seated, he took his place in front of the altar, with the Episcopal Minister who was officiating the ceremony.

A moment later, Matt took his ‘Othermom’ on his arm and escorted her down the aisle to the front row, where she would sit beside her best friend, her sister, through the ceremony that would, no doubt, make them both cry.  He took his place beside Seth just a moment before the Dads escorted Janelle down the aisle.  That part was Linda and Becky’s idea, and as they made sure that she was seated on the front row opposite them, they sat next to their wives, ready for the show. 

Nick walked outside to find Jenny standing in front of the chapel wearing a long, cream-colored dress.  When she saw him, she cried, for he was wearing a formal uniform.  He smiled, for that was his sister getting married that day.  She’d always been more than a cousin to him, and, in that moment, it shined through.

“You look beautiful,” Nick told her as he kissed her cheek.

“And you look so handsome,” she said as she wrapped her arm around his neck.  “You know.  The two of us are quite lucky.”

“I know,” Nick smiled, knowing that she was referring to Seth and Matt in that moment.

“So let’s go see our husbands,” Jenny smiled a second before Nick crooked his arm and she took hold of it.  Together, they walked up the couple of steps to the door of the chapel.  As they’d agreed, Nick gently knocked on the outer door one time, and the usher standing on the other side signaled the organist that the bride was ready.

The usher then closed the door to the chapel itself and opened the door to let Jenny and Nick come inside.  He helped her pull in the train before closing the sturdy wooden door.  He then walked to the inner door and, with another usher working the door opposite him, turned the knob and then slowly opened the door.  For both of them, time seemed to stop as Sherice, at Seth and Jenny’s request, began singing “Ave Maria” in the style of Schubert. 

Those in the room stood as Jenny walked inside, her hair done around a tiara with no veil in front of her face.  Janelle started to cry, wishing that her sister were there to share that moment with her.  Patrice would have been so proud of the man that Nick had become, all on his own.  She would have loved Matt, and she would have adored hanging out with Becky and Linda. 

Linda and Becky both looked to Seth and Matt, who looked so gallant standing there, looking how ‘Granddaddy’ and ‘Pa’ might have looked at the latter’s wedding.  Of course, they would have adored Jenny, for she would have been able to keep up with two, self-professed perverted old men. 

A moment later, as Matt stood in his place, Seth walked to the bottom of the altar.  With a very proud smile on his face, he took Jenny’s arm from Nick and the two, together, walked up the couple of steps to the altar as Nick took his place beside her, as her ‘Man of Honor’.

For a half hour, the Episcopal service continued as Matt and Nick stole glances at one another.  At a point in service, Sherice performed Christina Aguilera’s “The Right Man” at Jenny’s request.  Matt was almost brought to tears as he looked at Nick to find that, indeed, he’d found the right man, that man who was meant for him, to make him happy on more than just a physical level. 

Before Matt knew it, the pastor was asking the couple to stand from their benches and face one another.  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the old man said as Matt looked directly at Nick, who was looking directly back at him.  “I present for the first time, Mr. Seth and Mrs. Jennifer Bentley.  Seth, you may now kiss your bride.”

Seth wasted no time and dipping her and kissing her, quite proudly, on the lips.  There were only a couple of dry eyes in the place as the kiss seemed to stop time for everyone there.  Matt was holding back tears, while Nick reached up and wiped his from his eyes.  Matt smiled a little bit as he realized that his man was acting the same way he had at their wedding in Canada a few weeks earlier.  When he realized that Matt was watching him, Nick smiled and gave him a look.  It was as if, in that moment, Nick told him that he better not say anything about the emotional response.  When Seth was finished, the two stood in front of the crowd.  Jenny had this look on her face, telling all the people there that they then knew why she was marrying him: his oral prowess. 

Arm in arm, the two walked from the chapel out the door.  Matt and Nick followed a moment later, just before the parents walked from where they’d been sitting, again with the Dads escorting Janelle from the opulently decorated building on campus.  The pastor invited everyone in attendance to the reception, which was being held on the Grove, a ten-acre area on campus that, during football season, was filled with people that had come from far and wide to cheer on the Patriots of Parsons University.

One could tell the people that were and weren’t attached the university in some way, though, for all those that were chose to walk to the reception, rather than drive.  Nick and Matt were among those who walked, slowly sauntering past buildings old and new, past landscaping that was amazingly vibrant in its shade and life.  Dr. Bishop, having been asked to photograph the day’s event, was close behind them, watching as the pair walked in perfect step with one another.  Nick was shorter than Matt by a few inches, but they both had a very masculine air about them.  At one point, he noticed them talking about something.  Both guys were smiling, as he could tell from their profile.  He noticed something in both of them, though.

There was a way that they looked at each other.  It was respectful, filled with the emotions of both of their entire lives.  They made each other laugh, heartily on one occasion that he noticed.  If he was anything like his grandfather, Dr. Bishop knew Matt to be a good guy, a Liberal by Mississippi standards, who would do what he could to help a serviceman out.  He knew Nick well enough to say that he tackled any task with a degree of professionalism that most students couldn’t imagine, even some of the veterans with whom he worked each semester.  The fact that their love was as obvious as it was surprised him a little, but at the same time, it warmed his heart.  Of course, it pleased him any time one of his vets was able to return home from the service and find someone to whom they could completely give themselves.

As the party continued, Dr. Bishop snapped as many pictures of all of the guests as he could.  At one point, though, he took a break to enjoy some of the food that had been brought in for the occasion, choosing to sit temporarily at a nice sized table where Nick was sitting by himself.  Matt wasn’t far off, but he was talking to some older people that Nick had earlier been introduced to but whose names he couldn’t remember for the life of him.

“This seat taken?” he asked Nick.

“No sir,” Nick said as he prepared himself to stand.  Dr. Bishop told him not to get up as he sat down next to him.

“So I noticed that you and Matt were walking together,” Dr. Bishop started as he took a sip of the tea that he’d fixed for himself in the crystal glass provided by the caterer.

“Yes sir,” Nick smiled.

“So are y’all together?”

“Shouldn’t you not be asking and me not be telling?” Nick responded.

“DADT doesn’t apply to either of us anymore,” Dr. Bishop told him.  “You’ve been discharged, and I’ve been long retired from the Navy.”

“You’re…” Nick inquired.

“Yes, and partnered to the same person for nearly two decades,” Dr. Bishop smiled.  “He’s still in the navy, though.  Just got a few more months before his own retirement comes through.”

“Congratulations,” Nick smiled.

“I should be saying that to you,” Dr. Bishop noted by returning Nick’s gesture.  “I noticed the rings.”

“Yeah…”

“So when?”

“A few weeks ago, after graduation, we went to Toronto.  Got married on the observation deck of the CN tower as it was rotating the view of Toronto,” Nick told him.

“Sounds very romantic,” Dr. Bishop smiled.

“It was,” Nick smiled as he looked over to find Matt chatting with someone.  “How much would you charge me to do some pictures of me and Matt, for Linda?”

“Nothing,” Dr. Bishop smiled.

“Dr. Bishop…” Nick started to protest.

“Seriously.  When I got out of the Navy, I came back to Eudora.  I’d gone to school at Parsons, thanks in part to Mr. Landry.  He helped pay for my graduate school, and wouldn’t accept any money in return.  He even helped me get the job that I’ve got now, so with that being said, I owe the family… your family… that much at least.”

“OK…” Nick responded.  “But you realize that this means that I’m gonna owe you something.”

“Nick.  Graduate with the best GPA that you can, and that will be considered payment in full.”

“My goal is a 4.0,” Nick told him.

“Good.  Keep that in mind!” Dr. Bishop said as he finished the refreshing glass of Southern house wine and returned to his prescribed duties.

A while later, Matt got back to the table and sat in the same seat that Dr. Bishop had been in for a little bit.  Nick told him about the picture sitting, informing him that it was going to happen on one of the weekends when Nick was spoiling Matt.  Matt agreed, telling him that he’d had to come up with something good for his first weekend, something that would top that.  They laughed and joked until after the cake was cut, which, by itself made them laugh to no end as Seth and Jenny both smashed cake into each other’s faces. 

After that cake, though, it came time to partake in the odd family tradition wherein the Best Man chose the song that the couple first danced to.  Matt walked over to the DJ’s stand, on the edge of the huge ‘dance floor’ that had been constructed just for the event. 

“So I have known the groom,” Matt started, “since we were in the womb together.  Our parents even used to joke that Seth, whose birthday is only a few days after mine, couldn’t let me be out of the womb too long without him.  Since those amazing March days in the mid-80s, though, he and I have been through a lot together.  There have been some really good times, and there have been some where we’ve had to lean on each other more than we were able to be leaned on.  Seth,” Matt said, raising his glass of champagne, “you are my brother, despite the fact that we’re not related by blood, and I am honored to be here, with you, today.  Jenny, only a woman of your caliber, of your gaul, of your beauty, could make him settle, and I’m sure that there are some in the world who wanted you to get a sainthood for that!”  The crowd laughed as Seth, jokingly, extended his middle finger.  No one could see, it, though.  “Othermom.  Seth just shot me the bird.”

“DID NOT!”

“DID TOO!” Matt smiled as their moment of childishness came to an end.  “But anyway, Jenny, welcome, officially, to the familia.  I speak for all of us when we say that we, like Seth, fell in love with you the first time we met you.”  She blew him a kiss which he accepted with a smile.  “So, it’s at the point in this little soiree where we’re all gonna stand back and watch the couple dance together for the first time as Mr. and Mrs.  It’s been a tradition in our families since our maternal grandfathers got married that the best man chooses the first song that the couple dances too.  When I got married a few weeks ago, Seth surprised me by picking a really sweet song, and so that kinda turned up the heat for me.  But I did it, I found a song that will keep me out of trouble with Jen but that is also a really pretty song to boot.  It’s by Mariah Carey, and it’s called “There for me”.”

The DJ immediately began to play the song as Seth and Jenny assumed the position for their first dance as a married couple.  Matt stood there for a second, long enough to hand the microphone back to the DJ and thank him.  He then walked over to where Nick was standing and put his arms across his broad, muscular shoulders.  Nick responded, as they stood there and happily watched them, by putting his arms around Matt’s waist. 

Before the party was over, they slipped away to where the limo was parked and began decorating its darkly tinted windows.  The driver joked as they debated whether to write ‘Just Married’ on the back window or if they should do something funnier.  In the end, they opted for the regular thing, since most people probably wouldn’t understand the dark humor behind something else.  They did, however, get some unlubricated condoms and blow them up like balloons, attaching them to the antenna on the front of the car with the assistance of the driver, who’d seen so much done to his car that it was unbelievable. 

“What did y’all do?” Jenny asked as they came back down.

“You’ll find out!” Matt told her, a naughty grin on both of their faces.

“Trust us…” Nick added.

“Oh God!” she said as someone else came up to tell her just how beautiful a bride she was.

As the party came to an end, Nick and Matt had taken the responsibility of making sure that everyone had plenty of birdseed to throw at the couple as they climbed into the waiting car.  After they were gone, everyone else left campus, with Matt and Nick headed to the condo that they shared.  It had been a long day, and both of them were tired from having been out in the sun all day.  With that, they took a quick shower, together, and dressed in some cool clothes. 

Nick walked into the living room as Matt was sitting on the sofa, his computer sitting in his lap.  “So what should we order for dinner?” Matt asked.

“I’m in the mood for some Italian,” Nick said as he grabbed the remote and turned on some movie.

“Me too, but we’re so talking about two different things,” Matt joked.

“You’re always in the mood for my spaghetti,” Nick said as Matt snickered.  “So what are you ordering?”

“Alfredo for you,” Matt smiled, “and some meatball marinara over linguine for me.”

“Sounds good,” Nick said as he looked at Matt.  “I love you, Matt.”

“I love you, too,” Matt smiled.  “What prompted that?”

“Do I have to have a reason to tell you that I love you?” Nick joked.

“I’m just playing with you, Nick,” Matt smiled as he finished the order.  He closed his computer back and placed it on the coffee table. 

The previous year, for them, had been filled with ups and downs.  As Matt snuggled up against Nick, whose feet were resting on their coffee table, they realized that life hadn’t been as bad as either of them had thought.  Matt was able to talk about his grandfather without getting upset; Nick could acknowledge his past, even celebrate it, without it making him physically ill.  In so many ways, the chance encounter fourteen months earlier had changed who they were.  They were stronger because of the other; they were more confident because of the other; they had lives that, while forged by the fire around them, were beautifully sweet, cosmically correct… perpetually, perfect.

To be continued...

Posted: 07/22/11