Finding Me
By: Jeremy Michaels
(© 2021 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

 

Chapter 7

Dennis has Marc stop at the local CVS so he can get provisions as he puts it and along with Paul, they hurry into the drugstore. I use this time to give Marc a brief synopsis of what transpired in Principal Gordon’s office.

“I thought that you were bringing them home for a fuckfest or something.”

“It’s the something and not that other thing. Now I know Dennis thinks that and I’d like to keep it that way for the time being. I need to tell them about everything and I’d like you beside me when I do.”

“I will always be there with you angel,” he says and kisses me tenderly.

“Hey, no starting the party without me,” Dennis yells as he and Paul gets back into the car.

“Don’t worry stud muffin, there’s enough of your ass to go around,” Marc says humorously and drives away.

My house … Eric  

We stop at Toni’s for pizza and drinks before heading to the house. As Marc pulls up to the gate I hear Dennis gasp from the backseat.

“This ain’t no house dude, this is a fucking mansion like that one in that wind movie,” he , he states referring to ‘Gone With The Wind’ and now standing up absorbing the house with his eyes.

“Dennis, it’s just a house,” I tell him and he shakes his head no.

“Paul and I live in ‘just’ a house,” he says. “But our house would fit in a quarter of the first floor, if that. Just how rich are you?”

I decide to defer his question until later when we’re all sitting down and talking. I lead them through the garage and into the kitchen and I realize that Dennis is missing. I look back into the garage, he has his lithe body sprawled across Andre’s Maserati and he kissing it.

”Dennis, what the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m in love and trying to figure out how I can make love to it.”

“Stop being a turd and get in here,” I tell him chuckling.

“I’ll be back my love,” he says sensually to the car and kisses it goodbye.

“Get a life, Dennis,” I tell him as I push him through the door and into the kitchen.

“Fuck me speechless, this looks like a gourmet kitchen for some five star hotel,” he says drinking in all the marble, rich wood paneling and stainless steel appliances. “I take it back what I said about my house fitting into a quarter of this house. My place would fit into the kitchen and still have room left over. How rich did you say you were?”

“I didn’t, now let’s go join the others on the patio,” I tell him leading the way through the kitchen, dining and living room. His eyes are everywhere as we move through the rooms on the way to the patio and I can just imagine what he’ll do when I tell him my net worth. 

All eyes are on me when I have everyone sitting around the table and I have all the paperwork with me.

“Now, before we begin this talk I want to tell you that it’s going to be quite emotional and shocking, especially for you and you,” I say pointing to Dennis and Paul.

“Are we in trouble,” Paul asks and his eyes begin to tear up.

“No sweetie, you are not in trouble. Now I want the three of you to listen to me, even though Marc knows about this first part but that’s all he knows. Dennis, Paul you had an older brother, correct?”

“Yeah, his name is Thaddeus James but we called him TJ for short. Why do you ask?” Dennis inquires.

“We’ll then you know that he was brutally beaten by your father and left for dead outside of Hamilton on a piece of land that your grandparents once owned. He was in a coma and an anonymous benefactor read about his case and flew him to Europe where you believe that he’s still there recovering. Am I correct,” I ask and both boys nod their head. “What if I were to tell you that he’s no longer in Europe but that he’s right here in Hamilton now?”

“That’s impossible because if he’s back in town then he would have contacted us,” Dennis argues. “And that’s another thing, how did you know where our old man left him once belonged to our grandfather? That wasn’t common knowledge and it was never mentioned in the papers or on the news.”

“There would only be one way for me to know that and that’s if I were him, which I am. I’m your brother TJ,” I say and both boys are looking at me with doubt. “Dennis, you were standing in the living room window holding Paul that day dad dragged me away. You were both crying and it was you, Dennis that called the police.”

Both boys are crying as they get up and rush me, enveloping me in their arms. Marc comes over and takes Paul who crying so hard that he’s on the verge of hysteria. Marc holds him tight and soothingly rubs his back. 

“Why didn’t you tell before now TJ.” Dennis asks.

“I needed to get to know and I didn’t want my real identity known.”

“I bet that prissy ass Kathy knew before we did, didn’t she?”

“Kathy has been my best friend and confidant since I first came to our school. Now can we sit down so we can move on?”

We all sat down and I notice that Paul has pulled his chair closer to me.

“Are you alright Paul?”

“Do you still love us, TJ,” he asks, his voice shaking and with tears rolling down his face.

“Of course I still love you Paul, I never stopped loving either of you.” I reassure him and tenderly kiss him on the forehead.

“Well there goes the fuckfest,” Dennis says sorrowfully.

“Oh give a break Dennis, must you always think about sex? There are more important things in life than sex,” I tell him.

“Yeah maybe, but sex is definitely in the top two spots,” he adds with a smile.

After everyone is calmed down, we sit and I tell Dennis and Paul all about my time in Zurich and how Andre was my anonymous benefactor. They are surprised to hear about my relationship with Andre because to the students at Hamilton High School, Andre and I were brothers and not lovers. After an hour break to relax and swim, skinny dipping of course, I decide to get down to the nitty gritty of the evening.

“This has been bugging me ever since you put it on the table, what’s up with the envelope?” Dennis asks.

“The contents of this envelope will change both of your lives forever.”

I open the envelope and pull out my birth certificate and that of my twin brother and pass it around the table for the three of them to read, starting with Marc. 

 *******

“I don’t understand, TJ, these birth certificates say that these two people are twins. Who are they referring to,” Marc asks me.

“The first certificate is mine, I’m Beauregard James Clark Jr. and the second one is my twin brother, Jeremiah James Clark. I was as puzzled by it when I read it as you are now.

“Then you’re not really our brother, are you,” a stunned Dennis asks. 

“No Dennis I’m not your blood brother, but you and Paul will always be my brothers,” I tell him. 

“Why do I have this feeling that’s there’s more shit coming down the pike,” he adds sitting back with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Please Dennis, I’m not the bad guy here our dad was. He and mom were part of a child trafficking ring that operated in the south at the turn of the century.”

“Oh my God, then Denny and I are probably milk carton kids too,” an observant Paul states and I remain silent.

Dennis grabs the envelope and steps away from the table and pulls out the last two birth certificates and reads the sticky note attached to each.

“This one is yours,” he says sitting back down and handing it to Paul. “I’m Irish according to this certificate, providing its true.” 

“What the fuck kind of name is Shamus?”

“It’s a very strong Scottish name and a very masculine one. I rather like the name that they gave you. Brian Joseph has a very strong sound to it.”

I look over at Paul and I can see that he’s in shock as reads his birth certificate. 

“According to this I’m half Asian and something else?”

“Your mother is Japanese and you dad is English.”

“How do we know that these certificates are true?” Paul asks.

“Let me ask you something first. Do either of you remember being fingerprinted?”

“We both were shortly after Michael took us in, why?” Dennis says.

“Andre had your fingerprints sent along with mine to a detective agency when he was looking into my past. My fingerprints and yours are a perfect match to those taken when we were all born, Dennis.”

“Does this mean that we have parents, real parents somewhere?” A tearful Paul asks.

“We all do and the agency is working to locate our families. Now is this something that you want to pursue? If you don’t I will hold onto the information until you want to pursue it.”

“I’d like to meet my family, especially if I have a mother,” Paul says wiping the tears from his eyes. “What about you Denny, don’t you want to know your family?”

“I’m not sure, what if they’re homophobic? Do we really want to meet a long lost family only to loose them again because they can’t accept us being gay?”

“I for one am willing to live in the closet if it means having a mom and dad,” Paul says.

“Why don’t we take this one step at a time. Now Dennis, to answer a question that you asked me earlier, my net worth as of today is a little over one hundred fourteen billion dollars,” I tell them and Dennis jumps up waving his fist in the air whooping and yelling like he just hit the lottery. “You’re being rather quiet, babe,” I say to Marc and notice that he’s silently crying.

He bolts up and hurries into the house and he I excuse myself to follow him. I look everywhere downstairs and finally find upstairs in our bedroom, packing.

“Marc what’s wrong honey and why are you packing?” I ask going to him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

“I may not be the schools brightest student Eric, TJ or whoever you are. But I’m not stupid either and I can see the writing on the wall.”

“Okay sweetheart, can you please tell me just what this supposed writing says, because where I am standing I can’t see squat.”

“Oh come on TJ, you’re filthy rich and a brainiac. Me, I’m one step up from a loser and barely passing my classes. I’d be an embarrassment for you when you start hobnobbing  with all those other rich dudes. So I’m sparing you the trouble of figuring out how to ditch me by leaving now,” he says and puts more things in his suitcase. “I’ll give my mom a call and see if she can put me up until I can get a job.”

I’m ready to punch him and yet, I want to hold him so tight that he’ll never be able to escape from me. I grab the suitcase and walk over to the window, open the damn thing and toss the suitcase out. I turn on a heel and storm over to Marc and shove him down on the bed.

“Now you’re going to listen to me and you’re going to keep your fucking mouth shut until I’m finished. Do you understand me buster?” He nods rapidly. “One, I’m not now and never have I ever been embarrassed or ashamed that you’re my boyfriend. Secondly, I don’t need you telling me what I’m going to be feeling, thinking or even saying in the future if and when I might be, as you say, hobnobbing with other rich people. Thirdly, I’m in love with you Marc, not the money and certainly not with an image… I’m in love with you babe and you only. Fourth and finally, if you can look me in the eyes and truthfully tell me that you’re not in love with me, then I’ll let you go. Not for those asinine reasons that you gave me but only if you don’t love me.”

We stand there toe to toe and eye to eye just staring so deeply into each other’s eyes that I swear we’re looking into our souls.

“Ah baby doll, you know that I can’t do that, say that I don’t love you. I’d rather cut my tongue out then to ever say that to you.”

“Then my next question is this,” and I drop down to my knee as I take his hand in mine. “Will you marry me Marc and be my husband?” I ask.

“Can I ask you that instead, because the guy’s suppose to propose and the woman accepts. If I say yes won’t that make me the female counterpart of our relationship?”

“Marc, your naivety is so innocent and that is why I love you so much. No my hunky bad boy, you have a reputation and it would never ever let you be feminine. You’re one hundred percent male and all mine. So answer my fucking question already.”

“Of course I’ll marry you but where can we legally wed?”

“How about Zurich, Switzerland babe and then we can honeymoon all over Europe.”

“Really, we can for real get married there?”

“We can once we both turn eighteen. I’ll be that in January and your birthday is in March.”

“Can I ask you something and please don’t get mad, but what will I contribute to this marriage? I’m not rich and with my intellect I’ll be lucky if I get a job at McDonalds.”

“Before Andre died I was in the same boat as you. I had nothing to my name, I was barely alive for the better part of a year. I had no foreseeable future so we are so much alike. I don’t look at me inheriting all this wealth, I see it as us inheriting it. You and I are going to see my lawyer when he returns from his trip and try to find some kind of business to either start up or invest in. You and I are going into our future as equal partners.”

“Then if I’m to be your equal babe, then will you take my virginity and make love to me?”

“I will once we go to bed, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now let’s go see how Dennis and Paul are doing,” I tell him and he gives me a kiss that makes my toes curl.

“Thank you for believing in me, especially when I couldn’t.”

“Like I told you a long time ago babe when we first got together, I’ll always believe in you and have your back,” I tell him and seal it with a kiss.

Downstairs we find Dennis and Paul sitting in the living room talking as they cuddle up von the sofa.

“Finally you’re back, I was about to send out a search party to find you,” Dennis says with a smile and pulling Paul closer to him.

“We’ve been talking… what do we call you now,” Paul asks.

“At school I prefer to keep it Eric Müller. When it’s just us what do you want to call me?’

“Well we talked about that too and seeing how you look nothing like TJ anymore, we’re going to call you Eric. For us, TJ more or less died when you were taken away to Zurich, Switzerland. So ever since you came back, you’ve been Eric Müller to us.”

“Then let’s keep it Eric. Now tell me, what have you decided about your family?”

Dennis looks at Paul, who nods and Dennis says, “we’d like to meet them and we’re going to keep our sexuality quiet until we decide to trust them with it,” he says.

“I think that’s probably the best approach. I am going to cover all expenses for you both when we decide to go forward with meeting them.”

“What about you Eric, are you going to contact your family?” Paul asks 

“I’m going to meet them, but I’m still not sure when because I have a few things that I need to do first. But right now I’m taking my guy to bed because it’s been a very long day emotionally and I’m exhausted. Now if you want a bedroom to sleep in you had better follow me.”

As we head upstairs I secure the doors and set the alarm system before turning out the lights 

“You have a choice, one or two bedrooms,” I ask.

“One please because Paul asked if I mind sleeping together.”

“I’m to emotional to be alone Eric. You don’t mind do you?”

“Not at all bro, not at all. You can take the red room, named so because it insights passion,” I tell them and leave them to pursue my own passion.

To be continued...

Posted: 10/15/2021