One Bright Star (5 page)

“Your place or mine?”

“Maybe neither? I think Danny’s real estate agent has about given up on finding the three of them a place they’ll all like, but maybe she could find something for us.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “We should do that. Absolutely.”

“Yeah?” It seemed stupid that Chris had been so nervous about all this. It was Ryan, after all… he made everything better, made everything easy and relaxed and perfect.

“You bet. I’m touring again in February and March, so we can try to find something before that and then you can take care of all the moving bullshit while I’m away.” Ryan grinned and shifted a little. “Now, get off me. We’ve got about four hours to get some sleep before the Kaminski Christmas madness begins.”

Chris shifted obediently to the side. “This is the beginning of it, huh? They say that once you get married, your sex life goes to hell…”

Ryan moved fast for someone as tired and tipsy as he was. Chris didn’t know how it happened, but suddenly Ryan was astride him, pinning his arms to the bed and staring down with an almost feral expression replacing his usual grin. “Our sex life isn’t going
anywhere
,” he growled.

Then, just as suddenly as he’d started, he stopped. “But right now, I’m going to sleep. Goodnight. I love you.” He rolled over and managed to burrow himself in under the covers, leaving room for Chris to spoon in behind him.

“I love you too,” Chris whispered in his ear. “See you in the morning.” And he let himself drift away, safe and secure with the man he was going to marry.

CHAPTER FIVE

“That’s Uncle Justin,” Dan said. He let RJ reach down and touch the glossy page of the small photo album, but gently pulled his hand away when it became clear he was trying to bring the plastic to his mouth for a nibble. “You haven’t met him; it’s too bad, because he really would have liked you. He liked kids a lot, and he
really
liked excellent little kids like you. And, look, it’s Christmas time in the picture! See the tree, there? A Christmas tree.”

Dan let RJ help turn the page. His technique was a little rough, but he was figuring it out. “This is your Grandma and Grandpa Kaminski. See those people? That’s Evan and Aunt Tat, when they were little. And, look, it’s Christmas time in
this
picture, too. Those are stockings by the chimney… and,
look
! It’s the exact same chimney we have. That picture was taken in this room. And if we ever get this show on the road, we’ll be opening our stockings here just like they did.”

“I remember that Christmas,” Evan said softly. He’d been hanging over the back of Dan’s armchair, but now he moved around to the front and pulled up an ottoman to sit on. He smiled at Dan, then spoke to the baby. “We had snow that year. You haven’t seen snow, yet… I think you’ll like it. But we don’t usually get much here. So we didn’t have any snow toys or anything, so we slid down the hill on big garbage bags.” The baby was watching him closely, and Evan gently lifted him out of Dan’s arms and carried him to the French doors overlooking the deck. “That hill, right there. It’s green now, but it was
white
then. And my daddy… my dad… he carried me up to the top on his shoulders and we sat on the same garbage bag, me between his legs, and we slid down the hill.
Whoosh!
” He swooped RJ through the air, giving him a tiny taste of the exhilaration of the moment. “And then I made him carry me to the top and we did it again, and again, until we’d torn up a whole box of garbage bags… very bad for the environment, Mister Robert; you won’t do anything like that, right?”

Dan turned the page of the album and found another picture, this one taken only a couple years earlier, with himself and Tat in the kitchen, both wearing Santa hats as they grilled pancakes and bacon. It had been the year Tat had come home with a crate full of fresh mangos bought for some ridiculously low price because they were almost over-ripe and the store had been planning to close for several days over Christmas. She’d been unable to resist the bargain, and then Dan had been unable to stand letting the fruit go to waste, so they’d eaten mango in
everything
. The picture showed the blender behind them, dripping with the mango puree that had gone into the pancakes, been used for smoothies, put in the stuffing; Robyn had ended up smearing some on her face, saying it was good for dry skin, and a whole new craze had begun. It had been a fun Christmas, but Dan hadn’t been able to eat mango again for over a year.

He turned the page again and saw the whole gang gathered around the big table in the country kitchen, each person holding carving knives poised over a turkey. It had been the year of the turkey cook off. Dan had won “best overall”, even though he hadn’t taken first place in a single category…

“This is a good house,” he said, and Evan turned around to look at him. “It shouldn’t be empty. I mean, you couldn’t sell the property, because of the barn, and because…” because it was the place Tat and Evan had grown up, the place they’d been with their parents, and Dan remembered how hard it had been to leave the farm in Kentucky, even after Justin was no longer there with him. “Well, you shouldn’t sell it. But Tat wants to live in the city. This is a good family home. A good place to raise a baby. Right?”

Evan nodded cautiously. “I think so.”

“And Jeff likes it, too, doesn’t he? He said he loved the light up on the hill; maybe he could build a studio up there, with lots of windows. Then he’d have his own space, if he needed it.”

Another cautious nod. “That might work.”

Dan shrugged. “We should talk to him about it. Maybe we don’t need to move.”

“Okay.” Evan grinned. “I’d like that. I like it here.”

“Yeah, I know. And I like it too.” Maybe it was one more sign of Dan’s growing dependence, but right then, he didn’t care. He
was
dependent. Not on Evan’s real estate, but on Evan himself. And Jeff, and the strange, wonderful partnership they’d found for themselves. If something went wrong between them, Dan would be out on the street, no home for himself or RJ, but that wasn’t the part that would be most frightening. Losing the practical benefits of being with Evan would be nothing compared to losing the man himself. “I really like those rings,” Dan said.

Evan’s smile was sweet. “Jeff’s not wrong, though… they might make things more obvious than we should. It might not be great for the baby.”

“Jeff’s hardly ever wrong,” Dan agreed. He was pretty sure he had more to say on the topic, but Evan’s phone rang.

“Merry Christmas, Brat,” Evan said. Then he listened, and frowned. “Tat, settle down, I can’t understand what you’re saying. Tat, are you okay?”

***

“I was
stupid
,” Tat wailed.

Evan wasn’t really alarmed, not yet. “Well, yeah, I expect you were. You want to give me some details, though?”

“Being alone on Christmas
sucks
!” She wasn’t actually crying, Evan was pretty sure; she was just playing up the drama in true Tatiana fashion. “Everybody else is tucked away in their cosy little families and I’m stuck out here all by myself! I should have set something up… I could have volunteered at a soup kitchen or something, but I didn’t, and I’m all alone, and it
sucks
!”

“Tat, I sincerely hope that every problem in your life is as easily solvable as this one.”

“What?” She was already calming down, but there was still a bit of a quaver in her voice.

“Is your car broken? Is the highway shut down? You’re forty-five minutes away from home, you lunatic—you’ll be here before Chris and Ryan finish breakfast.”

“Chris and Ryan? I thought they were in Kentucky?”

“Apparently not. They got snowed in, or something. They’re here; I don’t know if they’re awake yet or not, but they’re here.”

“No!” Tat sounded outraged. “We all agreed!” She paused. “Damn, maybe they weren’t in on it. Because we thought they were going to be out of town anyway…”

“Agreed on what, Tat?” Evan tried to stay patient.

“To give you guys a Christmas with just you. Just the three of you and the baby. We all invite ourselves into your lives all the time, and you never get to have your own time with just each other. We agreed that we should give you a chance to start your own traditions, as a family.”

“Hang on a second, Tat. I’m putting you on speaker phone.”

“You’re what?” she said, and her voice was broadcast through the room.

“Merry Christmas, Tat,” Dan said.

“Merry Christmas, Dan. Is Robbie there? Merry Christmas, Robbie.”

“He’s looking around for you,” Evan reported. Then he turned to Dan. “My sister just told me that there was a plan for everyone to find their own things to do this Christmas and leave us on our own. Deliberately. Because they thought we would like it. Were you aware of this?”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “No.”

“Do you approve of it?”

“No.”

“Do you think Tat should get herself put together and get her ass out here?”

“Yes.” Dan frowned. “And who else was in on your plan, Tat?”

“Anna and Robyn,” Tat said reluctantly. “It should have been Chris and Ryan too, obviously, but we didn’t think of them.”

“They
are
pretty stupid,” Dan said. “They might have gone along with it.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to insult people on Christmas Day, Danny.” Tat sounded like she was getting back to her usual form.

“Get your butt out here and give me some etiquette lessons, then.”

“I’m on my way,” she said gleefully, and then hung up.

“Your sister’s mental,” Dan said calmly.

Evan couldn’t really argue, but he could deflect. “So’s Robyn, and so’s Jeff’s mom.”

And now it was Dan’s turn to not argue. “You can watch RJ, right? Why don’t you go get Jeff to call Anna, and I’ll get Chris and Ryan to come down to the barn with me. We can help Robyn with the chores and bring her back up with us.”

“At some point you’re going to have to spend some time in the kitchen, figuring out how to make Christmas dinner feed twice as many people as we planned on.”

“Evan, it’s a Tia-planned meal. Twice as many people as planned is still going to be a drop in the bucket. Lots of food.”

“Good point. Okay. Go!” Evan hadn’t been sad before the phone call, but he’d been a little deflated. Thinking about his parents, and all the Christmases they’d never have with their family, the new grandson they’d never meet: it made the day bittersweet. But now Tat was coming, and Anna and Robyn, and Jeff would be out of the shower soon and Chris and Ryan… everything was looking up. It was starting to feel like Christmas after all.

***

Jeff ran his hand over his face and then slathered on the shaving foam. It seemed like there was more salt in his salt-and-pepper beard every day, and it was nice to cover it all under a uniform stretch of white.

Damn. He hadn’t been thinking like that for quite a while. He’d been feeling young, parenting a healthy and rambunctious near-toddler, having no trouble keeping up with his younger lovers, painting with an enthusiasm he hadn’t felt in years… and now, back to feeling old.

It was the rings, he knew.

Well, not the rings themselves. It was what they’d made him realize. He’d been playing a game up until then, setting up the evidence of a different story for the baby but not really recognizing the implications of it all. It had been an intellectual challenge, preparing for something that he didn’t think would ever really happen. But the rings were real, and they weren’t in some hypothetical future, they were right then, right there.

Jeff would give up his life for the baby. For Evan, Dan, or Tat. So this sacrifice shouldn’t have been that serious. And it wasn’t, of course. He’d get over it. He’d appreciate what he had, and not dwell on what he didn’t.

There was a cursory knock on the half-opened bathroom door and then Evan poked his head inside, the baby snuggled in to his hip. “Your mom and the girls cooked up some weird scheme where they’d spend Christmas elsewhere in order to give us privacy. Tat spilled the beans and she’s on her way over; Dan and Chris and Ryan are going down to scoop up Robyn from the barn. You want to call your mom?”

“Chris and Ryan?”

“They got snowed in. They don’t seem too upset about it.”

“Okay.” A lot of information all at once, and a conversation should probably be had at some point, but for the time being, “Okay. I’ll call Mom.” He wiggled his fingers at Robbie, who was, as always, fascinated by a familiar voice coming from a face covered in shaving cream. “Hey, buddy. Merry Christmas.”

Robbie looked uncertain, but finally broke into a wide, gummy grin. Jeff felt a wave of love so intense it almost made him dizzy. Yeah, he’d sacrifice anything for this kid. Giving up some formal recognition of his relationship? Not even a problem. Not if it would make it easier for Robbie to get the life that he deserved.

CHAPTER SIX

Chris leaned back on the sofa with one hand wrapped around a glass of eggnog, the other entwined with Ryan’s. They’d been unwrapping presents for a while now, and there was only one left. As with so many others, it was for RJ.

They’d started off by encouraging the baby to open the presents himself, but after he’d spent almost half an hour playing with a stray piece of tape he’d found, Dan had interceded. Now he was sitting cross-legged on the floor, RJ in his lap, as they pulled a brightly colored piece of fabric out of a gift bag.

“A quilt!” Dan said with the enthusiastic voice he only used with the baby. “Isn’t it nice, RJ?” Dan squinted at the squares of brightly colored fabric. “Hey…” he said softly.

He looked up at Evan then back down at the quilt. “Look at these pictures, buddy. You know these guys, right? Look, there’s Ginger! Uncle Chris’s horsie. And there’s Monty—look at his ribbons! He’s going to get a lot more this year.” Chris braced himself, but Dan didn’t bring up Rolex. Everyone knew Dan wanted to go; he wanted Monty to become the champion he was meant to be. And everyone knew Evan was resisting, too aware of the dangers of the sport, especially at that level. But they both let it go in the name of Christmas peace. Dan pointed at the quilt. “And, look, who’s this little guy? Is that Smokey?”