Your Forever: The Eight of Wands (2 page)

“So,” Del said, “you teach?” Somebody trusted Jeff’s flaky brother with their children?

“Yeah!” Theo said and twisted in the seat to talk to Del. “Kindergarten through second grade at a Montessori school. It’s awesome. The kids are so much fun, it’s like I get paid to play all day. I just love it. I want to do it forever.”

Del laughed, unable to stop himself. Theo’s enthusiasm was contagious. “It sounds like you enjoy it.”

“Oh,” Theo said, “it’s incredible. My kids are amazing. We garden and do a lot of hands-on stuff, and we go on all these field trips, and we have the older kids from the middle school and high school in to do demonstrations and plays and things for the little kids a couple times a month.” He fell silent. Del could see him fidget. He said to Jeff, hesitation in his tone for the first time, “You might like it for Jesse.”

“Marianne is thinking of putting him in the private school she went to.”

“Oh. Okay.” Theo looked out the window. His fingers tapped a nervous rhythm on the sill.

Del glanced from one dark head to the other. “What are you planning to sing?”

“I don’t know,” Theo said quietly. A few miles passed where none of them spoke. “I’m thinking something by the Beatles. Everybody likes the Beatles, right?”

“I love the Beatles,” Del said.

“They’re okay,” Jeff said.

“Marianne loves them,” Del reminded him.

“Yeah, she does.”

“Okay,” Theo said, sounding relieved. “Good. The Beatles it is. I mean, I could do some songs I sing with the kids but I don’t think ‘She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain’ is really appropriate.”

“You could sing ‘You Are My Sunshine,” Del suggested.

«Yeah, no, the verses are sad. We always skip the sad verses with the kids.” He looked out the window again, and Del thought, Talk to your brother, at Jeff as hard as he could.

However, he did not suddenly develop telepathy so Jeff drove on, oblivious. Del finally said, “The bachelor party is tomorrow. Do you think you’ll want to come?”

“Depends,” Theo said uncertainly. “I don’t like strip clubs. Naked women really aren’t my thing.”

“Good,” Del said. “We’re not going to a strip club. We’re going fishing.”

“Oh,” Theo said, “I haven’t gone fishing in a long time. Not since my dad died.”

Jeff cleared his throat.

Del said, “Well, you’re coming with us. Jeff can teach you what you need to know, and even if you don’t catch anything it’s nice to sit in the sun and listen to the water.”

“That sounds a lot better than a strip club.” Theo turned around to give Del another of his dazzling smiles.

***

All the lights were on in Marianne and Jeff’s house, and it was noisy with activity and chatter when the three men arrived. At the sight of his father, Jesse squealed and held up his arms to be picked up, so Jeff scooped him into his arms and gave him several noisy kisses while the boy wiggled and squeaked with happiness. Theo had a look of wonder at this, and smiled shyly when Marianne took his hand and said, “Come meet my sisters. They’re your family now, too.”

With both the Whitacres being exclaimed over by Marianne’s sisters, Del went to find Jeff’s guitar. He paused a moment in the living room to say hello to Mrs. Bodie, Marianne’s mother. She put down the dress she was hemming and patted his cheek when he gave her a kiss. “Did Jeffrey forget something?”

“I’m on a mission for his guitar,” Del said. “His brother’s arrived and he wants to practice.”

“I think it’s in the study. Or the baby’s room. We’ve moved things around a lot.” She started to set aside the dress she was sewing. «I'll help you look.»

“I’ll find it,” Del said and patted her shoulder. «You've got enough to do.» He went to the study first, which was more a catch-all room. Here Jeff played his guitar, wrote up his recipes, managed his restaurant, and tied his fishing lures. Marianne stored one of her sewing machines in here and often had a quilting frame set up, and one part of the floor was scattered with Jesse’s Duplo blocks and Tonka trucks. The guitar was leaning against Jeff’s desk. Del picked it up and put it in its case, and then paused a moment to look at the pictures on the walls.

Most of the pictures were of Jeff and Marianne, of course, from their life together as well as before they met. Several of these had been taken out of their frames to be used as decorations at the wedding reception on Saturday. The ones that remained were of the restaurant staff over the years, or family and friends at various parties and events.

There was only one of Jeff and Theo together. Theo looked about five, which would put Jeff at twenty-one, and while the two of them stood beside each other there was at least six inches between them. Del knew from what Jeff had told him before that they’d never spent much time together when Theo was a child, and then after their father died, Theo’s mother moved back to her hometown in Texas. There had been little contact between the two brothers until recently, and Del had the impression it was mostly due to Marianne.

Del tucked the guitar case under his arm and followed the sound of conversation to the kitchen. All four of Marianne’s sisters, her mother, Jeff, and Theo were there, the sisters hot-gluing and stitching and assembling, while Jeff had been drafted into holding a bridesmaid dress so Mrs. Bodie could check the hem. To Del’s surprise Theo was sitting cross-legged on the floor with Jesse on his knee. The baby chattered away happily to him, most of the words unintelligible to Del, but Theo seemed to understand just fine. Jesse was unmistakably Jeff’s child, with big dark eyes and unruly dark hair, and Del could see some family resemblance between Jesse and Theo, too, in the length of their limbs -- Jesse was going to be at least as tall as his father -- and the shape of their mouths.

Del stopped at Jeff’s side. “Found the guitar.”

“Thanks,” Jeff said, looking perfectly comfortable with a satin dress pinned to his shoulders. “The best man, ladies, taking care of business,” he said, and Marianne’s sisters beamed at him with approval. “We should get out of your hair.”

“Looks like you’ve got --” Del glanced around the kitchen. Every surface was covered with wedding favors and decorations in various states of assembly. “Lots to do,” he finished, and Marianne came over to kiss his cheek.

“Take good care of my sweetheart,” she said, and at that Jeff swept her into his arms and bent her back for a kiss.

“I’m counting the hours, babe,” he said when he brought her upright, and Marianne laughed, blushing. Jesse and Theo both watched this with wide eyes, and Theo looked at Del, shy again. Del smiled uncertainly and looked away while Jesse laughed and pointed at his parents.

“Mommy and Daddy are silly,” Theo interpreted, and Jeff let go of Marianne to scoop up Jesse again and toss him in the air. Jesse shrieked with delight.

«Give Daddy kisses,» Jeff said and Jesse gave him a kiss and patted his cheeks with both hands. «Be good for Mommy and Grandma, okay?»

«Okay,» said Jesse, head bobbing. Jeff held him close for a moment and then gave him to Marianne. Del looked at Theo again -- the younger man was smiling quietly, and when his eyes met Del's his smile widened. He stood and joined Del to take the guitar case.

«Thanks. I got distracted.» He added, his tone a mix of wonder and pride, «With my nephew.»

Del wanted to pat his cheek for being so entranced with Jesse, but he just said, «No problem. Ready to go, Jeff?» he added more loudly, and Jeff nodded, looking reluctant. He gave Marianne one more hug and kiss, and Del led them out to the truck. “Now that you’ve met the family,” Del said to Theo, “what do you think?”

“That’s a lot of sisters,” Theo said, looking a little stunned. “Jesse’s awesome, though.”

Jeff chuckled as he unlocked the passenger door. “He’s two. He’s a bit young for ‘awesome.’”

“Well, he is,” Theo mumbled, and Del gave his back a quick pat before climbing into the cab again.

Del’s little house, dark blue and snug, waited for them amid a cluster of firs and rosebushes. Theo insisted on carrying his bag and the guitar case inside so Jeff let him. Del followed so he could watch them. They were not comfortable with each other, that much was obvious. As Del saw it, Theo wanted to love his brother but didn’t quite know how, and Jeff hadn’t noticed how Theo was trying to connect with him.

If Theo was more comfortable with children, no wonder he’d gravitated to Jesse when surrounded by all those strangers. Del suddenly wished he’d stayed in the kitchen and helped Theo adjust. Marianne’s sisters could be intimidating, particularly in a pack like that.

Pointing down the hall, he said to Theo, “You can put your stuff in the bathroom. Do you need anything to eat?”

“Yeah, please, I’m starving.” Theo put the guitar by the sofa where he’d be sleeping and carried his bag to the bathroom.

“I thought I’d whip together some omelets,” Del said to Jeff, who nodded, looking miserable. Del put his hand on Jeff's shoulder. “Hey. Tonight and tomorrow night, and then you’ll be married and all this nonsense will be over.”

“I miss them,” Jeff said. “I know the wedding is Marianne’s dream and she’s been waiting a long time for this, but I just want to get back to normal life.”

“Soon,” Del said and squeezed Jeff’s shoulder. Theo came into the kitchen then, and his face did a strange little twist before he threw himself onto one of the chairs at Del’s little table. “How about an omelet, Theo?”

“Sure,” Theo said. “How can I help?”

“You can grate the cheese.” Del got out a block of cheddar, a bowl and the grater, and gave them to Theo. He took out a carton of eggs and a pan as Theo started grating, and Jeff pushed himself up from the table.

“What else? If we had time I’d make some hollandaise, but it’s a bit late at night for that.”

“I think I have bacon.” Del rooted in his fridge and gave the package he found to Jeff. “Fry that up and I’ll add it to the eggs.”

«This will be delicious,” Theo said. “You know, Jeff, I don’t think I ever heard how you and Marianne met.”

Jeff glanced at him. “She worked for me at the restaurant.”

“Yeah? And then what?”

“And then we started dating.”

Del sighed as he whipped the eggs with a fork. “She was pretty young when you first met, right? Fresh out of high school, when you first hired her?”

“Yup.” Jeff pushed the sizzling bacon around the pan with a spatula, and Del wondered if Jeff honestly didn’t feel like talking about it right now or he just didn’t want to talk to Theo.

“That was before my time,” Del told Theo, and then paused while he poured the first part of the eggs into the pan. “They’d been together for years by the time I met them.”

“I can’t even imagine being with someone for fifteen years,” Theo said.

“Neither can I,” Del said.

“I was eleven. Jeff and Marianne have been together longer than half my life.”

“They’ve been together for half of mine.”

Jeff cleared his throat. “You both are making me feel old. Stop it.”

“You are old,” Del said and punched his arm.

“Careful,” Jeff said, waving the spatula at him, “I have utensils and I know how to use them.”

Del pointed to the pan. “Don’t let the bacon burn while you’re getting your macho on.”

Theo stood to give Del the plate of grated cheese. He wrapped what remained of the block in plastic and put it in the fridge, and then put the grater into the sink. “What else can I do?”

“Just relax,” said Del. “These will be ready soon.” He sprinkled cheese onto the eggs, and followed it with some crumbled pieces of bacon from Jeff’s pan.

Theo sat at the table again, then got up. “Sorry. I’ve been sitting all day. I guess I’m restless.”

“The rosebushes could use some trimming,” Jeff said. “If you need to expend some energy.”

“You don’t need to trim my rosebushes,” Del said, rolling his eyes, and took a plate from the cupboard. He slid the omelet onto it carefully -- he’d learned amazing things about cooking between knowing Jeff and dating a chef -- and handed it to Theo. “Eat.”

“Thanks.” Theo inhaled the scent with a rapturous expression and sat at the table to eat.

“You’re spoiling him,” Jeff said as Del poured more eggs into the pan.

“You heard the boy. He’s starving.” He looked at Theo, who was eating happily.

Jeff looked, too. “I don’t know. He looks pretty sturdy to me.”

Theo wiped his mouth and said, “My stomach was on the verge of growling. Del saved me from certain embarrassment.”

“He’s pretty good at that.”

Del shook his head, sprinkling on cheese and bits of bacon, and folded the omelet over. “Eat this,” he said once he’d slid the omelet onto a plate for Jeff. “Stop talking about me.”

“Yes, Del. Thank you, Del,” Jeff said in a dutiful tone and sat at the table, too.

Del started an omelet for himself and tried to watch Theo and Jeff without their noticing. They both bent over their plates, concentrating on eating rather than looking at each other, and both their legs were long enough to stick out under the opposite sides of the little table. They both looked up, startled, when Del put his plate on the table.

“So,” he said and picked up his fork. “What do you do aside from forming the minds of small children?”

Theo swallowed whatever was in his mouth. “Oh, you know. The music scene in Austin is pretty cool, so I go to clubs a couple times a week. And, you know, date, hang out. All the usual stuff.”

“You’re into music?”

Theo nodded, head bent over his plate again. “I like it a lot. I like singing.”

“Could have done it for a living if you’d just focused,” Jeff said, and Theo looked at him through his shaggy bangs.

“I don’t want to do it for a living.”

“No,” Jeff said, “you want to teach kids all your life.”

“And you want to run a restaurant and write cookbooks all your life,” Theo said evenly. “What’s your point?”

“My point,” said Jeff in the same even tone as Theo, “is that you could do better.”

“And my point is that I’m doing fine. I’m happy and I’m good at what I do.”

“I bet you’re great at it,” Del said, and Theo gave him a small smile of thanks.

Jeff sighed and finished off his omelet with a few big bites and stood. “I’ll clean up.” Theo handed Jeff his plate, and Del finished his omelet quickly to hand over his. Jeff took them to the sink to rinse them off and put them into the dishwasher.