Finding My Way Home: Book 3 - Home Life

Knowing that the boys would never leave me alone until I called Scooter, I picked up the phone and dialed his cell phone. It rang several times before it was finally answered, but I sort of expected that. I didn't know exactly where Piper lived so I thought that maybe Scooter would still be on the road somewhere. I was not expecting to hear Piper's voice answer, and I was really surprised to hear him panting and grunting as he tried to speak. My mind immediately went to an image of what I thought was going on, and I hung up quickly.

I picked up the little ones who were beginning to nod off after playing with their big brothers for a few hours, took them to the nursery, and put them in their beds. I had turned their light out and was walking into my room when I saw a picture of Edan and I at our civil union ceremony on my dresser. I sat on the bed and stared at it. I was so lost in my memories that I barely noticed that my cell phone was vibrating in my pocket. I had switched it to vibrate when I got to the bar earlier that night because I knew I would have trouble hearing it ring in the crowded club.

I pulled it out and looked at it, and frowned. It was Scooter calling me back. I really did not know what I wanted to say to him now, so I let it go to voicemail. I got ready for bed and as I was lying down I looked over at the picture of Edan and I at our civil union in the frame on the nightstand.

"Why did you have to leave when everything was all worked out?" I asked aloud as if Edan could hear me. "It was so easy falling in love with you. Now I have to start all over again and it is all going wrong."

Of course the boys weren't about to let me off without questions in the morning. Nosy teenage boys demanding to know if I had talked to Scooter before going to bed last night attacked me from all sides. What did he say? What did I say? They weren't giving me a chance to answer before they asked the next question. I gave them all waffles with peanut butter on them, which they had all grown to love as much as I did. Once their mouths were full and essentially glued shut I told them that we had not talked as it was too late. That was a mistake on my part, because as soon as they had all taken huge gulps of milk they insisted that I call right then.

"I can't call him this morning," I told them. "He explained on the way to the club last night that he had to go in to work early this morning to help with set up for a funeral for a very large family."

"Did he say when he would be free?" Derek asked.

"Maybe you guys could get together for lunch," Ephraim suggested.

"Ok guys, let's get back upstairs and get ready for school," Brendan told them. He looked as if he wanted to say something to me, but he didn't. He followed the others up the stairs offering to give Ephraim and Peter a ride to school if they were ready in time. A few minutes later, the boys all came back downstairs and headed out the door. All except Brendan, that is. "I called the office and told them I wouldn't come in today. After lunch at school today, I am coming back here and you and I are going out. It's brother time."

"You can't skip work like that," I started but he cut me off.

"I can when I own the company," Brendan retorted. "You and I need to spend some time together. For one thing, I want you to help me do some shopping."

"Me help you shop?" I questioned. "I thought my tastes were too old man for you."

"Yeah, well this time I'm buying jewelry," he told me. "But that is a secret."

"You're not buying some sort of piercing for somewhere that a brother doesn't want to see are you?"

"NO!" he exclaimed. "And you have a perverted mind big brother." He walked out shaking his head and calling back into the house, "Be ready after lunch."

Grandma and Gramps were tickled pink to babysit their littlest grandsons for me that afternoon. I didn't mention why I needed them to watch the little ones. I figured that was Brendan's secret to share. I met him at the road as he was headed home to pick me up and I was headed home from dropping Andy and Caine off. He followed my car back to the farm and then got in with me.

"You drive," he said simply. "I'm a little nervous."

"What do you have to be nervous about, little brother?" I asked him.

"I've never bought a wedding ring before," he replied simply. I almost drove off the edge of the road. "I know it won't be legal here, it isn't legal anywhere yet, but Massachusetts is really close. If Derek and I were to list the beach house there as our primary residence after we graduate from high school, we may be able to get legally married there." He sat up a little straighter and looked over at me nervously. "Are you ok with that?"

"With my brother marrying my son, or with the fact that you can get actually married and I couldn't with Edan?"

"The second part," he answered. "I figure if you had a problem with me and Derek being together, you would have let us know long before now."

"You're pretty smart for a little brother," I teased him. "You are right though. I know how you and Derek feel about one another and I would never try to put a stop to your happiness. My only problem is going to be trying to figure out which side of the ceremony to sit on, my brother's or my son's."

"Who said you will be sitting down at all?" Brendan shot back. "Don't you remember? Best men aren't allowed to sit down."

"Best man?" I questioned. "You would want me for that?"

"Not for me, for Derek," he corrected. "Don't get me wrong, I would love to have you beside me, especially since you had me stand with you, but I have Daniel to stand with me. Derek has no one now but you really. He was never as close to the other guys in the gang as I was. He wasn't there that long. I just know how much it would mean to him to have you stand with him." He looked over at me and rolled his eyes as he reached for a Kleenex and handed it to me. "You know you damage my mental image of my super ninja tough guy big brother when you start crying over stuff like this." I responded to his teasing by poking my tongue out at him, but I took the Kleenex.

I got back at him a bit when we arrived in town. I stopped the car in front of a jewelry store, but I put my hand on his arm as he started to get out of the car. He looked at me questioningly and with a little concern as he must have seen the emotions I was struggling with as I tried to get the words I wanted to say out of my mouth.

"I will understand if you really want to buy something personal to the two of you, but I wanted to offer this…." My voice trailed off as I looked down at the ring that I hadn't taken off since Edan had placed it on my finger. I worked at it a little bit and finally got it loose. As I looked up to him, I saw that Brendan was the one crying now and shaking his head.

"No, I couldn't… We would never," Brendan stammered as I held the ring out to him. "Pops gave you that ring. You can't just give it away."

"I'm not just giving it away, I'm giving it to you and Derek," I replied. "When I married Peggy, my father told me that he had always hoped to give me his and my Mom's wedding set for my wife and I, since the set had belonged to his parents before him. My mother sold the ring as a down payment on a larger diamond for an anniversary band, however. Not that I can see Derek agreeing to wear a woman's ring, of course."

"But this is your connection to Pops," Brendan continued to protest.

"It is a connection to Edan, yes, but it isn't my only connection," I explained. "Besides, you guys have made a good point lately of letting me know that I need to move on. This will help me let go and do that. By doing this, I am not saying that I don't love Edan anymore, but I am saying that I'm not tied to a relationship that doesn't exist anymore. Besides I really think he would have agreed with me about this. It would have given him the chance to buy me something to replace it, and we both know Edan did love to spoil me."

"Almost as much as you loved being spoiled, big bro," Brendan answered with a smile. "Alright, you've talked me into this, but you have to help me handle Derek when he figures out what you have done."

"Ephraim may need support on this too," I pointed out.

"You really don't have to do this," Brendan said as soon as I mentioned that. "If it hurts Ephraim, I don't want it."

"Well I have an idea for both of them, actually," I told him. "Let's go home and you can help me make a really special dinner for tonight. I'll have a long talk with all of you boys about why I think it is time for me to stop wearing the ring. That way Derek and Ephraim will have some time to get used to the idea of me not wearing it before you give it to Derek to wear. Plus that gives the jeweler time to resize the rings for you and Derek."

"Part of the idea of today was to get you out of the house, though," Brendan told me.

"You wanted to talk to me about my moving on and getting back into life," I responded. "I think we have already covered that. But if you insist on staying out a little longer, we do need to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things for dinner tonight."

"Yeah, because grocery shopping is so fun and relaxing," Brendan said sarcastically.

"I happen to like grocery shopping for you guys," I retorted. "I get to think of all the ways I can show you how much I love you all while getting you to eat foods that are good for you." He looked at me suspiciously, so I confessed. "Like the stir fry last week that had calamari in it."

"Yeah you never did tell me what calamari was," Brendan accused. "It sounds Italian, but stir fry is not Italian food."

"Calamari is baby squid," I told him as I started the car up again and pulled back into traffic headed for the grocery store. 

"Squid? Like octopus with the tentacles squid?"

"Octopus and squid are two different animals but they do both have tentacles," I informed him.

"That is so gross, and you are wrong, just wrong for making us eat that," Brendan whined. "You wait, I'm telling Ephraim and Derek what you fed us, too."

"Ephraim knew what it was, he helped me in the kitchen that night," I pointed out.

"That little…." Brendan's voice trailed off. "I'll fix him. I'll warn Peter about what he's learning to cook hanging around you."

"Peter has already been asking about foods that are considered to be aphrodisiacs," I pointed out.

"WHOA!" Brendan exclaimed. "Where do little kids like them get these kinds of ideas?"

"I was told they overheard a conversation between you and Derek," I related with a stern look at my younger brother. He looked confused and disbelieving for a moment, but then suddenly his face began to color. "I thought so. You know those two idolize you and Derek as role models. They hear and see things that you have no idea were not secret."

"Yeah sort of like Cain learning cuss words in Japanese," he grinned at me.

"I do not….Ok, touché little brother," I blushed a bit myself. "It seems we all need to do a little more preventive maintenance on our speech around the younger ones."

Once we were in the grocery store I went straight to the vegetable displays and picked up a nice big eggplant. Brendan immediately asked me what I planned to do with it. When I explained that I wanted to fix Melanzana Alla Parmigiana, one of Edan's favorite dishes, Brendan questioned me.

"I thought you told me that it was kind of like vegetable lasagna?" he demanded.

"I did say that… so you would eat it," I told him with a grin. "In English the name is eggplant parmesan."

"I can't believe you would do stuff like that to us innocent children," he whined. He turned with a harsh stare and blurted, "You haven't slipped anything nasty to us in the cookies have you?"

"I have never slipped you anything nasty at all, but no, your cookies have never been used to get you to eat something you wouldn't normally try."

"You admitted that too easy," he practically growled. "What else have you done?"

"Well, that delicious sweet potato pie you like so much…."

"What did you do to my pie?" he practically whimpered.

"It's actually butternut squash pie," I told him.

"I am never eating at home again," he moaned.

"Oh and as for that innocent children remark, the only two innocent children I know are the two that are still in diapers," I said as I walked away toward the cash register.

I was startled by hearing my name called as I got near the checkout lanes. When I looked around, I saw Dr. Amodio walking toward me with a smile on his face. I guess we never really outgrow that shock of seeing our teachers outside of school.

"Cameron, I was going home to email you, but since I am seeing you here, I can save the trouble," Dr. Amodio told me. "Do you have just a moment or two?"

"Yes, I was just picking up a couple of things for dinner tonight."

"Melanzana Alla Parmigiana," he whispered looking at the items in my cart. "I haven't had homemade eggplant parmesan in years, not since my mother passed away." He smiled in obvious happy memories before clearing his throat and speaking again. "My apologies," he murmured. "Now, I wanted to talk with you about the paper you turned in this morning in my class."

"Professor, I am really sorry about that stain on the cover page," I started immediately. "I grabbed the paper out of my bag and dropped it on your desk and didn't even notice the stain until then. I had it on the table at home when I was feeding my youngest son and he sort of made a splash in his creamed peas. I can print the paper again and have it back to you first thing tomorrow."

"The stain is not what I wished to discuss, although I do think you will want to print out a new copy if you agree to what I am suggesting," Dr. Amodio told me. "I was guessing spinach by the way. My son, well her son, never liked spinach and would fling it all over the room if given half a chance. Anyway, I was very impressed by your thoughts. I assure you however, it was not necessary to use one of my own articles to support your position. There are other sources."

"Dr. Amodio, I assure you I was not sucking up to you for a better grade by citing your research in my paper," I told him. "I simply wanted authoritative research that would back up my own opinion."

"Other students I might accuse of sucking up as you put it, but I believe I know you and your work well enough to know better," he replied. "In fact I know your work well enough to offer you an independent study opportunity. The paper you wrote actually stirred some of my own thoughts and I think that if we were to work together, we could present a new perspective that I feel could possibly be worthy of publication. By presenting I do mean presentation at a conference of course."

"Wow," I gasped. "I'm honored Dr. Amodio," I told him a little breathlessly. I quickly decided to change the plans for the evening. "Are you free this evening, Dr. Amodio? You could come to the farm and we could discuss the project more in depth."

"I'm not free, but I am a pretty cheap date," he replied, then laughed when he looked at me. "Relax, Cameron, as we have discussed previously, you are not my type. I only mean that I would be happy to accept your invitation if it includes a helping or two of that eggplant parmesan. I have had your food at some of the faculty functions before, so I feel perfectly reasonable to expect this meal would be very good as well."

"I appreciate the compliment of your trust in my cooking, Dr. Amodio," I told him with a smile. "The eggplant is indeed on the menu tonight."

"Great he can have my share, now that you told me what it really is," Brendan piped up.

"You know, my mother used to tell me that it was lasagna, so that I would eat it and get a vegetable into my system," he laughed at the nod from me and the glare sent my direction from my brother. "For a brief time after I learned the truth, I swore never to eat it again. Fortunately it dawned on me the next time she made it and I could smell it all through the house, I would miss out on one of my favorite meals if I did that."

"Well, it is good," Brendan admitted somewhat grudgingly.

"In that case you won't mind going back and grabbing another eggplant for me, so I can make a double batch," I told him.  

"I'm your brother, not your gopher," Brendan pouted as he turned and walked back toward the produce section of the store.

"It has been quite a while since I have been part of a family meal," Dr. Amodio told me. "Thank you for your invitation."

"Had I known that was the case, doctor, I would have had you join us long ago," I told him honestly.

"Please, Cameron, if we are to work together on this project, call me Vinny outside of class," he smiled.

While Vinny was checking out with the cashier, I called my dragonlady sister and invited her and Dr. Kate for dinner as well. On the way back home, I explained to Brendan my secondary reason for the change of plans for the evening. I didn't want him to think I was chickening out on the family conversation we had planned to have.

"So you hope by getting Dr. Amodio and Dragonlady together, they will be able to find his stepkids?" Brendan interrupted about halfway through my longer version.

"Yes, I am being a little sneaky," I confessed.

"You? Sneaky?" he fake gasped. "I would never have imagined such a thing. I'm not sure I can handle the disappointment that my role model elder brother isn't a paragon of virtue."

"Paragon of virtue?" I questioned. "I guess you are learning something from school after all." I then turned and gave him my best parental glare. "I know I did not just hear you call me elder." For the rest of the ride home, my mature brother and I his dignified sibling took turns poking our tongues out at each other.