Season of Gifts (Neighborly Affection #8)

64. Henry

Chapter sixty-four

Henry

M other was in Alice’s capable hands.

Henry steered the sedan down familiar streets with Jay at his side. They’d returned the rental minivan first, using the after-hours box for the keys, as the office went unstaffed on Sundays. The decision was a declaration: when his spouses needed to return to their lives and work in Boston, he would go with them. By then, they would have at least a part-time system in place for Mother’s care.

This morning, his observant, thoughtful wife wouldn’t allow his mother to overtax herself while he and Jay fetched the ingredients for the day’s kitchen marathon. Tomorrow would bring another rehabilitation session and preliminary cooking for the main meals, and Tuesday would bring Robert and his family for the holiday. They would make time then to speak about long-term care options for Mother, ideally presenting a united front she would accept.

Calming classical music flowed beneath Jay’s intermittent announcements as he relayed stories from the days Henry had missed, all of the meaningful moments stored up for him to savor.

“—see when you check my book, but one of my good decisions last week was having dinner with Emma.” Loose and relaxed, Jay sprawled in the passenger seat and idly watched the street signs as they passed. With the mental map skills he’d honed in years of delivery work, he could almost certainly drive them anywhere in the city after a single pass. “Not that it was my decision, exactly—she kinda magically showed up at the bar, but I made the decision not to sit at home and mope.”

Jay’s breakthroughs in the last few months had been enormously beneficial. Forcing him into therapy wouldn’t have had the same effect; Jay had dedicated himself to healing the wounds he’d been dealt.

“I am exceptionally proud of the work you’ve been doing in therapy, Jay. You took charge of your own happiness and acted to alleviate your distress.” Emma’s convenient arrival had been Amelia’s handiwork, undoubtedly. The Cap Will certainly already understood. They had twenty-eight years of tiffs and apologies between them. That did not by one whit reduce Henry’s obligation to acknowledge and take responsibility for their most recent disagreement.

“How about now?” Jay cast a glance over his shoulder, the cords in his neck beautiful in their strength and grace. “I don’t think this place can get any busier, so a few minutes isn’t gonna make a difference.”

Flipping his hand over, Henry interlaced his fingers with Jay’s. He tilted their clasp, angling until Jay’s wedding band faced him. Jay would wear more markers of their relationship soon, but this would always be the first public sign. His claim, and his promise. His ease and joy. “I am spending time with my husband now. I would not wish to steal time and attention he deserves.”

Jay squeezed his hand hard enough to crush coal into diamond. “Thank you. I—thank you.” A deep breath broadened his chest beneath his open jacket. “But I want you to know something.”

His pulse quickened. “Tell me.”

“Time with you is time with you. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing. I like being near you just like I like being near Alice.” Jay’s soft smile mixed longing and delight, and his eyes shone. “It’s not taken from me. Like if you and Alice are talking about something that is, no offense, kinda boring and academic, I know I can zone out of the words and just listen to your voices, and that’s all I need. It’s like…” He resettled his shoulders, stretched his legs and his neck, and straightened his spine. Jay’s mind traveled on a path of movement, a beautiful communion of body and intellect. “Like hearing your happiness makes me happy, too. It quiets the noise inside, because you love me and you’re right there in front of me.”

Henry’s eyes stung. Even his presence, sans direct attention, soothed Jay. With all he and Alice had learned from the disastrous visit to Jay’s childhood home, the confession wasn’t surprising so much as a truth he ought to have realized ages ago. The neglect in Jay’s formative years had shaped him in ways that therapy would help him unravel. Denying him permission to join Henry in Maine sooner had wounded him more deeply than refusing a simple bid for attention. Henry had denied his husband the space where he belonged, the place at his side. He cleared the lump in his throat with a quiet cough. “I will endeavor to remember that always, dearest. Lest I forget, we will add phrasing to our contract that you may rely upon to make me aware of when your needs are going unmet.”

Bouncing lightly in his seat, Jay rolled their handclasp over and under. “I’ll work on suggestions in my wish book this week. And you’ll call Master Will now, so it’s not taking up brain space you need for other stuff?”

Mending his friendship would indeed reduce his mental load. “I will call, yes. And if you get bored, you are free to wander about.”

“But I can stay here?”

He squeezed Jay’s hand. “You may stay as long as you like.”

The call rang twice before Will greeted him. “Feeling better?”

“Jay and Alice have set me to rights.”

“Naturally.” Will did, in fact, have to sound so smug about the situation.

Henry rubbed his thumb along the side of Jay’s hand, lightly pinching the webbing between thumb and forefinger. “I appreciate your attempted intervention, as ill-received as it was at the time.”

“And I accept your unspoken apology for biting my head off and hanging up on me.”

Will’s booming voice carried; Jay’s wide eyes attested to that.

“I am sorry, old friend. I ought to have listened to you sooner.”

Will scoffed gently in his ear. “I knew what I signed up for, making that call. You are, understandably, quite sensitive about dangers to the people you love. How is your mother faring? And your delightful spouses?”

He relayed the latest news, as concisely as he could. The holiday would be a pleasant one, despite its rocky prelude. “And you? I’ve shamefully neglected to inquire about your plans.”

“As expected, Viv is aiming to make a bloodbath of the divorce proceedings. A quiet one, thankfully, to protect her own ego. My reputation and finances will survive.” Will’s extended sigh bespoke a familiar weariness.

“Is Liam with you for winter break, then?” A seed of suspicion sprouted, sending vines of thought crawling across his mind. “Or will you visit your parents?”

“No and no.” Will laughed, his heartiness seemingly genuine despite the negative response. “He’s on a ski trip with friends, Canada this time, though he’ll be in town for a few days in January if you’ve time for a lunch together. And my parents refuse to winter in New England anymore; I believe they’re in the Riviera this year.”

He would make time for lunch, and take a mental note to check in on Will more frequently in the months ahead. “I would hardly break our send-off tradition for Liam’s final semester. You’re spending the holidays alone, then?”

“Emotionally, it’s not much different from all of the years spent appeasing Vivian’s parents and sisters.” Will hummed a see-sawing warble. “No, I take that back. This is far better.”

“You would be welcome to join us here, if you wished.” The words emerged before he’d fully thought them through, an impromptu declaration unlike him, but Jay’s fervent nodding supported the offer. “We’ll be baking today, and you might well arrive in time to miss all of the work but enjoy the proceeds.”

“You’re certainly singing a different tune. It warms my heart to hear it.”

Henry gripped Jay’s calf, winning a sweet smile. “You were right, Will. Having my spouses beside me makes all the difference.”

“Mmm, I’ve heard love can do that.”

Heard, not felt. Jay settled his hand beside Henry’s, his feathery touch small but powerful—the intensity of the sun from the head of a match. Love could indeed do that. “Join us. Mother will pepper you with questions and stories, and Robert will be his stodgy self, but I assure you the house will be overflowing with love.”

The offer wasn’t entirely without precedent. Though it had been more than twenty years since the household had hosted Will as his school chum. Father had been pleased with the friendship as a business match—but then all friendships to Father were business matches, and Robert took after him. Which he ought not disparage, as the deals they brokered would someday pay for his own children’s education.

“I do appreciate the offer, Henry. But I am…” A low huff of vexation and a hint of eagerness colored Will’s voice. “Occupied.”

“You have a new puzzle to play with.” A rope partner to fill the hole left by Claire’s departure, perhaps. Or more than that.

“I do, and I need to think through each step carefully.”

Fascinating. More than he could accommodate as he navigated his own path back from the edge, but this relationship, too, deserved tending. “If you need a friendly ear…”

“Not yet, but I’ll let you know. The new year holds exquisite, fragile possibility, and delicacy has never been my strong suit.” The wry admission turned wistful. Whatever Will’s new project, it meant more to him than a simple weekend dalliance.

Leaning across the console, Henry pressed his head to Jay’s. Sweet, crisp evergreen swept into his lungs. “As I’ve come to learn recently, plainspoken candor may be of more use in preserving one’s dearest entanglements.”

Will hummed a note of curious agreement. “I’ll keep that in mind. Give my love to your dear ones.”

With an exchange of goodbyes, the call ended. Smacking his hands on his thighs, Henry urged Jay out of the car. His watch showed they’d left the house an hour ago. “Our errands may take longer than expected.”

As they strode up the aisle toward the doors, Jay slipped his hand into Henry’s. “Is this okay?”

“Far more than okay.” He couldn’t lift his voice above a whisper for the swell of love and gratitude choking him. He clenched Jay’s hand and took a stuttering breath. “You may hold my hand anywhere you wish, for the rest of our lives, my brave boy. My beautiful husband.”

Jay ducked his head and bumped Henry’s shoulder with his own. His smile stole the frost from the air.

They retrieved very nearly the last shopping cart in the corral and began their search. The crowded rows hampered movement, the traffic jam precluding any leapfrogging to their desired objectives. Henry surveyed the crowd as they wound their way through produce, selecting a variety of items for meals, desserts, and eating out of hand. Mother and Alice intended to air out the bedrooms for Robert, his wife, and the boys. Fresh sheets would go on all the beds, fresh towels in the baths. The trek from the linen closet could be long, and the materials bulky.

Jay, steering the cart with one hand, swung their linked hands lightly between them. “Do you need to go home? If you give me the list, I can pick up everything, and you can swing back and get me when I’m done.”

Either the tension in his body or his repeated checking of his watch had given him away. A gentle reassurance sprang to his lips, and he held it back. Jay didn’t require comfort from him in this moment; Jay wished to comfort him. He set the acorn squash in the upper basket. Extra pomegranates would be a must; Jay would enjoy squeezing out the arils.

“Thank you for asking. I am”—his heart pounded, and anxious questions swirled repeatedly in his head—“experiencing some concern, yes, but I would prefer to remain here with you and enjoy our time together.” And ideally not suggest to Alice that he found her supervision inadequate, as the opposite was true. “What would you recommend?”

Jay’s phone appeared in his hand, high above them and angled down, with the colorful produce of the market behind them. “Smile!”

He smiled; Jay’s energy was infectious. “And this helps us how?”

Jay tapped away at the screen. “You’ll see.”

They covered no more than fifteen feet before a chime sounded from Jay’s pocket. He withdrew his phone, grinned, and displayed the screen. “How’s that?”

Mother sat regally by the window in her bedroom, her sketchbook perched on her lap. Behind her, Alice crouched with an armful of bedsheets and a thumbs-up, mugging for the camera. The accompanying text, from Mother, read Your darling wife is stripping my bed for me, and I am being decadently lazy. The guest rooms have all been outfitted. I may nap in a bit; I shall want to be at my best for our baking adventures. Give my love to Henry as well, you sweet boy.

The panic ebbed. His breathing slowed; his heart rate followed. “You are utter perfection.”

Jay leaned carefully closer and lightly kissed his cheek. “From your mom. She loves you, you know. And so do I, and so does Alice.”

A kiss from his husband in the middle of the produce section. Five years ago, he could only have dreamed such a thing. “I am undeniably lucky to be so well loved.”