Epilogue
ROMEO – ONE YEAR LATER
“Hi, Mom! Hi, Pops!”
With a flourish, I flick out my glittery pink picnic blanket and lay it on the grass, careful of the small bed of wildflowers I’ve been cultivating the past several months.
The Valentine plot is in such a beautiful part of the cemetery, and I take a moment to take in the view down to the ocean from the shade under a nearby tree.
Before getting settled, I kiss my fingers and touch the top of both headstones the way I’ve seen Julian do many times.
“You might not realize this,” I tell them.
“But this is the first time I’ve come to visit you guys by myself.
Julian’s at work, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to pop by and have a little gossip. I know how much you love the tea.”
I wink at them, not feeling self-conscious at all.
In fact, I feel a deep sense of contentment as I sit myself down on the ground and begin unpacking the few treats I bought along with me.
My basket has little pots filled with things like olives, hummus, veggies, and marinated chicken bites.
But most importantly, I have a canteen filled with pre-mixed vodka and pink lemonade, as well as a fancy little plastic cocktail glass to decant it into.
When I’m sitting with my drink in hand, I raise it toward the headstones.
“Cheers,” I say warmly.
Julian first brought me here not long after I moved into his house—which is now our house.
He was a bad Daddy, making me cry by telling me how much his parents would have loved me.
But the more I hear about them, the more I think I would have loved them, too.
I was honored when he encouraged me to bring my artistic flare into maintaining their graves.
I take a moment to watch a couple of bees dancing between the colorful flowers I planted for them, and enjoy the way the light refracts off the sun catchers that are hanging from little posts so they can move in the breeze.
“So, things are good with us,” I begin telling them.
“We’ve been remodeling one of the bathrooms, and we’ve had a steady string of tourists staying in the annex apartment.
Ever since we advertised it through a few queer organizations, it’s been non-stop, really.
Both Julian and I have done some more volunteering with Rainbow Reach as well. Pride season was everything!”
I truly never thought I’d be the one who would give out the support to other queers. But that’s the effect Julian has had on me, I guess. Because of him, I’ve discovered my own strength, and it’s really quite remarkable.
“Julian’s work is great. The One-Thirteen are still pretty crazy, no matter how well I get to know them, but I think that’s what Julian loves the most about them. Me, too, now they’ve stopped treating me like the new guy and rag on me just like everybody else. They’re family.”
Fondly, I take a moment to be so grateful that I’ve gone from hardly any family, to having two big ones. The firefighters include me in all their shenanigans, but Isaac’s parents have also accepted Julian and I as an extended part of Beatrice. We even spent Thanksgiving with them all.
“Oh, speaking of family! Bee and Isaac are also doing awesome. I thought my sister would be more surprised when Julian and I actually got together, but it turns out she’s quite the little matchmaker and felt quite proud of herself.
She’s settled nicely into her residency in the San Clemente ER, and I think she thrives on the chaos. You can tell we’re siblings.”
I laugh, but I know we actually thrive on different brands of chaos.
I could never cope with the super stressful job she does, and I admire her for that.
But I do like that my work changes every single day.
Besides, I embody the chaos wherever I go, disrupting gender norms and challenging prejudice by merely existing.
It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.
While we’re on the topic of jobs…
I squeal and flap the hand not holding my drink.
“Oh, oh! Big news! I officially launched my wedding planning company! And I only cried about seventy billion times throughout the whole process. It would have been more if it hadn’t been for Julian and my boss—sorry, my former boss—Hedi. They really believed in me…”
My throat unexpectedly gets tight and I try and cough it away, even if there’s no one (living) around to see me getting misty eyed.
But seriously, I’ve spent my whole life believing I’m fabulous.
I just never expected anyone else to invest in me like this, and sometimes ya girl needs a moment to hold space for it.
“I finally settled on a name, and it was super obvious when I stopped to think about it.” I roll my eyes and laugh.
“So, I’m now officially Black Diamond Planning, but the genius is that the diamond is on a black background and it’s got a rainbow shimmer effect on it, so people know I’m focused on the LGBT community.
That was Julian’s idea. Don’t you just love it? ”
I’ve been yapping so much, I take a second to refill my glass and nibble on a few yummy goodies. A light zephyr ruffles the foliage around me and caresses my skin, making me smile.
“Oh, yeah,” I continue quietly, a small smile playing on my lips. “One other tiny bit of news, I guess.”
That lump rises in my throat again and my eyes get teary, but this time I don’t care as I hold out my left hand, showing my in-laws the absolutely perfect band made of a lab-grown black diamond with bright pink gems set into it.
“I said yes,” I manage to whisper through my happy tears.
“Your son wasn’t very subtle about finding out my ring size, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise, but I didn’t care at all.
In fact, it was adorable knowing how much effort he put into the proposal.
He decorated the whole house in pink. It was a monstrosity, but I still haven’t let him take it all down, I love it so much. ”
I bite my lip and look between them.
“I love him so much, you guys. He told me once that he wondered if you sent me to him, but I think it has to be the other way around. He’s a literal angel and no one will ever convince me differently.
I mean, look at the evidence! He saves people’s lives like everyday and acts as if it’s no big deal.
That’s what makes him so special, though, right?
” I scoff and wave a hand at them. “I don’t know why I’m asking you guys, you already know. ”
I sigh and look out over our town. I used to feel so alone, but now I know just how connected I am to the world. Before Julian, I used to just survive. Now I thrive.
I am loved. I deserve to take up space. I’m here and I’m queer and I’m not going anywhere.
At least not without my Captain Daddy by my side.
Thank you so much for reading Romeo and Julian’s story, what a joy this one was to bring to life!