Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Dad,” Cameron says, plodding up the stairs to the loft, “we have to get going or else we’re going to be late. Besides, you’ve hogged Papa long enough. Time to let me say goodbye to him now.”
I give Aaron’s hand a squeeze before bending down to give him a kiss on the cheek.
He’s asleep, and I’ve just been watching him, reflecting back on how I used to do just this—marveling over how handsome he is—while he slept back at our old house, in our old bed.
While it’s nowhere near the same as it was back then—because he never had this much medical machinery surrounding him as he dozed—I’m still so very grateful that I get to do it now.
I can’t even begin to express just how grateful I am to have such supportive partners in Lauren and Marcus.
How much they both fought to give me this precious gift of being able to care for my husband again.
There’s simply no way I can repay them for how happy I am to know that I get to wake up every morning and go to bed every evening with Aaron under the same roof as Cam and me once more.
I slip downstairs, giving Cam some privacy while he says goodbye to his papa before our cruise.
I know Aaron will be in good hands while we’re gone as well, so we can all breathe a little easier there.
My former in-laws are due here any minute to stay with him throughout our trip.
That’s right, we were able to come to an amicable agreement regarding visitations while in court.
They’ll be staying here, in our house, while we’re away.
Throughout the “battle”—and I use that term loosely, because it was hardly a fight at all—they were able to see that I was never the monster that they had made me out to be in their minds right after the accident.
This was after an epic fuckton of peaceful mediation, where we all were able to speak our piece about our goals of care regarding Aaron.
Lauren being there to interpret for me was an absolute blessing, and it was nice to finally feel heard.
What mostly swayed Aaron's parents, however, was the way Cam thoroughly outlined all the ways their prior animosity was harming him in the process.
Turns out, Aaron's mom had been listening in on my entire confession to Aaron over Thanksgiving, and she heard all about our newly blended family.
That, in conjunction with Cam's compelling speech about how I'd been hurting so thoroughly over their words and actions, changed their entire perception of me.
When it all boiled down to it though, we brought the case of who Aaron's POA belonged to straight to him.
And you know what he did? He blinked when they asked if he wanted to live with us at the Ant Farm.
He blinked purposefully. He proved to us that he is indeed capable, on some level, of making decisions for himself.
That action finally fully convinced his parents' to cede their tight control over him.
They agreed to take a step back, handed over the POA without argument, and their one condition was that they remain the first choice to come and care for him when we do things like take extended vacations—our cruise being a prime example.
Since winning the case and getting POA back, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
I feel such a sense of relief over being able to actively participate in his care, hiring in-home nurses and aides, all at my discretion, to fill in whenever Lauren, Marcus, and I cannot.
We have all, in some capacity or another, been quite involved with Aaron's rehabilitation. He has become a central focus within our home, and I’m still in awe of just how much he’s included in our day-to-day lives, even weeks later.
Marcus and I were even able to bring Aaron out on the boat, and I swear I saw some life behind those eyes of his.
The nurses that have come to care for him have praised us for getting him up and out of bed more than he was when he was with his parents full-time.
We may even start to see him be more cognizant of his surroundings, which is always a plus.
Either way, we’re providing him with some much needed enrichment, and it, in turn, is fulfilling me.
When Aaron’s parents do finally arrive, I give them a quick tour of the rest of the house, offer them a run-down on how to make sure Ivy is cared for, and then show them up to the loft.
They seem genuinely impressed by the set-up we have for Aaron up here, and how much more filled out he’s looking.
He’s far less gaunt than when we first moved him in.
Probably because we’ve been trialing out whether or not he can handle solid foods, rather than just being sustained via an NG tube. Imagine.
Cam gives them hugs and thanks them for coming, and we make our way out the door.
We had to rent a damn van to get all of us in one vehicle to get us down to Portland, where we’ll be embarking from.
Marcus, Lauren, and Brody are already inside, waiting for Cam and me.
Marcus is blaring eighties music, presumably for my sake, and Brody, subsequently, has his cochlear connected straight into his tablet via Bluetooth.
Once we’re all piled in and I back out of the driveway, we’re on our way.
Eight nights of ocean adventures, here we come.
“Holy shit, look at the size of this thing!” Marcus exclaims as we meander down the hallways of the cruise ship, hours later, looking for our rooms. “This is easily Gannett’s boat times, like, a thousand! Fuck, do you suppose he’d let us install a waterslide on the Lobsta Mobsta?”
I chuckle, but don’t get to answer because he’s not paying attention anyway.
He’s like an excited kid in a candy store.
Well, he and Brody both. Don’t get me wrong, we all are pretty pumped to be on this voyage, but those two were the ones who couldn’t sleep all last night, brimming with too much anticipation.
Lauren follows Brody into the room he’s sharing with Cam, just to go over some ground rules with him, mostly so that Cam doesn’t wind up feeling like he’s a babysitter on this trip.
Since Aaron’s gotten all moved in with us, I know Cam has felt very much like one of his caretakers, though no one has ever expected that from him.
I suspect that he feels some sort of obligation to do so because he spent so long without his papa, and I get it.
But this is his first real big excursion since the accident, and I want him to be able to relax and enjoy himself too, making joyful memories with us as a part of a now much bigger family.
This cruise is a much needed breather in the chaotic whirlwind our home has been in since January, however, and I look forward to all the activities we planned.
Of course, that’ll all be sprinkled in with some R&R as well, out there on the open ocean.
I can already feel the tension in my back melting away.
Marcus is quick to flop his suitcase down on the bed and whip it open. He yanks out two of the dresses Lauren bought for him when they were out on their post-Christmas date. Laying them out on the bed, he pops his hip, tapping his chin.
“Which one should I wear for the formal dinner tonight, babe?” he asks me.
I give them both a good look. Not sure I can pick knowing they both look good on him, since he modeled them for us right after they got home.
He fixes me with a look. “Don’t tell me you can’t choose one either.”
I chuckle, because how the fuck are we always riding the same wavelength? “The purple one. When in doubt, always go with my favorite color.”
“It’s my favorite color too, you know?” he huffs.
“Even more reason to wear it, Sugar.”
He’s been wearing a lot more of what he’s comfortable in lately.
The only time he isn’t crossdressing these days is when he’s out on the boat.
Rightfully so, those clothes would be ruined doing what we do for a living.
What looks so much better on Marcus than the clothes or the makeup, however, is the confidence he wears.
There are days he still gets all up in his head about it, but they’re notably getting fewer and farther between.
He sets that one aside and steps over to look out over the balcony.
We haven’t even left port yet—so we’re still in Portland, Maine—but the view is already breathtaking.
Unlike Ternbay, the city abuts the waterways, not a small, coastal fishing village.
The juxtaposition of modern high-rises set against the centuries old lighthouses, breakwaters, and pylons is, I don’t know, symbolic I guess?
Like blending the old with the new, I suppose, and it’s something that resonates with me big time.
Marcus points down at something. “C, look. We’re like stories above that sailboat, and that thing isn’t tiny by any means…”
I nod, slipping underneath his brawny arm, threading my fingers through his. He leans down—and I mean way down—to press a kiss on the top of my head.
“Thank you for this trip, babe,” he murmurs, gazing back out over the water. “You know, if someone had come to me a decade ago and asked if we’d have ever had this kind of life together, I would have told them to get their head checked…”
He trails off at the same time I feel a hand against my lower back. I look over my shoulder to see Lauren standing there, her other palm on Marcus’ back. She rests her chin in the divot made where my shoulder is pressed against the side of his arm.
“Now look at you both,” she continues on, finishing Marcus’ thought. “Together, my sun and my moon. Both in orbit with one another again.”
“Who’s who?” Marcus jokes. “Let me guess, I’m the moon because you all are infatuated with my ass?”