Chapter 6
Jon
After brunch on Christmas morning, Rob and Sam were busy in the kitchen, preparing their holiday dinner.
Kyle had wandered upstairs—Jon assumed he was showering since they had both come down earlier still wearing their Christmas pajama pants and T-shirts.
Jon found Ben sitting in the family room, staring at the gorgeous Christmas tree in the large bay window overlooking the backyard.
“Excuse me, Ben. Can I speak with you for a minute?” Jon asked quietly.
“Of course. You look so serious, Jon. Is there something wrong?”
“Not at all, it’s just that with all this talk about starting up a family, I’ve had something on my mind. There’s, um, well, there’s something I want to ask you.” Jon’s hands began to sweat, and he was having a bit of difficulty speaking.
“Okay.”
“This is probably kind of old fashioned, but I’d like to ask your permission to marry Kyle.”
“You want to marry my son?” Ben’s eyes crinkled, and a smile formed on his lips.
“Yes, sir. I know we haven’t been together for very long, but I love him. And I want to spend the rest of my life with him. And now that we’re looking at having kids before too long, I really want to marry Kyle.”
Ben reached over and hugged him. “Of course, you have my permission. You’ve been part of this family from the start, and I’d be proud to call you my son-in-law,” he said quietly in Jon’s ear. Releasing him, he asked, “When do you plan on proposing?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but I’m thinking sometime in the next few months. And if Kyle agrees, maybe we could have a small wedding later this year.”
“Of course, he’s gonna agree,” Ben said. “Do you see how he looks at you? He loves you just as much as you love him.”
“Thanks, Ben. So does that timing sound okay to you?”
“It’s perfect. It’s okay if I tell Rob, right?”
“Sure. I wouldn’t expect you to keep a secret from him. But no one else, please. Although I’ll have to tell Sam at some point. After all, she is my cousin and pretty much the reason that Kyle and I are together. I plan on asking her to be my witness for the ceremony.”
“That’s sure to make her very happy.”
Jon and Kyle returned home on the Sunday after Christmas, having spent a hectic few days in Massachusetts.
“What do you feel like doing tonight?” Jon asked as they walked the short distance from the Metro station to their condo.
“Just chill,” Kyle replied, fatigue evident in his voice. “I love spending time with my dad, Rob, and Sam, but it was kind of exhausting too.”
“I know what you mean,” Jon said. “How about we get some burgers delivered from Logan Tavern? That way we can veg in front of the TV for a while and get to bed early.”
“You always have the best ideas.”
“That’s why you love me,” Jon teased.
“Just one of many reasons, sweetheart,” Kyle agreed. “Maybe later we can try to make a baby again.”
“Hmmm, you come up with some pretty good ideas too.” Jon chuckled. The joke was getting kind of old, but he still loved the intimate time he spent with Kyle.
After dinner, they wasted no time climbing the stairs to their bedroom.
A few days had passed, and Jon had just finished cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. He glanced over at Kyle, who was staring intently at his laptop screen.
“You look awfully serious over there. What exactly are you looking at?” he asked.
Kyle sighed. “I’ve been thinking about us having kids.”
“Okaay,” Jon started.
“I love that we joke about making babies together, but the reality is that once we decide we’re gonna do this, we need to figure out if we want to adopt or do surrogacy. So I’ve been reading up on both options; there’s a lot to think about.”
“So let’s talk it out. What have you found out so far?” Jon sat beside Kyle on the sofa and looked at his computer screen.
“Cost is definitely a consideration. Surrogacy is a lot more expensive than adoption. It’s usually somewhere between one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars! Sometimes even more!”
“Really? I knew that it cost more, but I didn’t realize how much.”
“Yeah, adoption is typically between twenty and sixty thousand, and foster care adoption tends to be less expensive than infant adoption.”
“Remember how we said that we didn’t necessarily care if the baby was genetically related to one of us?” Jon asked.
“Sure. We agreed that there are a lot of kids that need to be adopted.”
“Right, so why don’t we just take surrogacy off the table for now? That’s not to say we couldn’t look into it down the road, but for now it seems to make more sense to focus on adoption.”
“That makes sense. Phew.” Kyle looked relieved. “Thanks for talking through that with me. The more I read, the more overwhelmed I got. But that planning brain of yours cut through it all quite easily.”
“Of course, sweetheart.” Jon kissed Kyle’s cheek. “And remember, I work for a family law practice. When we’re ready, I can ask one or two of the lawyers for advice. Plus, we’ve got your uncle Mike.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Kyle said. “Since we’ve already told my dad and Rob that we want to start a family at some point, maybe we should talk with Uncle Mike and Aunt Ellen about it. We’re supposed to have dinner with them next week. We can bring it up when we see them.”
“That sounds perfect.”