Chapter 15
Kyle
Kyle had put Wyatt to bed, and now he and Jon were in the living room.
“Your brain is working on something,” Jon said to his fiancé. “Is it the prospect of marrying me, or is there something else on your mind?”
“Damn, you know me so well.” Kyle blushed.
When Kyle didn’t offer more, Jon looked at him pointedly. “So what’s that gray matter churning through?”
“I’ve been thinking about the environment that we’re raising Wyatt in,” Jon said. “I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have him grow up in a big city like DC.”
“Okaay,” Jon said slowly. “Does that mean you want to move?”
“I think so,” Kyle spoke quietly. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s so much that I love about DC, but part of me thinks we’d be better off in a small town somewhere. I dunno, I’m not exactly sure, it’s just been on my mind a lot lately.”
“That’s fine, sweetheart. I’m not one hundred percent committed to raising our son in a big city like DC either. Although I have to admit, I didn’t think we’d get to this point so quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I just figured that when Wyatt was older, we’d decide to move somewhere else. I never thought we’d live here forever.”
“Phew!” Kyle sighed in relief. “We never really got a chance to talk about our future, but yeah, DC wasn’t really my forever city either.”
“Okay, then, maybe we need to explore some options. Do you think you’d wanna be close to your dad and Rob?”
“Hmmm, probably. Not in Westport but relatively close. No more than an hour or so drive to their place, I guess.”
“That gives us some options in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts,” Jon concluded. “Is this something you want to talk to your dad about?”
“That’s probably a good idea. I’ll mention it to him when we talk tomorrow.”
“Hey, Dad,” Kyle answered his phone. “How are you doing?”
“Good, thanks. I’ve got you on speaker.”
“Hey, Rob,” Kyle added, knowing that Rob would be close by so that he could hear the conversation.
“Hi, Kyle,” Rob said. “How are you and Jon doing now that you’ve added Wyatt to your lives?”
“Pretty good, actually.” Kyle chuckled. “We’ve got a schedule of sorts worked out, and things are fairly smooth most of the time.
” He continued with his tale, filling them in on the happenings of the past week.
Once he finished, Ben and Rob both conveyed news about their lives.
It was a typical Sunday-morning-type call that Kyle loved.
He enjoyed the closeness he had with both his dad and Rob.
“Anything else going on?” Ben asked.
“Two things, actually,” Kyle said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. “Some news and something I’d like your opinion on.”
“Of course,” Ben said. “We’re always here for you guys. You know that.”
“So the news is, Jon and I went out for dinner on Valentine’s Day, and he asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes!”
“Oh my God, that’s great!” Ben said, Rob echoing his sentiments in the background. “Have you guys decided on a date yet?”
“We haven’t really gotten that far. I’d rather do something soon, but my fear is that we’re gonna have a difficult time finding a place here in DC.”
“Oh yeah, I imagine that could be a problem. Hang on a sec.” Kyle heard some murmuring as if Ben had covered the phone’s microphone. Moments later, Ben said, “Rob and I just talked about it; we think you guys should get married here.”
“Where, in Westport?”
“Here, in our house, just like Rob and I did. Unless you’re planning on inviting hundreds of people,” Ben said. “But I’m guessing it’s gonna be something on the smaller side.”
“You know me too well, Dad,” Kyle told him. “The only thing Jon and I really talked about was that we wanna keep it small. Just family and a few close friends.”
“Well, then, our house is perfect. You can have the ceremony whenever you’d like. I can talk to the folks that catered our wedding once I know when you’d like to have it.”
“Thank you both so much. Wait a second, Jon’s just coming downstairs with Wyatt. I’m gonna put you on speaker.”
“Hi, Ben, Rob,” Jon said.
“Congratulations, Jon,” Ben replied. “My son is a lucky man.”
“I think I’m the lucky one.” Jon smiled at his fiancé. “And I’m not sure if Kyle said anything, but once we’re married, we’ll petition the court so that I can legally adopt Wyatt too.”
“Let’s just agree that you’re both lucky.” The emotion in Ben’s voice could be heard through the phone’s speaker. “And we just told Kyle that you guys should get married here at our house.”
“Really? That would help so much. Kyle has already said he thinks finding a place here would be difficult.”
“Good.” Ben’s voice sounded definite. “It’s settled.
You guys will get married here. Decide on a date or two, and we’ll check with the caterers.
I’ll also speak with Judge Sampson if you’d like.
I can check on her availability.” Marjorie Sampson was a friend of Ben and Rob’s and had married them the past year.
“That would be great, Dad.” Happiness filled Kyle’s words. “We can’t thank you enough for this.”
“Hey, that’s what dads are for, right?” Rob said, chuckling. “To help their kids with the big stuff. Now you also mentioned asking our opinion about something.”
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Jon and I were talking last night, and we’re thinking that it might be better to raise Wyatt in someplace other than DC.”
“Okay,” Ben said evenly.
“Whaddya think about that?” Kyle couldn’t detect any reaction in his father’s voice.
“I guess we can understand why,” Rob said. “Do you have any thoughts on where you might want to go?”
“Not exactly. But we were thinking of some place closer to you,” Kyle added.
“Of course, we haven’t really decided on a specific place.
Someplace in Massachusetts or even Rhode Island is a possibility.
” He heard his dad and Rob speaking softly on the other end of the call, but he couldn’t make out the words.
“Um, guys, we may have an idea,” Ben finally told them. “I’m not gonna say much at this point, just know that we’re working on something. Okay?”
“Sure.” Kyle was wary. “Like that’s not mysterious at all.”
“It’s gonna be fine, Kyle.” Rob chuckled. “And just one more question.”
“Sure.”
“What are you guys thinking of doing for your honeymoon?” Rob asked.
“Probably not much,” Jon replied. “With everything else going on, we thought we might just wait a while and think about doing something later.”
“Good to know,” Ben said. “Just remember, Sam can help you with that once you’re ready.”
“Of course,” Kyle chimed in. “You know we’d never plan a trip of any kind without talking to her first.”