Lion's Lair - 27. I've Changed ...

Epilogue

It’s been six months since I received the Medal of Honor and had all the attention of Washington and the Today show. Clayton and I just celebrated our first year together. It’s been a helluva ride.

I hung around the Today show for the rest of that morning. Got to sample a chef’s Italian dish, and ham it up. Clayton said even Armour would have been proud.

Stayed for the last part of Today, with Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford. Since Hoda is from New Orleans, she played up that connection, commenting on the food, quizzing me on how I’d selected living in the area, what I liked the most here, and so forth. Kathy quizzed me about my soon-to-be-permanent legs, their capabilities, and so forth. Really felt like I did a lot of educational good there.

Several other good things happened because of the show. During my time on the show, Hoda turned to me and said, “Here’s a call I think you want to hear”. Mary Barra, chairwoman of General Motors called in, said how honored and proud they were to have me and all the other vets working for ‘em, and said they wanted to emphasize their commitments to vets. She announced GM would make a million-dollar donation to Wounded Warriors to honor our service, and made the promise that every GM dealer would have in stock the basic hardware to help those with mobility issues.

Later, I received a personal note from her, thanking me for my service, and complimenting me for my work with Cadillac. “You’ve helped Cadillac with your unabashed enthusiasm for the brand; I hope you’ll allow Cadillac to help you whenever possible.”

My brothers saw the Today interview that Willie ran on Sunday morning. We’re now in the slow process of building good solid relationships, and they’ve issued an invitation for Clayton and me to come up for the upcoming 4^th of July holiday. We’ll see.

This town loves a parade, so when we got back from New York and D.C., we had a “Heroes Parade”, to honor me because of my Medal of Honor, and Joe because of his involvement in stopping the robbery at Bulldog’s bar. It was fun to ride the float with Joe, we got to have a few beers and celebrate with the crowd—which turned into something of a street party/mini Mardi Gras. (Yeah, that’s typical for this area.) Later we both got keys to the city, speeches, a city council declaration saying the month belongs to me and Joe, yada, yada. It was fun and certainly memorable.

Dixie and Jennay are doing great—and their little girl is growing like a weed. She’s crawling a lot, walking a little, and is absolutely adorable. Joe, Rex, Bubba, Bulldog, Clayton, and I have become the uncles she didn’t otherwise have, and we make every effort to spoil her, much to Dixie and Jennay’s protests.

Joe, Rex, Bubba, Bulldog, Clayton, and I are now commonly referred to in the bar as “the gang”. We do a lot of things together, and it’s rare to see just one of us out and about alone. The relationship between us is always varied and interesting, and love these guys like crazy.

Joe and Rex are doing great. Their kids are growing up fast, too, becoming solid young men and a pretty young lady who’s gonna be a heart-breaker when she gets older. Their house has become something of a meeting point for all the kids from school, since their kids are both smart and popular. We do get to see a lot of ‘em, since they come out and use the pool regularly when the weather is warm. Joe and I have developed a close friendship, and Rex and Clayton are close, too. Rex swears Clayton’s “Spidey sense” is coming along nicely—and damned if I’m gonna argue with him over that. Clayton’s had more than his fair share of “insights” about people and events.

Bubba and Bulldog (Dave and Barry) are doing well, too. The Bar is continuing to grow, Bulldog has added a jazz group with an incredible torch song singer every other Saturday night, and the place is packed with both new faces and regulars.

Bubba came back from New York, and perhaps inspired by Clayton’s “coming out” as rich, did his own “coming out”. He revealed to Clayton and me privately that he’s actually the Field Manager of the FBI New Orleans office—and that he was aware of Clayton’s status. Apparently, the FBI maintains information on “high value assets”; those people with a high social value or net worth that would make them prime targets for violence, kidnapping, etc.

Talking through it all with Bubba and me, Clayton didn’t have an issue with it. He felt like it was a case of “Dave likes me for me”. And if nothing else, it’s made the bond between Bubba, Bulldog, Clayton, and me even stronger. We’re sworn to secrecy by Bubba—don’t know if Rex and Joe know any of this—but they’re both the kind of close friends we’ll have until the day we die.

Can’t really explain the bond Bubba and I have, but it’s truly like we’re brothers. Clayton and Bulldog have a similar bond; Clayton once said he’d always felt Barry had his own secrets—just like he had—and the shared bond of privacy and each man’s willingness to listen and support the other while respecting that unknown past had made something special between ‘em.

Ben stopped by the bar to say “goodbye” to everyone last October. He’d gotten out after more than three months of rehab. He was war-prison-camp thin but in reasonable health, despite the forced drug use that damaged his kidney function, forced him to be on dialysis during part of his stay, and left him with an ongoing battle against hepatitis C. He decided to reboot his life in Atlanta since he had no one here, his legal practice in shambles, and rumors about town stopping any future rebuilding of his career. He and Clayton talk from time to time; he seems to be doing well professionally with a small firm in Atlanta, and has met and started seriously dating a man there.

Benoit ended up with a life sentence at Angola State Penitentiary. Apparently, he tried to prove what a badass he was in prison, and was killed six months into his sentence by another inmate. Haven’t decided yet how I feel about that. Yeah, the courts provided legal justice with his sentence. But he’d left such a wake of horrendous damages with Ben, Bulldog, the people in the bar, all the people he and his minions sold drugs to—well, maybe karma required more payment.

Clayton continues to be the man who can both calm me down and excite me no end, all with a single touch. He’s far more of a “toucher” than I thought at first; and the sex is good, but the intimacy is far better. Yeah, he’s older, and the body doesn’t always respond the way he or I might like, but the tradeoff is a level of closeness I’d never have believed could exist. And his support and encouragement of me is unending.

He’s far more relaxed about himself now; he laughs more and that wickedly dry sense of humor comes out more often. He’s also gotten more ok with letting his inner geek run wild, and fills me in pretty regularly on his day. Since his project management/consulting business with NASA is going well, it’s always intriguing, and he’s got no fear of being tied to the “engineer” stereotype either with me or people we see out. Plus, who’s not interested in going to Mars?

Better yet, he no longer thinks of himself as an “old lion” who’s gone back to his lair to wait out the inevitable. Our home is now a source for each of us to rebuild our energies and face the world—a mostly private sanctuary (except for those we include in it) that helps make us stronger. In fact, he’s joked about naming it—like one of those old-time plantations—“Lions’ Lair”. Notice he’s made “Lions” plural because of me.

Our relationship is more interesting and fun than ever, and if my life ends tomorrow, well … he’s the best part of it all.

As for me, I got my legs in early November. Kinda an early holiday present. I’m sure I overdid it for a few days, but it was fun as hell—and the looks I got when I walked into The Bar were priceless. And getting to slow dance with Clayton and dance with the gang is something I’ll remember the rest of my life. I’m good enough with ‘em now that almost no one knows I’ve got ‘em unless I tell ‘em.

Clayton and I had a great Christmas. I’m from an old-style traditional family that celebrated the holiday with plenty of decorations everywhere, lots of food, and plenty of presents—all the stuff you’d expect kids to love. Clayton, on the other hand, had only basic decorations and a gift or two. We compromised, put up a big tree along with a wreath on the door and a few small touches of the holiday in the house.

Clayton got in the swing of things and came up with the idea of an open house. He got caterers in, invited the neighbors, a nicely-sized group from the bar, and people from both his workplace and mine. It was a great time, everyone enjoyed themselves—and Clayton admitted he had, too. Said it was the first truly public event he’d had since his lover had died, and he’d not realized how much he missed it. Like I said, Clayton’s becoming more open.

The holidays had me in something of a funk; what the hell do ya give a man who can buy anything he wants, that only doesn’t have something because he’s decided he doesn’t want it? It got to me, until one night at The Bar and Bulldog pulled me aside. “Let me show you the best Christmas gift I ever got.” He took me into the back of the bar to his office, and pulled one of the frames that was directly in front of his desk off the wall. “Bubba wrote this letter to me the first Christmas we were together. If I stopped to think about it, I’m sure I could tell ya what presents we traded, but this letter was all I needed. It wasn’t something he bought, it was a slice of him he gave me.” Yeah, I read the letter, and beneath those butch exteriors, they’re both romantics. But that got me to thinking.

So, instead of stuff, I decided Clayton needs the human contact, to know he can trust his instincts about people, and trust people to make his surrounding better. He’d kept himself so isolated for so long. So I got us a cruise. Booked onto a gay cruise to the Caribbean for a week. It was an absolute blast, we made new friends, and I saw a social side of Clayton I’d never seen before. And his developing “Spidey sense” provided surprising insights into people.

Our first anniversary was celebrated at the restaurant of our first real date. And yeah, we went out to the dock overlooking the lake. Although the full meteor shower we first saw there didn’t happen until the next night, we did see a few shooting stars. And yeah, it was every bit as intense as that first time there.

Don’t misunderstand, everything isn’t perfect. We still have discussions and different opinions about how we should do things, we still disagree over money and how to use it; I still have issues in dealing with Clayton’s vast wealth. But, like everything in life, it’s a process.

I’ve got an opportunity to buy the Cadillac store; the current owner is retiring. Clayton’s willing to finance it, handle it all as a business transaction to satisfy my need for independence, and I’ll sign a note to one of Clayton’s firms to keep it all professional. I’m still thinking through all of it—what the fuck do I know about running a dealership?—but Clayton’s confident I can do it and do it well. Maybe he’s right.

I’ve changed, like we all do as time goes by. I’m still the “relentless optimist” as Clayton calls me. I still push to meet my goals, diving in instinctively where Clayton’s more of a planner. But I’m not the same guy filled with uncertainties as I was when I first rolled into The Bar, when I first met Clayton, when I first met “the gang” that’s now built into what we all recognize as family.

Like I said, it’s been a helluva ride—and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Clayton and me, and my great family. Definitely fun times ahead!