Adventures of Devon Carlton - 13. ADC Chapter 13

Giving the men a ₤50 tip each, they thanked Devon and made their way back to their workplace very happy men, and Devon spent another half an hour looking around inside before looking at his watch and dashing back to his car to go and collect Edgar from school.

After some afternoon tea, Edgar when out to ride Horatio for an hour, before giving him a shower and rub down, meanwhile the truck with the piano arrived, along with two more vehicles with extra helpers, and Devon made his way down to the bunkhouse once again to supervise the moving of the piano into the bunkhouse.

Once it was in place, he gave them each a tip like the others, and they left the property, while Devon sat down at the piano in the centre of the main room and started to play, having started to learn at the age of 12 years, he was not to the standard of a professional player, but was able to read music well and play a lot of the more common and easier classical pieces. Devon was halfway through playing his third piece when Edgar walked in and he sat down, watched and listened to his cousin play.

“Wow cousin that was amazing, I had no idea you could play classical music” Edgar said once Devon had finished, Devon smiled as he closed the cover of the keyboards and the cover for the piano to keep the dust out, and they returned to the cottage, where they sat down in the lounge. Looking at his watch, Devon thought for a moment before looking up at his cousin.

“I think we will feed Horatio early tonight, and head into town at 6.40pm to pick up my mates from the train station, then have dinner at that steakhouse before returning home, they can stay in the bunkhouse till your brothers arrive on the weekend, does that sound good with you?” Devon said.

Edgar nodded his head and stood up to go and feed and put to bed his horse, and Devon had a shower and dressed in good casual wear for the evening, when Edgar had returned inside he had a quick shower and dressed appearing in the lounge just as it ticked over 6.30pm, with the cottage locked up, they climbed into the vehicle and headed to the train station just 4.5 kilometres away.

When they looked at the arrivals display, it said the train was 12 minutes early, so it would be arriving in just a few short minutes, and Devon was getting excited to see his good mates again, as it had been nearly two months since he last saw them.

When the train arrived, Devon waited nervously as all the passengers disembarked the train, and as the passenger numbers thinned, he saw them step off and he took a step and was about to run forward to greet them when he stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth dropped open and he just froze. “Devon, hey Dev, what is the matter with you” Edgar said then he looked in the direction of the four men standing by their suitcases, “Those other two young men look just like you Dev” Edgar said, Devon smiled and said “That’s because they are your twin cousins silly” he replied as the four men came up to them.

Devon hugged his twin brothers first, and had tears streaming down his face, “Hey guys, now this is a big surprise, my word how grown my two little brothers are now” Devon said as the three-way hug continued before they eventually broke hold, “Amos and Flynn I would like to introduce you to your cousin Edgar Carlton, he is Douglas and Julia’s oldest son, and he’s boarding with me and looking after me with the recovering of my two accidents. Edgar this is your cousins and also my so-called two best mates Gary and Mitchell” Devon said with a cheeky smile as they all shook hands.

“Well Edgar, it looks like we are going to have to change our plans a bit now we have two extra unexpected guests, but let’s grab all this luggage and go and have dinner at the steakhouse where we can discuss it more” Devon said and they walked out to the car, loaded up the luggage and squeezed into the car for the short trip to the restaurant.

During dinner, Edgar said to the guests, that they had planned to have his younger twin brothers - Rupert and Angus stay over on the weekend, but we may have to change that.

Devon smiled and shook his head no, “We do have plenty of room but not in the cottage, fortunately, I have a bunkhouse that can sleep six, so if you guys don’t mind sleeping well away from the cottage, we will put you guys up there, and the other twins as well when they arrive on…” Devon said stopping when he realised he didn’t know when they would be coming, “Mother asked if we would like to pick them up from school on Friday and take them to school Monday morning if it was ok with you,” Edgar said answering the question that Devon was about to ask.

“Well looks like a full house for the very first time, the bunkhouse was only furnished today, as soon as I found out Gary and Mitch were coming, so this will be great,” Devon said as they began their deserts. Once they were all well fed, Devon drove them all back to the cottage property, where they went directly to the bunkhouse.

Devon told everyone to stay put, and he would be back in a moment, as he grabbed his torch and walked off towards the bridge, a few minutes later a series of garden lights lit up the pathway, and Devon soon reappeared, where Edgar had helped the guests unload the car, and Devon led the way along the path to the bridge and along another path to the clearing where the bunkhouse stood.

“Holy Shit, this is amazing” Mitchell exclaimed, and Devon laughed, “Wait till you see inside,” Devon said with a bigger laugh, as he opened the single door and lead the way inside, where they saw the Steinwaygrand piano standing in the middle of the room.

All four guests just stood there stunned at what they saw, a truly magnificent room, Devon and Edgar grabbed two suitcases each and dragged them towards the staircase, and the 4 guests followed with their remaining carry bags. Edgar opened the door in one corner to reveal the lower level bathroom and then sat down at the table where Devon had already sat.

“Does it meet your standards guys?” Devon asked and all 4 nodded their heads and looked up the spiral stairs, “Go ahead go and see the rest” Edgar said with a grin. “Jumping Jupiter, this is amazing big bro”,came a shout from upstairs, Devon and Edgar chuckled as they made their way upstairs. Once the guests had settled in, Devon showed them that there is bread for toast, milk, juice, tea and coffee in the kitchen, for snacks, and that breakfast is whenever they are ready, except from 8.10 to 8.30 when Devon would be taking Edgar to school.

Devon wished them all a good night and left them to rest, while he and Edgar made their way back to the cottage, where Edgar went to check on Horatio before turning in for the night. The next morning when Devon had returned from taking Edgar to school, he found four hungry men sitting in the back verandah, waiting to be let in. “Good morning my brothers and friends, how are we all this morning,” Devon said cheerily as he unlocked the back door to the cottage and led the way in.

“Make your selves comfortable and look around if you like, while I cook breakfast” Devon said as he headed straight for the kitchen. A few moments later all four guests were seated at the dining table and Devon handed them a cup of tea each.

“Devon, this is an outstanding place you have here Bro, it’s just perfect, I'm sure when Michael, Margaret and Chas visit, they will be impressed too, oh and by the way that will be in about 6 weeks’ time, just to let you know” Flynn said, “Mum and dad are planning to come over and visit too, not long after them, but nothing has been set yet” Amos added.

“I will have to put a sign-up Bed and Breakfast soon if all these visits keep up,” Devon said with a groan, which made the twins laugh.

“Actually Michael is coming for business purposes, as the law firm he works for has a branch in Edinburgh, so it’s a working holiday for him, and since you haven’t seen Chas in nearly five years, they thought it was time for Chas to get to know his older uncle,” Flynn commented, “He would be about 7 years old now wouldn’t he?” Devon asked and both twins nodded yes.

After breakfast was done and the dishes cleaned and put away the post arrived, which wasn’t very often at the moment since he was new to the area, but today there were 7 letters, 4 applying for the gardening job and 3 for the housekeeping job, two of the applicants for the garden job were established businesses, while the other two were semi-retired gentlemen, one a horticulturalist and the other businessman, of the 3 house-keeping positions, one applicant was a cleaning firm, one was a young lady looking for work and the last one was a joint husband and wife application for both positions.

Devon explained to his guests that he was looking at employing a part-time gardener and housekeeper, and he put the applicants who have established businesses to one side, along with two of the single applicants for each position, that left him with just one applicant, and he re-read the letter.

“Dear Sir, we are employees of your cousin’s at the manor Mr Douglas and Mrs Julia Carlton, please feel free to ask them anything about us, we have worked full time for them for 7 years, and part-time for the past 3 years but have needed to slow down a bit now that we are both in our mid 60’s, we have discussed this with Mr & Mrs Carlton by telephone yesterday, and they are happy to release us from their employ, Yours Sincerely Mr Adam and Mrs Sue Kilthorne”.

Devon picked up his mobile and called Julia. After a ten minute discussion, Devon hung up the phone, and smiled “Well that was very painless, both are there today so Julia will let them know they can start next week, on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s, oh and she knows that my twin bro’s and my two friends have arrived from Australia, and have invited all of us over for dinner on Thursday, that’s tomorrow night at 6pm” Devon announced to everyone at the table.

After contacting the other applicants to inform them the positions had been filled, Devon packed his mates and brothers into the car and they went tourist sight-seeing for the day, arriving back at the cottage mid-afternoon, in time for Devon to dash off and go and pick up Edgar from school, and on the way home Devon told his cousin about the new staff he had employed to do the housekeeping and gardening. “Wow they are really nice people, I’ve known them most of my life, they are perfect,” Edgar said when Devon told him who he had employed. As they neared home, Devon asked his cousin where the Kilthorne’s live, and Edgar said they rent a small apartment in Inverness, which isn’t ideal as they have to climb stairs to get there.

Devon grinned as an idea developed in his mind but he decided to keep it to himself for now, until he investigated it a bit more. Just 400 metres down the road was a set of 8 twin duplexes, of which one set was for sale, having noticed the sign earlier in the day.

When they got home and while Edgar was riding Horatio, Devon called the real estate agents, the same ones who sold him the cottage and large back property, and he arranged to have a look at a set of duplexes the next morning after dropping Edgar off at school.

Using the internal telephone, Devon called the bunkhouse to let them know he was back at the cottage, and Flynn answered saying they were having showers and would be up there soon, as he hung up Devon decided to drive down there and was soon inside the bunkhouse which was warm from the wood stove burning, “Cooee, anyone home” Devon called out as he walked inside.

Amos looked over the balcony to greet his older bro, dressed in just boxers. “I’m glad you guys are not shy, I’ve to be informed that our younger cousins’ are very much the same, as I have discovered also with Edgar, as they don’t mind streaking,” Devon said with a big grin, and Amos laughed and went back to the room to dress.

When all four of them were downstairs, Devon announced to them an idea he had been thinking about all day, “How would you guys like an all expenses, paid 4 day bus tour of Northern Scotland, it would be the best way for you guys to see the place, since I still don’t know it very well, and it would let you escape the clutches of our younger cousins for the weekend, then we will have more time together after the twin cousins have returned home” Devon said unsure how they would take the idea.

“Sure bro that sounds good, if its ok with you, but we won’t be spending more time with you that’s all” Flynn said a bit rejected, “It’s fine with me too, I would love to explore more of this country” Mitch added and Gary nodded in agreement, Amos shrugged his shoulders before saying “Why not, sounds like a plan”, and they walked to the car to travel up to the cottage.

“I think I am going to buy one of those golf buggies, so it’s easier for transport between the bunkhouse and the cottage, maybe you guys can help me with that tomorrow” Devon said as they climbed out of the car and walked into the cottage, just as Edgar streaked across the hallway from the bathroom to his bedroom, which the twins clearly saw.

“My goodness, he’s well hung for 15, and different too,” Amos said, Devon, laughed and walked to Edgar’s room and knocked.

“Come in Dev” came the reply to the knock, and he walked in and stopped suddenly as Edgar stood there totally naked rubbing his hair dry with a towel, “That’s enough of that you hear, stop doing it or I will send you packing back home” Devon said annoyed and he turned around slamming the door behind him, not waiting for a reply.

Edgar didn’t say a word through dinner, he just listened to the conversation going on between Devon and his two mates and twin brothers, after dinner Edgar volunteered to do the dishes while the others all relaxed, and Amos asked his bro if he could give them a mini-concert at the bunkhouse, which Devon reluctantly agreed to, so they piled into the car and made their way back down to the bunkhouse.

Firstly, Devon played a classical piece on the piano, before he started to sing Amazing Grace; this was followed by another classic piece before ending with the EQD hit song Storm, which was also enjoyed by his brothers and friends. After sitting down for a final cup of tea, and a short chat, Devon said goodnight and made his way back to the cottage, and when he approached his bedroom he heard Edgar crying and talking to someone on his mobile, who he presumed was Julia.

Devon decided to wait till morning to find out the results of the late-night mobile call home, and he went to the study to do a search of the bus tour he had seen online earlier in the day, and he booked and paid for it, print out the booking form before going to bed for some well-deserved rest.

The next morning Devon woke to the sound and smell of breakfast cooking, and after a shower and dressing, he went to the kitchen to find breakfast served on the table. “I’m a sorry cousin, I didn’t mean to get you angry last night, it’s just that… I have been… I called mother last night, and I… I came out to her last night, Devon I am Gay” Edgar said and he put his eyes down, afraid and waiting to find out if he would be going home or not.

Devon suspected that his young cousin was gay, and it didn’t bother him at all that he was, it was just his behaviour at home when there were guests that he didn’t approve of, and now what was he going to say to Edgar, he had no idea what to say. “What did your mother say, when you told her?” Devon eventually said it wasn’t what Edgar expected his cousin to say and he thought for a moment to the conversation that evening, with his mother.

“She said that she and Father have suspected for two years now, and both have no problems with me being gay, just concerned with what I will have to endure for the remainder of my life, she also said that the rest of the family have already guessed the same also” Edgar said with tears in his eyes.