Before And After the Divorce - 30. The Play's the Thing, and Meeting the Walkers

The next couple of weeks flew by. Dave and his family settled into Colton's house. Patty resumed going to the Ohio house to continue packing. The weekend after the double move, Colton, the boys, and I accompanied Dave's family to the Ohio house. We got a lot done with three men packing, three boys being runners, and Patty coordinating. The delay for closing the new house finally had an end date, Monday, March twenty-fifth, which meant we had two more weekends plus Patty's weekday visits to pack everything up. Dominic's birthday party wasn’t affected because we were able to get so much done.

Sunday

I scheduled the party for two o'clock. Mark and Gary from upstairs were the first to arrive. Dave’s family and Dad were already there. The boy Dominic hit in daycare back in the summer, Tommy Wilkes, came, plus a few more boys from his class in school. It was loud. It was messy. There were no skirmishes, unless you call the younger kids trying their made-up wrestling moves on Sal skirmishes. Nothing got broken. Sorry, a bag of chips got crushed when the younger boys finally got Sal down. The chips fell off the end table, and Jiho rolled onto them. So, nothing expensive got broken. Everybody had a good time, even Sal. Dominic got mostly gift cards. Dave, Dad, and I went in together on a PS5 and a bunch of games suitable for his and Jiho's ages. We'd likely be scanning through amazon.com for a week straight, looking for things that Dominic could spend cards the on. I figured it would be mostly books.

I enjoyed watching the boys laugh and play. Dominic's had it rough over the past five or six months. It was really good to see him happy and having fun. Between the couple of weeks with Sal being here and now Jiho living with us, he's been happier overall. But today, the smiles were constant and so genuine. I don't think even I have been happier lately. Sorry, Colton. Although my happiness would peak higher in a few weeks, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Monday

I wanted to wait until Friday to go to Barnes & Noble at the mall for Dom to use his two gift cards he received for that store. It being his actual birthday, he didn't need the booster anymore and wanted to go somewhere. He successfully used his puppy dog eyes on me. Colton was working late this evening, as he occasionally does when someone calls out sick. Which meant Jiho came along for the ride. That worked out well because Jiho helped Dominic decide when he realized his gift cards wouldn’t cover the cost of the five books he chose. Even though the overage was less than a dollar, I was trying to teach him to understand spending limits. This time, I was blind to the puppy dog eyes. He pouted, but when I explained why he could only have four, he simply shrugged, said okay, and kept the book Jiho recommended, carefully reshelving the fifth.

Once again, the daily routines kept time moving quickly. Before we knew it, the day of the closing arrived and passed. Dave’s family were bubbling with joy over their new accommodations. Patty let Sal ride his bike to the apartment after school on the Wednesday following the closing. While it was a little farther away than Colton's, it wasn’t much longer. He liked being out in the fresh air, pedaling like crazy to try to beat the previous best time it took him to traverse the four-point-eight miles between our two homes. It typically took him nineteen to twenty minutes. He liked being with his cousin and quasi-cousin. I think he would have made a great big brother.

Friday

It also soon became time for 'the great and powerful Oz' to make his appearance. The Friday evening after Dave's move, all of our extended families met at the school to watch the play. Colton, Dad, and I joined Dave, Patty, Sal, Joon, and Charles. In addition, Jiho's other grandparents made the trip as well. They lived just southwest of Pittsburgh. I finally understood the reasoning behind Colton's first husband's name. Well, his middle name as well, which I discovered was Sky. Anakin Sky Walker must have taken a lot of teasing growing up. Layla and Lucas Walker, Anakin's parents (no, really!), were married young and hadn't yet completely outgrown their love of Star Wars enough to prevent saddling their oldest child with possibly the worst Star Wars-based name they could. They didn't want a Luke junior and weren't crazy about Ben, which left them with Darth Vader. Anakin's younger brother Paul fared a lot better. Their youngest daughter, Nancy, had the benefit of almost no one in her generation having a clue who the actress was that was her namesake.

The Walkers took Colton up on his invitation to stay at his house for the weekend. It was only about a seventy-five-minute drive, but with another show on Saturday afternoon, it made sense for them to stay.

I told everybody about Dominic's friend Gary being a munchkin, so we all cheered when the munchkins made their first appearance. None of us needed prodding when the flying monkeys appeared. Jiho was the biggest child playing a monkey, so he got to pick up Toto. Well, leading the first-grade boy playing Toto off the stage by the tail. All the kids were smiling and laughing when they came out to take a bow at the end of the performance.

Saturday

After Saturday afternoon’s show, I treated the entire entourage to an early dinner at Primanti Brothers. Everyone enjoyed the food and socializing. The Walkers were good people. Colton maintained a good relationship with them, and it showed.

The boys stayed with the Kangs, and after we returned to my place, Colton decided to open up about Anakin. We had never really discussed him before. I knew Colton would tell me when he was ready, and he finally was.

"I am sure you are more curious about him after meeting Anakin's parents."

"They're good people. I can't imagine the pain they went through when he died. Because of Lacy, though, I can understand what you went through."

Colton nodded. "Yes. They are very nice. Life is very unfair sometimes. We all must die, but children are supposed to outlive their parents. Anakin was taken so suddenly; we were all very shocked."

I didn't want to push, so I patiently waited for Colton to continue.

"You have lived in town for a long time. Perhaps you remember the news? Two years ago, this past Thanksgiving, we were assisting my mother with the preparations when she discovered the strawberries for the strawberry milk were rotten. Anakin volunteered to go to the market to buy some fresh ones. He had a four-wheel drive Jeep, so the earlier snowfall should not have been a problem. It should have only taken him fifteen or twenty minutes to return. After nearly an hour, we were understandably concerned. I tried calling his cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail."

Colton choked up, and a tear fell from his eye. I reached out for his hand. He took a deep breath and continued.

"We were obviously worried that something had happened to him. Another hour later, a policeman came to the door. I immediately knew I had lost Anakin. The officer said that there had been an accident. A car lost control on the North Street bridge and crossed over into Anakin's lane. Both vehicles went over the edge into the creek. Anakin's jeep flipped onto its roof when leaving the road, landing upside-down in the water. By the time the police arrived on the scene, Anakin was gone. I later found out that he had struck his head on the steering wheel and was already gone when the jeep hit the water. Until I knew that, I pictured him struggling to escape the freezing water. It was devastating to all of us.

>His mother and father could not bear to identify his body, so I had to perform that task. I will not share the gruesome details, but with the injuries, it looked so little like Anakin I had a glimmer of hope. Although, there was no question it was him when I saw Jiho's face on his arm. After the adoption was official, he had gotten a tattoo of his likeness."

I wrapped my arms around him, "Oh, Colton. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I can't imagine the pain of hearing news like that out of the blue."

"Yes. It was difficult. But time has helped ease the pain. As I am sure you are aware, the pain never leaves but simply becomes something you can control. Memories of happy times help."

I couldn't find the words to ease his pain, so I simply held Colton while he cried. I felt so much love for this man I cried right along with him, even though I had never known Anakin. I decided at that moment I needed to be with him forever.

Monday

I told Colton I had an errand to run after work that evening. He said he would be home in time to rescue my father from the boys. He could be funny like that. He'd say things that you'd never expect him to say. I had borrowed a ring from his jewelry box to know what size to get. There was a jewelry store in town that I had heard was gay-friendly. Not wanting hassles from a salesman, that was my destination. After perusing the selections of men's rings, I saw one in his size I felt would be perfect for Colton. There was another one in my size that was similar, so I bought them both. The salesman put them both in a double-ring box and congratulated me, wishing me luck.

My next step was to make a reservation for dinner Friday night at Valentino's, the county's nicest and most expensive restaurant. I made the reservation for four, wanting to include Dominic and Jiho. I locked the rings in the glove compartment. Colton worked later the following day, so I would sneak them in then. I just hoped I could hide my joy from him until Friday.

Friday

I knew Colton suspected something was going on. I was in too good of a mood the whole week. He asked quite a few times why I was so happy, and I brushed it off saying having him around all the time was the reason. He felt the same way, so it didn't set any alarms off in his head. I mentioned the dinner on Thursday, knowing he would be home early enough. He attempted to drag the reason out of me, but I held fast.

We got to Valentino's, and he looked at me, "This is a very nice place. Are you sure this is just a dinner?"

Not wanting to give anything away, I simply said yes. After we were seated and ordered our food, I took Colton's hand in mine while taking the ring box out of my pocket under the table.

"Colton, I love you more than words can ever describe." I brought the box into view. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I flipped the box open, "Will you marry me?"

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