Brian: Taking Courage - 37. Not an end but a beginning

“What’s the letter, anything important?”

Brian smirked and handed it to Gordon. The two were having a nice quiet evening at home as Toby was staying with his Grandmother, in theory to give them time to sort out after the holiday. But in reality, they were simply enjoying the rare time of being together, alone.

The letter was very official looking, on the sort of heavy paper that no-one ever used nowadays. It was from Brian’s solicitor, not saying anything new but simply providing official confirmation.

“Fuck, so it’s official.”

Brian pulled a face, “Not sure whether to be pleased or annoyed.”

“Well, it doesn’t say anything we didn’t know already, just confirms everything the solicitor said.”

“So, we have it in writing”, then he kissed Gordon and smiled, “we’re officially a family, with Toby living with us.”

“And”, Gordon grinned, “I was doing some sums.”

“So that’s what all the noise was, the gears grinding.”

“Cheek. Seriously, the accounting software has a budgeting feature, and I fed in the new figures. Two salaries, no mortgage, no money to Deirdre. Even allowing for the sheer expense of keeping the young lad in food and clothes, we’re not doing badly and could afford to treat ourselves a bit.”

“You sure?”

“Well, we have a few expenses to come, but they come under the fun things.”

“Like?”

Gordon rolled his eyes, “Well, the little matter of a wedding to plan and pay for, plus a certain young man turns 14, we’ll need to do something for that.”

Brian nodded, “And he’s going to need some new clothes.”

“I thought you’d sorted him out for the new school term?”

“Yep. But there’s not just the wedding, there’s the event at the Wetland Centre, the kids take-over thing where he’s going to be speaking. I bet he won’t want to wear his school uniform to either of them and he’s not bloody going in t-shirt and jeans.”

“Listen to yourself”, the two laughed. “But they are lovely problems to have.”

“True. And Russ?”

“I reckon we both like having him around. The sex spices things up, and he and Toby get on. Let it run and see what happens.”

“Fair enough. And now, being as we have the evening to ourselves…”

---

Toby was toying with the last of the cake, his Grandmother had made a lemon drizzle cake, one that he always enjoyed. Cake finished, he would go into the garden for a bit, whilst his Gran prepared their dinner. He wanted to check up on how his Gran’s plants were doing and see if he could spot any interesting bugs whilst it was still light.

But there was something he wanted to ask her first. Toby was nervous, partly because his Mum was always a sore topic, but his Grandmother knew all sorts of people, and often had news that his Dad never did. But Toby was also nervous about what he was going to hear, perhaps it would be better not to know.

He finished the cake, before his Gran could tell him off for playing with his food, took a big gulp and asked, “Do you reckon that Mum’s gone for good?”

Denise stopped her tidying and stared at her grandson; a bit taken aback. “I don’t rightly know and to be honest, I don’t reckon your Mum knows either.”

“She’s trying it out.”

“Something like that. Folk often get notions in their head, like moving abroad and nonsense, but when they do it they discover it’s not up to scratch.”

“So, she might not like it.”

Denise shrugged, “Who knows, or that man of hers might get itchy feet again. Why, you worried she’s not going to be around?”

“It would be nice to see her, sometimes.”

Denise laughed, “Don’t you worry, I think we’ll see her. She’ll have the house to worry about as well as you.”

“But I thought she was renting it out.”

Denise snorted, “Bit more complicated than that, love, renting. For a start, yon friend that’s having it is only there for a bit and”, she sat down and put her arm around his shoulders, “houses take a bit of looking after. I’ll say this for her, your Mum is very, very particular.”

“About the house?”, Toby laughed.

“So, she’ll be back to keep her eye on it, and you”, she smiled at him. “Not regular like, I don’t think your Mum’s good on regular.”

“But she’ll come back sometimes.”

“That’s it. And not having her around every day might be a bit calmer, like.”

“Mmm.”

“Now, you scoot off, these pork chops won’t cook themselves.”

Toby was thoughtful as he went into the garden, but he thought his Grandmother was right. Denise, for her part, was kicking herself that she’d not seen this coming, and she hoped that Deirdre did make good on what Denise had promised.

Over dinner, Toby told his Grandmother more about their holiday, and inevitably Russ came up a few times.

“Your Dad and Gordon see much of this Russ, then.”

“Not that much. Dad explained that he’s busy, with work, so it’s only sometimes. But we’re going over to see his flat near the Cathedral on Saturday. My friend Noah is coming with us because he’s sleeping over, as he’s got too old for the work experience at Dad’s firm, so I won’t see him there.”

“My, a flat near the Cathedral.”

Toby grinned, “With terrific views, Mr Russ says. Dad and Gordon have seen it because they stayed there after the party thing they did for Mr Russ. With their work.”

“Stayed there, did they?”

“It’s nice that they have fun with Mr Russ, and I like him too. He talks to you properly, like Noel from the Wetland Centre, and is interested in everything. When he came to stay in France for a few days it was ace”, Toby gave a grin, “as I got to take him around and show him what we’d discovered, then we had barbeques in the evening.”

They continued to talk some more, Toby not revealing anything particular, but there was an underlying theme to what he was saying that became clear to Denise. That her son and his boyfriend were having a bit of fun, including by the sound of it sharing a bed, with this Russ who seemed to have effortlessly charmed not only Brian and Gordon, but Toby and Gordon’s parents. She didn’t know whether to be shocked or amused. It certainly wasn’t like the old Brian, and that was definitely a good thing.

Dinner over, there was pudding, of course, and as Toby tucked into his apple pie and custard, he commented to his Grandmother that now he was living permanently with his Dad and Gordon it was nice, because it meant that they were a real family. And with the wedding coming up, things were just perfect.

Denise smiled and had to agree. Meeting Gordon had wrought a remarkable change in her son, or perhaps the change had been happening anyway. That he had shaken Deidre off and found someone else was always going to be a good thing, but that that this new relationship was developing into something seriously long term was, frankly, just a bonus. She still had to remind herself, sometimes, that her son was living with another man and certainly she knew some of her acquaintances were bone-headed enough to mutter about it. But you only had to look at the three of them.

She wondered whether she ought to be worried about either Brian or Gordon having their head turned by this Russ Kahn bloke. At the moment, however, they seemed comfortable. She only had to think of the various marriages that she’d come across that survived long term despite one or other (or both) partners having regular outside entertainment. It wasn’t something that ever appealed to her or her husband, but some folk…

All Brian and Gordon were doing was being a bit more open about it and doing it together. If it threatened Toby’s well-being she’d have something to say about it, but so far this Russ seemed to have a positive effect on Toby too.

The only fly in the ointment was Deirdre, and frankly her current absence was the best of bad job. As long as Toby got to see his Mum occasionally. Deirdre’s contacting her had been a bit of a surprise, but Denise hoped that that represented a cautious line of communications. They’d never be close, and Deirdre had the selfish streak to her, but in her way she still worried about her son. A work in progress then.