WATCHING BRAD
Part 146
That Tuesday morning marked the beginning of the end for us. Well, the beginning of the end of our lives as single men, at least. In twelve days, I would be marrying Brad, and he would be marrying me. The next eleven days would be very busy days indeed. When we weren't busy working or busy being a family, we were busy making last-minute preparations for our wedding day and I was busy finalizing the reservations and making certain we had everything we would need for our honeymoon.
I shall be honest with you, and I shall apologize in advance for my accounts of the days which followed that Tuesday. Much of what happened in those few final days is lost to me - lost in a haze of activity - and my memories are not particularly clear. Suffice it to say that those last days before the wedding were very busy for us. I will tell you, though, that Cali and Mags - and especially Mags - were invaluable to us during those days. That I remember very well. Until recently, they were not even certain that they would be able to attend our wedding, and, if they
could attend, I was asked not to even mention them in this story. However, following the wrap-up of Cali's ex-husband's trial and her securing permanent and sole custody of their son, they were able to become involved once more, and they didn't have to do it secretly.
Mags more or less took over Warren and Bill's roles as Best Men since they really couldn't be available for us to do all the things a Best Man usually does for the groom. She did all the little things for us - little, but very necessary. When Cali could help, she did.
Equally invaluable was Terry. She almost became a permanent fixture at our house, arriving earlier in the morning to help with the children and staying until after Lindsay was in bed. She seemed always to be there when we needed her.
Warren became more and more excited as each day passed and he phoned me almost every day to remind me of this or that. I don't remember him being that nervous at his own wedding.
And so, the preparations progressed. Gifts and guests were tended to, meals were prepared for the impromptu gatherings, final fittings were completed without distress, and suits and rings and other fine things were picked up and brought to our house by people who seemed very willing and anxious to help us.
As I said, I won't go into details about those final preparations. Any attempt to give you an account of them would be an effort in futility for me and a bigger and more tedious effort for you. Just know that it happened.
And so, the beginning of the end began very early that Tuesday morning on the fourth day of July with Brad finding me standing naked in front of the full-length mirror on our closet door.
I don't remember the dream that awakened me, but a quick glance at the bedside alarm clock told me that it would not sound for almost another hour or so. I lay in bed beside Brad for awhile, my mind going over the conversation I'd had with Brook the day before. My biggest problem was that I couldn't understand why Brad loved me the way he did, and my biggest fear was that he would stop loving me if he found someone else with a lot more to offer. Brook had said what a lot of people had told me before, but call me stubborn and obstinate. I couldn't make myself believe any of it.
As dawn peeked in the window, slipping through the tiny slit between the curtains, I slid silently and carefully out of bed and opened the curtains enough to let enough of the sunlight to pass through so that the room wasn't in total darkness. The sun hadn't risen above the horizon yet, but the sky was light enough brighten the room in a soft, wispy glow. Still naked, I walked to the mirror on the closet door, standing there for a long time, looking at myself, and trying to see what everyone else was seeing.
I'm certainly not what I would consider ugly, but I'm no vision of loveliness, either. I mean, when I compare myself to Brad or Brook or Barry, or even Nathan for that matter, I look like a pile of shit, but, on my own, away from the stunning beauty of the three B's, I'm okay. But I'm not someone who would really give anyone cause to give me a second glance if they passed me on the street.
My hair was still black and naturally curly, although I had already secretly plucked several greys before anyone noticed them. I couldn't do anything about the curls short of shaving my head entirely and wearing a wig. It had always been curly. Personally, I liked the curls even though they looked a little silly on a guy my age. I didn't dare let my hair grow long. That was one regret I always had when I was younger. I grew it out one time and it stayed long only until the day some guy called me Shirley Temple.
My body certainly isn't something to write home about. I suppose I'm more slim than I am skinny, like Brook had said. I mean, it's not like you can play
Tico Tico on my ribs or anything. They're not poking through my skin, but there's certainly no definition there. My pectorals were virtually non-existent. Whereas Brad had half-coconuts, mine more like shrivelled up, empty orange peels. My belly was a bit rounded from the lack of exercise, but, for the most part, most of my chest was disguised by the hair. Mind you, it's not like I'm doing a Chewbaca thing. It's not a solid mat of hair. I've got more of a throw rug thing going on. Truth be told, it was really the only part of me that made me feel manly.
The love handles, on the other hand, were a different thing. Brad's love handles were a natural result of his mesomorphic shape, and they suited him. They were solid. Mine were squeezably soft. Again, the lack of exercise had grown them, and it would take more exercise than I could afford to convince them to go away.
Lower down and more centrally located, my groin was something else which wouldn't garner much attention. I was average and adequate - at least as far as making babies was concerned. As a sexual object, it certainly wasn't anything I would brag about. After enjoying Brad's endowment and being able to take it entirely, I would be sorely disappointed with me if I were him. I had always imagined Brad as being stuck with having to pretend that he was actually enjoying making love with a body like mine.
I suppose my best asset was my butt. It's not huge or full or round like Brad's or Barry's, but at least it has some padding to it and I don't sit on skin-covered bones. And it doesn't sag. . . yet.
Nope. Try as I might, I couldn't see one single thing in that reflection which would make Brad fall in love with. Whereas Brad was worthy of a statue in the Louvre, I was more suited to being in a photograph for an advertisement in an exercise magazine, and I would be the guy getting sand kicked in my face.
As I stood there staring at myself in the mirror, I felt Brad step up behind me, pressing the front of his body against my back and wrapping his arms around my chest. He startled me, actually. I hadn't even heard him getting out of bed. His body felt warm and comforting, and his morning hardon was pinned between my back and his stomach. He hugged me and kissed my neck, then rested his chin on my shoulder and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
"What'cha doin', Pops?" he asked. He was smiling and sounded far too cheerful for so early in the morning.
I caught his gaze in the mirror for a long moment before returning it to my own reflection, but I said nothing. Brad's hand began to stray, rubbing itself over my chest and my stomach, then down further to take my cock into his palm. Despite my sour and confused mood, I reacted to his touch and it began to spring to life. He lazily stroked me as I watched in the mirror, and then his hand suddenly froze. I looked into his face. It had turned very serious.
"I know what you're doing, Ted," he said softly. "You're still trying to figure out why I love you, aren't you?"
In response, I stepped to my left, forcing Brad to release me. As his hands slipped away from me, I stepped back and stood beside him. His cock stood straight out from his body now, aimed slightly upward. I forced myself to keep my eyes from looking at it and stared at his face in the mirror. "Look at me, Brad."
He looked into my reflected eyes, smiled, and blew me a kiss.
"Get serious, Brad. Look at me. Look at my face. My chest. My crotch." I watched his eyes move as he looked where I directed him. "Now, look take a good look at yourself." He did. With my open hand, I indicated my own reflection, then Brad's, as I said, "How could you be happy with this when you could have that?"
Brad sighed deeply, his incredible chest swelling even further and becoming even more magnificent, and then he let out his breath again and turned toward me, putting his hands on my shoulders and turning me around to face him.
"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Theodore de Villiers, because I'm never going to tell you this again." His marvelous green eyes stared up slightly into mine, commanding my attention and receiving it. He did not blink. "Do you want to know what I see when I look at myself? I see a grotesqueness that scares me."
"You're not. . ."
His arms pressed down on my shoulders in warning. "Stop, Ted," he ordered. "Just stop and listen to me."
I obediently shut up.
"I look at myself and I see something that should send you running for the hills. If our positions were reversed, that's exactly what I would be doing. My cock scares the shit out of me. I can only imagine how scared
you must be. I don't understand how you could torture yourself by handling me the way you do. I don't understand why you love me any more than you don't understand why I love you. I don't know why you're not terrified of me.
"What you see of yourself in the mirror isn't what I see," he continued. "You don't know how much I wish I was more like you. I told you on the day we met that I hated being thought of as a cock with a man attached to it. That I wanted people to think of me as Bradley Hayes first and foremost. You did that, Ted. You fell in love with
me and not my cock. I became a man first. And do you remember what you did for me when you fell in love with me? You made a dream come true for me. Remember Niagara Falls? Remember the toys you bought so you could work yourself up to me? That's real love, Ted. You loved me enough to put yourself through the pain and torture of preparing to take me. You put yourself through misery just to make me happy. Believe me, Ted, if our positions were reversed, I honestly believe I wouldn't have had the guts to do what you do."
Brad's face softened then and he smiled a small smile. "When I look at you, I see a man who loves me. A man who will do anything to make me happy. I don't see your age or your body. I see the whole man, and that man is the most beautiful thing in the world to me. I love you, Ted. I love your age and I love your body. I love your moustache and your hairy chest. I even love your love handles. I love everything about you, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. To me, everything is perfect. Sure, I could have Barry or Brook or a lot of other guys, but I don't want them. They don't love me for being me. Only you do that."
His hand slid down my chest once more to grasp my cock. He stepped back a bit so he could look down at it as he massaged it gently with his strong fingers. "Most of all, though," he said as his eyes raised again to find mine, "I love this, and do you know why?"
I shook my head.
"Because, of all the billions of people in the world, you don't want to give it to anyone else but me. And you're the person in the entire world who can make me cum just by letting me do this."
Brad dropped to his knees and sucked my cock into his mouth and proceeded to give me the most incredible, the most mind-blowing blowjob I'd ever received in my life. As he did so, he held onto me with both hands, and when I came, so did Brad, without once touching himself. He needed both hands just to keep me on my feet.
When he was finished, when he'd drained me completely, he let my soft cock slip from his lips and rose to stand before me once more.
He lifted his arms, letting them fall onto my shoulders where they stayed and he leaned into me, pressing his forehead against mine and looking into my eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was very soft and very sincere and it brought all of my emotions into my throat where they lodged into a gigantic lump, despite all of my efforts to swallow them back down.
"I don't know why I love you, Ted. I only know that I do. I'm happier here with you than anywhere else I've ever been, and I don't ever want to be anywhere else unless you're there with me. I told you before, Ted. I'm in this for the long haul. This is where I want to be. This is where I belong."
His arms slid on over my shoulders to my back and he hugged me to him, holding me close to his body and burying his face in the nape of my neck. I lost myself in those arms and hugged him back, rubbing my cheek against his hair.
"This is where I want to be, Pops," he repeated tenderly. "Here in your arms forever."
After a moment, I said just as quietly and tenderly, "This is where I want you, Tiger."
On the other side of the room, the radio alarm clicked on. It was six-thirty and the clock was telling us with its music that life needed us again.
* * * * *
I still recall the day Brad and I had sat down with Mark to tell him that I had to cut back on his hours doing housework for us. I recall that he had misunderstood me and had started to cry. He thought I was firing him.
"No, Mark," I quickly said, trying to reassure him. "I'm not firing you. Money is tight for me right now, that's all. I can't afford to pay you for three days' work anymore. I still want you to come here, but I can only pay you for one day a week instead of three."
"You mean I still have my job?" he asked, suddenly hopeful.
"If you still want it."
Mark is such a sweet boy. He jumped out of his chair, all happy grins, and gave me a big hug. "Thank you, Mr. Dee."
Brad had got a similar hug from Mark a few days later when he had asked Mark if he would like to help him do the garden at Mom and Dad's new house. Mark jumped at the chance even though Brad told him that he couldn't afford to pay him much, either. But, if he did well, Brad would hire him for the next job as well and make certain he was paid properly.
Of course, Brad had cleared the entire thing with Mark's parents as well. Brad had recounted the entire episode to me when he came back home. Apparently, Mark had pleaded Brad's case for him, eagerly showing his parent photos of Bernice's new garden which Mark had helped create, and Lindsay's garden which Mark hadn't helped with. "Brad lifted all the heavy junk for me, but he let me let me plant all these flowers," Mark had told his parents as he pointed at the picture. "He's a good teacher. I like him."
Mark's parents had relented. "It will give him something to do for the Summer," Mark's mother had told Brad. "Otherwise, he'd be sitting at home all day playing his video games. If he can get some training in a real career and make a few dollars at it, we have no objections. As long as you don't take advantage of him."
Brad had told me he had laughed at that statement and had reminded Mark's parents that it was difficult enough keeping Mark from taking advantage of
him. Mark was anxious to learn
everything and wanted to do even more than he was asked to do. Brad would have a hard enough time trying to keep Mark from doing everything by himself.
And so it was, on that Tuesday morning, that Brad climbed into his new truck as the twins and I and Lindsay and Terry watched from our front step. We waved goodbye to him as he drove off to go pick up Mark for his first day of work.
With Brad gone and the house locked up, I buckled the twins into their car seats. They were dressed in their new birthday soccer gear and were giddy with excitement, giggling and clapping their hands as I snapped the clasps together. Lindsay was a vision in pink - pink running shorts, pink T-shirt with a white unicorn emblazoned on the chest, pink sneakers, and even pink socks. She climbed into the passenger seat of my car as Terry got behind the wheel. She would drive my car to the soccer camp. I would drive the van.
Justin was quite capable of running now. His feet were virtually healed, but his brother's foot was still rather tender and still Jeremy favoured his heel even when he walked. Not only had the gash on his heel been long and wide, but it had also been rather deep. More damage had been done than could be seen by the eye. I suspect Justin's limps were more in sympathy for his brother. With the bond they shared, it wouldn't surprise me at all that the pain Justin felt in his foot was real, even though it was his brother's pain.
Nonetheless, I made a note to myself to call my doctor from work to set up an appointment. I had to know that nothing had been missed by the doctors in the hospital.
We located the soccer camp easily enough and soon had Lindsay off with her group. I found the leaders of the group for the younger kids - the group in which the twins had been placed - and explained their injuries to the trainers. Both were in their teens. I guessed the girl to be perhaps seventeen or eighteen. The boy looked no older than fifteen. At my request, the boy ran off to bring his supervisor to speak with me as well. I set the twins on the ground and each stood beside me, one on each side, and each with one arm wrapped around a leg.
The supervisor turned out to be a young man in his very early twenties. He greeted the twins with a wide, bright grin and a handshake. I explained the twins' situation again and asked if it would be prudent to let them begin the camp.
Geoff, the supervisor, looked at the twins and said, "Are these the boys I read about in the paper last week?"
"Probably," I told him quickly, wanting to avoid any mention of their ordeal. "They still have a bit of heeling to do before they can get into some serious running and playing."
Geoff smiled his bright, pleasant smile once more. "That shouldn't be a problem. The first week is basically just learning soccer rules and learning how to kick and handle the ball. We'll keep an eye on them, though, and they can sit out on anything they can't do right now." He looked down at the twins again. "You can do that, can't you?"
The twins nodded, then reached out to take Geoff by the hand when he held them out to them.
"Come on, then," Geoff said lightly. "Let's go play some soccer."
The boys turned their heads as they walked away, smiling their happy, excited smiles at me and calling out, "Bye, Daddy!"
I stayed with Terry for an hour, watching the boys to make sure they would be okay. They appeared to be handling it with very little problem and seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. I waved ‘goodbye' to them and left Terry there to watch them and take them home at noon. She would come back to pick up Lindsay at four. I climbed into my car and drove to work.
The newspaper was sitting on my desk when I got there, opened to the
City Showcase page. Near the top, just beneath the bold-lettered headline, was a photo. The caption beneath the photo read: "Life is a carnival for birthday twins, seen here with their adopted family. L-R Justin sitting astride Jack; father Ted de Villiers; sister Lindsay; Bradley Hayes; Jeremy riding Star." The twins, of course, were each seated on one of the Baldwin's ponies.
Two other photos of our front yards were placed amongst the text beneath:
LOCAL TWINS CELEBRATE BIRTHDAY
IN FINE STYLE
Last week, this newspaper reported the disappearance, search for, and ultimate rescue of 4-year- old twins, Justin and Jeremy de Villiers. (
Police Beat, Tuesday, June 27.) Today, this reporter is pleased to relate that the boys are well on their way to recovery and celebrated their 5th birthday in fine style this past Saturday on Canada Day.
Adopted less than two months ago, the boys arrived home following an overnight trip to Toronto with their father, Ted de Villiers and his partner, Bradley Hayes, to find that their front yard, including the next-door yard of their grandparents, John and Bernice Hayes, had been turned into a birthday carnival complete with inflated jumping cages, slides, obstacle courses, clowns, face painter, pony rides, and even cotton candy.
Sister, Lindsay, explains: "My Dad asked me to make a birthday party for my brothers, so I made something that everyone could have fun with, too."
The carnival party was open to the public and was attended by a number of citizens who voluntarily payed a donation entry fee. All proceeds from the gates were gratefully accepted by CAS workers Ron Sparks and Nancy Stillman.
"Thanks to these wonderful people," Mr. Sparks said, "we will be able to buy a lot of new toys and books and clothes for the children under our care."
All profits from the refreshment booths and games were handed over to Mr. Sparks, and the carnival clowns and face painters and caricature artists also donated a portion of their earnings and tips to CAS. Even Andy the Hotdog Guy, a very familiar face around town, donated a large portion of his profits as well.
"When all was said and done," Miss Stillman told this reporter, "we gathered $2,462.78 at the gate. The other donations and profits brought the total to just over $4,706. The Children's Aid Society would like to thank everyone who helped to make this event such an incredible success, but, most of all, we would like to thank the person who made it all happen - Lindsay de Villiers."
"When my brothers came to live with us," Lindsay explained, "they didn't have anything. They never
had anything, even a Mommy or Daddy. I wanted Nancy (Miss Stillman) to have the money to buy things for the kids who needed stuff."
The twins had been in foster care, under the supervision of CAS, for almost two years before being taken in and adopted by Mr. de Villiers. "Their lives had been very chaotic and extremely traumatic before I met them," Mr. de Villiers told this reporter. "They hadn't said a word to anyone in almost 2 years. I wasn't even certain I wanted to adopt a child until I saw them and played with them. There was a connection there that I couldn't ignore. I knew I'd made the right decision when they said their first words in two years to me."
When asked if he remembered those words, Mr. de Villiers replied, "Of course I do. Justin said, ‘Are you our new Daddy?' How could anyone forget something like that? How could anyone say ‘No'?"
Mr. de Villiers, who is to be married to his partner, Mr. Hayes, in less than 2 weeks, renovated his study last November in order to give the boys their own bedroom.
"It's blue," said Justin, the elder of the twins. His brother, Jeremy, was too shy to comment, but he nodded his agreement that it was blue.
When asked how the adoption had changed his life, Mr. de Villiers responded, "Oh, it's changed more than I would ever have thought it would. My daughter now has two brothers and the boys finally have a family that loves them very much. Having my own child is the best thing that's ever happened to me. The only thing that comes even close to that is adopting two more that nobody else wanted. My life was complete when I had Lindsay. Now it's complete three times over. Four times if you count Brad."
Mr. de Villiers explained what effect his relationship with Mr. Hayes had on the adoption. "If anything, our relationship encouraged it. The boys had grown up in a gay household. They didn't understand it, of course, but it was the only family they knew. In fact, one of their biggest problems was that they couldn't seem to make any emotional connections with females and shied away from them. They were quite comfortable being in a home comprised mainly of two father figures. They have plenty of mother figures around them now, though."
"Daddy was always our Daddy," Justin told this reporter. "He was just losted."
"But we founded him," his brother, Jeremy, added.
"The only people I love as much as my Mom and Dad," Mr. Hayes commented, "are Ted and the kids, and they all love me back. How could I be worried about marrying into a family like this?"
When asked how his sons were handling their birthday carnival celebrations, Mr. de Villiers replied, "I found out (Saturday morning) that they'd never had a birthday party before. I couldn't be more pleased or proud of my daughter for coming up with a party like this. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy having a carnival in their front yard for their birthday?"
Life is, indeed, a carnival for the de Villiers family. Seldom has this reporter enjoyed spending an afternoon at work. Young Miss de Villiers certainly created a sensation when she came up with this idea for a birthday party for her new brothers. Not only did she bring a lot of joy to a lot of people's hearts, but she brought a windfall to the Children's Aid Society as well.
Both twins, Justin and Jeremy, eagerly and energetically responded when they were asked their favourite part of their birthday.
"The
ponies!!" they shouted.
After meeting this wonderful family and spending time with them, this reporter wishes them a future filled with nothing but carnivals and pony rides.
To Be Continued
