บท 59: May-December | Chapter Twenty-nine
"K-Kyle..." Chaska's voice was shaking, and so were his hands. It didn't matter that he has a jacket on now, his whole body was suffering from spasms of shivers as his mind tried to process what was happening. "I l-love y-you," he managed when his mind couldn't come up with anything else.
"Is that a yes?" Kyle asked, and the man nodded, covering his face with his hands.
He wanted Kyle to go for the best. He didn't feel he was the best, but he would let himself be selfish this one time. He wanted to be happy, and Kyle was handing him that happiness on a silver plate. He couldn't refuse.
Kyle got up from his knee before moving to pull Chaska's hands away from his face. The younger man sniffled, watching as Kyle slipped a ring on his finger.
"It's not a lot..." Kyle trailed when Chaska raised his hand to examine the ring under the light coming from the bungalow.
"I love it," Chaska said with a sniffle as he looked at the simple silver band. "When did you get it?"
"I was saving up, so I took a few remote jobs out of town," Kyle said, and Chaska hummed, remembering that.
"Of course, I was saving for the house, but also this," he said, taking hold of Chaska's hand when the young man dropped it from the view of the light. Kyle uses the base of his thumb to rub against the smooth surface.
He smiled, letting out a small sight. "Gosh, you're quite the jealous type," Kyle said. He wasn't being serious. He was just teasing Chaska, and Chaska knew it. The younger man's face grew warm as Kyle brought the dark-haired man's hand to his lips to kiss his fingers.
"I love you so much," Kyle said, letting go of the man's hand. "More than you could ever imagine."
Chaska gulped, feeling his chest flutter again.
"Come on, let's go inside," Kyle said, reaching out to take hold of Chaska's hand before leading him back into the bungalow. Kyle's mother and Anastasia were sitting on the living room sofa. Otis was on his mother's lap, but he waved and grinned when he saw his father and Chaska approach them.
"It's done," Kyle said, surprising Chaska by raising the young man's hand to show off the ring. The women clapped, smiling and they nodded in approval. It seemed the two had both been in on what Kyle has planned to do. It made sense. The man did take a while to come back outside.
"Congratulations," Anastasia said, giving Chaska a big smile.
"Thank you," the man muttered before looking away. Feeling bad for how he had behaved at dinner.
"Daddy's marrying Chaska," the young boy said, getting off his mother's lap before heading to tug at Chaska's hand. "So, you're going to be my mummy too?" the young boy asked, making a common logical error.
"No, your daddy, I'm still your mummy," Anastasia said, making the toddler turn to look at her. They shared the same expression, and lips, but aside from that Chaska felt they looked nothing alike. Otis looked more like Kyle.
"But what about daddy?" he asked, turning away from his mother to look at Kyle. He has a frown on his face and was obviously confused by the dynamic.
"I'm still your daddy too," Kyle said, moving to pick Otis up from the floor. "You'll have two dads and one mum," he said, looking at Chaska from the corner of his eye. The younger man's face heated up. Kyle remembered how much he wanted Otis to see him as a parent, and he was taking the initiative to explain it to his son.
"Two daddies!" the boy said, clapping his hands. That seemed to be enough to clear his confusion.
"I'm going to tell Wendy," he said, dropping a random name of a girl from daycare. Chaska was amused. It seemed like the young boy thought of it as having one extra dad, rather than seeing it as replacing his dad with someone else.
Everyone settled down in the living room after a while. They watched a Christmas movie while sharing wine and juice. Most people in town went for a Christmas night service, but Kyle's mother had backed away when it came to that noting the reaction her son and his partner got—ranging from lukewarm to terrible. It wasn't so bad. She would choose to spend Christmas with family over spending it with other old church ladies any day.
"We're going to leave cookies out for Santa," Otis grandmother said as her grandson followed her about. It was almost twelve at night on Christmas Eve. Anastasia wouldn't be sleeping over and would leave in the next few hours to continue on her trip.
"Thank you for having me," she told everyone as she made to hug Kyle's mother, Kyle himself, and then Otis. The boy didn't cry. His mother promised to start calling often, and she handed him the quick present she had put together for him.
As the boy wrestled with the gift wrapping with his father and grandmother, Anastasia looked over at Chaska.
"Can I speak to you in private for a bit?" she asked, and the young man looked down at the floor before nodding his head. He followed her out into the porch, and the two of them stood by the wall in silence for a good minute before Anastasia started talking.
"Thank you for taking care of Kyle and Otis," Anastasia said, and Chaska just looked down at the snow on the floor, not sure how to answer to that.
"When I first met Kyle, I knew that I was going to love him," she said, letting out a small laugh. "He was so goal-focused. He knew what he wanted, and he went for it. I loved that about him," she continued.
"It was hard to find a person that knew what he wanted and chased after it. That's why none of the men at my university appealed to me, so I went after him." She paused talking and let herself look out into the streets. Chaska did the same, noticing that snow was coming down in a light drizzle again, and some of it was getting on the railings of the porch and the floor.
"But," she started, "he let it consume him and he wasn't paying attention to anything else in life. He didn't have a life. He had a job and that was it."
Anastasia paused for a bit, not saying anything else for a while. "Thank you for making him care about other things—normal social human things like family and happiness."
"I'm a bit frustrated that I couldn't be the one to teach him those things," she went on, fishing out a case of lip balm from her pocket. Chaska had seen the brief disappointment that flashed in her eyes, but she was quick to replace it with a smile. "But I guess staying in town is the best option for him," she added before applying some balm to her lips.
"Do you want some?" she asked, showing Chaska the tin. The young man shook his head, and Anastasia nodded, putting the case away before rubbing her hands together. She was a bit tan, so you could see the dryness from the cold on her skin.
"About Otis," she started. "Can I have your number so that I can call often? I want to keep in touch. It's great that his dad pays attention to him now, but it doesn't mean I get off the hook."
"Sure," Chaska said, watching the woman smile before she pulled out her phone to take his number. When they were done talking the two went back inside, and not long after that Anastasia decided that it was time to leave. Kyle's mother, Chaska, and Kyle himself waved her off as she drove away in the darkness of the early hours of the morning.
They all went back inside when the lights from her car could no longer be seen in the distance. They had to clean up the living room. There were biscuit crumbs about, and Otis has left the wrapping paper from his mother's gift on the floor.
"What did she get him?" Chaska asked as he trashed the blue wrapping paper.
"A card and two storybooks," Kyle answered, looking up from the center table he had just wiped clean. Otis wasn't going to get the presents they got him until later in the day. "He's going to like the rocking horse if that's what you're worried about," Kyle said and Chaska looked away, a bit embarrassed that he was that easy to read.
When the living room was clean everyone retired for the night. Kyle had to wrestle Otis for his new storybook, and he had to quickly comfort the boy when he started crying.
"You'll read it tomorrow," Chaska promised, bopping the boy's button nose as he walked behind Kyle who was leading the way to the attic room they shared.
The room was cold, and the light bulb was flickering, but it was okay. They had each other—all cuddled up under the duvet on the queen-sized bed. Kyle kept stroking the silver band on Chaska's finger without saying anything. There was a hint of a smile on his face, and a touch of red on his pale cheeks.
"I was so nervous..." he whispered, leaning in close so that Chaska could hear him. "I felt like my stomach was sinking. I was scared you would say no..." he trailed, and Chaska just smiled, reaching to touch the man's face before lowering his hand to steady Otis who was using them as pretend crawl boards.
Kyle and Otis slept fast, but Chaska couldn't sleep. He kept watching the boy and his father with attention, afraid that if he shut his eyes even for a bit he would wake up from his dream—lose this new family that he'd been fortunate to stumble into.
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