We Are NOT Alone

At almost the exact same time, Angel had awakened Josh and delivered to him the same breakfast in bed. She had missed the rehearsal dinner due to an unexpected incident at the shelter, but it all worked out because she was able to bring them fresh bagels from their favorite bagel place. “Joshua, sweet boy, it’s your big day,” she said knocking on the door but not waiting to be invited in. Josh wasn’t there, he had been up for a while and was presently wrapped in a towel and tweezing his eyebrows. Angel put the tray down and hurried over to help him. “Let me do that, you’ll mess everything up.” She sat him down on the stool and then plucked around a bit. “Not sure what is causing this, but you’ve got a few eyebrow hairs with minds of their own. This one is going his own way, and that one is curling. Gone, be gone.” She plucked a few more and then turned him to the mirror. “Perfection. That Peter is one lucky man. How’d he ever score you again? He’s lucky I didn’t find you and turn you straight first.” Josh giggled from head to toe.

“What did you bring me for breakfast?” He stood up catching part of the towel on the stool causing it to start to fall off. He grabbed it quickly avoiding an unforgivable wardrobe malfunction.

“Don’t mind me. I don’t think you have anything I haven’t seen before, Joshua. I have six brothers.” She only called him that when she was flirting.

“Calm down, girlfriend.” He flashed her a little thigh to keep her happy. Then he walked over to the tray and looked at the delectable breakfast. “You or Muriel?”

“Unh uh, you didn’t.”

“You can barely boil water by your own admission.”

“Ok, you know it. Well, I did bring you your favorite bagels, so that has to be worth something.” Josh thought about it and realized these were actually more Peter’s favorite than his, but he elected wisely not to say anything about that. He took a bite.

“Peanut butter and bacon? No way.”

“Yes, I ordered them just for you. I know you don’t like these as much as Peter, but I figured this small change in their recipe might win you over for life.” Josh grabbed and hugged her hugely.

“Angel, you are!”

“I know. My mama named me in the womb.” Josh never tired of that joke. He sat down and started nibbling on the various delicacies. “Sweet cheeks, you know you don’t have that much time. You’ve got an hour before the photographer needs to start taking the ‘before’ pictures.”

“Yeah, I know. Why do you think I’m already up and ready? Eyebrows were the last touch. I just need to get dressed. I bet Peter is just waking up over there.”

“According to the text I just received from M., you are right.”

“He has a knack for pulling things off last minute that I do not.”

“Yes, that’s a rare gift. When I try that it’s like asking for a certified disaster. In fact, I didn’t want to say this, but I was pretty sure this forever partnering ceremony was never going to come together in such a short time. Most people I know plan this thing out for more than a year.”

“Didn’t think it was going to happen, huh?” Josh got up and squeezed her from behind. “Well, we fooled you!” She laughed. He reached to retighten his towel and then walked over to the mirror again. “Do you think I’m getting fat?” He rubbed his stomach.

“No sweet cheeks, you have a long, long, long way to becoming fat. You look amazing.”

“But my stomach, I think it’s bulging a little bit.”

“Ha!” She continued, “I see what you mean. It’s a little bit like the beginnings of a baby bump!” She bent over laughing so hard now she almost choked on the bite of bagel she borrowed.

“Stop it, don’t choke to death on my forever partnering ceremony day. That’s not how I want to remember you.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Me neither.” She took a sip from his glass of passion fruit juice to calm her throat down. “That passion fruit juice. Who thought of that? It’s divine.”

Josh took the glass and a sip. “Yes, my two favorites, you and passion fruit.”

“What happened to bacon and peanut butter?”

“My four favorites.” Josh giggled and stuffed the rest of the bagel in his mouth savoring every bite. “Ok, you can go now. I’m going to get dressed.”

“You still going with your half-tuxedo plan?”

“Of course.”

“It’s not too late to change your mind. I had them put traditional pants in with the jackets just in case. I mean this is a high society affair with Peter’s parents and M.’s house, and you and Peter being rated like the most inspirational up-and-coming couple in so-Cal by what’s it magazine and all that.”

“No way. This is my dream forever partnering ceremony. It’s for me and Peter and no one else. This is how I always pictured it. Did I picture it in Maui, not Palm Springs, yes? But, Palm Springs is still amazing. Palm trees and sand. No ocean, but that’s a small detail.”

“I don’t think the Pacific Ocean will agree that it’s small.”

“Well, it doesn’t have a say in my forever partnering ceremony plan.”

“Ok, you know I think you are plum crazy, but I don’t have your legs either.” With that Angel picked up the tray knowing that Josh was not going to eat anymore and departed.

On the other side of the house, Peter had just finished his showering and shaving. During both, he realized again how much he preferred to be with Josh for both of these activities and that he missed him very much. He unwrapped the towel cinched around his waist and put on the most stunning pair of board shorts he had ever seen. Angel and Josh had outdone themselves. At first, they appeared to be plain black. Once unfolded, however, there were white stripes down the side seams of each leg, but they were not white exactly more like a silver shimmer that serpentined from pearl white to silver. They were stunning. He put them on and admired himself for a moment before putting on his white shirt, a black vest which they had preferred to the cummerbund, and a black bow tie. The finishing touch was an off-white dinner jacket with notched lapels and black piping to accentuate the lines and provide a classic twist on the usual design. And, yes, of course, they were going to be barefoot. This was Josh’s fantasy forever partnering ceremony attire he dreamed of back when he observed his first forever partnering ceremony held on Laguna Beach and no one was wearing shoes. Josh’s, outfit would be exactly the same only the inverse. This required the customization of some pieces, but they planned to keep them and use them for other formal occasions in the future, so the expense was justified. Angel and the boys had had a mani-pedi party the Thursday before, so their feet were in perfect condition and they had opted to go with a clear coat of nail polish for shine without the worry of any nagging from Peter’s parents despite how suddenly ‘cool’ they were about everything. He stretched a bit and then settled into the outfit. He liked what he saw in the mirror and had to give credit to Josh’s vision. He did look and feel amazing. There was a knock at the door.

“Come in, M.” Peter correctly guessed it was Muriel here to pick up the breakfast tray and make sure he was ready on time. She peeked her head in to see him.

“Peter Palisade, you look positively stunning. If I were thirty years younger…”.

Peter growled like a cougar. “Thank you. You are so sweet. How do you feel about this who statement? You know, surfer shorts and barefoot? It is just too pretentious?”

“I don’t think so at all. It’s drop-dead gorgeous.” Petter grinned and felt a bit self-conscious. He had known he was better than average looking since he was six or seven because people said it all the time. He could not see what they saw until he met Josh, and Josh helped him feel ok about appreciating his good looks. Josh said, “It is not immodest to be good-looking nor for others to appreciate it in you. It’s only immodest if you try and use it for your own gain outside of competitions you could win based on your other qualities.” He liked that. He lived that. “Now go.” Peter walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. “Please, don’t give me heart palpitations,” she said. He chuckled.

“I’ll try not to, but I want you to know how grateful Josh and I are for this. You gave us something out of your own heart without us even asking. It’s very special and we both consider you our second mom.”

“I’m touched! You are both darling and dear to me. I’m very fortunate to have found you two and to play a part in your lives.” She thrust something into his hand and closed it. Put those in your pocket. He followed her instructions without even giving it a second thought. She then gently nudged him out the door.

On the other side of the house, Josh emerged from his room with Angel on his arm to an awaiting entourage of siblings and his parents.

“Oh my gosh, Joshua Tree!” His mother, Lavern rushed over to him first. If you aren’t the most handsome devil I’ve seen since the day I married your father.” She hugged him and smothered him with kisses on his forehead and cheek just like he was three years old. He tolerated it because he loved his mother dearly. Recently, she had survived a terrible bout with breast cancer, and her physicians said that her attitude beat it back not the medications. Recent tests had come back negative. No more cancer.

Josh hugged her in a way that she rarely felt from any of her other children. It was thorough, non-clinical, pure love and adoration. His hugs felt unforced and serene. Next came huge pats on the back from his father, KJ (short for Kurtis, Jr.), and grandfather Kurtis. They both then shook his hand, and then his father hugged him. KJ was an admitted hugger. He liked to hug people and he was a big guy who gave great hugs. When he was younger, he found his father somewhat intimidating, and he certainly came across as, if not homophobic, at least not favorable to the idea. It turned out later, Josh found he had been mistaken. His father was neither, and both of his parents accepted him from the moment he came out. Neither had ever questioned him nor asked if he was sure or wondered where this came from nor blamed themselves for him turning out this way. This way? He was perfect in every way. They loved all five of their children, but everyone in the family agreed that Josh was their favorite. The only natural smiler in a family of frowners, of course, he was the most beloved by all of them, though they each claimed privately not to know why. To any outsider, and Peter himself, it was obvious. Between his giggles and perpetual smile, he was the polar opposite of everyone in his family. They were as nice and supportive as a kid could ever hope to have as kin, but when it came to the effusive effervescence of personality, he was the shining star of the brood. If one did not know better, he might presume Josh must have been adopted. Peter described them first to his parents as being very serious people, driven and focused — which they indeed were. The rest of his siblings, two aunts, a couple of cousins, and his favorite uncle all stepped up to give him praise and warm wishes.

After receiving that welcome, it was time for the individual family photos. First the grooms solos in many different poses and positions, then the groom and his parents, then the groom and grandparents, then add in the siblings, then everyone all together. Their setting was a faux grotto under palm trees and a photo-realistic painting done years ago by some up-and-coming now very famous painter which belonged to the house and could fool the eye into thinking you were truly seeing the ocean and the horizon. Then everyone moved down to take their seats on Josh’s side of the aisle.

The photographer then hurried over to the other side of the house to repeat the procedure with the other groom. As he arrived, he said suddenly, “I just realized, no pictures of the forever partnering ceremony party, I mean the best man/men, etc.?”

Peter replied, “No, Garcia, that’s right. We’re each other’s best man, and we decided to forgo the others as well. There’s also no ring bearer nor flower girl.”

“Got it,” Garcia said. “No judgment just wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. Believe me, I’ve seen it all.”

“But I bet you haven’t seen a barefooted groom this handsome before,” Teagan shouted trying not to seem disapproving and also trying not to seem inebriated which she clearly was. The truth was, had the photographer arrived ten minutes earlier, he could have captured, perhaps, his first-ever photos of the father of the groom separating a mother and a groom from coming to blows at his forever partnering ceremony. As it happened, Teagan, was not as ‘on board’ with everything as she had pretended at dinner when Peter informed his parents that he and Josh were intending to become forever partners. In fact, Peter did not know that the entire evening had been staged from the beginning by Josh.

Believing it to be incredibly important that Peter’s parents got on board with Peter’s life, Josh decided to try and play peacemaker. It was his personality to be in the middle of things, hard things, and work to make them better. So, he arranged to meet with Peter’s parents in secret long before the dinner. There he explained to them that he wanted to propose to Peter, and he had come to them to ask for their blessing. They both said flatly, “No way!” They would never approve, and they thought Peter was too young to be tied down, that he had not had enough experience to even know if he was gay, and so on. They were basically in complete denial. So, Josh thought about it a while and finally, he said, “Look, you can be in denial all you want, but Peter and I are in love. We’ve been in love since high school. You have to know that by now. Short of killing us or being out of our lives forever, you’ve got to accept the facts.” Hogan was the first to come around which kind of surprised Josh. He got a message to meet Hogan at his club and play a round of golf. When Josh arrived dressed and ready to play, Hogan was surprised.

“I didn’t expect to see this,” he said sizing up Josh’s outfit. “You look like a golf pro.”

Josh giggled, and then stood up straight. “I’ve played a time or two before.”

“Great. I’ll make you a little deal.”

Josh was intrigued. “Ok.”

“I’ll give you a three-stroke handicap. If I win, you can still see my son, but this marriage idea you have floating around disappears forever.”

Josh asked, “Ok, what if I win?”

“I may drop dead on this course because I’ve been playing it since I was ten years old, so be prepared with 911 on your speed dial, but no, seriously, I will give you my 100% support and work on my wife for you.”

Josh held out his hand to shake on the deal. Josh could not have asked for a luckier deal in his favor. Apparently, either Peter had never mentioned it to his parents, or Hogan had forgotten that Josh played Division I golf and volleyball in college. He probably could have done well in diving and baseball too, but there was no time. The coaches had decided who needed this gifted natural athlete the most, and he played for the teams as needed. He loved all sports and was good even the first time he tried. So, the two headed out on the course. Not wanting to tip his hand too soon. He kept on par through hole 14, and then he let loose. Much to his surprise, he aced hole 15. Hogan was flabbergasted.

“How did you manage that?” Hogan asked. “It looked like you had your eyes closed when you swung.”

“I have no idea. Beginner’s luck?”

“Must be.” Hogan for his part got a birdie, which for his part was one of his best performances on that hole. Josh got birdies on holes 16, and 17, while Hogan was not so lucky with two consecutive bogies. There was no way for Hogan to win now regardless of the handicap unless he aced the 18th hole which the odds were not in his favor. Getting a hole-in-one, even for a pro, is very unlikely, and with this kind of pressure, he was looking to hit a tree or the pond and he hit both. Josh went for par and won. Hogan walked over to him and shook his hand. “I think you hustled me.”

“Did I? Did I pick golf and invite you? Did I offer up three strokes? Did I not pay attention to my son’s college boyfriend who lettered every year in golf and competed for the state title twice in four years? With all due respect, Mr. Palisade, I didn’t hustle you, I’m just better at golf.”

Seeing a way to turn this humiliating loss into an opportunity, Hogan asked, “My apologies, Josh, right you are. This leads me to this question. Are you available to play on my team in my company’s open tournament next spring?”

“I think something could be arranged. You don’t have to work for the company?”

“No, you just have to be related to a company employee.”

“Am I related to you, Mr. Palisade?”

“Not now, but when you marry, forgive me, I mean become forever partners with my son you will be, won’t you?”

Josh giggled inside for once. He got a very serious look on his face that almost no one in his life had ever seen. He used it rarely and therefore, it turned out to be highly effective. “I want to become forever partners with your son with your blessing because you realize this is what your son wants, and you want him to be happy not because you lost a bet or need a ringer for your golf team.”

Hogan was at a loss for words for a moment. He was a master money manager who had made millions making deals with people. Making transactional deals was in his blood. Here was this young man, who had just beaten the pants off him in golf, his game, on his course, who was taking a higher ground, and more worthy ground, an admirable and ethical and morally superior ground. He paused a bit longer ruminating on all of this. Perhaps, he thought more about this than anything in decades. Finally, he took off his glove and held out his hand to shake Josh’s hand. Josh, however, refused it.

“No, this is not a handshake deal. I was crystal clear.”

Hogan said, “Take my hand, son.” There was something different in Hogan’s tone. Josh, in turn, took off his glove and complied. Hogan’s grip was powerful, and then he pulled Josh in for a fatherly son type of hug. At first, Josh was put off and then put off balance, but then he relented. It was short, but it was a real hug. “You know, my wife teases that she sees what Peter sees in you. You are a very handsome young man if you don’t mind me saying so. However, looks can be very deceiving. I should know. I was theoretically a looker myself in my day, you can ask my wife for some photos of our prom sometime and be the judge yourself. But, today, you impressed me with your integrity. I don’t understand being gay. I’m going, to be honest with you. Peter has tried to explain it to me. Just like, he says he doesn’t understand being straight except, he knows that his mother and I love each other, and out of that love he was born.” Hogan paused. “Until today, however, I didn’t see these other sides of you. You are an exceptional young man. More of a man when it comes to ethics and principles than maybe I will ever be. If my son loves you, and you love him then you have my blessing. I don’t see how he could be better off just because you were a girl. As for grandchildren, you can adopt. Done and done.” Josh was speechless. For a grown man, conservative, religious, father, who had been brought up with certain beliefs and ideas to have come this far, it meant something. He did not smile for once, he put on his serious look again.

“Thank you Mr. Palisade. That means a lot. I will hold you to what you said.”

“You can count on it from me. Peter’s mother, though, that’s a different story.”

“Do you have any advice on how I might win her over?”

“Yes. Teagan comes from very old money. You might not know this because I am not sure Peter knows this, but his mother was born ten times more wealthy than I’ll ever be. It’s very, very old money back from the days when her ancestors were land barons in England and Germany. Anyway, because she grew up with everything, unlike a lot of people in that situation, she had a disdain for people who took advantage of their wealth and used it to hurt others. This is one of the reasons she became a professional philanthropist and uses her wealth to persuade others to give to those in need. You might win her over by pitching to her that you need her for something like that. Honestly, I don’t know what will work for her. She’s highly possessive of Peter and always has been. But, I’ll help you try.”

“Thank you, that also means a lot to me.”

For the next few weeks, Josh scheduled many meetings under the guise of a new fund-raiser for his school. With the help of Hogan Palisade, he put together a pitch to give to Teagan, blind, meaning at first, she would not know it was coming from Josh. Once she gave the basic thumb’s up, then he would appear in person to own the pitch.

When she found out about their duplicity, she was perturbed, however, when Hogan explained the golf event to her, she warmed up a bit. He also said that this whole thing about remaining anonymous until she agreed to the idea, was his idea, not Josh’s. Josh had wanted to be open from the start. Hogan felt he messed up that part and should have trusted Josh’s instincts. He used that as more evidence of what kind of a person Josh was. Josh was not some gold-digger after their son’s money.

Previously, Teagan, even knowing about Josh, had tried to set Peter up with many young women she knew from the outset were exactly that, gold-diggers. Her son’s happiness was supposedly more important to her. Nonetheless, when Josh pitched the project to her. She fell in love with the project.

In the course of the next few weeks of working on the project with Josh, she came to like him well enough. She still was not sure she liked the idea of her son marrying or becoming forever partners or whatever at this tender young age or this time, those feelings were genuine, but also yes another boy. She began warming up more and more to the idea. Eventually, she came around and surprised him one day as she was arranging some details for the fundraiser they were planning by giving him her blessing to propose. So, he did. What he didn’t expect, however, was that now there was no way to come clean on all of this with Peter without hurting Peter a lot. He never meant things to go this way. What he wanted was to simply ask for their blessing, receive it as a formality, and then propose. This whole thing had become like Frankenstein’s monster with a life of its own.