Jaime stopped at a large interment space farther down the hall.It was marked with Marcos’ name and death date as well as space for someone named Daniel Flores, who had yet to pass.
“Is Daniel your other father?”Adrien asked.
“Yeah, my pop.”Jaime nodded, settling the bouquet into the vase bolted beside Marcos’ grave.“It’s really weird seeing his name here.I don’t want to even think about losing him, too.Not after we lost Dad so suddenly.”
“How long were they married?”Adrien inquired.
Jaime laughed.“Depends on who you ask.They got legally married in 2004, but with all that Prop Eight bullshit…” He threw up his hands, rolling his eyes.“They were together since 2000, though - made it twenty-two years.”
According to Jaime, Marcos had lived a happy life with his husband Daniel, adopting Jaime and his little sister out of foster care.After Marcos had moved back from college, the family had lived not too far away in Pacifica, where Marcos had worked as a physical therapist and Daniel as a music teacher.Jaime had nothing bad to say about his father, only reflections of his kind, goofy, and easygoing personality.It was clear that Jaime’s upbringing had been a warm and loving one.
Towards the end of their conversation, a handsome middle-aged man stepped around the corner, smiling over at them in greeting.Blake—figuring this must have been Jaime’s father Daniel—nodded to him, lifting his hand to return the friendly gesture.
“I’ll always be grateful for what he gave me,” Jaime was saying, reaching up to push tears away with his palm.“Agh, sorry—I’ve been talking your ear off here.You probably already knew all this if you were friends with him.”
“No.”Adrien shook his head, reaching out to press a comforting touch to Jaime’s arm.“I’m happy to hear it.”
Blake nodded at the man who had approached and set a hand on Jaime’s shoulder.
“It sounds like you had a wonderful life,” Blake told Jaime before nodding to the other man.“Both of you.”
Jaime produced a melancholic smile.“We did.My sister and I are really lucky to have had him as our dad.”
“And you must have been very lucky to have had him as your husband,” Blake said to the man, who was beaming down at Jaime and over at Adrien in turn.
“I’m sorry?”Jaime frowned, looking bewildered.
Blake cringed, pinching his eyes closed.He realized he must have mis-identified the man as Daniel.“I’m sorry, I—”
But when he opened his eyes, the man was gone.A glowing duplicate of his silhouette blinked bright green and blue where he had once stood, like the visual residue left behind after a camera flash.Blake knitted his eyebrows and gaped, trying to process what he had just seen.
“I…” Blake looked to Adrien, who stared back at him with calm confusion.There was none of the typical mischievousness in his eyes.He hadn’t been witness to the apparition.“Sorry, I meant your pop must have been very lucky to have him as his husband.”
Jaime stared to his right, where Blake’s eyes were trained, frowned, and then shrugged before turning back to the couple before him.
“He was.”Jaime smiled at them, reaching out to shake Adrien’s hand.“I’m glad you got to meet him before he passed, he was a great guy.You said you were part of the Marin family, yeah?”
“Yes.”Adrien nodded, gripping Jaime’s hand tightly.
“Well, tell Jessica and David hello for me when you next see them,” Jaime told him, now reaching over to shake Blake’s hand.“Thanks for listening to me gush about my dad.It helps to talk about him, now that he’s gone.”
“Of course,” Adrien told him.“I’d love to hear more about him if we ever run into each other again.”
“I’ll have to look you guys up on Instagram or Facebook,” Jaime said.“God, I don’t think I even got your names!”
“I’m Blake DeLuca,” Blake introduced himself first.He winced, realizing that Adrien didn’t have an alternative name to go by.Outside of his siblings, they’d never run into someone who was familiar with him or his family.
Adrien surprised him by saying: “I’m Adrien Marin-DeLuca.”
“No shit?”Jaime smiled.“Must be weird seeing part of your name up there, huh?”
Adrien chuckled.“Just a bit.”
“Well, I’ll let you two go,” Jaime said, turning towards the exit of the mausoleum.“It was nice meeting you.”
Blake and Adrien bid him goodbye and watched him leave through the front of the building.After a moment, Adrien took Blake’s hand and pulled him towards a separate exit that led into the cemetery proper.
Outside, the gentle slope of the hill was covered in thin streams of mist, blown in from the bay.The fog crept closer, pooling between the graves like water.Above Blake and Adrien, a conspiracy of ravens croaked sleepily in the trees.
