AS MUCH ASI wanted Mark to be wrong about moving out and starting over again, he wasn’t. After his shooting, my entire focus was on getting him healthy and being grateful he survived so we could have our forever. When I wasn’t fussing over Mark and making him crazy, I was trying to console my father who felt like he’d lost Stephan all over again when he learned that his skiing accident wasn’t really an accident. I never once stopped to think about the impact any of it had on me.
My stepmother hated my father and me enough to plan an elaborate scheme to kill us with a man I thought was an ally in a rather hostile atmosphere. They used Timothy’s hatred against us to get him on board. They took advantage of Tobias’s marriage to Garrett to find the perfect, weak employee to help them carry out their scheme. Timothy shot my father and stabbed Hammer, Todd shot Mark, and Hammer was forced to kill Estelle in front of me.
The one consolation I took away from it was that no one in my employment was involved in the scheme. Harmon was able to get Timothy to admit that he followed us to Bakersfield the night that Hammer was stabbed and he started the fire at the B&B. It was a relief to know that the employees I had surrounding me could be trusted.
Still, it was a lot for my brain to process and I kept shoving it aside to help Mark and my father until Mark recovered enough to return to his home. Then, I had most of my evenings to myself to think about the events that unfolded and to come to terms with them as best I could.
The only piece of the damn puzzle that didn’t make sense was that damn envelope in Tobias’s safe. I couldn’t come right out and ask him about it without giving up Mark and Vic’s illegal activities. To be honest, I wasn’t certain I wanted to know what the fuck he was doing with the photos.
Turned out that Tobias was the one to approach me one night while we had drinks at my place to discuss the holiday event we were planning for the children at the hospital. I decided to proceed with the donation and the event to focus on doing something positive for others rather than moping because I wanted Mark back home with me. Tobias also was trying to stay busy so he didn’t spend every free moment remembering that his father was a killer. That wasn’t the father he knew and, like me, he struggled to come to terms with reality.
“I have something to give you and I feel kind of awkward about it,” he said. “You’ve been through so much already and I don’t want to cause more pain and misery.”
“Tobias, none of this is your fault and whatever you have to give me is okay.” Of course, I already had an idea of what he had in his briefcase. I was just curious to know what he was going to say about it.
“See, that’s where I think you’re wrong, Mitch.” I raised my brows at him and wondered how he could blame himself for his father’s actions. “See, I came across an envelope on my dad’s desk at his house that obtained all kinds of pictures of you.” He cringed slightly before he continued. “Some of the pictures are of you with other men so I wanted to know why in the hell my dad had them. He said that he was going to present them to the board to have you removed as CEO. Maybe I would’ve believed it had all the pictures of you been embarrassing to you, but they weren’t.” He stopped talking and pulled out the envelope from his briefcase and handed it to me.
“Some of them are just candid shots of you smiling and laughing when you’re not looking. They look like pictures Mark might snap of you to save on his phone.” Tobias took a deep breath and said, “I was in denial, Mitch. I took the envelope from my dad and thought I’d talked him down from the ledge. I mean, you’ve been a great CEO and everyone knows it. I thought I got through to him, but I realize now he was just placating me and the plan to hurt you was already in motion.”
“You couldn’t have known that, Toby,” I said, using the nickname I gave him as a teen.
“I think my dad’s feelings for you were very complicated Mitch. I think that part of him was obsessed with wanting you and the other with hurting you – maybe because he couldn’t have you.” He looked at me with such sadness in his eyes. “I found all kinds of troubling things in my dad’s safe. It was like he lived a double life. He’d had one affair after another with men after my mom died, but didn’t live openly for whatever reason. It looked like he kept mementoes from his affairs, and I’m not talking about movie ticket stubs. I’m talking about videos and pictures. It’s like I didn’t know him at all.”
“I know how you feel,” I told him, patting his shoulder. “I feel the same way about him and Estelle. She killed her own son out of jealousy,” I said, unable to grasp the magnitude of that kind of evil.
The evening turned out to be more cathartic than I had hoped. Tobias and I could talk to each other about the family fallout and understand what one another was going through. It wasn’t that Mark didn’t care or try to understand, but he was still trying to heal and get his strength back so I didn’t bring it up to him.
Which was why I realized he had been right when he said we needed to begin again. We shared dates that varied between sweet and nostalgic to romantic and rare – each of them precious in their own way. As Christmas approached, though, I was ready to have him back home with me and was ready to accomplish that by any means necessary. I was ready to seduce, beg, or kidnap him and haul him home. Luckily for me, he was feeling the same desperation and what I thought might be a standoff turned out to be the easiest negotiation of my adult life.
“I bought you a Christmas stocking, but I refuse to hang it on the mantle unless you’re living here,” I told him after we wrestled the large artificial tree out of the attic storage and down two flights of stairs to the family room.
“Where is it?” he asked, as if the style of the stocking made a difference in his decision. Perhaps he didn’t believe me.
I pulled it out of the shopping bags of decorations I had bought the day before. I wasn’t usually a Christmas ornament shopping kind of guy, but it was our first Christmas together and I wanted it to be perfect. I saw some things in a window display and had to have them. Inside the store, there was a setup to have stockings custom embroidered. On a whim, I had one made for Mark.
“Right here.” I handed the stocking to him. It was a typical red stocking, but his name was embroidered on it along with a bulldog that looked like the Marine Corps mascot.
The smile that spread across his face told me how much he liked the thought I put into his stocking. “It’s perfect,” he said before he kissed me. “So, do you have something to hang it on the mantle with?” Just like that he was all mine again.
Christmas and New Year’s was a wonderful time with him. I had never in my life experienced so much joy over the simplest things and never had I wanted to spoil someone as much as I did him. I held back, because material things would never be the glue that held us together.
We joined Vic and Hammer in Hawaii for their wedding in late January. I was so honored to be included in their big day with their friends and family. A beautiful breeze was blowing as I looked across the altar at Mark. I probably should’ve been paying attention to the men who had joined hands as the pastor spoke words of love, devotion, and commitment to them, but I only had eyes for my guy.
I wanted to stand at an altar and exchange those same words with Mark and I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. I was prepared to ask him to be mine forever, but I held back. I remembered the things he said about doing things in the right time so I decided not to push. I had him back home with me and that would have to be enough for the time being.
The wedding and reception was a small gathering, but more beautiful than the most extravagant society weddings I attended because the emotion and love was real. Theirs wasn’t a glorified business deal like most weddings in my circle. These were two men who had loved one another for a long time. They had faced down some daunting challenges and came out stronger on the other side.
After the grooms retired to their room for the evening, Mark and I took a stroll down the beach. We didn’t have a destination in mind; we were just holding hands and enjoying the beauty of our surroundings and each other’s company.
Mark stopped suddenly and gently pulled on my arm so that I faced him. “Hey, Mitch. I bought a matching set of shiny platinum rings from a jeweler last week. I’m not going to wear one unless you do too.”
It took me a few seconds to realize exactly what he was saying. I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my eyes at him before I said. “Where are they?”
He chuckled and dropped my hand so he could reach into his pocket. The sun was setting, but it was still light enough that I could clearly see a matching set of platinum rings. “Right here,” he replied.
“They’re perfect,” I said, emotion chocking my voice. I held out my hand and he slid my ring on my finger and then I did the same for him.
Just like that, Mark made me the happiest man alive on an empty beach in paradise.
The End!
