Authors: RJ Scott
The twins and Campbell sat with Donna and Sandra in the front row. Connor was deadly serious and focused, Lexie playing with her hair, with her thumb firmly stuck in her mouth, Campbell asleep. Carol was at the far side. Max was holding her hand, Thomas in his other hand, and he was wearing headphones, a sure sign he was a little stressed. Poor kid. Carol nodded that everything was okay, and Max caught and held Jack’s gaze briefly. Hayley waited for them, looking beautiful in a slim-fitting pale blue dress, her blond hair caught up at each side and cascading in a fall down her back. She’d put on weight recently, looked fitter. She had good control of her sugars with only a few mishaps, and now she was interested in geology.
Seemed like time was moving way too fast.
They stopped at the front, facing Jim who was in charge of this exchange of words and vows.
“When Riley spoke to me about how he was going to marry Jack Campbell, I couldn’t find the words,” Jim began. He was addressing everyone, but he was smiling at Jack and Riley. “I thought it could only end in disaster, but it didn’t. In fact, they went through disaster together, and my son and his husband have become much more than they ever thought they would be. More than I could have hoped for them.”
Jack glanced at Riley whose eyes were suspiciously bright. He squeezed Riley’s hand as they listened to Jim, who spoke from the heart.
“So, when they asked me to stand here and officiate, I was not going to say no. I’ve seen these two men, through storms and lulls, become so much deeper in love each day, and I’ve seen them share that love with their wonderful family, and with all of us.”
He paused as he very deliberately looked at Riley and Jack in turn.
“So, to stop me talking, I think it’s Jack’s turn to speak first.”
Jack turned and faced Riley. “Hey, Hetboy,” he began softly.
“Hey, cowboy,” Riley said back.
“You sure you don’t want to go first?” he asked.
“Nuh-uh.” Riley winked.
“Damn you, Hayes.” Jack cleared his throat, closed his eyes briefly, then said exactly what he’d planned on every day since they’d set this impossible day on its way.
“Riley, I love you. You know that. Everyone knows that. There isn’t a single day that goes by without me saying it, to your face, or in my head when you aren’t there. You took my focus and you made it something else. You told me you loved me, and I believed you. You promised me forever, and I’m taking that as a pledge. We have a beautiful family—two sons, two daughters—and I count myself the luckiest person alive.”
He paused, and Riley smiled at him, tears in his eyes.
“It’s important to me that I say these things to you, here on Double D land, with my feet planted squarely in Texas soil. Texas, the land, the horses, friends, family. These things are my very soul. But you, Riley Campbell-Hayes?”
He stopped and his eyes were bright with emotion.
“Riley, you are my heart.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Riley swallowed. He couldn’t help the emotion that was welling inside him. This moment, here, was the most special of all of them. He wasn’t sure he would be as eloquent as Jack; hell, he hadn’t prepared any words or written anything down. He’d thought long and hard about what to say to this strong man who was the other half of him, but there were only single words. Trust, bravery, love, lust, family, forever. How could he wrap all those up as prettily as Jack had?
Suck it up, Riley. You can do this.
“I know what I want to say,” he began softly. He coughed and pushed a bit more volume into his voice. “I stood in an office once, with my brother, and I listened to the man I thought was my father tell me, in his own way, that he expected me to fail. He said I should marry for love. Otherwise I would lose something I held dear. I thought it was money I would lose, a share in the fortune that Hayes Oil controlled, but actually it was worse than that. In agreeing to that bargain, I took the first step into becoming something I didn’t want to be. You held me, Jack, and you pulled me back, showed me what real passion and love really was.”
Riley had to stop. He had tears on his face, and Jack was biting his lip, like he did when he had no way of dealing with the emotions inside him.
“You gave me a home and the twins. You love Hayley, you share our love for Max, you bought me a puppy. Jack Campbell-Hayes, you are my rock, and I will love you forever for the man you are. You saved me.”
Jack released Riley’s hand and cradled his face. As people clapped, whistled and cheered, Jack kissed Riley as if they were alone in their room. Down-and-dirty and heated, dragged to the point of madness and left wanting.
When they separated and turned to face cameras, laughter and congratulations, they didn’t release their hold of each other’s hand.
If Riley had his way, he would never let go.
The party was big. Friends of friends were invited to the evening, when the sun had vanished and the ranch was lit with millions of tiny lights. At least Eden had backed off on putting them up herself and instead hired someone in. Talking of Eden, Riley hadn’t seen her in a while and some instinct inside pushed him to go find her. She was far too concerned in how everything was working to be involved in something like enjoying herself.
Jim hugged him, then sat down next to Sandra. “Maybe our turn next?”
Sandra looked at Jim. They’d been together some time, old loves who had reunited after Gerald Hayes died. Riley waited with bated breath.
“I think so,” Sandra replied.
Then his dad was kissing his mom, and Riley decided now was a good time to find Eden. He walked away but didn’t get too far.
“Hey, sexy.” Jack grabbed him and kissed him.
Riley kissed back, he couldn’t stop himself, but he pulled away pretty damn fast. “I need to find Eden.”
Riley recalled only too well what had happened to Beth when she’d been missing at a wedding. She’d been bleeding and her baby had been in danger. Was that why his chest was tight?
Jack grabbed his hand. With polite words of apology, they ignored anyone who talked to them as they passed, and went around the entire wedding. They checked the house. Nothing. There was no sign of Sean either, and Riley hadn’t seen Lisa, although he found Ed with Josh.
Jack pulled Riley over to a quiet corner. “We should split up.” He released his hold on Riley’s hand, but Riley refused to let go. Instead he tugged Jack back out into the throng, and they made their way across to the fence and the fields beyond. A little way farther, he saw Eden and Lisa. Finally he released Jack’s hand, vaulted the fence in the dark, and hurried over to them, with Jack close behind.
“Is everything okay?” Riley asked immediately.
Eden looked up, startled. She’d made herself comfortable against a few seat cushions she’d apparently requisitioned. Lisa had done the same. “Riley.” She looked past him to the lit reception. “What’s wrong?”
Riley crouched next to his sister. “I was worried.”
“What about?” She frowned at him, her expression thrown into shadows by the glow of the area behind them.
“The baby,” Riley said. He sat cross-legged in front of Eden, and Jack took a seat right next to him on the dirt.
“We were tired,” Lisa explained.
“Yeah, two pregnant ladies needing a time-out,” Eden laughed.
Riley’s anxiety shifted into feeling stupid. He held out a hand, which Eden took and gripped hard. “Thank you for today,” he said. Because the real words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t say that he had been imagining the worst because he couldn’t find her, so he fell back on the thanks to stop him feeling like an idiot.
Eden chuckled, then sobered. “You two having fun? Was it a good day?”
Jack put his arm over Riley’s shoulder. “The best,” he said.
Eden’s cell phone buzzed and she checked the screen. “Time for the video.” She made to stand, and Riley scrambled up to help her, then Lisa.
“Such a gentleman,” Lisa said with a smile.
The four of them walked to the fence, and Riley held his tongue as his sister scrambled over the top.
She’s not ill; she’s pregnant. She’s not stupid
, he told himself, and he was proud he didn’t say a thing. The side of
their
barn had been set up with a projection unit and a screen and everyone began to cluster around the area. This was Sean’s baby. He would edit the video and upload it to YouTube in support of the lawsuit Riley and Jack had started over adoption rights.
Jack gripped his hand again. “Nervous?”
Riley wasn’t going to admit he was terrified about what his family and friends were going to say about them. What he was happy to accept was that he was an emotional wreck.
“A bit,” he said.
They were shown to two chairs, decorated with ribbons and lights.
“We did this,” Hayley announced. She gestured to the twins who were with Donna and Neil. “Max helped.”
That much was evident when Riley sat down only to have to move a small train to one side. He picked it up and recognized the red engine immediately. James.
When everyone was quiet, Sean stood up. When he first began to speak, he tilted his head, keeping his scars in the shadows, but as the words flowed, he stepped forward a little into the light.
“When Riley and Jack asked me to create a memory of today, I imagined something simple: family talking about memories and moments. Only it became more than that. What they are doing now, beginning the fight for their adoptions to be joint and fair and legal, I realized would be a greater thing than only the words spoken.”
This was the moment he stepped fully into the light, confidence in his stance.
“I’m proud and honored to be part of this, and I wanted to congratulate Mr. and Mr. Campbell-Hayes on this very special day.”
There was some talking, and clapping, and Sean stood to one side. Eden turned off the lights, and Sean pressed the button for the film.
Photos of Riley and Jack—informal poses, ordinary life, some posed—flashed on the screen. Then the first interview appeared. Hayley.
Riley smiled so hard, it hurt, then Hayley spoke.
“Having two dads properly?” she began. “I don’t like that question.” She tucked her hair behind her ears in a gesture so familiar, it made Riley’s heart hurt. “That says I don’t already have two dads, and I do.”
“So maybe we should reword the question?” Sean’s voice was off camera.
Hayley nodded. “Maybe everyone should think up new questions. Like why it’s okay to say that my pappa, Jack, can’t be my dad where the law is concerned.”
“You sound very grown-up with this, Hayley. Are these the kind of words you’ve heard spoken about your dads?”
Hayley tilted her head and frowned. “I’m not copying what I heard. I’m not stupid. I know all the big words like advocacy and attrition, and I certainly know what I want for our family.”
“I apologize,” Sean said.
Hayley shook her head. “That’s okay, Uncle Sean. I’m not mad but no one will listen to the children.”
Riley’s heart tightened, and he looked at Jack, whose eyes were shiny with emotion in the light of the screen.
Hayley continued on camera. “I love my dads. I want to be Jack’s daughter too. I know I am, and he’s my pappa, but I want it so that if it was only him and me, then no one could take me away.”
“Some people might say that with all your family’s money, it would be unlikely you’d be taken away.”
Sean was playing devil’s advocate, Riley knew that. Still, the words were hard to hear.
“I’m lucky. I know that, but what about a kid on their own, with no family except for their two dads or two moms, what then?” She sounded so grown-up, thoughtful, and passionate. Riley swelled with pride.
“Thank you, Hayley.”
“Can I say my bit now?”
“The bit that won’t be in the video the public sees?”
“No, Uncle Sean, I want all of what I say to be in the video.”
Sean chuckled. “Okay. Go for it.”
“Okay. So I want everyone to know that we are a family. I’m not using words like happy, or normal, or ‘nontraditional.’” She air-quoted that part and added a grin. “As far as we’re all concerned, we are a family, with no other words attached to it. We laugh and we cry, and we argue and sulk, and we play stupid card games, and we swim in the pool, and we are nothing different to any other family. So I wanted to show everyone watching exactly how important our two dads are. I have a message from the twins and Max.” She looked directly at the camera. “The twins are only two, so they don’t have a way of actually saying the words, and Max, well, his autism makes it hard. So I asked them what they would give to their daddies to make them super happy. Max was easy. He brought down the pink Stetson from Aunty Eden’s wedding, that was for Pappa Jack, and James the red engine was for Daddy Riley.”
Jack moved in his seat and pulled out the Stetson he’d sat on by mistake. “This is killing me,” he muttered under his breath.
Riley agreed.
“Then the twins made me laugh. Lexie brought down her entire collection of stuffed dogs, and one of Toby-dog’s chew toys. She put them all in a line on the table, and Max moved them so they were exactly equal. Connor took a lot longer to think about presents. Then he brought down two books, his favorites that you read him. He loves it when Pappa Jack makes all the noises in the
Bear Hunt
book, and he said his favorite is the squelchy mud. The book he chose for Daddy Riley was kinda weird, but he opened it to the page and pointed at the car.” She smiled at the camera. “It was one of your car magazines, Dad, and it had this picture of a red Ferrari. Apparently he wants you to buy that one.”
The crowd watching the video had been sighing and chuckling, and that last comment got quite a few out-loud laughs, not least from Riley.
Hayley continued. “And from me? I have one thing to show you.” She reached down beside the chair and held up something Riley recognized instantly. The Christmas decoration she’d made them the first Christmas they were together. “I made this for us all. It says, ‘Daddy, Pappa, and Me. My Family, 2011.’ And now there is Max, and Connor and Lexie. We love you, Pappa. We love you, Daddy. Congratulations on your wedding day.”