“I think we’re venturing into PDA territory,” Paul told Ace with a sigh. His dad was starting to come to terms with the bomb Paul dropped on him a few months ago, but, like his oldest son, it took baby steps to change. And physical evidence of homosexuality still unnerved Jack McDonnell.
“So, you’re saying I shouldn’t put my hands down your pants right now,” Ace said, slowly sliding his hand down toward Paul’s butt.
Paul nudged him and stepped away from the danger zone. “Saw you talking to my mom earlier,” he said. “Looked suspiciously like conspiring.”
“Your mom is a doll. I’ve never seen a woman hungrier for grandchildren. She was telling me about friends of hers whose son and daughter-in-law just adopted twins.”
Paul turned to him with a start. Twins?
“It sounded like she was giving me a primer,” Ace continued. “I thought I should be taking notes.”
Paul struggled to keep his voice neutral. “Oh? Is that, um, something you’re wanting? Soon?” He cleared his throat. “Twins, I mean?”
Ace laughed loud at Paul’s failure to keep the alarm from his face. “Relax, big guy. Your mom is a lot like you, you know. Skipping way ahead.”
Paul let out a breath he’d been holding. “For the record, I’m not anti-kid or anything.”
That earned him a big smile. “Same here,” Ace said.
The dancing had switched to mother/son and father/daughter, serenaded by Nat King Cole. Paul tracked his father’s movement around the perimeter of the dance floor as Jack made his way over to where he and Ace were standing. He straightened himself unconsciously and stood taller.
Ace smiled at him with warm eyes. “Now, be a good boy,” he murmured.
Paul rolled his eyes at Ace. His dad had met Ace last night for the first time at the rehearsal dinner, and it had gone about as well as he could have expected. Jack had been polite to Paul’s boyfriend, but a little distant, like he was trying to remove himself from the temptation to say something about their way of life.
Ace kept counseling Paul on the need for patience, particularly with fathers. But, naturally, Paul wanted the big happy family right away. And he was damned if he was going to hide his real self now, not after everything he’d gone through to find it.
Paul’s father reached out to shake both their hands as he approached. “That was a good speech you gave, son,” he said. “I was a little worried you’d tell the story about the chainsaw and then I’d have to explain the real story to everyone.”
Paul laughed. “I definitely considered it,” he said. “But Holly gave me a strict list of acceptable topics.”
“Such a smart girl,” Ace smiled.
“I suppose this is the last one of these things I’ll have to get all monkeyed up for,” Jack said, taking a long pull on his beer. “I have to say, I won’t miss the suit.”
“I don’t know about that, dad,” Paul said. “It’s a whole new world out there. Almost half of the country is treating homosexuals like real people and everything.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t –” Jack broke off and huffed.
Ace nudged Paul with a small frown, and Paul read the unspoken message: Don’t stir things with dad tonight. It was just so easy to revert to being a smartass teenager around his dad. It didn’t help that McDonnell Senior was looking at him with that same hint of disapproval that had chased him through his adolescence.
Jack cleared his throat and decided to change the subject. “You boys are lucky, you know? You don’t have to dance at all those slow songs like the rest of us.”
“What are you saying, dad?” Paul snapped, unable to stop himself. “The fags aren’t allowed to dance?”
Jack bristled visibly at Paul’s choice of words and geared up to answer back.
“Actually, my dance card is already surprisingly full,” Ace interjected brightly, trying to lighten the tension. “Between your wife and your new daughter-in-law, I doubt I’ll lack for a partner on the floor.”
Ace turned to smile at Paul, and Paul read a more insistent unspoken message: Don’t pick a fight, dumbass.
“Besides,” Ace continued, “this is Holly’s night. We don’t want to steal the spotlight from the bride.”
Which we would, Paul thought. The sight of two handsome men dancing close among all the cousins and co-workers would be all that anyone talked about when they mentioned Steven’s wedding. Although he doubted Holly would mind the gossip, particularly as she considered herself responsible for their successful relationship in the first place.
Jack seemed to warm to Ace a little after that. Like most people, he approved of those who agreed with him.
The father/daughter and mother/son dances had ended, and the tempo of the music picked up immediately. The youngest members of the dance party — the flower girls and ring bearer and all the cousins’ kids — instantly took to the floor. Adults were harder to convince, however, so Holly made it her mission to recruit dancers.
She started with Ace.
“Come on!” she shouted, grabbing his hand and pulling him onto the floor. “Time for positive peer pressure!”
Paul watched as Ace joined all the bridal party out there — the groomsmen were clinging closer to the bar area.
“She sure does like Ace,” Jack remarked.
“Most people do, once they’ve met him,” Paul said. He finished his glass and turned to his dad. “I hope you will someday, too.”
Jack sighed loudly. “I don’t dislike him, you know. It just seems like I keep running into landmines around you two these days.”
“Those aren’t his landmines, though. Those are all mine. I planted them in high school.”
Jack gave a small grin. “I suppose so.”
Paul let himself watch his partner tear up the dance floor for a long moment, as gratitude washed over him. His dad was trying, he knew that.
“So, how are you doing with all of this?” Paul kept the question vague, but both men knew what he was asking.
“Getting there, I guess,” he grunted. “Your mother can’t stop talking about it. I think her bridge club is jealous of her cosmopolitan gay son.”
Paul barked a laugh. It figured that his mother would embrace this the way she did. Hell, anything for better gossip.
“You know, Mom was talking about having us for a visit,” Paul said, tentative. “Both of us.” He looked at his dad. “Would you be OK with that?”
Paul could see the discomfort bloom across Jack’s face, and he rolled his eyes. “We wouldn’t do it in my old bedroom or anything.”
“Son! That’s not –” Jack cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Of course we’d love to have you visit. Both of you.”
So that’s what a baby step looked like from the other side. Halting, precarious, and ultimately successful.
Ace must have had gallons of patience to deal with my stupid steps.
“Besides,” Jack continued, “the guys in my golf foursome have been complaining about back pain.” He looked sideways at his son. “Maybe you could, you know,” he trailed off.
Paul smiled and rolled his eyes. No such thing as a free lunch.
“You know, speaking of pimping us out, if you ask nicely, Ace might rearrange the house.”
Jack grimaced. “I like things the way they are.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Paul said. “Before I met him. You’ll be surprised how much better he can make things.”
The music switched to a slow song, and Helen arrived to take Ace’s arm. Holly darted over to demand a dance from Paul.
Paul happily wrapped his arms around his new sister-in-law, who was flushed and glowing.
“This is nice,” she sighed. “Wedding, check. Paul and Ace, check. Sold Steven’s house, check. I can relax.”
“When do you guys sign all the house papers?”
“After the honeymoon.”
“Speaking of that, has my mom asked about your ovulatory cycle yet?”
Holly blanched and missed her footing. “She’d do that?”
Paul laughed at how horrified she sounded. “Have you not met Helen McDonnell? She wants grandchildren, stat.”
Holly huffed. “Well, you and Ace better get going on that, then.”