The Journey---Epilogue
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Epilogue (2 years later)
Luke walked into the bedroom he shared with the man he loved, walked over to the bed, grabbed a pillow and preceded to pummel the lump that was hidden under the blankets.
“Reid!! You need to wake up and get your boney ass out of that damn bed!!”
All he got in response was a loud groan as the lump pulled the covers even tighter around himself.
“What happened to that morning person that used to greet me first thing every day with a smile and a kiss? I mean, really, of all days for you to decide you want to sleep in…”
“Just 5 more minutes, please?” the lump whined.
“OK, but ONLY 5 minutes…not 10 minutes…not 15 minutes…5 minutes. Hannah will be here in an hour to pick up the twins, then we have to go to the tailor for the final fitting on the tuxes, then we have to go to the airport to pick up the Oakdale contingent…”
“ALRIGHT, I’m getting up!!!”
Luke turned around to leave the room grinning as he muttered under his breath, “Works every time.”
“I heard that…”
Luke just laughed. Thinking back over the past two years, he couldn’t help but smile. The decision that he and Reid made to stay at the reservation had been a no-brainer. And the decision was made even easier by Holden’s selfless act of giving up his rights to the twins. Their wedding had been one of the biggest events to hit Brazos River in decades. Reid had wanted a low-key, immediate family only wedding and, really, it had been. But when your family includes the Walshes and the Snyders and the Stricklyns and the Cadottes, it was bound to get a little out of hand.
In the end, the whole tribe had been invited as well at Reid’s insistence, of all people. His words to Luke were, “Well, considering the twins are the only family I’ll have there, it’s only fair.” Andy and Will both served as Luke’s best men while Michael and Joseph stood up for Reid. Their beautiful daughter, Sierra, served as flower girl while their equally handsome son, Seth, was ring bearer.
The party went on for days with a traditional Caddo Indian feast mixed in with Emma’s fried chicken and potato salad which were Luke’s favorites. There was singing and dancing and storytelling around a bonfire and Luke was shocked that Joseph even managed to get Lucinda to move a little to the beat of the Caddo drum.
The quest for actual jobs had been a little more prolonged. Eventually, Luke decided he wanted to be a writer full-time. Seeing as that could be done from home, the twins never had to go to daycare, though their Nana Hannah…blame that one on Reid…insisted on keeping them at least twice a week. Though his focus was going to be on writing fiction, he didn’t want to lose his journalism roots and started a weekly newsletter on current events within the tribe, which he started from home on his laptop forwarding it to the FedEx-Kinkos an hour down the road for mass printing until a more permanent solution could be found.
Reid’s situation was more difficult seeing as the closest hospital would require he commute nearly four hour daily round trip. The answer to the problem came one day when the family was sitting around after one of Hannah’s Sunday dinners that would give even Emma a run for her money.
Joseph sat on the floor with the twins on his lap while looking through family scrapbooks. With each turn of the page, he would “introduce” the twins to each person in the pictures and share a short story about them before moving on to the next. Reid and Luke sat quietly and listened to each story, happy for the relationship their children had developed with their Joe-Joe. Suddenly Joseph stopped telling his stories and Reid looked up to see the man was crying.
“What is it, Joseph? Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m sorry. Most days I’m ok but sometimes…”
Luke had gotten up and slipped from the room to get Hannah who ran into the room to see her husband in tears. She handed the twins over to their fathers and then took the weeping man in her arms.
“Can I tell them?”
“Yes”
Hannah continued to comfort her husband but turned her attention to the two men standing before her.
“You’ve met our children but not ALL of our children.” She stopped to compose herself. “We had another son, Tashi. He died when he was 11 years old. The kids had been playing outside just like they always did while I was cooking dinner just so they aren’t under foot, you know? I heard this blood curdling scream and ran outside. Tashi had apparently fallen off the top of the monkey bars hitting his head on a rock. There was blood everywhere…”
Reid tensed, his own memories of finding someone you love in a pool of their own blood coming to mind. Luke understood and held him tight.
“We are just so far from the nearest trauma center and there wasn’t anything they could do. Even the helicopter from Hillcrest Baptist in Waco was too far to save him.”
Reid’s destiny had been determined in that moment or perhaps, if you believe in such things, it had been determined since birth. Either way, donations from Cal Stricklyn, Lucinda Walsh, Matthew and Jennifer Shea, Reid Oliver and Luke Oliver’s own personal bank account holding an inheritance from his biological family that he never knew what to do with, were all pooled together and the plans for the Tashi Cadotte Memorial Clinic were born.
Today was the dedication ceremony and Luke was just a little frantic with all they had yet to do before they had to be at the clinic. Reid, as Director of Operations, was chosen to give the speech and had been up nearly all night putting finishing touches on it. He’d complained to Luke for weeks saying he didn’t understand why there even had to be a speech and asked why Luke, as one of the donors, couldn’t do it himself. Luke simply said, “Because they want to hear from their Kun-teno.” And that was the end of that.
The morning was full of chaos, as is often the case on an ordinary day when you have small children in the home. When you add to that the list of things the Oliver’s needed to accomplish before 11am, it was enough for Reid to go grey. It helped that Hannah was picking up the twins and escorting them to the ceremony. Arriving at the clinic in plenty of time to spare, Reid went off into a quiet corner to practice his speech. Luke watched him from across the room and knew, when he saw Reid remove his jacket and tie and begin unbuttoning his shirt, that he had to step in. He couldn’t let his man drown.
Walking up to him, he used his best seductive voice to talk to Reid.
“I think you need a time out, Dr. Oliver.”
“Is that so, MR. Oliver?”
Discreetly brushing his hand over the front of Reid pants, he wasn’t surprised to find him already hard.
“Oh, yessss, definitely a time out.”
Reid groaned.
When that was taken care of and both men put themselves back together, they returned to the reception area just in time for the lunch buffet to open to the crowd. After everyone had a chance to fill their plates and find their seat, Joseph stepped to the microphone and tapped it to make sure it was on.
“Hello, if I could have everyone’s attention…I’m not much for speeches which is why I asked Dr. Oliver to do the honors. So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you all to Dr. Reid Oliver, the Direction of Operations of the Tashi Cadotte Memorial Clinic, named in honor of my son who is now with the Great Spirit. Oh, who am I kidding, everyone knows who Kun-teno is, don’t they? He’d be hard to miss among this crowd.”
The room erupted in laughter, much to Reid’s dismay, but he took his place at the microphone.
“Kua’at Ladies and Gentleman…”
“DA!!!!”
Again, the room erupted with laughter.
“Sorry, let me try that again…Kua’at Ladies and Gentleman and Little Girls and Boys…thank you, Sierra, I forgot what we practiced,” he mock whispered as he looked proudly at his beautiful daughter. “When my husband and I first came to Brazos River, we both thought it was a temporary situation. We needed a safe place to fall and never realized that this was exactly where we needed to be, where we were SUPPOSED to be. We both had demons in our past we were running from and it was the freedom of this land and the people who call it home as well as the love we found in each other, that finally chased those demons away. Our family grew exponentially and we have been accepted into this community without judgement or question.”
Reid paused and looked to his husband who was absolutely beaming with pride.
“When we decided to make this our home on a permanent basis, my husband was concerned that I wouldn’t or couldn’t find a job that would keep my Type A personality satisfied. But I simply told him that he had changed me, that the children had changed me, that they had shown me just by loving me unconditionally what life is all about. I finally found out what’s important and it wasn’t the fancy car I was driving or the article I had published in the June issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. No, it’s not either of those things. It’s the loving touch of your partner and the laughter of your children. And that’s what brings us here today. As most of you here know, Joseph and Hannah had a son named Tashi, who this clinic is named in honor of. While playing with his siblings one Saturday afternoon, Tashi took a fall and hit his head on a rock. The resulting injury took his life. He was just 11 years old. Had there been a clinic here at the time of his accident with skilled physicians on employ, they may have been able to stabilize him enough that he would have survived the wait for the Medi-vac from Waco and subsequent flight back. So, though we no longer have Tashi with us, his memory lives on in all the faces I see out in this crowd and within the walls of this clinic. If building this clinic prevents one parent from ever losing the laughter of their child as Joseph and Hannah did when they lost Tashi, then it was well worth every blister, splinter and penny spent. I’d like to thank my husband Luke and my children, Sierra and Seth…”
“DA!!!”
“Yes, Sierra, I know you’re still there…I like to thank my family for giving me three reasons to get out of bed in the morning, most days without having to be beaten with a pillow…”
“Hey, I resent that remark…”
The crowd laughed again, thankful for a reprieve from the emotions that Reid's speech evoked.
“I’d like to thank Joseph and Hannah sharing their son’s memory with us in hopes of never having a repeat of what happened to him. In helping us heal, I pray that they were able to heal just a little bit as well. Of course, the donors all need to be acknowledged because, let’s face it, we need a lot of green to get this thing off the ground and keep it afloat. Cal Stricklyn, Tashi’s great-grandfather…”
He stopped for applause.
“Luke Oliver and his grandmother, Lucinda Walsh…”
Again, he stopped for applause.
“And, finally, Jennifer and Michael Shea…”
After the final round of applause died down, Reid gave a nod to the crowd and stepped from the podium. Joseph returned to announce that the lunch buffet had been replaced during the speech with a dessert buffet and for all to help themselves.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying their desserts, Reid especially who made sure to get at least one of everything. Luke noticed his father standing of to the side. He approached him while holding a very tired Sierra in his arms.
“Hey Dad, what are you doing standing over hear by yourself?”
Holden reached out and smoothed his granddaughter’s beautiful brown hair. She lifted her head and gave him a half smile then nuzzled back down against Luke.
“I’m just thinking about how far we’ve all come. I’m so proud of you, Luke. What you went through…you’re so strong.”
Luke looked across the room where Reid was talking to Joseph and Hannah while stuffing his face silly. Seth, in stark contrast to his sister, was wide awake and tugging on Reid’s coattail trying to get his attention.
“I had help…lots of help. Andy was a godsend and went above and beyond his responsibility as an AA sponsor. He’s a brother to me now. After that first incident with Nick, I wanted to drink so badly and I came close. I was sitting on a bar stool at Al’s at 1 o’clock in the morning with a bottle of Sam Adams in my hand. I couldn’t deny what had happened to me, what Nick had done to me, and I just needed a few hours where it didn’t matter. Anyway, I had a very small moment of clarity and I called Andy. He didn’t hesitate to come to me and, after talking me down and helping me remember that drinking myself into oblivion wasn’t the answer, I went home and was thankful that Nick was still at work. God only knows what he would have done to me if he’d known I’d been out. It was the only time, other than my follow-up appointments, that I ever left the house until that day...”
“You could have told us, Luke.”
“No, Dad, I couldn’t. I thought he was the perfect guy. I mean, he had issues, who doesn’t, but most of the time he really was a great guy. But he took me completely by surprise when he physically hurt me. I never would have imagined he’d be capable of that. But when he threatened the kids…”
“I’m sorry. I wish you hadn’t had to live through that.”
“The important thing is that I did live through it and I’m so happy. Reid has been amazing…he’s been my strength and my courage. I would never have survived without him. And he’s taken to the role of ‘Da’ like you wouldn’t believe. The twins have been exactly what we both needed to heal.”
“I wanted to talk to you and Reid about that…”
Luke’s face fell and he started to panic. His mind immediately went to the idea that his father was going to take the twins away from them. Though they had guardian ship of the twins, the adoption papers had yet to be finalized. They just never thought they needed to put a rush on them. He once again turned his head to Reid’s direction and this time his husband caught the fear in his eyes and quickly went to his side with Seth tagging along.
“What’s going on guys? Today’s a day of celebration…no sad faces allowed.”
“Dad wanted to talk to us about the twins.”
Reid’s breath left him. He, too, feared losing the children and he reached down and picked Seth up pulling him into a protective hold. Sensing something was wrong with his father, Seth began to whimper.
“Da?”
“It’s ok, mo ghra, I’ve got you.” He soothed his son before turning his attention back to Holden steeling himself for the inevitable.
“I’m sorry if I’m scaring you guys. I really don’t mean to, I just need to say this so please just be patient with me.” Holden met both men’s eyes before taking a deep breath and proceeding. “It’s been a rough couple of years, I don’t have to tell you that. First, Mama had the stroke and we weren’t sure if she was going to make it. We are so very lucky to still have her with us but it was a struggle, not only for her but the whole family. Then losing Faith and realizing the twins would be growing up never having known their mother…” Holden was becoming quite emotional and Luke feared he couldn’t handle this conversation.
“Dad…”
“No, Luke. I’m ok. I need to finish.” Holden reached out for Sierra and Luke willingly gave her over to her grandfather who immediately cradled the sleeping child in his arms. Sitting in the nearest seat, he continued.
“We were doing ok. After making the decision to take in the twins, we settled into a routine. Ethan and Natalie were great. We even managed to get them to change a few stinking diapers and, though we missed Faith with all our hearts, we were ok. But when we lost your Mom…”
Luke and Holden were both crying now. Even Reid had tears in his eyes but he continued to offer support to his family. They needed to get through this…they needed a resolution once and for all so they could truly be free to live the lives they were destined for.
Luke went to his father and knelt before him placing one hand on his knee and the other on Sierra’s back where it joined with one of Holden’s…both offering reassurance to the child.
“Dad, I’m so, so sorry.”
“None of what happened was your fault, Luke.”
“But I brought him into our lives and I couldn’t admit to myself how he really was. I chose to ignore every little insult and shove and I let him take control of everything.”
“He had all of us convinced he was a man of great honor and integrity. I don’t blame you for your mother’s death…I never have and I never will. All the blame lies on the shoulders of Nick Bridges, may he rot in HELL.”
“But if I had only…”
“The ‘what if’s’ don’t matter. What’s done is done and we just have to continue to live the best lives we can.”
They were all quiet for a moment, the rest of the guests forgotten as they struggled to get through this moment. Finally, Luke found the courage to ask his father the one question he feared the answer to. He looked up at his husband giving him a tentative smile then turned back to his father.
“Dad, you haven’t changed your mind about the twins, have you?”
“I miss them, Luke. I miss them so much it rips my heart out.”
“Dad?”
Reid reached down and placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder to offer support as Luke continued to openly cry. Holden wiped the tears from his son’s face as he spoke.
“When you and Reid left and I sent the twins with you, I did so under the pretense that it was to keep them safe. That was only part of the truth. I was drowning in my grief, Luke. I was so deep in it that I could barely get out of bed in the morning. And Ethan and Natalie were struggling just as badly as I was and it was just too much for me. You had such a bond with the twins since the day they were born I knew you would take care of them and keep them safe.”
“I love them.”
“I know you do, son, and I will never take them away from you. I can see how they are thriving with their Daddy and their Da and I could never do that to any of you.”
Holden reached inside his coat and pulled out some papers handing a copy to Reid and a copy to Luke.
“These are the papers to finalize the adoptions. I’ve signed them. All they need are your final signatures and the children will be officially yours. All I ask is that you let me see them from time to time.”
Reid took this moment to speak to his father-in-law, the emotion in his voice evident to the other two men.
“You have given us the greatest gift and I can’t begin to thank you enough. You are welcome in our home anytime and we will visit Oakdale as often as possible. I promise these children will always know their Papa Holden.”
“You are a good father, Reid, and an even better husband. Thank you for taking care of my family.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for.”
“Well then, why don’t you let me take these two home for a nap and let you guys get back to the celebration.”
“Are you sure you can handle both of them by yourself, Dad?” Luke asked with all seriousness.
Holden laughed. “I had a hand in raising five children, Luke. Do you really think a couple of toddlers are going to do me in?”
“Yeah, but you weren’t on the far side of 50 then.”
Holden made a face of mocked offense as all the adults laughed, thankful for the mood being lightened.
“Tell you what, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll take Ethan with me. He’s been sitting over in the corner with his headphones on listening to God knows what, because I sure don’t want to, and looking completely bored out of his mind.”
“They’re doing ok, aren’t they, Dad?”
“They miss their mother and that will never change but they’ve been seeing Dr. Michaels for nearly 2 years now and they are absolutely flourishing. Ethan is excited to be starting high school this year and is adamant that he’s trying out for the football team. I’d really hoped he picked a less dangerous sport, maybe swimming or tennis, but he loves it. And Natalie, she’s headed off to Penn State in a couple weeks to get settled in to her campus apartment before the semester begins.”
“What did she finally decide on as a major?”
“She hasn’t yet but has narrowed it down to Chemical Engineering and Creative Writing and/or Journalism.”
“Creative writing…Journalism?”
“I knew you’d get a thrill out of that. They say talent runs in the family and she really looks up to you, Luke. You’re her big brother…she loves you.”
“I love her too. I can’t believe she’s off to college already. And I’m so happy that they are doing well. With everything they’ve been through, they could have turned out so differently.”
“ALL of my kids are survivors. I’m only sorry they had anything they had to survive.”
“You did nothing to any of us, Dad, except love us. My problems were just that, my problems. I became an alcoholic because I couldn’t admit to myself or to you or Mom that I was gay. When I finally did, I still struggled to get the drinking under control, though I didn’t really have a reason to drink anymore. I’ve been sober for nearly 9 years. You and Mom had something to do with that as does Andy. I also believe with all my heart that, if I hadn’t been given the gift of Reid and these two beautiful children, I would not have stayed sober after Nick.”
After the children left, things started winding down. The crowd began to thin quite a bit with mostly just the family and the Oakdale contingent still present. Reid approached Jennifer and Michael while Luke was saying his goodbye to Andy and Will.
“So, what will it take to get you two to relocate out here and run the clinic? Michael, you’d be invaluable to the patients and I could offer you the Chief-of-Staff position. Jennifer, you’d make a great Patient-Family liaison as well as being able to charm potential donors. What do you say?”
Michael slapped Reid on the back. “You really are getting slow in your old age, aren’t you Reid. Luke asked us months ago. We already have a house and have the kids registered in school.”
Reid looked at Michael trying to tell if he was being serious then looked over at his husband who caught his eye and shrugged. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Later that evening after everyone had scattered to the wind and returned to their own homes, Luke and Reid tucked the twins in to their big girl and big boy beds. They were so wiped out that they didn’t even require a bedtime story.
Standing in the doorway with their arms around each other taking in the site of their children sleeping peacefully, Reid turned and kissed Luke on the top of his head.
“When were you going to tell me about Michael and Jennifer? Maybe when they invited us over for their first neighborhood BBQ?”
“Don’t be silly, Reid, I’m sure you would have figured it out long before then. It’ll be nice having them right next door.”
“I never would have thought five years ago that I’d be married with children and running a medical clinic on an Indian Reservation.”
“I know what you mean. Five years ago, Faith and Mom were still alive. But, other than having them back with us, there isn’t much I would change.”
Reid couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How can you say such a thing, Luke? You’ve been through HELL. How can you say that you wouldn’t change a thing?”
Luke turned in his husbands arms and kissed him tenderly before pulling back and whispering, “Because it’s the journey that brought me to you.”
A/N 1: Caddo Indian Language Translation---Kun-teno means Red Head
A/N 2: Caddo Indian Language Translation---Kua’at (pronounced koo-ah-aht) is a friendly greeting
The End