Page 17 of For the Love of the Broken Man

What were they doing wrong at the Circle C? Everyone seemed to love Rocky, who was a newcomer, so why didn’t they accept Jason?

They all settled at the large glass and iron table to enjoy the meal. Dan watched as Mickey and Jase set up the girls with food.

Terry had put his phone away and was asking about inviting a friend over the next day to swim while Jon approvingly watched the family in action. Dan grinned as he observed the activity, feeling something settle in his heart that he could only assume was yearning. He was longing for the same thing.

“Okay, let’s carry the plates inside. We’ll play the memory game until our food settles, and then we can take one last swim before bed, alright?” Mickey looked between the girls; his eyebrow lifted in question.

Much to Danny’s surprise, Kayley and Megan wiggled down from their booster seats at the table with help from Jase as they all started grabbing up dishes to carry inside. As Jon was about to help, Dan walked around the table and stopped him.

“Can I talk to ya? I need some legal advice.”

“Sure, Dan. We can go into my office.” Jon gave him a nod.

“Naw, let’s get a beer and go sit at that other table over there. I’m pretty sure what I want ain’t gonna be too hard, but I need it done pretty quick.” Dan was more certain that it was the right thing to do.

Jon went to the outdoor fridge and grabbed two Buds, opening them and tossing the caps in the recycle before he nodded toward a table on the other side of the pool for Dan to take a seat. After they were both comfortable, Jon smiled. “What can I do for ya, Dan?”

Danny took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “I want to adopt Kayley so nobody can take her away from me. I’ll be named her guardian after my mother dies, but I don’t want to take any chances. I was able to talk my Aunt Rae outta takin’ her to raise, but I’m worried somebody might decide I’m not the right person to look after her, and they’d try to separate us. I don’t want that to happen.”

Jon nodded. “Okay, tell me how you came to have custody of Kayley right now.”

Dan could tell the man was wearing his lawyer hat, so he cut to the chase, giving Jon the story from his sister’s demise to his mother taking Kayley and finding out about her cancer.

“Right now, Mom’s in hospice care. The docs tell me it’s not looking good. I’m not sure what to expect when she passes. My brother, Zach, lives in DC, and he wasn’t able to take Kayley, but I don’t want him to have the chance to change his mind and want her now. Mom and I were raisin’ her together before Mom got sick. I want my custody of Kayley set in stone so it’s one less thing to worry about when my mom passes, okay?”

Jon seemed to get lost in thought for a minute before he asked, “Why do you think your brother would go after custody of Kayley now?”

Dan swallowed a sip of beer. “He knows I’m gay, and right now he’s fine with it because he’s got a new job and a girlfriend to occupy his time. I don’t want ‘em comin’ at me in a year after they decide they need to rescue Kayley from the queer uncle with bad intentions. I’m not a mother, but I can be a father, and I think one good parent is better than two bad ones or none at all.”

Jon reached over and put his hand over Danny’s, which surprised him but calmed his nerves. “This isn’t hard, Dan. I can draw up the petition, and we can get this done, likely by the end of the year. You’ll have to endure some home visits like Mick and I are having right now. We’ve petitioned to adopt the kids, and our lawyer is telling us it’d be easier if we got married. We’re fighting about it.” Jon’s sour expression made Dan laugh.

“Who wants to and who doesn’t?” Dan couldn’t help but ask.

“I want to get married, but Mickey doesn’t believe me because of some shit I used to say about marriage being a hetero thing. Until we became caretakers of those two beautiful kids, I had no idea how important a commitment could be, but Mickey still laughs at me about it.

“Audrey, my best friend, is our lawyer so she’s filed separate petitions for me to become Megan’s parent and Mick to become Terry’s. The one that’s giving her fits is Terry’s adoption, if you can believe it. A white man raising a biracial teen seems to be giving one of our social worker’s, whose actually biracial herself, some pause.”

Dan sighed, not looking forward to the scrutiny, but settling himself to deal with it because Kayley’s well-being was worth it. “What’s that like?”

Jon spoke calmly. “We have surprise social workers at the house all the damn time, it seems. They’re like secret agents, but we know it’s for the benefit of our children, so we endure it.”

Something suddenly dawned on Dan. “Oh! That’s why you’re putting Jase up in the carriage house? I get it now. Is that what’s goin’ on with Matt and Tim regarding Rocky?”

Jon smirked. “I can’t talk about my clients.” His head, however, was nodding like a bobblehead doll.

“I wish to hell they’d have told us the truth. They made it seem like they didn’t trust Jase to stay at the ranch with two adolescent boys, and I think everybody jumped to the wrong conclusion. Fuck! They think the kid’s some sort of pervert or somethin’. I’m gonna kill Matt when I get home.” Dan couldn’t help his reaction.

Jon laughed. “Maybe don’t kill him, but you can rough him up a bit. Mickey talked to Tim, and we know what’s going on at the Circle C. Tim’s pissed at Matt, and I’m not taking a position on the matter, but my partner, well, he has his own opinions. You, however, have feelings for young Jason, right?”

Dan was caught off guard by Jon’s comment, but he couldn’t really lie. He hated the position he’d found himself in, but he was determined to be honest about it. “I’m afraid I’ve lost my soul to him, but for fuck’s sake, he’s eighteen. How the hell do I deal with that?”

Jon chuckled. “How many years?”

“About nine. I can’t go fallin’ in love with a guy who’s nine years younger than me, Jon.” Danny sighed at the inevitable failure of the age gap. It would never work.

When Jon chuckled, Dan turned from looking at the pool where Mickey, Jase, and Terry were sitting with the girls to play a game. “Mickey is ten years younger than me, and while he was older when we started our life together, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me, Danny. Yeah, he’s young, but how would you feel if he found somebody else?” That was yet another question Dan wasn’t ready to address head on.

Chapter Eight

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