Page 31 of Brighton

We woke on Christmas morning bright and early and raced downstairs. Brighton headed straight for the stockings. He stood there shifting from foot to foot and waited for me to tell him to go ahead and grab his. As soon as I did, he dumped it over and scrambled through the contents. Suzette was in the kitchen making breakfast and when it was ready, I pried Brighton away from the racecars Santa left in his stocking. As we had the year before, we returned to the living room for presents.

Brighton sat on the floor surrounded by an explosion of wrapping paper and played with his new toys. Mother sat in her chair smiling fondly at him and Suzette did much the same.

“Come on, Simon, it's showtime.” He barked and took the box in his mouth as I’d shown him and trotted over to Brighton who was currently engrossed with a new stuffed polar bear that I had given him. Simon dropped the box on his lap and sat back. “What's this, boy?” Brighton asked as he opened it and gasped. “Daddy?” He turned his head every which way to find me as I dropped to my knees beside him and gazed lovingly into his tear-filled eyes.

“Brighton, my love, my life. My life before you was empty and I’d given up hope on finding the one, then you walked in. I can’t imagine a life without you, and I don’t want to. Will you do me the honor and marry me? Be mine for life?” My voice shook as I too was now on the verge of tears.

“Yes, Daddy. All the yeses in the world!” My sweet boy tackled me to the floor and covered my face in kisses. Mother and Suzette laughed and clapped from behind us as I wiped the tears from my boy's eyes and properly kissed my fiancé.

“You've made me the happiest man alive, Brighton.” After the four of us hugged, Mother sat Brighton down and explained the love behind the ring I’d chosen to give him, my father’s.

“That ring belonged to my late husband, Edward’s father.” She gently rubbed the ring on Brighton's finger. “We were madly in love from the moment we met, two passing ships in the night, though fate had a hand in ensuring our paths crossed. To this day, he still holds the key to my heart. Edward has chosen to wear the ring that belonged to his grandfather. There's a lot of love in those bands and I'm honored for you to wear one of them.”

By this point Brighton and Mother were both crying and sat on the couch holding each other. Suzette and I hadn’t been missed by the tear fairy as we stood there watching the love they shared. Brighton believed he won the lottery when he stepped into this family but really we were the winners and were lucky to have such a beautiful, pure soul as Brighton become a part of us.

“Daddy, I wanna get married here, in our family home.” Mother smiled at his use of the word.

“I think that's a wonderful idea, Brighton,” she told him and I couldn't agree more.

“The only family I have is in this room right now so unless you're wanting to invite a bunch of people from work, it's gonna be a very small wedding.” I felt for my boy, I really did, but I didn’t need nor want a garish wedding.

“As much as I'd like to invite the people from work, we'd have to shut down the entire warehouse for a day. Actually, make that five warehouses in total. I'm talking over a thousand people. I believe keeping it small to just the four of us plus the minister sounds ideal.”

“And Simon, too,” Brighton added.

“Of course, sweet boy. Our wedding wouldn’t be complete without him.”

“Any idea on a date?” Suzette asked and Brighton looked at me.

“New Year’s Eve?” he suggested.

“Well, let me see if we can find a minister or Justice of the Peace that soon.”

When I told Ms. Kitty the following Wednesday that we were engaged the words she said surprised me, though I'm not sure why. Nothing that woman ever said or did should.

“Just so you're aware, I am an ordained minister.”

“Wait, what?” Had I heard her correctly? Would Brighton get the wedding date he desired?

She laughed. “I'd be honored to officiate your wedding, if you'll allow me to?”

I picked her up and swung her around. “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have stand up there with us.” Mother and Suzette readily agreed to be our witnesses.

“All right, you big galoot, put me down. When is the big day?”

“Can you pull off a New Year’s Eve wedding?”Please don’t say no, my boy badly desires that date.“I’ll pay any price you demand.”

Her eyes widened. “Don’t get your undies in a bunch. Is it formal?”

“Nope. We’ll be in jeans and button-up shirts.”

“Then yes, I can right after I get the animals get fed.”

There we stood, sunset New Year’s Eve. Both dressed in dark blue denim jeans, matching navy-blue button-up shirts and black dress shoes. My boy was handsome and I was one lucky man to have him in my life.

“Are we ready, boys?” Ms. Kitty asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Brighton replied for us. “Never been more ready for anything in my life.”

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