Page 65 of Finding Basil
“This wasn’t an easy decision for me, but my old bones have planted my last seed. I’m retiring, and Cordelia over there found me a nice little place in town, where I can still have a few rose bushes to tend, but I won’t be working from sunup to sundown.”
She looked at Basil, then Herb, as tears filled her eyes. “I never had kids. Couldn’t. But I found the love a mother has in planting and in friends. Basil, well, I’ve known him since he was a pup, and Herb, well, he’s a good egg. I’m giving them my place, to have more acres to plant and to have an extra house when that one o’ theirs finally falls over in exhaustion.”
Herb was stunned silent, and Basil’s hands slapped over his own mouth to keep the scream contained.
Basil hugged her, telling her it was too much, they couldn’t possibly accept, but she wouldn’t hear of it. “I want someone good to tend that land. Who knows who’d get it when I die? Some idiots who would build condos or some such shit. I want it loved, and I know the two of you will love it.”
And they did. After they returned home from their honeymoon, Steve was there, watching the house for them, as they’d asked. He was doing so much better that they wanted to show they trusted him with the very thing that had gotten him into trouble.
He walked them around to the back of the house and showed them the huge crack in the foundation. “I swear, I didn’t do this one.”
“Dammit,” Basil said, crouching to the ground to take a closer look. “Herb, baby, this is bad.”
“It can be fixed,” Steve offered, but added, “It’s going to cost a fortune.”
A fortune he no longer had. Sure, the Jimenez family had helped with the wedding, but he’d spent most of the rest of his savings on the farm and the house when he’d first arrived. That seemed like ten years ago instead of only one.
“What the hell are we going to do?”
“We have a home,” Basil said and turned him in the direction of Lila’s. “It’s big enough, she’s kept up with all the repairs. It’s a beautiful home.”
“What about this one? Just let it crumble?”
Basil laughed and said, “No. Once we can afford it, we can get it fixed up, keep it or sell it, or…save it for our kids, when they need a home.”
“Kids? Does this mean…?” Steve asked.
They’d talked endlessly about it on the honeymoon in Cancun. They decided kids were high on the list of the plans for their life together, so they didn’t want to wait any longer than they had to.
“We’ve already called Tilda, the surrogate we met when Sabrina had the girls. She’s going to be ours, and the plans are tentative, but we want to start this winter.”
“Well, damn. What you’ve always wanted, Basil. I’m really happy for you guys.”
Herb lay in bed that night, the first night in their new home. Lila had packed most everything except the furniture she couldn’t fit in the new place. She said that it was time he got rid of that hideous orange couch, anyway.
Basil came to bed freshly showered, smelling of lavender and magnolias, without a stitch of clothes on his body. As he climbed under the covers, he slid next to Herb, kissing his bare shoulder. “Are we, uh, going to christen our new home?”
“I…it’s all so…there are three hundred more acres, Basil, and what the hell are we planting on three hundred acres? We’ll have so much chamomile the entire valley will be sleepy. And another house? And for free? I still think we should pay her something, but we have just enough for the IVF, and what about kids? We’re not ready for any of this. It’s…happening too fast. We just met! We’re married! We’re talking about three hundred acres, kids, and what about—”
Basil kissed him delicately on his lips, cutting off all the rest of the worries before they could reach his lips.
Basil has full control of his lips.
Herb’s hands slid around Basil, and their kissing intensified, and he thought back to the honeymoon they’d had, and how they’d made love on the terrace of their hotel, under all those stars…
On the entire trip, Basil’s hand in his, the pride he felt from walking around with that beautiful man beside him…and the love he felt. Oh, there had never been two people more in love in the entire world.
They exuded it, and people took notice wherever they went. As they sipped pina coladas on the beach or ate tapas in the outdoor dining area at their favorite restaurant, everyone stared at them, smiling wistfully, like they were witnessing something out of their favorite romance movies.
Herb moved over Basil slowly, their eyes locked as Basil gave him a patient smile. “You did that on purpose.”
“I did.”
One thing Herb had learned early on was that Basil could distract him with a kiss. Worries were gone with the touch of those lips to Herb’s. And yes, it was all changing, all so big, but Basil would be by his side. There was nothing he couldn’t handle with that man, that wonderful man by his side.
“I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the entire world.”
“Even though we just met?” Basil asked with a little giggle that was so adorable, Herb could eat him alive.
