This story contains some explicit scenes of erotic love between males. If you are under age, or live in an area where reading stories that include sex between males is illegal, or if you're not into this type of story, please leave. The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at NJMcMick@yahoo.com.
The story is set in the fictional city of Trenton, New Jersey. Yes, there is a real city by that name, but other than being a state capital on the Delaware River, it bears little resemblance to the city in this story. While a few of the places mentioned may exist in reality, all of the characters and events are fictitious.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Norman and I went back to the hotel to change into something more comfortable before going to dinner. I carefully hung up the suit and shirt since I knew I had to wear them again in the morning. I was pretty quiet as Norman drove to TGI Fridays. It had been an emotionally draining afternoon and I was exhausted. Norman made small talk until after we'd been served our dinners, then he let me have it for lying about my age.
"I thought we were good friends. Jerry. How could you have lied to me for so long about something so important?"
"I'm sorry, Norman, but I had to at the beginning. What would you have done if I'd told you I was sixteen that day we met? You'd have called the authorities, wouldn't you? A hungry, underage runaway? No way you would have let me go. They would have sent me back to Ralph and you would have thought you'd done a good thing."
"Yes, I probably would have. I hated letting you go as it was, but if I'd known you were really a kid I wouldn't have."
"Later, after we became friends, I wanted to tell you the truth. I was having so many problems finding work, getting ID, doing everything. But I didn't see any way you could help and I didn't want to put you in a tough spot. I mean, I know teachers are supposed to report any kids they think are in trouble and I wasn't sure if you were still supposed to do that even though you were retired."
"That's only in school, Jerry."
"Anyway, Mr. Boyle finally got things cleared up by going to court and having Aunt Aggie named my guardian and the law firm put in charge of everything. Then I was going to tell you but by that point I'd been lying too long. I was embarrassed. So I figured I'd just wait until I turned eighteen and announce it to everyone. To be honest, I liked being treated as an adult and I didn't want to go back to being a kid."
"I'll admit that you're pretty grown up for seventeen, much more than you were even last summer, but in so many ways you really are still a kid. When I think about what you were doing in the park last fall ... or with Derek, or even Patrick, men so much older than you."
"Back when I was still in school I heard that the age of consent for sex was sixteen, so I wasn't worried about getting anyone in trouble, but I'm sure some guys, especially good guys like Derek and Patrick, wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with me if they knew my real age."
Norman sighed. "Can you blame them? You're younger than Derek's daughter. And Patrick is a lawyer eight years older than you."
"I know, I know, but you don't know what it's like living as an adult but having others treat you like you're a kid."
"Well, it's done now. I hope you'll stick to guys closer to your age from now on."
"That's what I've wanted but things just haven't always worked out that way."
"Now, is there anything else you've been holding back that I should know?"
I thought for a minute. The only thing he didn't know was that Derek had been paying me for our dates. And Patrick had paid for the first one, except that was more a joke. If just having sex with them was bad, getting paid was lots worse. He knew about the guys in the park and that was enough. Besides, sex for money and sex with Derek and Patrick was all in the past, so it really didn't matter now.
"Nope, nothing else, Norman."
"You thought about it long enough."
"Just wanted to be sure."
When we got to the funeral home in the morning I still hadn't decided if I wanted to talk to my grandparents. They were already there, seated in the front row on the left. I nodded to them and took a seat on the right side. I didn't want to have to talk to them until I'd made up my mind. A lot of the old neighbors were there plus a few nursing home employees. The service itself was nice, at least the parts that I listened to. My mind kept wandering and maybe that was a good thing. I didn't want to think about Aunt Aggie being dead. I wanted to think about her being alive, being herself before she forgot everything. I didn't know much about that because I was so young back then. But she was a sweet, loving person. I'd never heard her complain or say anything bad about anyone, although her life must not have been easy. She and her husband had never had any kids and he died about five years before Mom came to live with her. I knew that I was the reason Mom didn't have any contact with her family, but it had never occurred to me as a child to wonder why Aunt Aggie didn't. I guess I just assumed she was taking Mom's side. By the end of the service I decided I wanted to hear what my grandparents had to say.
There was a limo to take me to the cemetery. Well, actually it was a Lincoln Town Car, but to me it was a limo. I couldn't imagine why they would have a car like that just for me, but then I realized that back when Aunt Aggie had made the arrangements she was thinking it would be Mom and me in the car. I felt silly riding in the back alone so I talked Norman into going with me. There was no point in him driving alone in his car.
Fewer people went to the cemetery so I ended up standing next to my grandparents for the brief graveside service by the large stone with the name Farrell. This part brought back the worst of my memories of Mom's funeral and I had trouble getting through it. I kept slipping back in time, becoming that shocked, lost thirteen-year old boy. By the end of the service I was trembling.
"You can't be cold, son. Are you feeling all right?" My grandmother leaned toward me, looking concerned.
"I'm fine. I was just remembering my mother's funeral."
"Is her grave nearby? I'd like to see it if you don't mind."
"Sure, I was going to visit it myself before going back."
I took a white rose from one of the flower arrangements and led the two of them to Mom's grave about thirty feet away. Norman followed a few steps behind. I knelt at the grave and laid the rose in front of the stone. I stared at the simple inscription, Jessica Walton Ferguson, beloved wife and mother, 1966-2002. Tears ran down my face. I missed her so much. After a moment, Norman helped me up and dried my tears. Where would I be without his handkerchiefs? I saw that my grandmother was crying. My grandfather was holding her in his arms and there even seemed to be a few tears running down his cheeks. Norman and I stepped back a few feet and gave them some time alone.
"I've decided to have lunch with them, Norman, but you have to come, too."
"Are you sure, Jerry? They're your family and you have so much to catch up on."
"You're more my family than they are. I really want you there."
When we got back to the limo nearly everyone else had gone. I told my grandparents that if they'd follow us back to the funeral home we'd get Norman's car and go to lunch. I knew of a restaurant nearby that was popular with older people. We didn't talk much as we looked over the menus. After we'd placed our orders, my grandmother asked about Ralph.
"Was your stepfather at the funeral today, Jeremiah? I was hoping to meet him."
"No, he came to the viewing yesterday. He wasn't very fond of Aunt Aggie."
"Still, he should have been there for you, son." I wished he wouldn't call me that.
"Ralph likes me even less. I left home last year because we didn't get along."
"He doesn't sound like a nice man," my grandmother said.
"He's not. About the only good thing I can say about him is that he loved Mom and took really good care of her. He treated her like a queen, which was how she should have been treated." I tried not to stress that last part but it was aimed at them.
We were silent for a couple of minutes and then the waitress brought our food. As we started to eat, my grandfather spoke up.
"I realize you don't think much of us, Jeremiah, but I'd like to tell you a little bit about our family. Maybe you still won't like us but you'll understand us a little better."
"That's why I'm here. If you want to talk, I'll listen, but I'm not promising anything."
"I can't ask for more than that." He hesitated and took a sip of his iced tea. "We live in Augusta, Georgia. Our family is quite conservative, as is the community, and we're active in our church and respected by our social set. My mother's family was old money, as they say. A lot of social standing and just enough money to get my father started in business. He opened an automobile dealership, which I still run today. I was raised to take our social standing quite seriously, and I do."
"Social standing didn't seem to matter much to Mom or Aunt Aggie."
"No, it didn't. We were all raised to behave properly, but it didn't always take. You see, there's a bit of a wild streak in our family. It may be something in our blood, but it can be overcome if you try hard enough. Some didn't try very hard."
"You mean like insanity?"
"No!" Grandfather shuddered at the suggestion. "Just a wild streak, that's all, and maybe a lack of resolve to fight it. Agatha was a bit of a free spirit, even as a teenager. My father adored her and tolerated her acting up, but my mother had no patience with her. There was a young man from a good family who was quite taken with her. She liked him, but not seriously. Our parents were thrilled, however, since his family was very upper crust. He wanted to marry her and it would move us up in social standing. So they pressured her and finally she gave in. The marriage lasted six months. She came home bruised and battered late one night, claiming he'd beaten her. My parents didn't want to hear it. No one talked about that kind of thing back then, and when they did it was usually to blame the wife for riling her husband. My mother wanted her to go back and apologize to her husband but Agatha refused. She insisted on a divorce, which was scandalous. No one in our set divorced in 1953. She lived a quiet, subdued life after that, not even dating for years. And then when she was nearly forty she took up with that Farrell fellow and created another scandal."
"Why, what was wrong with him? Aunt Aggie always talked of him as if he were a wonderful man. She loved him very much."
"He was an Irish immigrant, a mechanic in our service department, not our class at all. At first they snuck around in secret. I heard about it and tried to talk her out of it. Then they became more brazen and were seen together in public all the time. Father threatened to cut her off if she didn't stop seeing him. Instead, they eloped."
"Yeah, I can't see Aggie caving in to threats."
"Afterward they at least had the decency to leave Augusta and come up here. I believe Farrell had family in this area. Father missed her terribly and never gave up hoping she'd come back. After my mother passed away he even came up here to see her, made up with her and tried to get her to come back, but she was happy with her life here." He turned to my grandmother. "Maybe you'd like to powder your nose, dear?"
My grandmother excused herself, got up and went to the ladies room.
"This part is still very hard on Sarah. I don't know if your mother told you much about her childhood, Jeremiah, but she was the youngest of three children. The oldest was our son, Coy. He was a beautiful boy with so much promise, but as he grew into manhood he developed a fondness for alcohol. I don't know where he got that from since we never had it in the house, but he used to go to parties and bars. When he was twenty-five he was out drinking one night and never made it home. His car ran off the road into a tree and he was killed instantly. The whole family was grief-stricken, but especially your mother. She idolized him."
I was shocked. Mom had never talked about having a brother. She'd always just said that Coy was a family name and left it at that, changing the subject rather abruptly. We continued eating in silence for a minute and my grandmother returned.
"And then there was your mother. She went a little wild after that, but we understood, tried to console her and looked the other way now and then. But then she turned up pregnant. That we couldn't overlook. We arranged for her to come up here to stay with Agatha. We were barely on speaking terms with Agatha at that point but she was family. Jessica was to stay here until she had the baby, put it up for adoption and then come home. No one back home would know anything except that she'd been visiting family. But after she got here she changed her mind. She decided not to give up the baby and we couldn't very well have her come home an unwed mother. There were a lot of angry letters and telephone calls and finally we cut her off. Tough love, they call it. We thought if we stopped supporting her, emotionally and financially, she'd come to her senses. Instead we never heard from her again and Agatha broke off what little contact we'd had with her as well."
"So because you were more concerned about your position in society and what others would say, you threw away your sister and your daughter. That doesn't sound like tough love. That doesn't sound like any kind of love at all."
"Believe me, I did love them, Jeremiah. I just didn't know what else to do. I was raised to believe that there was a right way to live and a wrong way. You just can't give in to the wrong way."
"I was raised to love my family and know that they would always love me, no matter what. I think that's the right way."
"Maybe you're right, Jeremiah. I used to think I knew all the answers. Now I'm not sure I know anything anymore."
My grandfather excused himself and went to the restroom.
"Finding out about your mother's death hit him very hard yesterday. I may have fainted, but Jonathan felt it just as strongly. He didn't sleep much last night. He really did love her, you know. We both did."
"I wonder if she knew that."
"I hope so. We never meant for things to go as far as they did. One angry word led to another and soon we weren't speaking. You can never take back things said in anger. And then there was so much pride on both sides."
When my grandfather returned he changed the subject slightly.
"So do you know who your father is, Jeremiah?"
"Just his name from my birth certificate and I only found that out recently. Robert Johnson, Jr. All Mom ever said about him was that he was married."
He nodded. "She refused to tell us who the father was, but looking at you it's pretty obvious."
"You know my father?"
"We knew him when he was younger but his family and ours weren't in the same social circle. We still do business with his family but that's the only contact we have."
"Could you tell me a little about him?"
"I don't know if that would be wise, son. From what little your mother said she never told him she was pregnant, so he doesn't even know about you. He has his own family. I'm sure you wouldn't want to make trouble for him when there's nothing for you to gain by it."
"I didn't mean I wanted to meet him or anything. I was just wondering what kind of man he was."
"Well, we really only knew him when he was a teenager and a young man. From what I hear, however, he's a good man."
Over dessert my grandparents asked me about my life. They were a little appalled when I told them about my job and the rooming house so I didn't mention the dishwashing job or sleeping in the park. Or anything else in the park, either. They said they wanted to get to know me better and invited me to come visit them in Augusta and meet my mother's sister Kathryn and her family. Apparently I had three cousins, a boy and two girls, all a little younger than me. I really didn't have any interest in going down there but I politely said I'd think about it. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers and that was it. I let them hug me in the parking lot before we parted. I wasn't as angry with them as I had been the day before, but I didn't feel too kindly toward them either. Their very rigid ideas of right and wrong had cost them a lot of family and had hurt people they supposedly loved. They seemed to understand that but it was a little late to undo the damage.
Norman had been quiet through most of my grandparents' talk of family, but was quick to jump into the conversation with small talk when the awkward silences came up. Just his presence had made the whole experience less of an ordeal.
"Thank you for coming with me, Norman. And thank you for everything else this weekend." I looked at my watch as he and I got into the car. "Let's check out of the hotel and head home. I've got to be at Minho in three hours."
I spent the whole day Sunday catching up on schoolwork. It helped keep my mind off the funeral and my grandparents. I wanted a little break for all of that to sink in. Besides, the GED exam was in less than two weeks so I didn't have much time left to cram everything into my head. Tuesday morning I made my usual call to Nancy at the law firm. As Mr. Boyle had said at the funeral home, she wanted to make an appointment for me to see one of their lawyers about Aunt Aggie's will. Friday was the only day I had no plans so she told me to come in at eleven.
Tuesday afternoon at the end of history class Mr. Cutter asked me to stay behind. I waited until he was finished talking to a few other students.
"I was sorry to hear about your aunt, Jerry. Are you doing all right?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty good. How did you hear about it?"
"Norman told me the news."
I had no idea that Norman had had any contact with Mr. Cutter. Right after the political dinner he'd mentioned that he and Mr. Cutter and his friend Janet had talked about getting together, but he never said anything about it again. It seemed that I wasn't the only one keeping secrets. I decided to ask him about it the next time I saw him.
On the train to Philadelphia Friday morning I tried to imagine why I was even going there. I mean, I knew I was the only relative Aunt Aggie had that she had been on good terms with so I'd probably inherit whatever she owned, but she didn't have much. She'd had decent china and silverware and a few nice pieces of furniture, including the little piano, but Ralph had sold the good stuff after Mom died. I couldn't think of anything left in the apartment that I would want. Besides, I'd have to fight Ralph for it and I had no place to put anything anyway. This trip was just a formality, something that had to be done legally, I supposed.
When I got to the law firm and told the receptionist my name she was much nicer than that first day I'd been there. She told me to have a seat in the waiting area and someone would be with me shortly. She even offered me coffee, but I didn't want any. There were a few other people waiting and I found a seat and picked up a magazine. I'd just started leafing through it when I heard a familiar voice.
"Coy!?"
I looked up and Patrick was standing there.
"Hey, Patrick! What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing. I'm a lawyer, remember? I work here. I thought maybe you'd tracked me down somehow."
"No, I'm here for an appointment with somebody about my great-aunt's will."
"You're Jeremiah Walton? No way!"
"Um, yeah. Coy is my middle name. Don't tell me you're the lawyer I have the appointment with."
"Yes, I am." He shook his head. "This is so weird. Come with me."
I followed him through a maze of hallways past lots of little offices. He finally turned into one that was about a tenth the size of Mr. Boyle's. I sat in a comfortable chair and he closed the door before sitting behind the desk.
He opened a file and then shook his head again and looked angry. "You're fucking seventeen years old! You lied to me about your age. I can't believe I was fucking a kid, or vice versa most of the time."
"I'm sorry, Patrick, I was lying to everyone. I just didn't want to be treated like a kid."
"And you were hustling? Jeez!"
"You know I only did that a little. I explained all that."
"I know. I'm sorry, I'm just shocked. I would never have gone out with you if I'd known your real age."
"Then I'm glad I lied. Even though it didn't work out I liked you a lot and had a good time with you."
"Yeah, so did I." He smiled and then looked back down at the file. "Well, you've kept me very busy this week. First your grandparents were in here on Monday, trying to get information. Then your stepfather barged in on Tuesday. Mr. Boyle and I met with him. I hope you're not offended, but he's a real jerk."
"My sentiments exactly. What did he want?"
"He wants custody of you. Or more to the point, he wants control of you and any money you might have."
"But I don't have any money."
"Exactly. We made that clear to him but he didn't want to hear it. He's a real idiot so he may still make trouble over the custody issue even though it won't get him anywhere. Right now you're the legal equivalent of a free agent living in legal limbo. You have no guardian and you're supposed to have one."
"So what do we do?"
"We're going to do what lawyers do best - stall. We've got less than five months to kill until your birthday so we're going to try to slow things down until then. Try not to worry about it. We're on top of it. But your appointment today is about the will, not custody. Mrs. Farrell's last will was executed about ten years ago. Basically, she left everything to Jessica Walton. She was your mother, right?"
"Yeah, that would have been about a year before she got married, but she died four years ago. What does that mean now? Does Ralph get everything since he was married to Mom?"
"No, you were named as secondary beneficiary. Since your mother predeceased Mrs. Farrell, you get the entire estate. But since you were a minor at the time, and still are, she stipulated that a trust be set up, with this firm as trustee."
"And what does that mean?"
"Under the terms of the will, until you are twenty-one, the trustee can disperse income from the trust to you at the trustee's discretion. After that, the income will go to you automatically. And then when you turn twenty-five, the trust will be dissolved and you will own everything outright."
"But Aunt Aggie didn't own anything to begin with, so what is all of this about?"
"She did have assets, Coy. Or should I call you Jeremiah now?"
"Either Coy or Jerry, whichever you're more comfortable with. What assets?"
"First, there's the house."
"But she didn't own a house. We lived in an apartment."
"Yes, but your great-aunt owned the house the apartment is in and rented out the upstairs apartment. The rent covered the taxes, utilities, upkeep and other household expenses."
"So you mean I own the house now?" An idea occurred to me. "That means I'm Ralph's landlord. Can I evict him?"
Patrick laughed. "No, not without cause. There are laws to protect tenants. But you could evict him if you wanted to live in the apartment."
"No way! I'm never going back to Chester. Trenton is my home. That's where my life is now."
"Okay, that was something I needed to find out. Now, Mrs. Farrell also had a respectable portfolio of stocks and bonds, conservative investments. Not a fortune by any means, but a sizable amount of money nonetheless."
"But wouldn't that have been sold to pay for the nursing home? I know that had to be expensive and I assumed everything she had would have gone to that."
"You're right, it was expensive but we didn't need to sell her investments to pay the bills. That brings us to the largest part of her estate, an interest in a car dealership in Georgia."
"That would be my grandfather's business. He mentioned it when we talked after the funeral."
"Well, it may be his business, but Mrs. Farrell owned fifty percent of it. It was her share of the income from the business that paid her medical bills."
I was stunned. "You mean I own half of the business?" Patrick smiled and nodded. I laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Well, it just occurred to me. I got my driver's license in February, right around the time we started dating, and I've been thinking that I'd never be able to afford a car. And now I own a car dealership. That's crazy."
"Yes, it is a little funny, but keep in mind that this is all in trust until you're twenty-five."
"Do you think that maybe I'd at least be able to get a car out of it? What kind of dealership is it anyway? I might not even like the cars."
"Ford. I think they probably have something you'd like and I'm sure we can work something out. That's why your grandfather was in here Monday. He's concerned about what's going to happen to his business."
"I can imagine. I don't know him well and I don't have good feelings for him, but I still wouldn't want to mess him up."
"Don't worry, we're not going to be making any major changes. We've been dealing with his attorneys on behalf of Mrs. Farrell for years and things will stay pretty much the same for now."
"So does this mean I'm rich?"
"No, don't even think that. The trust has a very comfortable income but I'll be in charge of it. We'll have to take a look at your life, what you want, what you need, where you're going, and take it from there. I think the way you should proceed is to continue planning and living your life the way you want with the knowledge that somewhere down the road you will have a nice supplement to whatever earnings you have. The point of a trust is so you don't blow it all before you're ready to handle your own money. You get used to the idea gradually as you mature."
"So what do we do next?"
He glanced at his watch. "I think we go to lunch. I want to hear all about your life, where you are now and what your plans are. I have to know as much about you as possible so I can make the right choices to help you get where you want to go."
Patrick took me to Cosi where we had lunch and he interrogated me about my life. I told him about the GED exam coming up the next week and my plans to go to community college in the fall if I passed. I updated him on my job at Minho, telling him exactly how much I earned, on average. I even mentioned my idea for expanding the restaurant to give me more work and money. I talked about volunteering at the shelter, although that had nothing to do with money. He knew about the rooming house and I told him about my hope that Manny and I might be able to get an apartment together once he came back and got settled into a job.
After lunch we walked together for a ways and continued to talk, but then stopped at a point halfway between the law office and the train station.
"I'll think about what you've told me and try to plan the best way we can help you, Coy."
"So you're going to be my trustee now? You're the one with the final say over what I get?"
"Pretty much."
I glanced up and down the sidewalk and then discreetly cupped my package in my left hand and gave him what I thought was a devilish leer. "Think I might be able to bribe you a little?"
Patrick grinned. "That equipment of yours is any bottom's dream, but I think that part of our relationship is in the past, Coy."
"I know, I was just teasing. It was fun, but it's over now. I hope we're going to be friends though."
"I'm sure we will. I'll call you early next week to make plans to get together and talk again."
I thought about what it all meant on the way home. Patrick said I wasn't rich but it sounded like an awful lot of money to me. But I would only get what he wanted me to have until I was twenty-one and that was so far off I couldn't even think about it. He made it sound like he was only going to give me what I needed until then and I really didn't need much more than I had. Maybe I could get a car from my grandfather. Maybe Patrick would help me out with an apartment. At the very least, I knew I wouldn't ever be hungry again. No more sleeping in the woods. No more selling blowjobs in the park. That was something anyway.
To be continued.