Chapter 10 - Making Amends
"Can I have your attention, please? Quiet, please." The DJ stated. "Can everyone please sit down? We need those spotlights." There was a bit of laughter. "Ladies and Gentlemen, as you know, this afternoon, Steven Franklin Ames and Adam Daniel Cort married. I'm pleased to announce our new couple, Adam and Steve Ames." There was applause all around, except for one person who looked at his wife, and she could feel his piercing eyes.
After the introductions and everyone started eating, Daniel Adam Cort stood up. He walked out of the tent with Carol on his heels. "Damn it, Dan, why can't you just be here for our son?"
"He won't want me here."
"What?" Carol was taken aback by that response.
"We don't need to ruin his day."
"He already knows we're here," Carol stated, and Daniel looked at her in shock. "He wasn't the one that invited us. It was an accident on Marie's part. She didn't know we were his parents."
"Oh." Daniel stood there are a moment. "How does he know we are here?"
"I asked to talk to him, which is why I was missing for a few minutes. Dan, let's eat, and we can talk about this."
When they walked back in, they found that the best men were getting up to do their speeches. Jeff and Teddy went to grab the mic and laughed, and so did a few others.
"I told Teddy I wanted to go first. That he could wait, my speech was probably shorter than his." He got a look from Teddy, and he handed him the mic. Teddy laughed and handed it back to Jeff. "Adam will always be Coach to me. It's still hard to call him Adam. Even though we've been at Steve's house a lot these last few years. Coach Cort, there were a lot of us rooting for this relationship. We even had to enact Operation: Move the Line to get it back on track." A handful of people that knew about the kidnapping laughed, including Adam and Steve. "Oh, I almost forgot. Sarah?" She handed him two teddy bears, both with footballs. Jeff gave one to Adam and Steve, and they smiled and kissed one another. "Adam, Steve, we love you. We don't ever want to have to do another Operation: Move the Line, again."
"You won't, Jeff." Adam chuckled as Steve squeezed his thigh.
"Is it my turn now?" Teddy got up and smiled. "Steve, he's my best friend, my Uncle, and best of all, my Dad. This speech is about Adam as well. I was jealous of Coach Adam Cort. He became the love interest of my Uncle Steve, and I was scared he would take him from me and move me back to my mom's or the mansion. When they broke up, oh God did everyone suffer around them."
There was a slideshow behind Adam and Steve, which they didn't realize. "Operation: Move the Line. We kidnapped both Adam and Steve after a football game." On the wall, they had two pictures of Adam in the back seat of Marc's car and Steve tied up in Teddy's. Everyone started laughing. "It was easier to get Adam in the car than Steve because Adam thought he was meeting the football team at the pizza place to celebrate the win. Steve, on the other hand, we had to tie up." Then there was a picture of the football team and the other accomplices. "We took them to a cabin for forty-eight hours without phones or a way to leave. They didn't even know where they were." A picture of the outside of the cabin.
A picture of all the flowers, balloons, and bears. "After we had left them the next day at Adam's house, these all arrived for him. Apparently, my Uncle had already set his own Operation to start his apology to try to get Adam and him to talk." Adam and Steve turned around for the first time and shook their heads.
"I'm glad they are together. I love you both, and I'm happy to be able to call you both Dad." Both Teddy and Jeff hugged them before sitting down.
The night seemed to pass by quickly for Adam and Steve, and they walked out and waved goodnight to everyone. They were just heading home for the night and then off the next day to Europe for a month.
*
"Sir, Judge Daniel Cort is here to see you." The manager of the house knocked on Frank Ames' study.
"Show him in, and please bring coffee, Randall," Frank said, then turned his attention back to finish the line he was writing and closed the file. Standing, he looked at the door as Daniel came through. "Dan, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"How long have you known Adam?"
"Almost four years now." Frank motioned for Daniel to sit down in the sitting area of his study. "Dan, you never had anything against my son Steven being gay all these years. Why Adam?"
"Honestly, I fucked up and couldn't take it back." Dan hung his head. "I was so mad that I punched Adam. I told him to get out of my house and never return."
"Why?" Frank asked.
"He was male, all male. He showed no signs. I know there are never Seniors or Juniors in my family, but he was supposed to carry on the tradition." Daniel stated, and Frank understood. He knew the tradition in Dan's family. The firstborn son always takes the name and flips it. Daniel and Adam have been flipped back and forth from father to son for generations in the Cort family, and it will end with Adam.
"So you killed your relationship with your son because of a tradition," Frank asked.
"I told you I fucked up." Dan sat there for a minute. "Frank, can you tell me about him? I have seen him from afar because I have gone to the games for twelve years."
"Dan, do you want to talk to him? They will be back from their honeymoon in three weeks." Frank asked.
"I don't think he'll talk to me. Shit, I took everything away from him."
"Let him make the decision. I'll ask him, and if he's willing, Marie and I will set up a dinner or something for all of us." Frank stated, and Daniel nodded and went to get up but stopped. "What is it, Dan?"
"May I ask you a few things, and will you tell me the truth?" Daniel asked.
"Depends on what it is."
"Adam's health, I've heard rumors."
"Nothing too serious. He does have an issue with his heart. He is seeing an excellent doctor, and besides that, he's good physically." Frank confirmed. "What else?" Frank could see that Daniel was hemming and hawing over something.
"His buddy Kip."
"Don't ask anything about that case, please."
"Why?" Daniel asked.
"I'm involved in that case. I can't discuss it." Frank stated.
"I was asking about Adam, not."
"Dan, look at me." Dan looked Frank in the eyes. "I was a lawyer with my son in that case. We can't discuss it without the client's permission." Dan closed his eyes and nodded. Frank knew if Dan wanted, he could get a hold of the case and read all about the assaults and victims.
"Frank, walk with me outside, please." Daniel and Frank walked out the study's door to the garden. "I know I can't claim to be Adam's father because I gave that right up fourteen years ago. But humor me and talk to me, father to father here, not a lawyer to judge."
"Without giving up too much information," Frank stated. "Dan, you know as I do. Rape changes a person. Steve still says Adam is not the same as he was two years ago."
"Shit. I knew he was involved. I didn't want to get a hold of it." Daniel said. Frank knew he was talking about the case. "No matter how private cases are, something always gets out, doesn't it?"
"Sadly, yes." Frank agreed.
"I won't take up any more of your time, Frank. I don't think he will see me."
"You never know, Dan. Time sometimes helps. Look, you're asking about him."
*
