The General and the Horse-Lord (17 page)

“Wow, you really do think like a general!” Billy drained his tea. “No, sometimes he looks like he’s in pain when he talks about it, like he’s got a stomachache, and I get the feeling he is trying really, really hard to not say anything to hurt my feelings, but what he thinks about it in the privacy of his own bathroom, I don’t know. I know he believes in a strong united front against all opposition.”

“So do I. We’ll get along fine.”

J
OHN
decided to tackle Gabriel at dinner and force a discussion of the elephant in the room. One of the elephants. He’d cleaned out his closet earlier, put all but two good suits in the closet in the office, and cleared some drawer space for Gabriel’s clothes. He cleaned out space in the bathroom, one drawer and one shelf, in what could only be an invitation to move in. Only one more thing was left, and it was critical.

John locked the door to the garage, in case Kim decided to spring in on them with his camera and saintly drapes. He fired up the grill, cooked a couple of sirloins just the way they liked them. Gabriel was putting butter on his baked potato. He was so handsome, John thought. He moved with a grace and power that was almost startling. His face in profile looked like something classical and Greek. It wasn’t just that he enjoyed Gabriel’s company. He was smart and strong, and so gorgeous John felt sweat break out along his hairline, down his back. But there was still something more, something unique and wonderful that was all him. “Do we need to talk about the kids?”

Gabriel looked up, his eyes narrowing. “What about the kids? Mine or yours?”

“Yours. I wondered if you felt comfortable having them here. If you were living here, with me, would you want your kids here? For visitation? For summer break so Martha could go on a cruise?”

Gabriel sat back, stared at the wall, and John cut into his steak. Pepper, he’d forgotten the pepper. He went to the cabinet and brought back the grinder. “You want some?”

Gabriel nodded, then leaned over his plate and cut a piece of steak. “Yes. To everything.”

“Good. So, how do you want to do it? I was thinking we could move a second desk into the office so we could both have work space. That would leave one bedroom we could make up for the kids, or we could bunk Juan out with Kim in the garage and leave the bedroom for Martie.”

“Did you hear what she’s calling us? Double Dads. That’s the name kids have for a pair of dads. She’s put on her Facebook wall that she has a bisexual father and now she’s got Double Dads!! She wanted a picture of us but I said no. Martha is so very pissed off. She’s stuck raising them every day, and we get the fun weekends and the cute nicknames. John, are you sure? Sure about all of this? I mean, you asked your old boyfriend to bunk with you during the divorce. My life seems to be more complicated than I anticipated. Do you really want all of this?”

“I didn’t ask my old boyfriend to bunk here during the divorce. I asked you to move in with me. You, the person I’ve loved forever. I assumed that meant the kids too, but I figured we might want to let Martha ease into it a little. Gabriel, I never asked before. I wonder now if that was a mistake. But I will tell you frankly that it no more occurred to me we could ever live together, like lovers, than we could live together on the moon. It just… never occurred to me.”

“I used to imagine it. I thought we could find some small tropical island and go there to live. But then I would think about two weeks in. What would we do all day after securing shelter and clean water? Would there be tribes who needed a mediator? Could I devise some sort of coconut-powered flying machine?” He shook his head. “This is the world we live in. We just needed to be patient and wait for it to catch up with us.”

“It was a long wait, Gabriel. For some generations of men, they waited forever. It’s hard for me to think about them now, what it must have been like. They were really out there alone. But I did wonder about something else. We might as well talk about it now. You’ve never had a chance to play the field. You’re moving from one house into another, without being single, without the fun of being single. Sure you don’t want to play with the boys and girls a little bit? After all, according to your daughter’s Facebook wall, you
are
bisexual.”

“This? Me and you? This is as wild and crazy as I’m likely to get, unless I’m in a helicopter. Then all bets are off.”

Gabriel worked on his steak for a while, and John did the same. The kitchen was filled with blissful silence.

Gabriel put down his fork. “Let’s see what Kim thinks about letting Juan bunk with him. Otherwise Juan and Martie’ll be fighting in the middle of the night and we’ll have to put masking tape down the middle of the bedroom floor.”

John nodded. “Sounds good. Maybe Martha could let them spend a day. Martie will want to decorate her own room, I suspect.”

Gabriel pushed his empty plate back. “Count on it. You know the thing that scares me most of all? That she would marry some creep just to annoy me. And that guy would be living in the same house with my kids. He could fuck with Juan’s head, and do God knows what to Martie.”

“It could happen,” John agreed. “She could get married again.”

“She will,” Gabriel promised. “Just to prove that she’s still beautiful and desirable. I don’t think she’ll ever put the kids at risk. But smart women have been fooled before by creeps.”

“We’ll be sure to carefully vet anybody that looks to be getting close. The kids will tell us what’s going on.”

“I’ve got a question for you. You’re changing too, and it’s not just me. Letting me in, I mean. You used to be really structured. You kept things compartmentalized, you know? And now you’re open to things. Open to change, and me. I mean, do you know what you did today? You said in public we were gay. Did you mean to do that? Are you going to come all the way out of the closet, become Retired Army General John Mitchel, the gay silver fox?”

That surprised a laugh out of him. “The what?” He shook his head. “I don’t know, Gabriel. I think it’s you. Your love is working on me in mysterious ways.”

Gabriel reached across the table and took his hand. “Thanks for the space in the closet. And the bathroom. Thanks for opening your heart to me and my kids.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ll bring the rest of my gear after work tomorrow.”

“Okay. And by the way? We’re expecting company. The cowboys are about to land.”

Chapter 13

B
ILLY
’
S
father, the retired bull-riding champion Cody Dial, sounded tired and impatient on his cell when John introduced himself. “Are you the Army General John Mitchel?” The sound of the wind, and the road, was loud, and John thought he had the window of his pickup truck rolled down.

“Yes. Retired.”

“That’s what Billy told me, but he has been known to exaggerate in the past. I looked you up. Strategy and Tactics for the Joint Chiefs. How about that. You’ve got a Wiki page.”

“So do you. He’s not exaggerating about the beating. What did he tell you?”

“Some jerk he was dating had too much to drink and popped him one. He had to get stitches in his eyebrow.”

“It’s more serious than that, but we can discuss what’s being done when you arrive. I just wanted to give you a head’s up. He was hurt badly, mostly to his face. He had some bruising on his ribs too, and some marks on his arms and wrists. I don’t know what else. He’s… a little afraid.”

John listened to the sounds of breathing over the phone.

“Is the motherfucker who touched my son locked up?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s good,” Cody said. “Then I’ll take care of him myself.”

“Come see me first and I’ll tell you what’s being done. Billy’s staying in the garage with my nephew Kim.”

“Are they boyfriend and girlfriend? Or whatever you call it?”

“Not that I know of. I think just friends,” John said. “Kim was hit a few weeks ago by the same man, who is one of their instructors.”

“This sounds like there’s more to this fucking story than I am going to like. I’m nearly in Durango. I’ll be there in six hours.”

I
T
WAS
past midnight, and Gabriel was asleep. John had stayed up to keep the light on for Billy’s dad. Cody Dial was a man of few words. He shook hands, said his name, then, “I’d like to see my son.”

Billy Dial must have had a beautiful and petite mother, because his father was a plug-ugly beast, with a face like a potato and a nose broken more times than it had been set. The look on his face when he stared down at his youngest son, asleep in Kim’s bed, his pretty young face purple and swollen and cut, was nearly too painful to see, and John turned away to give him some privacy. He sat down on the side of the bed, and Billy stirred, woke up, and went into his big father’s arms. John stepped back into the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee.

He sat with Billy for more than fifteen minutes, until John heard him murmuring, “Go to sleep now, Billy. Daddy’s here. You go on back to sleep.” He came into the kitchen a few minutes later, took off his ball cap, and ran both hands back over his hair.

“You want some coffee? Or I have herbal tea.”

“I only drink that herbal tea when Billy catches me at a weak moment. I’ll take a cup of coffee.”

He pulled out a chair at the table and sat down, and John poured him a cup and joined him at the table. They looked at each other for a long moment, and John was pleased with what he saw in Cody Dial’s eyes. He looked smart and in control. “I’ve got some papers to show you, and a report from a PI.” Cody nodded, and John went to his desk and got a file folder. He’d prepared a copy of all the materials he’d gathered for Billy’s dad.

Cody studied the papers, drank his coffee, and when he finished, he had two questions. “When I was in there talking to Billy, Kim said, ‘This is all my fault.’ Kim thinks what happened to Billy was some sort of revenge. What did you do to this guy after he hit Kim, other than what is in this paperwork?”

“Called him out in public. Punched him in the knee. Torn ACL. Not a great deal of permanent damage, but I hope it hurts like a bitch.”

“Kim, he doesn’t realize a guy like this doesn’t need to go looking for a reason.”

John was happy Cody Dial realized that as well.

“You think his father has been protecting him, keeping him on the faculty?” John nodded. “And what you’re trying to do is get him off the faculty and his father out of a position of authority, correct? And you’re working through the system to accomplish this?” John nodded again. “I believe you and I work on different sides of a line, General. A spoiled, rich man who has been protected by his daddy when he hurts young men who are his students? I don’t know if a man like that has any incentive to reevaluate his behavior. What’s his motivation to change?”

John looked at him carefully. “I would hate to see a man like this responsible for ruining any more lives. He tries to poison the people he touches. Our boys, they’re both strong and smart. They’re working on their own model for this. For healing, I guess you could say. I’m working on this my way. That may be enough.”

“No offence, General, but my experience has been that some men don’t change unless they have a reason to change. Revenge is a sucker’s game. That’s not what I’m about. But I will make sure my son will not ever be touched again by this motherfucking piece of dog shit. That’s all you need to know about it.”

“You want a bed? I can make up the couch.”

“I thought I would just sit with Billy.”

“You’ve been driving a long time to get here. He’s just in the next room. Might as well sleep.”

“Maybe I will. Thank you for your hospitality, General Mitchel. How long you been out of the army?”

“I retired a year ago.”

“How did you make the adjustment?”

“It’s been a little rough. I wasn’t expecting all the changes, to tell you the truth.”

“Life will surprise you.”

C
ODY
D
IAL
was up early, and John got to see the look on his face when he introduced Gabriel. It took a moment before Billy’s father realized they were more than overage roommates. It did look to John like a slight stomachache. Cody just sighed, though, and shook hands and said he was pleased to meet him. He said things were changing faster than he could keep up with. Then he pulled out his phone and called Dean Fox. “George Fox? This is Cody Dial. I’m on my way to see you.” John could hear squawks coming from the phone. “It’s only six? I must have come from a different time zone. Well, you better get on up, or you can open the door in your pajamas when I knock.”

Cody closed his phone and stuck it into the back pocket of his Wranglers. “That’s funny. He didn’t seem all that pleased to hear from me.”

“He told me yesterday morning he was going to find Brian Walker and fire him. If that is not what happened, would you mind giving me a call?”

“Sure, General. What do you have in mind?”

“I need to go see the cabinet minister for education up in Santa Fe. He asked me to come teach at the university when I retired, and I need to explain to him why I left. Also, I want to get a face to face with Brian Walker’s father. His name is Prentiss Walker, and I need to get a feel for the man before I plan the next step.”