Maternity and Matrimony.
The week between Christmas and New Year was a quiet one for most of those that had attended the event at Dalton. Much focus was made though on the website of Vogue on the 27th, when Isabelle's article appeared on line as an exclusive, much to the annoyance of the other gossip and celebrity sites. Mercedes' dress had looked magnificent in person, but the photos that had been taken in the aftermath made it look even better, capturing the detailed stitching, the pearls sewn in as part of the pattern, and the cut, which flattered the singer. She had said at the time that she felt like a princess whilst she was wearing it, and comparisons were being made to the dresses worn by other famous women over the years. Isabelle had carefully stated that it had been inspired by the KEH Collection, not actually created by the man himself for his best friend. The big shock in the article for them all was the disclosure that David would be singing with her on not one, but two tracks on her new album, this being news even to Thad.
Whereas the Christmas wedding was attended by everyone, the one that followed it on New Year's Eve was a much quieter affair, although it was every bit as significant to the group of friends. Thad found himself in the role of best man once again, but this time it was for his brother. The rest of the Harwood family had been invited to attend the ceremony, but the response from all of them was as expected by the two brothers; their siblings all responded that they would be far too busy with work to attend. As for their parents, the invitation was returned with a note attached, stating that they believed Michelle was not a good match for their son, and that unless he was prepared to reconsider and marry someone more suitable, for example a fellow medical professional, there was no way they could support his marriage.
In contrast, Michelle's parents were now fully behind the couple, and they were so happy to find that a lot of traditional elements from their own background were being incorporated into the ceremony by the couple. Michelle had chosen Santana and Tina as her bridesmaids, and had been instructed to forget all about work for a few hours. The running of the Spotlight during the ceremony itself had been entrusted to the longest serving staff, with Elliott's phone switched on in case of dire emergency only; the reception was being held at the diner, but all the partners were in agreement that Michelle would not be permitted behind the counter for the duration of the event. After the wedding, the newlyweds would be heading to Boston to spend a few days with Michelle's parents, in lieu of a honeymoon, as it was difficult for Ollie to get long off work at this time of year. The whole thing went off without accident, and all agreed that Thad's second best man speech in a week was every bit as good as the first, and had achieved the correct balance between humour and sincerity. The smiles that he saw around the room afterwards were all the thanks that he needed.
The plan was to carry on with the reception until the New Year came, celebrating the start of 2019 together, but in the end, one couple made their excuses and left earlier than planned. Jeff had volunteered to work the early shift the following day, and there had naturally been no protests from any of his colleagues. That did not, of course, mean that Nick had to leave with him, but he had decided to in any case, which was what they had all expected. It was no great hardship for either of them; they had found that now they were getting older, the big party to celebrate the start of another year seemed less important. It was nice just to stroll across town together, hand in hand, back to the relative quiet of their home in the West Village, where all the houses on their side of the street were empty just now, save for one cat.
Caleb was asleep, naturally, but did wake up when he heard the sound of the front door opening. However, he was like his humans, and getting older. His tummy was full, and when he heard familiar voices, he settled back to sleep, not stirring as they entered the kitchen. Nick smiled at the sleeping cat, then with a quick kiss to his husband's cheek, he went to make a start on hot chocolate for them both. Jeff stopped him however; on turning round to face him, Nick saw that his eyes were sparkling, and he had a grin on his face, which meant one of two things; he was ready for a whole lot of snuggles, or he had something important and good that he had to tell him. Jeff did not speak however, merely pulling an envelope out of his pocket and handing it to him.
As Nick took it, he asked, "Okay, what is it, Jeffie? What have you done?"
"I haven't done anything! You on the other hand…" came the cryptic response.
Nick just shook his head, and opened the envelope. Inside there was only one thing; a picture. For a moment he started at it quizzically, wondering what it was, and then he realised. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.
"If you are thinking that it's a 10 week scan picture of baby Sterling-Duval, the you're correct… It is really happening, Nicky! We will be dads come the summer…"
"Dads…we're really pregnant… But why didn't…"
"She tried to get you alone to tell you first, but it was just such a busy day, and there wasn't a moment when she could get to you without someone being too close by. As it was, that envelope was thrust at me in the passing without a single word, and it wasn't until later that I even realised what it contained. This is it though, Nicky; the next part of our story. We will need to start thinking about a nursery, and stuff like that; not right away, but by Easter at the latest we will need to get serious with our preparations…"
"It is just as well that Mike has moved out, because his room is the logical place," thought Nick out loud. Then he checked himself, and asked, "This isn't a dream, is it Jeffie? I'm not going to wake up in a minute? We really will be dads next year?"
"Really, Nicky. I will need to start reading up on child care… The thing is though that we have to keep this to ourselves a little longer, because it is still early, and much as I hate to say this, something could still go wrong. It shouldn't, but you never know…"
"It won't, I'm certain… There is just one sad thing about all of this, and that is that we are not with our friends for the last New Year's that we can actually celebrate for the next couple of decades," replied Nick.
"Oh, don't worry about that… I'm sure we can do some celebrating on our own tonight," came his response with a wink.
As midnight came, people's thoughts naturally turned to the events of the year, one which had brought with it a momentous amount of change. Events outside of their control had dictated a lot of that; Mother Nature had roared, and the world of men had been powerless in her hands. Success had also been celebrated, with people reaching their full potential; they numbered a major singing star and two Broadway leads amongst their number now. Weddings had altered lives, creating new families and bringing with them new responsibilities. Old mistakes had been admitted, and relationships were being refreshed; father and sons forgetting about the past, and starting over…
Even as the ball dropped in Times Square, new surprises were being delivered; a baby on the way, and a date circled on a calendar that was handed to Grace Duval, with the word Wedding? written beside it, a suggestion that was met with approval. There were those too that had their plans for the year already laid out; a young woman that was already devising a way of hiding her swelling stomach from the world, so that she would not reveal her status as a surrogate until it was all over with, although she might consider making one exception to that rule. After all, she would need someone to come with her to all those classes… One thing was certain that night; as two young men lay sleeping in each other's arms, a photograph hidden away from prying eyes in a bedside table, most of them would be happy to leave 2018 behind, in the hope that the year to come, the last one of the decade, would be more favourable to them all.
The start of 2019 did come with one big change that none of them had anticipated. The newlyweds had returned from Boston refreshed and ready to start on life as a married couple, but the following day an urgent call came to Michelle; her mother had been involved in a serious car accident and was critically ill in hospital. she had left for her home town within an hour of getting the news. Those in New York had waited for news, and as none came, they all began to grow concerned about how serious it had to be. It fell to Ollie to come to the Spotlight to break the news that his mother-in-law was likely to be in hospital for some time, and that Michelle was concerned about how her father would cope in the meantime. Though it was hardly the best start to married life, he had agreed that she should stay with her family until such time as her mother had made a complete recovery. The following day, Michelle herself made a few calls to the partners, and they all agreed that in the circumstances, she could take a leave of absence. She was grateful to them, although she could not tell them how long it would actually be for; in fact, it could be for months.
As a result, Jeff agreed to work at the diner more or less full time to help out until she came back. The day to day management would be shared by Elliott and Dani, working in partnership to ensure that the high standards that they had all come to expect were maintained. Some were surprised that Jeff had agreed so readily to undertake the role, but he answered that it had made the most sense for him to step up; he was the one of them with the most free time, and it was only a temporary measure. Michelle would be back after all, and employing someone new, even on a short term basis, was silly when he was available. They had already taken on a night manager, so it wasn't as if he was covering that, and he would still see just as much of his husband, given the long hours that Nick had to work. His workload had been increasing, partly because he now had some practical experience, and partly because several of those that he had started with had quit already, unable to handle the pressures of the firm. Even Nick had moments when he wondered if he had chosen the right career, but most of the time he enjoyed it, particularly when he got a deserved victory for a client. It helped that in his own opinion, the big boss was not quite the ogre that some claimed, but then again, he avoided coming into contact with him as much as possible; after all, why put yourself into the line of fire if you could possibly avoid it?
The first few months of the year remained otherwise uneventful, with the mundane things of life taking up people's time. The exception was for Trent and Rory, who after the Democrats had shown well at the midterm elections, found themselves busy with campaigning to keep the momentum going. They also helped to forge links between Burt,some of his fellow congressmen, and the Parkland survivors. Arranging a meeting between Burt and David Hogg had been a masterstroke, and had been excellent publicity for all concerned, even after Sue invited herself to join them. The main subject that everyone did follow was the progress of the Warblers under Thad, as having already aced their sectionals, the moved on to regionals and blew all the competition out of the water again, Thad's decision to take a more soulful direction through utilising voices of a lower register being justified in full. As Nationals approached, everyone awaited that event, being held in New York this time round, to see if he could be the first to take the Warblers to successive wins in the competition.
That would come at the end of April; at the start, an announcement was finally made by two of their number about their forthcoming happy event. Their surrogate's pregnancy had now made it past the halfway stage, and so they decided it was safe to tell everyone that they had a child on the way. They had agreed that they did not wish to know the sex of the baby before it arrived, happy whether it was a son or a daughter they would have. The first people that they informed were family, of course. Nick asked Grace and Cooper round for dinner one evening, and after the main course had been eaten, he produced the latest ultrasound picture, and placed it in front of them. In a heartbeat, Grace was on her feet and hugging her brother, desperate to know when she was going to be an aunt; meanwhile Cooper had taken Jeff by the hand and had shaken it so long that Jeff's arm ached, but he still smiled broadly. They were both then sworn to secrecy until after the parents were told, a task that was less simple to do. They managed to take a weekend off work and headed for Ohio, with Jeff asking Elspeth to come and join them, which made her curious. Having everyone in the one room made the announcement easy, and the general consensus was happiness for the two of them.
They decided that whilst they were in the state, that a visit to Dalton would be in order. They turned up on the Sunday afternoon, catching Thad as he was on his way to pay a quick visit to the Carmichaels. Nick went with him, whilst Jeff went in search of his cousin Dylan, having decided that he should find out at the same time, given that he was family. Once again the news was greeted with delight, with Mrs Carmichael promptly heading for her knitting needles, much to everyone's amusement. Dylan was delighted for his cousin, and felt privileged that he had been given such an early lead on the news. As for Thad, he could not have been more pleased for the two of them, although in his heart he felt a little tug of jealousy, as he had always wanted to be a father too, but now he had to settle for being a big brother figure to a ragtag group of boys. They agreed though that a group Skype would be the best way to inform the others, given how scattered they were, but with the caveat from Nick that those in the city should actually be there with them when they told the world.
That moment was scheduled for a Monday, and by a coincidence, Trent was actually in town, so was able to join Sebastian, Flint, Beats and Ethan in the West Village house for dinner. Luke was there too, alongside Duncan, and the youngest of them kept the chat going around the table. Mike arrived late, just as the main course was being served, as his rehearsal had overrun, but that was not an issue; he had made it before the scheduled Skype chat. The younger boys in the house next door were all at work, and so the chat had to be timed to perfection to coincide with their breaks. The moment they were all connected, Nick merely held the scan up to the camera, and after a few moments there were gasps of surprise, and warm words of congratulations. In the room, hugs were shared, and questions asked about three things; due date, sex, and who the surrogate was. They remained enigmatic on those points, apart from one; baby Sterling-Duval was due to arrive in July, giving them all three months to get sorted with gifts…
The former New Directions were also pleased for the couple, even if they were the last to find out about it. Nick and Jeff were popular, and they all understood why they had kept quiet about it until now. Even in the city of New York, in a more enlightened age, there were still some that disapproved of the idea of two men raising a child. On going public, they discovered to their horror that one such person was Nick's boss. The latter knew that the firm had a paternal leave policy, and so he had made an application. Two days later he was summoned to the boss' office, and asked all about his wife; on saying he had a husband, the atmosphere became very frosty, and although Mr Vallent could not block his application, he made it quite plain that he felt that it was wrong, and that if he could do so, he would get Nick the time off by firing him. Nick left the office shaken, but he resolved not to worry Jeff with the information; he did confide in Grace, who was just as horrified, but also fully aware that there was nothing that could be done. There was no complaints process to go through in the firm. All Nick could do was keep his head down, all the time trying to get a transfer to another department, or a new job outside the firm…
April 2019 got off to a good start, but for one resident of the West Village, the start of that month just meant a reason to get nervous. After their engagement was finally announced at Christmas, Flint and Izzy had made an appointment to speak to the rabbi, and had set a date for their wedding at the end of May. It happened to be the Sunday after graduation day at Dalton, and thus when the date was announced, all of the former Warblers had a moment when they paused for thought. If it had been up to them, they would have suggested more of a gap between the two events, but they all guessed, correctly as it happened, that the date chosen was the only one available for some time. It was still a surprise to them all when Flint announced that he still intended to make the usual trip back to Ohio, particularly to Beats, who wondered how on earth he could fit all of it in, along with his own best man's duties.
When he asked this, Flint's response had made him smile. "It will all be about getting the timings right. Graduation is in the morning, as always, and I have already spoken to Thad; he has spoken to this year's Seniors, and they have agreed to moving the usual Warbler celebration to the Thursday night. On top of this, I spoke to David, who spoke to his beautiful wife, and we will have use of her private jet on the Friday afternoon, so we will all be able to head back to New York with no hassles immediately after the graduation ceremonials are over. True, it does mean that I will be obliged to suffer through Friday night dinner with my family, as will you in all likelihood as my best man, but it does give us most of Saturday to spend on catching up with any last minute stuff. I say most of Saturday, as my mom will expect me to attend temple in the morning. So I would suggest that we see the Thursday night party as my unofficial bachelor party, which gives you one less task to undertake. It will all work out just perfectly, trust me…"
Flint knew in his heart though that his wedding would be the biggest source of stress to him in the next few weeks. It had already been stressful; he had told his mother that he and Izzy had set a date back in January, but he didn't have the courage to tell her where it was going to be until the last day of March. Her reaction to the news that he wasn't coming back to Manhattan, Kansas to marry had been just as he had anticipated. He was quite surprised that she hadn't worked it all out for herself; it wasn't like her not to have tried to interfere in the plans, and if she had asked the rabbi about the ceremony in her own synagogue, she would have found out that he had not booked a wedding there. He had admitted it to his father right from the start, and he had been trying to help by dropping subtle hints. She had not taken them, ignoring his comments about how it would be necessary for them to travel to the other Manhattan for the wedding; in her eyes, she saw only the moment that she got to stand outside the synagogue next to her new daughter-in-law, after a lavish ceremony, proudly showing her off to the members of the ladies circle…
The news that such a moment would not be happening was greeted by Mrs Wilson with a stony silence. For a moment, Flint thought she had passed out, or even hung up, but then he heard the sound of tears. He steeled himself for the onslaught, and sure enough she began to beg him to reconsider his decision, for the sake of herself and his poor grandparents, who couldn't possibly travel such a long distance at their age, and be a good son that came home to marry. Ignoring the jibe, Flint informed her that he had already spoken to his grandparents, and they had flights booked and a hotel, and had no issue whatsoever with coming to New York. At that, he heard the click of the phone being hung up….
It would be two weeks before she deigned to talk to him again, and those two weeks of silence and tranquillity had been a blessing to her son, although he felt guilty about what his father had suffered, particularly when she had discovered that their own travel plans had been finalised back in January, and she had only just been told… As for Izzy's family, they had no problem with the event, and were quite happy at the thought of a synagogue marriage in New York, glad that they had resisted heading to the middle of the country just to placate one particular person. Flint knew that his mom would still try to interfere somehow, but he had another worry in the back of his mind; how his bird brothers would behave when they were at the temple…
There would be no problem with either of his closest friend's in the city, Beats and Ethan. The latter had become quite a regular attender at the synagogue too, even going so far as going twice on his own when Flint had been occupied elsewhere. He had no real religious convictions, and he had no intention of converting to Judaism, but that did not matter; he was made welcome, and he found in Rabbi Hirsch someone that he could talk to about the problems in his life. He had surprise himself on the first Saturday he had attended on his own by opening up to her about the whole situation with Drew, but the reaction of the good woman had been to listen to him, and then advise him in a practical way. She had no new solution to offer for the issue, of course, but she had seen abusive wives before now, and was not in favour of the way that the world ignored the fact that wives could be the abuser in the marriage too…
"Your friend is trying to do a good thing; to help his wife with her anger issues, and then shape her into a more compassionate human being. It concerns you, as indeed it should, that he will end up being badly hurt in the process. In my limited experience, she will do nothing that will draw attention to the fact that she is acting like this from the outside world. He still has to leave the house, and if he was badly hurt one time too many, someone would notice. I have a good friend that is a rabbi in a temple in Golders Green, London. His wife is a nurse in Britain's wonderful NHS, and they have a database for the entire country, on which all patient records are entered. If he attends hospital injured, the moment his name is entered, a whole history will come up, and if there is a long list of similar 'accidents', alarm bells will ring. Plus, before you ask, the only way that information can be removed is if the patient requests it personally; no member of staff can do so, particularly not a spouse. She would have had to identify him as her husband the day they married, and she is immediately locked out of his records for that very reason. She will be aware of all of this, and that is why she will not take it too far. In the end, he will either achieve his goal and succeed, or he will leave of his own volition. He is only human after all, and tolerance of such things will only last so long. In the meantime, all you can do is be strong and patient, and be ready to act the second that he requests your help. One other thing; don't bottle up your pain, talk to someone. My door is always open, whether you are a full member of the faith or a visitor…"
It was a great comfort to Ethan to have an extra person to talk to, one that was outside the mutual circle of friends. He knew then that he would keep on going to the services even after the wedding, just for the companionship that it brought. He might not believe in religion, but he did believe in friendship, and that was on offer to him at that place.
Beats had also paid a few visits to the temple, and had quickly accepted all the protocols of the place. The first time had felt a little odd, particularly getting used to the yarmulke on his head, but once things got started, it wasn't quite as strange as he had feared at first. He had been invited to meet the rabbi one on one for a discussion of his duties, and that had left him concerned; then he had realised that what he had to do in the synagogue was no different to what he would have done in a church or courthouse. He just had to be there to support Flint, and if he had to learn a few prayers so that he looked the part, that was no problem.
In Ohio, Thad had also taken the bull by the horns as they day grew closer, and had accompanied the few students at Dalton that actually attended the local synagogue when they went one Saturday. He had asked their permission to join them, explaining the reason why, and they had been delighted to have a chance to show Mr Harwood how to behave in a temple. They had even gone so far as to introduce him to the rabbi after the service; he had then found time to explain all the traditions of the marriage ceremony to the younger man. Thad had thanked him, as he now had the information that he required for the quick talk he was intending to give to the others before the big day, hopefully with the support of the groom to be. He had scheduled it for the day before graduation, when they would all be at Dalton, planning it as a compulsory activity before the party. He would also make it very plain to them all that as Head Warbler, he would have no truck whatsoever with any behaviour that caused embarrassment to Flint, or brought the reputation of Dalton Academy into disrepute. It wasn't the reaction of the rabbi to such behaviour that worried him in all of this; it was much more how Mrs Wilson would react…
The wedding was scheduled to arrive not long after some upheaval to the living arrangements of some of those in the city. April 2019 saw the arrival of the moment that all of those living in Bushwick had been dreading for a while; the 'L' Train service finally stopped for the tunnel repairs, and would be out of action for a scheduled 15 months. To those affected, it did not matter how much the city said that it would spend on new bus lines, increased services on other subway routes, or even new ferries connecting with the part of the 'L' still running in Brooklyn. It was going to be all but impossible to live there and travel into Manhattan every day without delay, stress, and the risk of going postal - or in one case, all Lima Heights.
A crisis meeting had been held by the four living in the loft, and they had all agreed that much as they loved the neighbourhood, it was just not practical to live there during the closure; but at the same time, selling up, even if they wanted to, was not a good option either, as property prices were depressed by the event too. They decided therefore that the best option was to look for a good, reliable tenant, on a short term lease, which would mean they could live elsewhere for the closure period without leaving the place empty, but then return when all was back in order. They were lucky almost at once when they mentioned their plans; Ollie Harwood had a college friend that had just accepted a place at The Brooklyn Hospital Center; it was for a year at first, and he needed a place that he and his young family could move into in May. It was a match made in heaven for all concerned, and a deal was quickly struck between the two parties.
Of course, finding someone to move into the Bushwick loft was only half of the battle for the four that lived there; they also needed to find somewhere new to live themselves. In the end, they could have expected that their friends would help them out the moment that they knew. After Sebastian and Dave had moved over to Maplewood, Cooper had decided to wait a while before he rented out the basement again. He had initially considered asking Mason and Roderick if they would like to move downstairs, but when he broached the subject tentatively, both young men had been lukewarm to the idea. That was actually a relief to both Cooper and Grace, as they did not want them to move out either. The two young men were like family to them now, and the idea of the house without them did make them cold. Sam was aware of this fact, and had decided to be bold and ask the obvious question; after all, there was no harm in asking. Although the prospect of having Rachel Berry in the building was a daunting one to Cooper, the idea of having Sam, who he still saw as his 'little brother' living downstairs was enough to sell the idea.
As for Brittany and Santana, the moment that they announced they would be looking for a temporary home in the city, Jeff had stepped up. A deal was done, and the two of them moved into the upper part of the empty house next door to Nick and Jeff's own place in the West Village. As Jeff had put it, it was the least that he could do for them in the circumstances, and it was handy for their places of work; it was also simple enough for Santana to be able to get through to Brooklyn to the theatre groups she worked with. They made the big move on the last week of the 'L' Train service. They might have moved though, but the closure of the 'L' still had an effect. Although it was still running in Brooklyn, its tunnels under 14th Street fell silent, and the traffic in the area grew. The new bus services were good, but they were nowhere near as convenient a way to cross Manhattan; in fact, it was quicker to walk to the Spotlight now. Still, it was a small price to pay, and as always, they just had to knuckle down and deal with it…
