July 2031: A Death in the Family Part II.

Nick was so deep in thought that when he looked up and saw Ethan standing right beside him, he nearly squealed. Ethan chuckled and said, "You spaced out there Nicholas; I don't think that anyone else noticed though. I take it that you have been getting a lot of private replies and messages from our brethren?"

Nick nodded and showed him Sebastian's message but took care not to show him who had sent it. He watched as Ethan read it, then said, "That is just so typical of Trent…"

He stopped speaking as Nick shook his head, then guessed again. "Thad?"

Nick smiled then and decided to show Ethan just who had sent the message.

"No! He has definitely improved with age! I suppose that having a happy home life, a fulfilling job that he enjoys and a much better relationship with all of his family has managed to banish the brat we all knew! Well, for what it is worth, you can depend on Drew and I as well; if it ever gets too much, just pop round and vent."

"Thanks, but I am hopeful that this is not an act, and Jeff is coping much better with it all than we ever gave him credit for. I am going to let him decide what happens to Caleb's bed, his bowls and his toys, although if he checks he will notice that there is one catnip filled mouse gone missing…"

"Mike?" asked Ethan, and Nick nodded.

"He is every bit as devastated by this loss as Jeff, so maybe we should all be looking out for him as well, give him that extra shoulder to cry on…"

"I will go and look in on him this afternoon," replied Ethan. "I will just be completely honest and tell him exactly why I am there too… Can I also say that we will also be more than happy to help with any task that needs to be performed for the funeral; we will even help to dig the hole if need be."

"That isn't likely to be the issue; it is the coffin that worries me more," said Nick in a hushed tone. "There is no way that Jeff will accept cardboard, or anything woven; he also won't want something that is mass produced. I loved Caleb, but I shudder to think just how much a casket of the kind of quality Jeff will demand might cost. They probably manipulate grief-stricken pet owners into paying much too much for them…"

Ethan looked thoughtful, then said, "There is a simple solution to all of that. If we could get the right dimensions for the casket in question, then I am sure that Cameron would be able to make something that would satisfy Jeff's standards. He is a skilled cabinet maker, and let us be honest, a coffin is just a box. I will pop upstairs right now and give him a call, sound him out about it and see if it something he would do. He would certainly not gouge you on price for one thing, and I think he would regard being asked to do this as a great honour…" Nick nodded in approval and allowed Ethan to head upstairs to make the call.

With Nick's attention back in the room, he noticed that Jeff had now taken Drew out into the garden; they were standing out there with Wes and Evie. As he watched, he realised that his son seemed to be talking to his papa in a quite animated way. Fearing the worst, that grief had turned into anger, he hurried out to join them. He was relieved to discover that far from being the cataclysmic argument he had been fearing, they were in fact just both making their case for a spot they had chosen in the small back garden for Caleb's final resting place.

Jeff favoured a spot to the left of the door from the kitchen and close to the house, whereas Wes was all for a spot to the right, close to the vegetable patch and further away from the house, and any possible leaks from the guttering. Evie had sided with Jeff, whilst Drew could see the reasoning behind Wes' choice. As soon as Nick emerged from the house, he found himself cornered by his husband and son, both of them stating their case for their choice, expecting him, the man that had been named Dove by Wes Montgomery all those years before at Dalton to be the arbitrator in the conflict.

He listened, then shook his head, and walked further on into the garden until he reached the rear of it. There he was in full view of the house, but he was also in the one place that caught the sun all day long…

"You are both right, but you're also both wrong," the brunet said firmly, stunning everyone else into silence with his cryptic response. "Wes is correct about the danger that could be posed by an overflowing gutter, Jeffie, but you are right to say that a spot so close to the vegetable patch and indeed the compost heap is completely inappropriate. What you have both forgotten is the one thing that made Caleb the happiest – his spot in the sun. That is where he was most content, lying in the sun's rays up in your studio, purring away as the warmth hit his body… Where I am standing now is the one spot in our garden that always gets the sun, from sunrise to sunset, whether it is summer or winter. You can see it clearly from the house too. This is where we should bury him, so that he can lie in the sunbeam forever…"

Jeff and Wes looked at each other, tears pricking their eyes, then looked over at Nick and nodded in agreement. He had indeed found the perfect spot for Caleb to lie in for all of eternity…

When they headed back into the kitchen a few moments later, it was to discover Ethan standing at the door, looking confused as to where they had all gone. "Nick was just using his diplomatic skills," explained Drew. "There was a dispute between two parties, and he intervened to ensure that we found the perfect spot in which to bury Caleb." Ethan looked over at the man in question, who had now returned to his task of preparing lunch. "The place he chose has such resonance that it booted the other options right out of the park…"

Jeff nodded at that, and was now working at his sketchbook, drawing something that to those observing around him looked a lot like a tombstone. None of them were surprised at that, as they had expected nothing less to mark the grave of a much-loved pet.

Ethan quickly made his way over to Nick and whispered, "We need to get the necessary measurements to Cameron as soon as possible. He asked that I pass on his and Flora's condolences on your loss, then as I suspected, he said that it would be a privilege and an honour to make the casket for him. He recently had a job in which he replaced the pews in an old church up in the rural heart of Vermont and as part of the price, he was allowed to take any of the old wood that he thought he could salvage to reuse. Amongst all of it there was some beautiful old mahogany, and he would use that to construct the coffin. He also said that he would not charge you one cent for constructing it and he will also bring it down to New York in person in time for the funeral."

Nick found his breath taken away slightly by the generosity that Cameron was showing, knowing full well that he was not the wealthiest of people, and his gesture made tears prick his eyes. "I will need to speak to Jeff about it naturally and see what his thoughts are on the idea, but I can send Tina a quick text message and see what the dimensions would need to be. Caleb deserves to have the best, and if Cameron is making the casket, then at least there will be no issues with quality; it will also be made with a huge amount of love." Ethan nodded, then offered to help Nick with serving up the lunch…

Nick waited until lunch was eaten before he broached the subject of the coffin. He was not at all certain how Jeff would react, especially as he had not been involved in the process right from the start. He was relieved when his husband responded with great positivity to the idea, then left to go and call Cameron himself, intending to set up a Zoom call which would allow him to see exactly what the wood was like before he committed to its use. As soon as he left the room, Nick also excused himself to call Tina and just confirm the measurements she had sent him, as he knew there could be no room for error. He was not expecting his husband to be away long, particularly as Cameron's workshop was adjacent to his house, and so he could easily fetch the timber and call Jeff back straight away.

Wes and Evie also left the table, and so Drew and Ethan decided to make a start on clearing away the lunch dishes. As soon as they were over by the sink, out of earshot of the children, Drew whispered, "Jeff seems to be handling all of this awfully well, almost too well for my liking. I was expecting floods of tears, and the rending of garments, but instead we have someone who seems to be at peace with their loss and is being totally practical about things."

"Maybe we all misjudged Jeff badly in thinking that he was never going to be prepared for this moment," Ethan whispered back. "He must have seen all of the signs of aging in Caleb that the rest of us did and started to deal with it. None of us are ever truly ready for the death of a loved one, no matter how much it is signposted, but I have always thought that it is something that we do need to be ready for, nonetheless. I have been preparing for the loss of my parents ever since my dad's health took a turn for the worse. It will still be such a wrench when they go, but at least I will have the comfort of knowing that they will no longer be suffering the pain that this world can bring."

"Losing my parents is something that I have never contemplated," Drew replied. "Having said that, I used to think about my own demise all the time when I was in London and married, and it was worse after Evie came along, as I wondered what would happen to her… I wonder if Lucy ever thought about her own death when they were considering giving her the death penalty for murder during her trial?"

"I doubt it," Ethan responded sharply. "People like her do not contemplate the consequences of their actions until it is too late. Of course, there is the smallest chance that Jeff isn't coping at all, and all that we are witnessing is an act for our benefit. Maybe once we leave, or indeed when he is finally alone, he will fall apart…"

They stopped their conversation as Nick came back into the room, an anxious expression on his face. "I managed to confirm the measurements, which I will pass on to Cameron just as soon as Jeff comes back; however, I also received a bit of information that might make the two of you want to flee. There is another visitor coming, and although they mean well, their very presence could create mayhem. I missed the text message from their spouse earlier, saying that they would do their best to try and stop her, and the second one that Santana sent saying that she hadn't been able to, telling me what train she caught. Brittany will be here very shortly to offer her condolences to Jeff and well, she sometimes brings her own particular brand of crazy…"

"Who does?" said Jeff, who came back into the room at that precise moment. Before anyone could reply, he went on, "Cameron showed me the wood he would be using, and it is beautiful, so I have told him that the job is his. I also told him that I didn't want anything to ornate, just dignified…"

"That is great Jeffie," replied Nick, his fingers on his phone as he sent the text with the measurements he had already drafted to Cameron. "Now, I do need to let you know that Brittany is on her way. I can answer the door and tell her that you are too upset to see anyone if you think that she would be a little too much to handle…"

Jeff leaned over to his husband and kissed him on the cheek. "It's okay, Nicky, I think that I can actually manage today. She will probably say a few things inadvertently that I could do without hearing right now, but I will know that she isn't doing it out of maliciousness. The thing is that she does actually know what it is like to lose a much-loved pet, given that she is currently on her third Lord Tubbington since we first met her…"

Nick stared at Jeff in surprise, and he was even more surprised when his husband actually chuckled. "She knows full well that he never went into rehab to be cured of his drink and drug dependency, nor was he ever imprisoned by the Feds for tax evasion. She loves the fact that Santana says all of these things to try and protect her, but it didn't take too much of a detective to work out that there had been a switch the first time it happened. I mean, even I spotted that her cat had suddenly become Lady Tubbington…"

He said that with such a look on his face that the other three men in the room started to laugh, and Jeff joined in, his laughter a sound that made Nick's heart leap…

Ethan and Drew did not need to discuss things for long after that, and they took their chance and left for home, comically looking in both directions up and down the street before they stepped outside. Wes asked if he could go back with them, as he wanted to chat for longer with Evie; Nick and Jeff agreed, even though they could tell it was a blatant lie and he just wanted to escape. As it happened, they made their escape just in time; as Drew closed the front door behind them all, he observed Brittany turning into the street…

Once inside, the two children announced that they wanted to go and look through some of their school textbooks for the new year ahead, as they already knew that there was a project that they had to complete in the first semester, and they wished to work on it together. They headed off to Evie's room, but neither Ethan nor Drew could fail to notice that the textbooks in question were sitting in the living room. As they left, Drew announced that he was going to head out to the market at Union Square and replace what they had eaten at lunchtime for Nick, as they knew he ran their meal planning rigidly. He hastened out, crossing to the other side of the street before he passed Niff's home.

That left Ethan on his own and he decided that it was as good a time as any to head into the living room and start to go through a pile of documents that he had been ignoring since he received them on Tuesday. His mother had finally admitted that it was time, and he had to check through the notice of transfer documents for his taking on the running of Mackenzie Inc now that she was going to retire from her role as Chairwoman.

The new office in New York that would be his workplace when he ran the family business had been ready for some months and all of the staff he had wanted were also in place, but until now it had acted as a mere shadow office of the current HQ in Ohio. That would alter the moment that he was officially confirmed as the Chairman of the business; true, his mother would remain on part-time for a short while longer as CEO as he found his feet, but that was expected to end about a year after he became the chairman. He had been preparing for this moment for a long time too, but it still frightened him to death. He would be responsible for the operation of one of the world's biggest businesses, and that was a responsibility that he had dreaded now for nearly 30 years…

What Ethan would miss more than anything else when the time came was his current job. He had been given it on his own merits, life experience and qualifications; to ensure that would be the case, he had actually applied for the position under an assumed name. This had come about after he had admitted to one of his professors at Cambridge that he had major reservations about his family connections for obtaining a job in the future. They had been very sympathetic as they had dealt with much the same issues before with two other young people with famous parents; he had a word in the correct ear at the college, and thus an additional entry was made in the graduation lists for an Ethan Montgomery. He had selected that alternative surname as it was the obvious choice at the time, and it was a selection of which the angel in question wholeheartedly approved…

It also allowed him to keep his initials, which was a great help when his designated college e-mail address was . . He had begun to apply for positions whilst he was still in England using it as his contact, and when he went to Princeton in his final year of study, they had happily given him an almost identical e-mail. When the offer had come from the firm he worked for, no-one there had known that he was the only son of two of the richest people in the United States, and based solely on his interview, he was given the job.

Of course, it had always been a choice that was thwart with danger; he had to admit his subterfuge as soon as the offer was made, and the initial response of the interview panel had been stony silence; then there had been the way that they all regarded him, looks given that made him wonder if he had made a huge mistake and had lost the job before he even began.

Then the chair of the interview panel had smiled at him, and said, "Ethan, we already knew who you were; I went to college with your father and he suffered from similar issues whilst he was there; people anticipated certain things from him or expected him to be lavish with his spending. He was going to adopt the same subterfuge that you did, but then his father passed unexpectedly, as you will be aware, and so there was no need. Now, just in case you are concerned that the knowledge I had about your true identity might have influenced our decision, I should point out that the rest of the interview panel were unaware of it until after they had all agreed that you were the best candidate for the role…"

Some people would have questioned that statement, but Ethan had chosen to trust the man's word and accepted the job. When he spoke to his father that night, he had mentioned the man to him, and his father had recalled him fondly, telling him that he was the most honest man he knew. Now that part of his life was coming to a close; he had already cut back his hours from full to part-time, and had already given them his leaving date, just prior to the moment when he would take over from his mother. However, he had already made his former employer one promise, that being that they would now be receiving work from Mackenzie Inc on a regular basis…

The main consolation in all of it for him was the fact that he would not have to leave his comfortable life in New York and start afresh in Ohio; the ancestral family home was beautiful and unlike those of many European business tycoons, it was not draughty, old-fashioned, or in need of extensive repairs. His mother had offered to help him acquire a place of his own in the city, some grand house on the Park, or a penthouse in the most desirable of neighbourhoods, but he had refused to do so point blank. The place that he shared with Drew and Evie in the West Village was not a vast glittering palace, but it was home. That feeling was not just down to the apartment with all of the period features it held, but to the neighbours, and naturally, the two people he shared the space with…

Ethan had never been one for emotional attachments, but he had come to realise in the last couple of years that what he felt for Drew was a little more than friendship, but not exactly the feelings one would have for a sibling either. He was also fully aware that had it been necessary, Drew would have left his life in the city and moved to Ohio with him. He knew that he would not have allowed him to do so, but nonetheless he would have been grateful for his offer, and he might even have considered it…

As that thought crossed his mind once again, he decided that he would not read the papers from his mother that afternoon after all, as they could wait for another day. Instead, he would spend his afternoon enjoying the company of the two people that meant the most to him, doing something together as the little family they had become. Of course, that would have to wait until little Wes was able to head home safely…

Wes was not in any rush to head home, of course, as he knew what would be happening back along the street. He like all of his parents' friends, his many uncles and aunts; of course, he always told his Aunt Grace that she was the one that he loved the most, given that she was his only real aunt. Then there was his Uncle Cooper, who had the ability to make him laugh every time he saw him and was as famous in his own field as his papa…

However, he found his Aunt Brittany to be the most tiring and confusing of people to be around for any length of time. She said things that were a little strange at times, and frankly just downright weird at others; his Aunt Santana seemed to share his opinion at times, given the way that she rolled her eyes. However, he also noticed that as she did so she looked at her wife as if she was the very centre of her world at the same time…

Today his Aunt Santana would not be present, which meant that his dad would be on his own as he tried valiantly to prevent her saying things that could upset his papa as he dealt with the loss of Caleb, something that Wes was dealing with too. The cat had been a constant presence in his own life too; one of his earliest memories was of a much younger Caleb staring at him intently when he had been a mere baby. There was a part of him that would eventually want another pet, but he knew instinctively that it was too soon to even mention that now, and that another cat was something that definitely wasn't going to happen. A gerbil or a guinea pig maybe, something that was small and easy to handle…

Of course, there was something else that he was factoring in to that choice and that was the fact that he might not be living at home for much longer. The siren call of Dalton Academy was already ringing in his ears and although he knew it was still too early to be certain, he was more than convinced that he wanted to follow in his fathers' footsteps and attend their old school. It seemed to be calling him, as if there was more there for him than just an education…

Wes would be collected by an exhausted looking Nick just before 4pm, once Brittany had been safely dispatched on her way back to Maplewood. When he arrived, his own much-loved blond was sitting in the kitchen, stuffing himself with cookies as he tried to recover from the effects of her visit. She had been extremely sympathetic from the moment she arrived, and completely understood the fact that Jeff would never have another cat in his life.

"Lord Tubbington was just a friend to me when I was given the first of him and to be honest, his two successors have been exactly the same. Caleb, however, was a vulnerable creature that you saved a cruel death; a life that you could nurture and protect, and more importantly, love. He had a beautiful soul too, because he seemed to know exactly when someone needed him to show love to them; to curl up on them and provide comfort. He took you on and all of the people that you brought with you, because nobody actually owns a cat; they own us…"

Nick had smiled when he had heard Brittany say those words, remembering all of the moments when Caleb had looked at them with indignation, or as if they were mad, especially at the time each year they installed the Christmas tree in the hall. He could almost hear the indignant miaow he would give if they were making too much noise and had disturbed him from one of his many naps…

"It was my privilege and honour to be his human," Jeff had responded, and that earned him a hug from Brittany.

"I think that the current Lord Tubbington will be the last one. I am going to tell Santana that I know what she has been doing and that when this one passes away, she doesn't need to replace him behind my back. It isn't as if I need him to hide the fact that I can see and hear angels any longer, so the real Lord Tubbington no longer needs a furry substitute when I am around family and friends." That statement had been the one that had left both Nick and Jeff shocked, as they could not imagine a world in which Brittany did not have a cat; thankfully she almost immediately clarified that she would like a kitten to raise again…

Before Nick had headed along the street to collect Wes, once they were certain Brittany would not be coming back, Jeff had said quietly, "She was absolutely right about what Caleb meant to me and that is why I could never even contemplate having another cat as a pet. It would just be so wrong, a betrayal of all he meant to me. If Wes wants another pet, then it cannot be another cat, however much he begs."

"I am sure he knows that already, but he will also be getting told that we will not be having a dog either; if he does go to Dalton, it could not go with him, and we would be left with the duty of walking it every day."

Jeff nodded, then added, "I don't think he should have a parrot or any sort of caged bird either; as a certain other Wes always said, all birds should be free to spread their wings and soar through the skies…" On that score, Nick also had to agree with his husband…

It would be the following day when Jeff decided that the funeral for his beloved pet should be held in six days' time, the day prior to the wedding of Dante and Lachlan. His decision had been influenced by the fact that event was taking place, as it would be bringing so many of his closest friends to the city anyway and most of them would be arriving the day before; that would allow them to attend the funeral ceremony the day before should they wish to do so. It was true that it did not give them all that long to prepare, but Cameron had started on the making of the casket as soon as he had received the necessary measurements from Nick.

He had subsequently received another e-mail from Tina, who had advised him of the best shape to construct to fit the body of the late cat. She had not told Jeff or even Nick, but she had gently moved his body into a more neat and comfortable looking position, which had been no easy task with rigor setting in. She was certain that the blond would want to see his late pet a few more times before the actual committal, and so it had made sense to her to rearrange his body into a lying position, his legs tucked below his body and his tail curled round his hind quarters, almost resembling a sphinx. In that position it would be easy for anyone that wished to do so to stroke his fur one last time and she suspected that it would not only be Jeff that would wish to do just that; her own husband would no doubt want to….

She was, like Jeff, dealing with a husband in mourning; he had taken to wearing monochrome dark clothes as he grieved for his little furry friend. As she had been checking his trouser pockets on Saturday night, she had found the chewed catnip mouse and without a word she put it back exactly where she had found it, knowing that the scent of the plant would follow her husband around for the foreseeable future. Mike had been due to be teaching a class on the day of the funeral, but he had called the head of the ballet school and informed him that he would be withdrawing from it as he would be attending the funeral of a close family member. When Tina had overheard that statement, she had sincerely hoped that they never found out that the family member in question was furry and feline, because she seriously doubted just how understanding they would be…

One person that was quick to get in touch about the details of the funeral service, much to Nick's initial surprise, was Isabelle Wright. The Vogue editor had been quite tearful when she had called him up, but the reason why had not occurred to him at first. Then it had suddenly dawned on him; he realised that just nine months after Jeff had discovered Caleb in that dumpster, Isabelle had been present when Jeff had realised that history was repeating itself and had with help from Mike, Brittany and Santana retrieved two more kittens from the same dumpster. They had been identical to Caleb in so many ways that it was clear that they were siblings of his, sharing the same mother…

Isabelle had fallen in love with the two kittens at once, just as she adored Caleb, and had called them Elvis and Presley; there were some that thought she had done so just to taunt Sebastian. They had lived with her in her downtown apartment and then had moved to Maplewood with her when she had married Julian Smythe. Presley had passed away the previous year, but Elvis was still very much alive. The fact that Isabelle now took care of the only surviving sibling of Caleb that they knew of had left her even more saddened by his death, and was a stark reminder of her own pet's mortality…

She had asked to be kept informed of all the details of the funeral ceremony when they were finalised, as she intended to be there as a representative of Caleb's brothers. Nick had not known quite what to make of that statement, but it did lead him to wondering just how many cats there were out there in the city that were descended from Caleb's mother, as her owner had been a breeder. Potentially there were hundreds of tortoiseshells out there that saw that female as a mother, grandmother or great-grandmother, and possibly some even further down the line. He realised that every time he now saw a tortoiseshell cat somewhere in the city, he would wonder if they shared a common strand of DNA with Caleb…