Monday, 9th January 2023 – Part One
Jamie woke up in bed alone. There was a slip of paper on Roy's side of the bed. He reached out and rubbed at his eyes before reading Roy's serial killer penmanship.
Jamie, I will see you at 10am – I am in Ruth's room until then. There is a present in the fridge. Love, Roy
Jamie threw off the covers and walked into the main room and opened the fridge. Inside was a dahlia boutonnière with his name on it along with a smaller one with Simon's name and a delicate bouquet for his mother. Jamie stood up and did a cartwheel to take him back towards the bedroom. He went into the bathroom and set himself to getting ready for his wedding day. There was a knocking on the door as he stepped out of the shower and when he opened it, the first thing he saw was Katie. He reached out and pulled her to his naked chest before leaning forward and kissing his mum on the cheek.
"Just got out of the shower."
"Might not want to hold her," Georgie offered. "I've just fed her."
Jamie shrugged. "Just won't get dressed proper until it's time to go."
"Roy told us he was spending the morning with Ruth and Phoebe. How are you feeling?"
"Excited," Jamie said, twirling with Katie pressed securely to his chest. "I'm getting married, Mummy."
"I know."
"Did you know me and Roy was datin'?"
"I knew he was in love with you," she sighed, sitting down while Simon hung their clothes over the back of one of the sofas. "I didn't think he knew he was in love with you though."
Jamie looked down at Katie and cradled her close. "He's going to be your brother-in-law, Katie-darling, but he ain't no good at talkin' 'bout his feelings. You and me are going to make sure he gets better at it."
"How is she supposed to do that?" Simon asked. "Are you hungry? Have you eaten?"
Jamie shook his head. "Was going to order something after my shower. What about you?"
"Not yet," Georgie said. "We just fed Katie and came to see you."
"Mint," Jamie said, grabbing the hotel tablet and bringing up the room service menu. He found what he wanted and then handed the tablet to his mother. "I'm going to find something to wear while we eat." He sighed and handed Katie to Simon before walking into the other room.
Jamie stood naked in front of his wedding suit and smiled to himself. He'd thought that this year would bring him heartbreak – he'd thought that when he finally told Roy that he was in love with him that their time together would be over. That they'd need to work out how to work together and hopefully be friends without everything imploding when they weren't having sex and Roy had had to let Jamie down. Now, in a few hours, Roy Kent was going to marry Jamie Tartt in a tiny little church in Scotland. He'd been torn over doing the anvil wedding or the little church but the church had looked so good in the pictures, and they couldn't be married by a blacksmith so the anvil lost a bit of its lustre. Jamie reached out for some comfortable Katie-proof clothes, wondering what Roy was doing right this moment.
Jamie walked into the main room. "All ordered?"
Georgie nodded.
"Want to help me with me hair?" Jamie asked her.
Georgie nodded and immediately stood up. "What are we going to do with it?"
Jamie bounced over and collected Katie into his arms, holding her into his chest knowing she would probably fall asleep and then followed Georgie into the bedroom.
"I'll wait for breakfast," Simon told them happily and sat on the couch, reaching for the remote.
Jamie smiled, knowing that Simon wasn't one to get to sit down with a TV very often. He was happy to hold Kaie close and let Simon have a rest. He knew he couldn't give them a good break until the season was over. They had turned down his offer to get them a nanny or at least someone to help out. He understood why they had turned it down, but made sure they knew it was always there. Every time he saw them he saw the love that Simon had always shown him focussed on Katie and Jamie's heart exploded with love knowing that their family was bigger and that the love that was always there had multiplied in size. Jamie had never before understood just how much he could hold in his heart. He had his Mummy and Simon but his heart was now full with his love of his team, the overwhelming love he felt for Roy, but also Ruth and Phoebe. Now, his heart had found even more space and depth maybe even a whole other dimension of love for the baby in his arms. He couldn't imagine how much love must be in Simon's heart if this was how Jamie felt as a big brother. Simon's face had always shown his love, and Jamie had come to like Simon before he really understood that Simon loved him but he'd never questioned it since. The look on Simon's face with Katie was miraculous and Jamie was looking forward to the day he would know that love too. If he could, he'd have Roy's kids himself but he knew that they were going to be surrounded by little kids with insane eyebrows one day and he knew he had a heart big enough for all of them and he would never stop finding new ways to love the people around him.
If he could go back in time to that little prick he'd been only…fuck, only four years ago and explain that letting people in wasn't the end of the world and not everyone would treat him badly, that not everyone saw his real self and would hit him for being soft, would demand he man up, would hate him just because…just because James Tartt hated the world and what it hadn't done for him. That his mother was not an exception…that her love for him wasn't something weird that Jamie would never be able to replicate. That he would look back at the time he spent with cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents and realise they had done it because of love not as a burden passed down because he was related to James fucking Tartt. That he would find someone to love who loved him for all of the weird squirly, squiggly, sharp bits that made Jamie who he was and would fill every moment of Jamie's day with love when Jamie didn't even realise that's what it was. To know he could be known and seen and loved was a miracle and he was going to solidify it with a ring that Roy gave him.
In a few hours they were going to be married and then Roy Kent was never fucking going to be alone again and neither was Jamie. Jamie could not fucking wait.
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