"I guess I'll go and play with the kids, get a bit of fresh air," James added, and as he walked past, Greg slapped his ass and ended with a naughty pinch, "Greg," James laughed, "not in front of you know who,"
"I'm going to go get a glass of water," Lisa added quietly, getting up and walking back inside, she stood in the lounge room and was taking a closer look at some of the photos on the wall and on top of the TV unit.
"Look, Lisa," Rob's voice came up behind her, "call me whatever you like, but you can't treat Greg and James like that in our home. You don't know what the five of us have been through as a family. Call us redneck hillbillies if you like; but don't rock up unexpected to our home expecting to stay and then proceed to repeatedly insult us. We're all happy here, Lisa, I don't know why you can't understand that but it's the truth. We live a good life here. It's not fancy; but its good, it's safe and it's clean, and those boys love those kids so much; they're great fathers. James has his job in the hospital, I work fulltime, Greg looks after the kids fulltime… we're not some lazy lowlifes,"
Lisa turned around and saw the defeat on Rob's face, he looked exhausted and worn down. "I'm really sorry, Rob, you're right, I don't know what your life here is like, or what you've all experienced. I only had my previous knowledge of what Greg and James, especially James, were once like compared to now, but James was right, those days are long dead now. They do seem a lot happier now than they once were,"
"It wasn't always this happy, you know? God, I can't even imagine how you treated James because of his weight, Lisa, especially knowing that he was dealing with an eating disorder… you've got no idea how many hours that Greg spent sitting with James every mealtime until recently, or other things that have happened. You weren't there in the times we've suffered as a family and only had each other to cling onto," Rob stated.
"I know," Lisa sighed, "and again, I'm so sorry for how rude I was…" she reached over and picked up a frame with the snowman picture, "who's this guy?" she asked pointing at the older teenager, Rob just shook his head and told her that was him; "but isn't that the little boy that's outside?"
Rob shook his head, "no, that's Greg. He's only 11 years younger than me. I was 18 in that photo, so Greg would've been about seven years old. Greg was going through a bad time with the married-in side of the family and came here for a Christmas and New Year's. My wife and I realised what was going on and spent the next eleven years until Greg turned 18 trying to go the legal route to get him out- because God knows that my sister and John's family wouldn't be giving him up without a fight. Every other day we'd be chasing up his case trying to get custody and get him out of the situation that he was in. For eleven straight years. But it never worked out," he shrugged and sat down, "again, there's a lot that you don't know happened,"
Lisa looked down at the photo, and felt everything she knew hit her like a tonne of bricks; hearing Greg talk about things that had happened was one thing; but looking at an actual photo of Greg as a child, which she'd never really seen before, and knowing how bad things were at that time, she felt like she'd been hit by a semi-truck. There was a sweet little boy grinning widely and proudly at the camera standing next to the snowman he'd built. Now Lisa looked closer, she could tell this wasn't the same boy as Tyson; Greg had had straighter, blonde hair that was a bit longer than Tyson's, he seemed taller, and his adult teeth had grown in, the fashion and look of the photo in general also suggested that it was an old photo. Lisa put it back shakily, "that's a precious photo,"
Rob nodded, "it is, we actually have a lot of Greg from when he was growing up; they're all in a couple of albums, because he was so precious to Josie and I, and we were never sure what was going to happen to him every time we tearfully had to give him back. So, we kept photos of him in case we never saw him again and so we could remember him for who he was. That photo was taken here actually, out the back, this has always been Greg's happy, safe place. Another reason he is so upset that someone he, for whatever reason, respects just trash talked the place where he feels safest in the world,"
"Is Josie your wife?" Lisa asked to which Rob nodded, "where is she? Will I meet her?" Lisa followed up to which Rob shook his head, hanging it down.
"No, you won't. You're a couple of months late. Massive heart attack at work, there was nothing that they could've done. God, I would've been lost without Greg and James after that. Greg really stepped up to the plate after Josie's passing, he organised and took care of everything. James did a lot to help as well. I was an absolute mess," Rob said, standing up from the couch, "again Lisa, things are a lot more complicated than you give it credit for. We've all been through a hell of a time without having some blow in come in and trash talk us. But whatever, I don't need to explain myself to you," as he turned and walked away.
Lisa heard the back door open and close, and the sounds of the kids chattering loudly to Greg and James, Greg walked upstairs with Charlie, and James was getting started on dinner; "where's Greg gone?" Lisa asked.
"What?" James frowned as he pulled out a pan from under the bench; "he's gone to give her a bath and get her ready for bed after dinner. Tyson, get the chicken out of the fridge please," Tyson did so, and then did a handstand leaning his feet against the fridge.
"Uncle Jimmy! Jimmy! Look at me! Look!" Tyson shouted, which James gave a noise of acknowledgement but reminded Tyson that handstands and cartwheels were for doing outside, not inside. "Jimmy, when you and Greg get married, who is going to wear the dress?" Tyson asked genuinely while attempting to do a bend back in the middle of the kitchen floor.
James sighed and put the knife down that he was using to cut up the chicken, "neither of us are wearing a dress, Tyson, because we're not women,"
Later at the dinner table, Lisa was picking through her dinner; "Uncle Rory," Tyson began, "when you and Jimmy get married, who is going to wear the dress?"
An awkward silence fell over the table for a couple of seconds before Greg answered, "neither of us are going to wear dresses, Tyson, we will both wear suits. When two men get married, neither of them wears a dress. Jimmy and I won't be wearing dresses, because we're not ladies, Ty,"
Tyson thought about this for a second, "you stay at home and look after me and Charlie like a mommy, so maybe you should wear the dress. But Jimmy has long hair like a lady, so maybe he should wear the dress, maybe you should both wear dresses! And the thing that covers your face so you look like ghosts!"
"Hear that, Greg? We're apparently holding our wedding in a Spirit Halloween to the theme of a Tim Burton kid's movie," James laughed.
"Classy," Greg laughed back, "maybe you should become a wedding planner someday, Ty, then you can make money telling people how to hold their weddings,"
"I can do that?" Tyson asked excitedly, going to get up and grab a sheet of paper and a pen, when Greg stopped him.
Greg nodded, "stay at the table until after dinner. But, you absolutely can, and you can charge people exorbitant prices, so they just end up doing everything themselves like we are,"
"So, who is going to walk you down the aisle? And Jimmy down the aisle?"
"I'm presuming we're being walked down the aisle because we can't see with the white sheet over our heads?" James laughed, and Tyson nodded his head.
"Safety first, of course Jimmy," Greg laughed.
"And then when you have babies, who is going to have the baby in their belly? Like mommy did before Charlie was born," Tyson asked.
Rob nearly spat out his drink before disguising it as a cough, and James spoke up, "who do you think should be the one to carry a baby in their belly?"
Tyson thought about this for a few moments, "you, Uncle Jimmy, because you have long hair, like a lady. So you should have the baby in your tummy,"
"Hear that, Jimmy? You radiate such bottom energy that a six-year-old can figure it out," Greg laughed, as he continued periodically helping Charlie with her dinner while eating his own.
"That's funny, because I don't remember being the bottom most of the time, last I checked," James winked back at Greg, who just laughed and shrugged.
"Guys, don't you think that this is inappropriate dinner conversation?" Lisa asked.
"No?" James frowned at her; "it's all just a joke, the kids don't understand the second speak behind the conversation, they're six and two! As for Rob, he sees the humour in it, it's not as though we are in the closet. Hey Rob, you know that Greg and I are gay, right? And what that entails?"
"You and Greg? Gay? Ooh, I would never," Rob gasped with sarcasm dripping from his tongue, "of course I know you're gay, it wasn't as though it was one of the first things you said to me when we met for the first time the day after Lisa left you guys here," Rob laughed, "and that my engaged, adult nephew and his fiancée who share a bed, openly cuddle and kiss in front of me, and go away on romantic weekends away… the fact that they're having sex? Absolute scandal! Call the tabloids!" Rob laughed harder, "I'm not a homophobe, why would it bother me? I learned my lesson once to knock on the bedroom door first before going in; but the only thing I care about is that you're good parents- which you are; the rest of it is irrelevant to me. Plus, I'm not one to shut down a good riffing session. Although it does surprise me to learn that you're the top," Rob winked, and James laughed.
"Yeah, well, James is also the one who chokes, gags and swallows while praying on his knees an awful lot more than I do," Greg shrugged to which James made a face back at him.
"I live to please, and I give my seed to you and take, or more accurately, swallow your seed from you," James shrugged, as he got up and started clearing the plates, "this whole conversation has blown my cover as to why I always wear long pants; it's to cover up my bruised knees of shame," he laughed as he started running the water, "Tyson! Come help me wash up, you going to wash or dry?"
"Alright, well I'm going to go put Charlie to bed," Greg added, as he took Charlie down from her chair.
"Do you want me to do anything?" Lisa asked, "I can put her to bed if you like," as she watched with a hurt expression when she put her arms out and Charlie pulled away and hid her face in the fabric of Greg's trouser leg.
"Uhh, no it's fine Lisa. Actually, James, let's swap, you take Charlie up and put her to bed, and help Ty out with the shower, and Lisa and I can do the dishes," Greg took a bottle out, filled it about two thirds full of water and topped it up with orange juice; as he mixed it together, "here's her bottle, and here's the little princess," as he swapped them over.
Later that night, Lisa was lying in Greg and James' bed tossing and turning, wondering how on Earth she'd screwed this up so royally, she'd managed to repeatedly upset everyone. Without being able to sleep, she got up and went to get some fresh air outside, "hey Lisa," Greg smiled as she walked out the back door, and she sat down beside across the table from him, taking the beer he handed her and cracking it open. "This reminds me of that night when we were on the road trip, not too far from here actually, on the way over. You and I sat outside all night drinking and smoking and talking, do you remember that night? You told me that you dreamt of becoming Barbie one day?" Greg teased a little bit later as they sat in the mild, still air.
"Yeah, I remember. It feels like a lifetime ago," she whispered.
"I know. So much has happened since then, it's amazing how much your life changes. If you'd told me then that in a year; I'd be engaged to James, have a home, two kids, and even be getting the dog any day now, and that I'd truly be happy for the first time I could remember, I wouldn't have believed you," Greg laughed, "but it happened. I'm just glad that everything worked out for everyone in the end,"
"Yeah, I suppose," Lisa mumbled.
"Uncle Rory," came a little voice from the steps as Charlie walked down them, her little face wet, "I had a nightmare, can you sing to me?"
"Rory?" Lisa asked, confused.
"She has to start saying her 'r's properly, so 'Greg' became 'Rory'," Greg explained, "you wanna sit out here with Rory for a while? See if you can get to sleep while I hold you?" he asked Charlie softly, pulling her up onto his lap as he started singing softly to her, and Charlie snuggled up into him, slowly relaxing; the song he was singing Lisa eventually realised was 'I bet on losing dogs' while gently running his fingers through her hair. She'd heard Greg singing it a few times to James over their road trip together when James was especially wound up and needed to be cooled down.
A lot has changed, Lisa thought to herself with an internal sigh of defeat, Greg is very much a father now, and he very clearly takes it completely seriously... and this place, like Rob told me before; while I see it objectively, Greg loves it. Because for Greg, this house represents safety, a home base. The only place as a child where he hadn't lost everything. The closest he ever came to a safe place and a normal childhood. He's never going to leave this home, it's too sentimental to him. It means too much in his mind... I've really lost him forever.