My Brother’s Keeper - 45

Roy put a hand over Tad’s mouth. “Shush up for a minute. I’m not mad, well not really. I think it’s a wonderful idea. Hey!” He pulled his hand back fast when Tad nipped his palm. “Fight fair, no biting.”

Tad chuckled. “I’ll remember that for later. But really, I mean look at this place. It’s big enough but not too big and it’s close enough to both our jobs and the realtor said the neighborhood is, umm, ‘tolerant’ I think was her word.”

“Tolerant is good,” Roy admitted. “So, show us around.”

“On your left you’ll see…” Tad began in his best tour-guide voice.

Three months later they had moved into the house. It had taken most of what was left of his trust fund to pay for it but as far as Tad was concerned it was well worth it not to have to worry about mortgage payments and all the potential hassle surrounding them. Roy had gone from ‘No way in hell are you doing that’ to ‘You buy the house and Jerry and I will furnish it’. In the end they had compromised since neither of the brothers had any money other than what they were earning from their jobs. The three of them pooled half their incomes for a couple of months to buy furniture with the agreement that the brothers would start savings accounts, the monies to be used for any future major purchases.

During one of their furniture shopping forays Jerry had run into a girl he knew from high school. They began hanging out together and while he wasn’t willing to commit to the idea that they had something serious going on. he did admit that he liked her more than a little. That had earned him a stern lecture from Roy on the joys and dangers of sex that had him rolling his eyes.

“So help me if she turns up pregnant…” Roy had growled to Tad that evening as they got ready for bed.

“Trust Jer. He’s a good kid,” Tad had admonished him, which in the end Roy had admitted he knew.

“I guess it’s my parental instincts coming out,” he’d grumbled.

“And you do the whole thing very well. You have since the day I met you and for a long time before that. So stop worrying.”

“I think we’re both pretty good at it when it comes right down to it,” Roy commented.

“And that my dear man is because we both love him, and each other. That is what makes a family a family.”

Roy smiled, wrapping his arms around Tad. “That’s exactly what we are. Family.”

The End