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“Thank you, Mr. Maddison,” Tyler said. “Right back at you.” He was still thinking about those three words Holden had let loose in the heat of passion.
“Now I’ve given you one present, I want to give you another,” Holden said. “I’ve got something for you. Upstairs.”
Upstairs was a large empty attic room that Tyler had presumed would store all the usual detritus of a normal household. He hadn’t thought too closely about it. But Holden was looking at him with a grin. “I had the room done up,” he said. “For you.”
Tyler mock-groaned. “You’re putting me up there because of my farting in bed, aren’t you?”
Holden slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t tempt me. Fasten up and come with me.” He climbed off the couch and waited for Tyler to make himself presentable before he held out his hand to hoist him up. Hand in hand they left the bedroom.
Looking over the banister into the hall below, Tyler had been right that the movers were downstairs, at the far end of the house, wheeling in the new fridge and carrying boxes containing Holden’s new china dinner service. He followed Holden down to the end of the landing and up the flight of stairs that led to the next floor.
The steps opened into the massive room that Tyler had viewed empty a couple of months ago but which now looked very different. He climbed all the way to the top and stood staring around him with his jaw open.
Along one side of the room stood the longest desk Tyler had ever seen with shelves and drawers and two chairs. A brand new magnifying lamp was angled over the surface at one end while an organizer held that essential equipment to stamp collecting that Tyler had once had the cheapest of, or not at all—tweezers, perforation gauge, watermark detector, glassine envelopes and more stuff that he wasn’t even sure about.
The other wall was lined with built in bookcases. On one shelf he recognized his own stamp album, together with a basket containing those loose stamps he had yet to file away—things he had been buying with gusto on eBay since coming back to the hobby. On the other shelves, he recognized Holden’s stamp albums and stock books and boxes containing envelopes and packets of stamps, enough to keep Tyler busy for months. There was also row upon row of what looked like brand new stock books, alphabetized for every country in the world, including the dead ones.
The walls had been painted white and hung with some of the stamp art Holden had recently shown him for sale on Etsy. Two little birds wearing crowns, their beaks almost touching and a shower of hearts radiating between them, all completely made from pink, red and purple stamps. Another one of two cats nose to nose made from black and grey stamps, then the well-known sculpture of Queen Elizabeth ? as she had been on the famous Machin stamps for over fifty years. Again, the picture had been rendered completely in stamps—all Machins of the Queen in a variety of stunning colors. Tyler had once told Holden he admired the late Queen greatly. To be confronted by this stunning artwork in this spectacular room that was now apparently his new stamp den took his breath away.
He turned to Holden with tears in his eyes. And because he couldn’t speak, Holden took Tyler into his arms and held him tight.
The fire was lit and crackling in the hearth, casting a rosy glow over the room, the shadows darkest on the bed where Holden and Tyler lay together under the quilt. They had walked to the diner to eat and been served by Finn who had secured an invite around the next day and planned to help Tyler hang lights on that magnificent fir tree out back. Tyler also intended to let Finn sit in the orangery—or out in the garden when it got warmer—to paint whenever he wanted, because the view was so spectacular. Brandon had joined them for a cup of coffee when they’d finished eating. His frosty manner towards Holden had started to thaw once Holden had helped with the legal action against all the websites hosting the video of Finn, to the point that he’d given the interview Holden wanted—talking about the shooting of Dominic and his feelings for Finn. Holden had told Tyler he’d seen that strong man he knew the sheriff was, but also, Brandon had let his guard down enough to show the vulnerability Holden knew lurked beneath the surface. That anxiety for Finn and his wellbeing and that all-encompassing love. As well as those memories of what he had done. Taken a man’s life. Holden respected Brandon more than he could ever say and if Brandon ever returned even a tenth of the sentiment, he would be a happy man.
Sheriff Schofield was now a local celebrity along with Finn thanks to the book, and when Finn had hurried to their table in a state of high excitement and shown him a royalty statement for the book, Brandon’s jaw had dropped open. He had stared at Holden, then at Finn, before he pulled Finn onto his lap in front of the entire diner and kissed him. Tyler had wondered if they would roll around on the bed when they got home the way he and Holden had when they found the Inverted Jenny and smiled to himself.
Holden caught his eye and winked at him. When Finn extricated himself and hurried back to the counter where the cook was shouting that orders were getting cold, Brandon had leaned across the table and offered his hand. Holden shook it. Brandon had read the book before it went to print because no way would Holden have risked the sheriff’s wrath by not giving him final say-so on the manuscript. And he had done such a good job that Brandon had not asked for a single word to be changed. Holden knew very well that both Finn and Brandon had wept when they read it, as had Tyler. He sensed that Finn had achieved some of the catharsis he’d hoped for, and maybe too, so had Brandon.
So much more had come to light during Holden’s interviews with Finn and Brandon though. Finn’s nightmare hadn’t ended with Dominic Bateman’s death because six months later, Brandon had discovered Finn’s ex was collaborating with Reinhard Hellberg, a wealthy porn connoisseur with a taste for snuff, which he financed. Hellberg had had some sort of obsession with Finn after being invited to one of Dominic’s parties. He’d kidnapped Finn, planning to star him in his best movie yet. Brandon had found Finn locked in a basement, having fought off his captors. Hellberg and his cronies were now serving life in prison. Tyler couldn’t believe his eyes when he’d read the book. He hadn’t been able to bring up those details with Finn, but maybe his friend would want to talk about it in time. One little tidbit and criminal act that hadn’t found its way into the book was Brandon paying a visit to the house Dominic had shared with Finn and burning it to the ground. That would stay just between the four of them.
They had made love when they got back from dinner, Holden on his back staring up at Tyler as he moved inside him with slow, deep strokes until they both came.
“You’re an amazing man,” Tyler said, squeezing Holden.
“So are you.”
“I don’t deserve all this. That stamp room, this house, you sharing your money this way…”
“Shut up.” Holden silenced him with a kiss.
“I can’t. I need you to know…”
“I know. Now shush. I’m not an amazing man, I’m a man who’s behaved badly for a large portion of his life and now wants to pay his good luck forward. To you, and to my friends. Those two guys are great, and we’re lucky to have them in our life. I’m even luckier to have you. When I wake up every morning, I thank God that I met you. I’ll do anything you want to keep you happy and make your life as easy as possible. Because I love you.”
Tyler grabbed his neck and kissed him. His heart was so full it felt like it would burst. Their troubles weren’t over of course. Holden still confessed thoughts to him of wanting to watch porn when he should be working, of thinking of faceless men using him for their own ends. They’d experimented with ways around this. Ways to gratify Holden’s addiction without giving into it. They’d watched porn together. Tyler had blindfolded Holden and held him down while fucking him and whispering the filthiest of obscenities. Holden had responded with great enthusiasm. Down the line he’d told Tyler that he now starred in Holden’s fantasies, not anonymous men. He only had to ask for what he wanted and Tyler would deliver it. Holden had asked Tyler to meet with his addiction counsellor privately because he wanted no secrets between them and the guy had told Tyler that Holden was doing great. Certainly there was no infidelity to be worried about.
It all helped to calm Tyler and reduce the energy he spent worrying over the future. He and Holden were solid and moving in the right direction. Their lives were brighter and easier and there was so much to look forward to. When he’d laid helpless in that hospital bed all alone in Ramstein with half of him gone, Tyler had wondered how he would ever come back from such a tragedy as losing part of himself.
Now he had found the missing part of himself in Holden and felt more complete than he ever had before.
THE END
