“That’s great,” Rob joined in. “When?”
“Not exactly sure,” Jon said. “We know our relationship is still pretty new, so it might be a while, but we do know that we both want kids.” He smirked. “Besides, as hard as we’ve tried, neither one of us is pregnant yet, so who knows how long it might take!”
“TMI, Jon!” Ben said, laughing.
“I actually had started to have a conversation about this with Mike and Becky when we were on the cruise, but things have been kind of busy since we got back home, so Jon and I hadn’t really talked about it until a couple of weeks ago,” Kyle explained. “In fact, we chatted with Mike and Becky just last week about it, but we haven’t told anyone else yet. We haven’t decided on anything definite, but if I had to guess, I’d say in the next year or two.”
“Are you going to adopt, or are you thinking about surrogacy?” Sam asked.
“That’s one of the topics we have to discuss a bit more,” Jon said. “We’ve both decided that either is fine with us; we just need to do some more research about both options and figure out the best way to proceed.”
“I’m thrilled,” Ben said, “and I know Rob feels the same way.” Rob nodded in agreement. “You two are gonna be great dads.”
“And both of you will be the best grandpas!” Kyle said.
“I’m sure your mom is thrilled too,” Ben said to Jon. “You’ve said that she’s mentioned grandkids to you before.”
“Um, yeah, see … it’s like this,” Jon stammered. “We haven’t told her yet. We figured that she’ll bug us even more once we say something, so we plan to wait until we have a few more details worked out.”
“Yeah, I have to agree,” Ben said. “That’s probably the best way to handle it.”
Chapter 6
Jon
After brunch on Christmas morning, Rob and Sam were busy in the kitchen, preparing their holiday dinner. Kyle had wandered upstairs—Jon assumed he was showering since they had both come down earlier still wearing their Christmas pajama pants and T-shirts. Jon found Ben sitting in the family room, staring at the gorgeous Christmas tree in the large bay window overlooking the backyard.
“Excuse me, Ben. Can I speak with you for a minute?” Jon asked quietly.
“Of course. You look so serious, Jon. Is there something wrong?”
“Not at all, it’s just that with all this talk about starting up a family, I’ve had something on my mind. There’s, um, well, there’s something I want to ask you.” Jon’s hands began to sweat, and he was having a bit of difficulty speaking.
“Okay.”
“This is probably kind of old fashioned, but I’d like to ask your permission to marry Kyle.”
“You want to marry my son?” Ben’s eyes crinkled, and a smile formed on his lips.
“Yes, sir. I know we haven’t been together for very long, but I love him. And I want to spend the rest of my life with him. And now that we’re looking at having kids before too long, I really want to marry Kyle.”
Ben reached over and hugged him. “Of course, you have my permission. You’ve been part of this family from the start, and I’d be proud to call you my son-in-law,” he said quietly in Jon’s ear. Releasing him, he asked, “When do you plan on proposing?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but I’m thinking sometime in the next few months. And if Kyle agrees, maybe we could have a small wedding later this year.”
“Of course, he’s gonna agree,” Ben said. “Do you see how he looks at you? He loves you just as much as you love him.”
“Thanks, Ben. So does that timing sound okay to you?”
“It’s perfect. It’s okay if I tell Rob, right?”
“Sure. I wouldn’t expect you to keep a secret from him. But no one else, please. Although I’ll have to tell Sam at some point. After all, she is my cousin and pretty much the reason that Kyle and I are together. I plan on asking her to be my witness for the ceremony.”
“That’s sure to make her very happy.”
Jon and Kylereturned home on the Sunday after Christmas, having spent a hectic few days in Massachusetts.
“What do you feel like doing tonight?” Jon asked as they walked the short distance from the Metro station to their condo.
