Twelve
Micah washed his face and composed himself.
“Are you going to be okay?” Mark asked softly when Micah hesitated at the bedroom door.
“Yeah.” Micah hesitated a moment longer then opened the door. Mark followed him into the hall and the two walked down the stairs together. From the living room, men’s voices filtered into the downstairs hallway in hushed, solemn tones. Nick was speaking to the other man.Seth O’Brien.Wendy had said he was Sal’s son, but she didn’t saywhichson.
The newcomer’s voice was low and rather soft when he spoke to Nick. A vague familiarity sparked in the back of Micah’s mind, but he dismissed it. He paused outside the living room and Mark touched his back. “It’ll be all right,” he said quietly and motioned Micah to go on in.
His emotions precariously in check, Micah stepped through the archway with Mark right beside him. The man’s back was to him as he and Nick stood by the cider bowl and talked. Wendy sat on the sofa, dabbing her eyes every now and then as she cradled baby Mary in her arms, feeding her from a bottle. She spotted Micah when he paused. “Micah…”
Nick looked his way, sympathy on his face as he met Micah’s eyes. “Micah. Mark. Come meet Seth O’Brien.” He motioned them over. “Sal’s youngest son.”
Micah’s heart sank a little. A part of him had believed if it was Sal’s oldest boy who had come to see him, then that surely meant he had reconciled with his father before he died. It broke Micah’s heart to think the old man had left this life without his oldest son’s forgiveness.
The young man turned slowly, his stare locking on Micah’s face—bringing Micah to a dead halt as his pulse shot through the roof. He blinked in shock.I’m hallucinating—I have to be,he thought numbly as he stared at the young man from the airport terminal.
Seth O’Brien’s eyes widened as he looked back at Micah, equally shocked, his breath suddenly unsteady. “You’re…” He swallowed, visibly shaken. “You’re…Micah Rose?” Disbelief weighed his voice as all he seemed capable of doing was standing and staring at Micah.
The faith Micah had tentatively opened himself up to wavered dangerously and his already heightened emotions threatened to send him into a downward spiral. He had wanted to believe that God was on his side, that he had a plan for Micah—agoodplan. But suddenly, the joke didn’t just feelmean—but downrightsadistic.It wasn’t bad enough that the man who could have been his soulmate already had a boyfriend—but that boyfriend wasSal’sson?
What the hell are you doing to me?he cried at God in despair.What did I do that you hate me so much?
He swallowed hard and blinked back rising tears. “Yes,” he whispered. “I’m…I’m Micah Rose.” He cleared his throat and held out his hand. He felt no ill-will toward the young man—it wasn’t his fault God had a vendetta against Micah. He was simply an innocent pawn in this screwed up game. “I’m very sorry to hear about your father.” His throat knotted. “In the short time that I knew him, I came to regard him as a dear friend.”
Seth continued to stare at Micah as he shook his hand. “He was quite fond of you as well,” he said softly, emotion straining his voice. “He spoke of you often.”
“I will miss him greatly.” Micah wanted to flee, crawl into a corner and cry himself into oblivion—and that made him angry. Angry atGod. Meeting one of Sal’s children should have been a wonderful, even miraculous moment. But all it did washurt.
Mark and Nick exchanged uncertain looks as they glanced back and forth between Micah and Seth O’Brien. Since Mark showed no signs of shock—Micah guessed that he had only gotten a good look at the other man in the terminal, not Seth.
“I’m sorry for just showing up like this, so close to Christmas,” Seth murmured. “But our father made Graham promise to come see you in person…on Christmas Eve.” His eyes shimmered. “We’re a day early…”
“Graham?” Micah whispered. “Who…?”
“My older brother,” Seth told him, his eyes softening with a knowing look that struck Micah square in the heart when he added, “The man youencounteredin the airport terminal this morning.”
Micah vaguely heard Mark suck in a startled breath. A numbing sensation coursed through him, driving all feeling from his body, leaving him with a sense of weightlessness. “He was…your brother?”
A barely notable smile tugged the corner of Seth’s mouth and Micah swore he heard God chuckling in the background. “Yes.” Beneath the grief of his loss, a jubilant light glimmered behind Seth’s gaze.
He saw it, too—that “moment” between you and his brother.
“What encounter?” Nick spoke up, nudging into Micah’s dazed thoughts.
Micah turned slowly, his eyes falling on Mark. The younger man stared back at him through a precarious wall of tears, his barely contained joy and satisfaction bursting off his face. “I’ll…I’ll explain later,” Micah mumbled to Nick, then introduced Mark to Seth. The young man eyed Mark uncertainly but offered him a pleasant greeting, nonetheless.
“Graham would have come here with me,” Seth told Micah. “But he had to go over to our father’s house and take care of some things.” He stared at Micah, anguish radiating forth. “He’s taking his loss hard. They became very close in the short time they had together.”
That was the last straw for Micah. He hung his head and slid his hand over his eyes, his emotions breaking. Mark moved closer and wrapped his arm around Micah’s shoulders. When Micah looked up—the glimmer of joy in Seth O’Brien’s eyes had vanished as he witnessed Mark’s intimate, affectionate gesture.
He thinks Mark is my boyfriend.
Mark noticed, too, and withdrew his arm. He seemed to search for a casual way to inform Seth O’Brien that hewasn’tMicah’s boyfriend, but there was no way to say it without making the moment awkward.
God is unfolding a miracle right before your eyes—are you really going to worry about the minor details?
It was too close, now, to hesitate. He glanced at Mark whose eyes told him to go for it—not hold back. Micah was scared to death but couldn’t dispel Graham O’Brien’s face from his mind, and those eyes…the power behind his gaze…captivating and capturing Micah in a way he hadn’t believed he would ever experience.
