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Chapter Three
Every time Chance visited his parents it brought back a lot of happy memories. They weren’t rich, but he never remembered ever missing a meal or a day of school. Being the youngest accorded him lots of privileges as well as lots of teasing from his four older siblings. His parents were always laughing and having a good time when they weren’t working the farm. Many evenings they gathered around the piano singing while their mother played. Both sets of grandparents were still alive, too, and living within walking distance from their children. They would also be there to help celebrate his parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary.
Chance parked his car next to his oldest brother Michael’s truck. Michael had pretty much taken over the running of the farm, giving his parents a chance to finally relax and enjoy their golden years. His other older brother, Chad, waited on the porch for him as he got out of his car. Chance walked toward the house. Chad was ten years older than him, but the two of them were close. At forty, Chad reminded Chance a lot of their father. They had the same sandy brown hair and sparkling brown eyes, and they both loved sports. Chad had played football in high school and college, but had settled down and married his girlfriend, Ellen. He spent five days a week anchoring the local TV sports news desk. He and Ellen had an eighteen-year-old son named Brock, who was away at college.
Forty-five-year-old Michael had married his high school sweetheart, Sarah, and they were the proud parents of twenty-one-year-old twin sons, Eric and Erron, who were away at college with Brock.
“It’s about time you made it here,” Chad said, picking up Chance and squeezing him in a tight bear hug. It probably looked odd to anyone who didn’t know them. Chad stood six-feet-three inches tall and weighed well over two-hundred pounds. Chance was tall, too, at five-feet-eleven, but slender.
“Traffic was a killer,” Chance said after Chad finally put him down on the porch.
“Everyone is here and waiting to surprise mom and pop with their gift.” This year they had all chipped in and got their parents a round-trip, all expenses paid vacation to Hawaii. Their parents had never got around to having a honeymoon and the kids hoped this trip would make up for it.
The aroma of home-cooking filled the house as he and Chad stepped inside. That meant his two older sisters, Melissa and Ann, were there cooking up a storm. Melissa was married to Paul, a local doctor, and they had two sons, Jeffrey and Zane. Ann’s husband, Greg, owned a sporting goods store; they had a daughter named Sophie. Melissa and Ann always took over the kitchen whenever the family got together. Both sisters were professional chefs and bakers by trade. It was a skill they learned early from their mother, Rachel. They had all grown up doing chores. It was Chance’s job to feed the chickens.
Chad escorted him through the house where pictures of them as kids graced the walls. Chance came by his photography skills naturally from his father who used to work for the Kodak Company until he married their mother and started building their family. Chance had taken the large family portrait over the mantel last year at Christmas when all of the grandchildren had come home for the holidays.
Everyone was in the dining room when he and Chad entered.
“Look what the cat drug in,” Chad said playfully.
Ann was the first one to come up and greet him. “Hey, squirt, welcome home.” She hugged him.
Chance leaned down and kissed his much shorter sister on the head. Their older sister Melissa was tall like the boys.
“Hey, Chance,” his maternal grandfather said to him.
Angus Murphy was spry for a ninety-year-old. Chance walked around greeting everyone, which included hugs and kisses.
“Let’s eat,” Michael said. “I’m starving.” The entire family agreed.
Melissa and Ann exited the dining room and started hauling in the food. Before long everyone was seated around the table eating and discussing everything from politics to his nonexistent love life. His homosexuality wasn’t a secret anymore. He’d dated a lot of guys, but never brought any of them home to meet the family.
“Are you dating anyone yet?” Ann asked him. Her husband Greg tried to shush her.
“I recently met someone.”
“Oh, what’s he like?” Melissa asked.
“He seems like a nice guy,” Chance answered. “He works for a pharmaceutical company.”
“Where did you meet him?” his mother asked.
“In a park one afternoon while I was jogging. His name is Derek and he’s twenty-five years old.”
“Is he cute?” Ann asked.
Chance nodded. “He also has a child.”
That got everyone’s attention.
“You’re dating a married man?” his grandmother, Ethel, asked.
“No, Nana. Derek isn’t married.He’s raising his eight-month-old nephew. Jaden’s parents were killed in an automobile accident.”
“I like him already,” his father said. “You must bring him and Jaden around so I can meet them.”
The others agreed.
