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Darrell held up a newspaper he’d brought. “Did you know you’re up for another award?”
Keith blinked. “I am?”
He nodded. “The new law court you designed, about five years ago? It’s been put forward for the Architectural Design of the decade.”
Keith smiled. “That’s wonderful. Maybe I’ll even get a building named after me.”
The conversations were a little strained at first, but Keith strove to maintain a smile, acting as normally as he could in what was such a bizarre situation. Polly kept hugging him and Winona wiped her eyes constantly. He was shown countless photos of Polly’s new grandchildren, and he strove not to comment that every picture was almost identical to the previous one.
It was Sandy who reduced him to tears.
She produced a parcel wrapped in shiny red paper, and placed it in his lap. “This is from all of us. We didn’t want you to miss Christmas.” She swallowed.
Keith regarded the pretty gift. “Oh. I didn’t expect this.”
“You can open it now,” Heidi told him.
He wasn’t sure he could do that without bawling his head off, but that wasn’t an option.
Don’t let that be their last memory of you.
He tore the wrapping paper and set it aside to gaze at a framed picture. He recognized it immediately. It was a family photo from 1986, the last Christmas he and Michael had spent together. Everyone was gathered around the Christmas tree, with Michael and Keith sitting on the floor in front of it, Michael’s arm around his shoulders, both of them grinning like maniacs.
Hot tears pricked his eyes. “This is beautiful.”
“We wanted to give you a photo that included Michael.” Heidi’s eyes were full of tears too.
He swiped his cheeks. “Thank you.” A wave of exhaustion crashed into him, and he knew he was done.
“We’ll say goodbye then.” Heidi leaned over to hug him, careful of his tubes, and kissed his forehead. “Merry Christmas, big brother,” she whispered.
Her words almost unraveled him on the spot.
One by one, his family said their goodbyes, and no one bothered to hide their tears anymore. They filed out a few at a time, until only Heidi remained. She didn’t say a word, but pressed more kisses to his brow. Then she straightened, pasted on a smile, and shuddered out a breath.
“I’m not worried about you anymore,” she declared. “You’re going to be with Michael.” Heidi managed a smile. “So you’ll end up being a cradle robber after all.” And with that she walked out of the room, not looking back.
God, he hoped so. Keith had never been a great believer in the Almighty, but that view had changed a little in the last week.
Because Someone had sent Yuri, right?
He gazed at the photo. Look at us. They’d been nineteen, their whole lives spreading out before them. And it had promised to be a good life.
Keith studied Michael’s smiling face. “I’ve had a good life. The only thing missing from it was love, and to be honest I didn’t expect to find it again. I think you were my only shot at it, and when you left, you closed the door to love and took the key with you.” There’d been a couple of relationships that had lasted a while, but as he’d told Yuri, they seemed like pale imitations of what he’d shared with Michael.
You were it, mister.
Anna came into the room. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and held the photo up for her to see. “They gave me this.”
She peered at it. “Oh my. Is that you?”
He smiled. “Yup. And the gorgeous guy next to me is Michael. He was my boyfriend.” When she didn’t speak, he glanced at her. “Something wrong?”
“On the contrary. I’ve just received news. They’ve signed off on your request. So whenever you give the word, Keith, we’ll take you for a spin.”
“In a wheelchair?” Except he thought he already knew the answer to that question.
