An Italian boy in Camford Pt. 08

In the car, I scrutinized Robert as closely as I could. He was in his early sixties, slim, fit, clean-shaven, with white but thick crew-cut hair, friendly and chatty. While he didn't appeal to me sexually, I could see his attractiveness to older men. Needless to say, like all gays, I could see that he was also appraising me. Dom noticed his scrutiny and grinned at me! We arrived at Getheringthwaite Hall in the early afternoon. It was not a large building. It dated from the late seventeenth century, with two additional wings added a few years later in the reign of Queen Anne. It stood in a very large park, some 5 km across,of which about two-thirds was open to the public.

Dom's grandfather was tall, and as I have already said, fit and vigorous for his age. He welcomed us warmly and said to Robert, "Robert, I've arranged with Mrs Harrison to do the cooking tonight, but please stick around the house, because we will all four be eating together." Mrs Harrison cooked most days, but on two days a week Robert did the cooking.

The three of us adjourned to the library, where the Marquess offered us drinks, nodding in approval when we chose beer. "I've only got White Shield, I hope you like it!" he said.

"Very much!" said Dom, "It's a lovely beer, even if it does make you let stinky farts the next day."

The old man grinned. Then he turned to me. "So you're the boy that my grandson's in love with! Tell me a bit about yourself."

"I have an Italian father and an English mother," I told him. "I also have a brother who was adopted by my uncle. Both my uncle and my brother are gay, so we are a very homosexual family! I didn't know my brother until at the age of eighteen he came looking for his mother. I lived in Italy until I decided to come to England and read engineering at Camford. In my second year I met Dom, who had the room next door to me and I fell in love with him. I hope to become a railway engineer. But I also want a life-partnership with your grandson."

"You boys don't know how lucky you are to be able not just to fuck legally, but to enter a state-recognized partnership with a man whom you love. I had a rotten time as a young man. Robert and I fucked each other like rabbits when we were students, but after I got my B.A. and went back home, I had to hide my sexuality, being heavily leaned on to marry. I was a very unsatisfactory husband. I suffered from what is nowadays called erectile dysfunction. I did manage sometimes to get it up and was able to beget one child, your father, Dom. Fortunately my wife was very kind and sweet, she forgave my inadequacies as a fucker of women, and I stayed faithful to her until she died. I'm very lucky now to have a man like Robert. He's not a paid catamite, he's the man I love, and he doesn't mind posing as a chauffeur, and he's very discrete, as is Mrs Harrison our housekeeper, so although most people in the village know that I'm queer, they're discrete enough not to talk about it. I don't know how much Edmund knows about my sexuality, and I don't give a fuck. But it will have to be talked about in the family if you two boys want a civil partnership. I admire Dominic's courage in coming out as gay, and I want him in the future to be a happy, not a frustrated, fourteenth Marquess!

"Alessandro Mascagnoli, you have my blessing to hitch up with my grandson. I hope that you will both be very happy. You can use the chapel here to take your vows, if you can find a priest to preside!"

"That will be no problem, my uncle's friend, a Camford Professor will do the job," I said. "He did it for them twenty years ago, so he will do it for us now. He will not be breaking the law, because it will be a family-only ceremony, and we might even be able to get a registrar to be present, to avoid a second ceremony. But that's a long way ahead. We don't plan to get officially engaged until at least Dom has graduated. With modern technology, he will be able to work from home most of the time. But, Sir, I'm sorry to make things so awkward for the Ovenden family."

"Don't be! Nothing gives an old person more pleasure than seeing two young people in love. And I'm sure that once Edmund gets used to the idea of two gays in the family, he won't raise any difficulties. As for Michael, he'll get the fun, hard work and responsibility of the estate without the hassle of a title, which believe me, is more of a pain than a privilege these days. No wonder Edmund and Dom prefer not to use their courtesy titles! Now let's call in Robert, and have another drink. I think it's time for some Prosecco!"

Robert came in with a tray and four glasses. The Marquess put his arms round him and kissed him. Robert blushed. "No need to be shy, Robert, these two boys are an item and hope to become life-partners in a couple of years. I just hope that they find as much joy and love together as we have. Dom has the problem of telling my son and daughter-in-law and his brothers, but once the dust has died down, you and I will be out of the closet as far as the family is concerned, though we can't tie the knot ourselves."

"Henry, that IS good news. I get fed up of all this hole-and-corner fucking! Oh dear, what have I just said?" he exclaimed, as Dom and I started to giggle. "Talk about double entendres! I ought to explain to these two boys that I am not a garage mechanic brought in by Henry as a bit of rough trade. Fifty years ago we were students at Boni's together and fell in love. I am younger than him, because he had a spell in the army after leaving school, first as a National Serviceman, then five years as a regular army officer before he went up to Camford, whereas I went up as a scholar at eighteen and did my national service afterwards. By then Henry had been hauled back home and pushed into marriage with an eligible heiress, with pots of money. I stayed on in the army for years and finally retired as a major. I have a good military pension, so I'm not your grandfather's paid catamite. We had always kept in touch, and after his wife died, he invited me to come and live with him under the pretext of me working as a chauffeur. In that role I receive a salary, so that stories don't get around that I am his fancy boy, because to come out publicly at his age would be disastrous. I'm certainly not after his money, either now or when he dies."

After we had drunk the Prosecco, on Robert's suggestion, we all adjourned to the pool, which was in an outbuilding at the back of the house. "It doesn't matter if you boys don't have swimwear," said the Marquess "Robert and I always swim in the nude. We'll just do a dozen or so lengths and then we'll get ready for dinner." To my relief, both of the older men looked OK naked. There were no pendulous paunches or man-tits, and Dom's grandfather did not have that shrivelled and emaciated body that a lot of old men seem to get. Dom and I both got the usual appraising glances from the older men, but no-one betrayed himself with an erection! Afterwards, we showered together and got dressed and sat down to an excellent dinner at which we consumed a lot of wine! The next morning, Dom showed me round the house, and in the afternoon we explored the park. After an excellent meal cooked by Robert, we sat drinking for an hour before both pairs of men had an early night, in which Dom rimmed me with a skill that I had never imagined, and I sucked his delicious cock.

Next day we both made an affectionate farewell to the two old men, and promised to come back soon. On the train back to London, we discussed the next move. We agreed that I should collect my baggage and go straight to Camford. Dom would take a train back to Kent, and drop his double bombshell on his parents. Richard was now back at school and could only be told at second hand, but Dom would just catch Michael before he was due to leave for Oxbridge, whose term started a couple of days later than Camford.

Chapter Fifty-seven: Sandro's final year begins

It was a Friday when I got back to Camford and took a cab to Fountain Street. The next morning I went round to college with my goods and chattels. The new room was pretty good. There were not many duplex rooms in college with an en-suite bathroom but as we were both scholars, we had no problem in getting one. We had a big sitting room/study, with a sofa, two armchairs, two desks with computer chairs, and two bookcases. Opening off it were our two bedrooms, each with a narrow single bed, a wardrobe and chest of drawers for clothes and bedlinen. Between the two bedrooms was our shared bathroom, with shower, washbasin and toilet, but no bidet of course. Having bagged one of the bedrooms and unloaded my cases, I left to join Jon and David for lunch at the Carp at Stubbington. It was great to see them both, and they were full of high spirits. I told them that I was expecting a momentous phone call from Dom, who was going to come out to his parents and brother. I also told them what Jon already knew, that my boyfriend was in line to inherit a peerage. I asked my uncles to be discreet about the sexuality of Lord Wakefield, and under no circumstances to divulge Dom's identity to anyone. We planned to eat out in the evening, so we only had a sandwich lunch. It was a lovely warm autumn day, and we sat in the pub garden. We had just finished eating, and Jon was buying more beer, when my phone rang. It was Dom.

"Ciao, inamorato mio! Last night I dropped my bombshell. It was interesting to see the various reactions. My mother and Michael did not look surprised, but my father looked dumbstruck. Michael said he had noticed how fond his grandfather was of Robert, and the looks that he gave him seemed to Michael to suggest a closer relationship than that of chauffeur and boss. My mother said that she had noticed how much happier her father-in-law had looked after his wife had died, certainly there was no evidence of deep grief. After Robert had joined the household, she said that grandfather got much more active and cheerful. My father, though he likes to give the impression of being modern, is really a bit old-fashioned, and although prosecutions for gross indecency between men had ceased at a date when he was seven years old, he still seemed to be suspicious of homosexuality. So to discover that his father had been a closet fairy all his life was difficult for him to grasp.

"The revelation that you and I were in love came almost as an anticlimax. You had made a good impression on all of them, and they seemed to welcome the prospect of you eventually joining the family. As we had expected, Michael was not the slightest bit surprised, he had guessed from the first time that he had seen us together. He was delighted to become heir to the family money and the Yorkshire estate. He assured me that I would never be allowed to go hungry. The news that my grandfather had offered us the chapel at Getheringthwaite in which to make our vows seemed to amaze my father. Indeed, he rushed out of the room and rang his father.

"Ten minutes later he came back still looking stunned. 'My father confirmed all that you have told me!' He said to me in an incredulous tone. 'He confirmed that he and Robert were having it off together regularly and how much he admired you for speaking out about being gay. He said that he had given you and Sandro his blessing. So I suppose I shall have to get used to the idea of a gay father and a gay son!'

"My mother pointed out that it did not make the slightest difference to their generation, and no-one in our generation was being disadvantaged, so my father should simmer down. No-one was suggesting that on the death of his father he would have to resign his chair and go to live at Getheringthwaite, Michael rather than me would take over the running of the estate. In any case, she said, I was temperamentally unsuited to being a country landowner, and she personally had no desire to become a Lady of the Manor. 'Just let Dom settle down with his boyfriend, and the world will go on unchanged!'

"So, my darling lad, we are now recognized by my family as an item, and we can get on with our lives!"

My uncles were delighted that I finally had a proper lover. They told me what they had told my brother: that regular sex is good for examination performance! My finals were only ten months away. They gave me an expensive box of Storing pour homme toiletries to give to Dom. "It's an essential piece of gay equipment in our family, as you already know, Sandro," Uncle Jon said. "Look, you must bring Dom around one evening next week and we will celebrate your relationship. We'll go to the Venezia, as it's much more gay-friendly than any other restaurant in Camford. We've been customers for years, and those sweet young Italian waiters are always friendly and sympathetic. Mind you, we always speak Italian to them, and we tip generously!"

The next day, Sunday, Dom arrived at Boni's in the afternoon, and there was a formal dinner in the evening to mark the beginning of term at which he wore his new scholar's gown. He said to me, "Sandro, get a comb and a rubber band. I want to see how you would look with a pony-tail!" He took the comb and bunched my longish hair together and tightened the rubber band round it as near to my scalp as it would go. We looked at it on the mirror and I liked what I saw. "I'm going to keep the pony-tail!" I exclaimed.

The following week, Dom, myself and my two uncles dined one evening at the Venezia. It was an unbelievably happy and high-spirited occasion. My uncles liked my new hairstyle! Much wine was drunk and the two couples separately and unsteadily made our way back to our respective beds.

TO BE CONTINUED