An Accidental Parent

Neil and Jeff and I joined the boys in their room to talk about the night and let them wind down after the excitement of their bouts. By midnight the boys were ready to turn in. Robbie couldn't resist a dig at Jake and Luke - "no hanky-panky you two" he quipped at them and Jake jibed back that Robbie wasn't going to get a free show, no matter how much he wanted it.

I'm usually a poor sleeper but for once I managed to sleep pretty soundly till about 7am, when nature forced a visit to the bathroom. I decided it was time to get cleaned up and make a short excursion to the nearest coffee shop to get us some breakfast.

I checked on the boys in the next room; Declan was already dressed and volunteered to give me a hand carrying the goodies back. While we waited for the coffees to be made he had quietly asked me if Luke and Jake had been "together" for long. I told him it had only been a few months, then Declan blurted out that he really liked Robbie, and immediately turned beetroot red.

"Dec, we all like Robbie but when it comes to the romantic stuff, Robbie only likes girls. He gets on fine with gay guys, but you know he's not gay himself. Dec, he can be your buddy, but not a boyfriend. I think it would better to have him as a friend than not have him at all".

Declan looked pretty dejected. I continued "You need to have some faith in yourself Dec, you're a nice-looking guy, and you'll snag yourself a cute boyfriend before long". Declan looked down at his feet, then whispered "I hope so".

"Dec, any time you need to talk, Luke and Jake and I are all happy to listen. We're all on the same team, and we'll stick together and look after each other, mate".

We carried breakfast back to the motel, Neil and Jeff not far behind us carrying their breakfast from a Subway shop, and we all ate together in the boys' room. Around nine-thirty Neil and Jeff said their goodbyes and by 10am we were on the road home.

Encouraging Declan.

After I brought Luke home from college the next day, I had a talk to him about Declan, and suggested he might somehow be able to encourage the boy to be more confident, though I wasn't sure how he might do that. Luke promised to give it some thought, and later that day he had a plan.

On Sunday afternoons Luke and I trained in our garage at Marlo, and Robbie usually trained with us. We had an arrangement that Angela, his mother, drove Robbie to our place then went home, and after training and a shower I drove Robbie back to Orbost.

Luke's plan was to ask Robbie to persuade Declan to come to our Sunday training and join in for some cardio warm-up and bag-work. Robbie had approved of the idea and approached Declan about it, saying it would be good for Dec to keep fit, and insisting that he would enjoy it. The fact that it was Robbie who invited him was the clincher, I doubt anyone else could have persuaded him. So Declan agreed to come to training and Angela brought him along with Robbie the next Sunday.

I had some spare wraps and after Robbie showed Dec how to wrap his hands we went through our warm-up exercises then put some bag mitts on. We did some simple bag-work for half an hour, then Luke and Robbie did some light sparring. Dec and I put our hoodies back on to stay warm, and as we watched the boys testing each other out I explained to Declan how important defence was, and told him to watch how both boys kept their guard up - well, most of the time anyway.

We got Dec along the following Sunday and taught him some basic footwork and hand co-ordination, and when we were driving him home he said he had a good time. So Luke popped the question I knew he had been planning, and asked Dec if he'd like to come to Bairnsdale next week and train with us. Luke said there were always a couple of beginners, and everyone there was friendly. Dec asked if he would have to get in the boxing ring and Robbie squashed that idea promptly, explaining that he would not be allowed to spar until he was skilled enough, and then only if he wanted to do it. Half the people there don't spar, he said, they just come to keep fit and stay strong.

Pleasingly, the boy said he'd give it a try, if his mum allowed it. So I went inside with him when we dropped him home, and broached the subject with his mum Gina. I assured her no-one would be throwing punches at the boy. She seemed relieved that Declan was doing something that might give him more self-confidence, and gave him the green light.

From then on I was taking all three boys to Bairnsdale twice a week. Declan was a shy kid but he put in the effort and Robbie praised him for it. I'm sure that meant the world to Dec, and he stuck with the training right through the year.

We had a couple of heart-to-heart talks when he felt down, but on the whole he was becoming more confident and mixing more readily with some of the other kids at school. Having Robbie as a friend, and Luke and Jake as gay role models as well as friends, that made a big difference to his sense of worth. And learning some boxing tactics gave him more confidence. His mum commented to me that Declan was "coming out of his shell a lot more".

A man in my life again.

It was now about three years since my partner had died and my decision to move to a small village inevitably meant that I was unlikely to meet anyone else. Not that I was looking for anyone; at the age of 67 I had resigned myself to the idea that my sex life was over, even though I looked younger than my age. But a cuddle now and then would be nice.

Jake's father, Laurie, had been to our home once for a midday meal, as seemed appropriate since our sons were so involved with each other. Come July, just one year since Luke had landed in my life, I decided it was time to have Jake and his dad to dinner at our house to celebrate. I suggested they stay overnight so Laurie could have a drink with the meal. My large sofa was convertible to a spare bed and of course the boys would be together in Luke's room.

Laurie and I were both pretty strict about alcohol for minors but to mark the occasion the boys were allowed two drinks with dinner. They disappeared to Luke's bedroom to play a game after washing up, and Laurie and I knocked off another bottle of red between us and talked a little about our lives.

Laurie asked me if I missed living with a partner and I told him having someone to cuddle in bed was what I missed most. I said Marlo was probably not a great place to look for a lover, and Laurie commented that Orbost was hardly any better. Then he bowled me over by saying "I miss having someone to cuddle too. I've never slept with a man but I've thought about it a fair bit. If you want to, I'd like to share your bed tonight".

Well I wasn't going to knock back that offer. Laurie was a fit and decent-looking guy and if he fancied a cuddle with me then I was all for it. I took him into my room, and ran my hand along the back of his neck. He leaned forward and locked his lips on mine and I opened to his tongue as we pressed our bodies together.

We stripped each other of clothing and I led him to the bed. We lay down and explored each other's bodies for a time then I grabbed a condom and lube and surrendered myself to him.

When we were both spent, I told him I hoped this wouldn't be the last time we shared a bed. He kissed me and promised "There's plenty more where that came from. I want to sleep with you again really soon".

The next morning we showered and dressed and started preparing a cooked breakfast. Luke and Jake emerged soon after, both seeming a bit subdued. After the meal, as we drank our coffee, Jake asked "Dad, is everything ok?"

Laurie paused to think and then responded "Yeah mate, its very ok. I guess maybe you realise I didn't sleep on the sofa last night".

Jake took a deep breath, and then asked "We figured that. Dad, did you guys, like, get it on together?"

Laurie smiled weakly, and nodded. "Son, I loved your mother very much. But when she died I couldn't imagine marrying again. I'd sometimes thought about what it would be like to sleep with a bloke but I'd never done it. Till last night. And it felt totally right."

I asked the boys "Guys, are you ok about this?"

Luke spoke first, "If you're both happy then its cool with me". And Jake grinned and added "I think its really wild".

The tension eased away as we realised our sons seemed to be accepting of this unexpected relationship between Laurie and me. Marlo might be a tiny village, but moving here had already delivered much happiness to me.

Christmas 2015.

A few weeks before Christmas I had started hatching a plan for what to do over the January holidays. Laurie worked for an agricultural business in Orbost and usually had three weeks leave in January, and of course the boys would be on the school holiday break. So in early November I had made enquiries about getting our vehicle onto the Spirit of Tasmania from Melbourne to Devonport in January.

There were still a few spots left here and there so I had broached the idea with Laurie - how about a driving holiday around Tasmania for two weeks in January? He was rapt as he had never been there, so we asked the boys and they were all for it.

Laurie and I would cover the ferry and land accommodation costs between us, but I insisted we should book cabins on the ferry each way and that I would cover the cost of that as my Christmas present to each of them. Laurie would cover fuel and meals while we were in Tasmania.

I had made the ferry bookings right away, and we had found some well-recommended places to stay in northern Tasmania including a bed-and-breakfast that had two rooms available, which we could use as our base.

Last Christmas had been wonderful, with Luke well on the way to becoming adopted as my son. But this Christmas was going to be extra special. Jake and his dad Laurie would have Christmas lunch with us at our home and stay overnight of course. Laurie and I had now been lovers for a few months and our sons had been lovers for almost a year.

But we'd have a houseful - five more guests coming for dinner who would not be over-nighting. Robbie was coming to lunch with his mother Angela and his girlfriend Jessica. Robbie was a firm friend of our boys and was the star boxer at our Bairnsdale Gym. He liked to say he would never have become a boxer except for getting punched in the face by Luke, so he owed him for that.

Angela was also bringing Declan and his mother Gina who didn't drive. Declan had kept up with his boxing training since Robbie had coaxed him into it in March, and although Dec would probably never want to compete, he did quite well at sparring and had developed a heap of social confidence from being with coaches and peers who accepted him and encouraged him to do his best.

So on Christmas Day we were one big happy family. Luke and I had worked in the kitchen together to make sure the roast turkey and veggies were perfect, though we cheated with the plum pudding and had bought one from Aldi; my grandmother used to make her own from scratch and they were to die for, but I wasn't up to the challenge of replicating her efforts.

Laurie and I had agreed that lunch would not involve alcohol; it would be unfair for us to have a drink when Angela couldn't do so as she had to drive back to Orbost later in the day. We all had a great meal and swapped stories for a couple of hours, with lots of good-natured ribbing between the younger ones. Angela packed her carload of passengers into the SUV around four o'clock and our boys went for a nap.

Laurie suggested we tidy up the kitchen and then have a nap ourselves. We didn't get much sleep, funnily enough.

The Tasmania trip.

After Christmas Day, the four of us got together to discuss our driving itinerary and make a list of things we each needed to pack. We were driving to Melbourne around noon and would get the night-time ferry which docked in Devonport at about eight o'clock the next morning.

Unbeknown to the others I had booked two luxury cabins with full-size beds, one cabin for the boys and the other for Laurie and me. It cost a bundle more than a 4-single-berth cabin but I wanted to splash out and make this trip special.

So when we got on board ship that Monday evening, Laurie was stunned at the size of the cabins and the two boys were over the moon at having their own room with a full-size bed. Laurie ticked me off about what he knew it must have cost me but I told him to pull his head in or he'd be sleeping on the floor. As if.

We had a pleasant night, both of us sleeping relatively well; thank the gods for whoever invented stabilisers - less than a century ago the rough Bass Strait crossing was apparently guaranteed to make everyone on board miserably seasick.

I had visited Tasmania a couple of times years ago, but only went to Hobart, so I was looking forward to seeing the north of the state. There were a couple of cemetery visits on my list, to see the graves of some ancestors, a few of them convicts. As Tasmania had been a penal colony, a particularly brutal one at that, possibly half the people born there now would have convict ancestors. It was once considered a shameful thing, but nowadays it's almost a badge of honour to have a convict ancestor in your family tree.

We spent the next fortnight day-tripping around, returning each night to our bed-and-breakfast cottage in Devonport. We drove to Penguin, Burnie and Stanley on the north-west coast and then down to Deloraine and across to Launceston. We went south to Campbell Town where some of my ancestors had lived, and down to Ross with its charming Village Bakery.

Then next we tripped across to a few spots on the north-east coast, where the weather was mostly warm and the scenery was gorgeous. We all took heaps of photos - and made sure our boys were in plenty of the shots. Laurie and I were so proud of our young men, and we dared to hope they would be together for a lifetime.

When we got back from our Tasmanian holiday, we still had a week or so before Laurie resumed work, so we spent a lot of time at the Cape where Laurie finally managed to get me standing on a surf-board, if only for a few seconds. Mostly I lazed in the sun while Laurie surfed with Jake and Luke.

My son was getting better at surfing but his real love was boxing, something Jake found amusing - why would anyone volunteer to get punched in the head, he would say.

I had felt a bit sad that we couldn't take Dec with us to Tasmania, but as Robbie had temporary work in Orbost during the school break he kept in touch with Dec and they went for regular training runs together after Robbie finished his work day.

Declan finds love.

When the boys started back at college, in their final year of school, I resumed taking Luke, Robbie and Declan to Bairnsdale twice each week for training. Laurie worked till five each weekday so couldn't do the drive, though I would have loved to have him come with us and train. Robbie and Luke both expected to be matched for fights at a Bairnsdale show in March and needed to make up for the lazy January holidays.

At dinner one night Luke revealed that during January Robbie had become aware that Dec was spending a lot of time with another boy from school, Rory, with whom he had formed a friendship. Rory played a bit of football but was a pretty quiet kid, not a jock, and Robbie was betting that Rory and Dec were keen on each other. But Dec was keeping his cards close to his chest.

With the March fight night in Bairnsdale coming up, Dec had said he wanted to come with his friend Rory. I took the two fighters to the morning weigh-in and brought them back, then at four o'clock I headed back to town with them while Laurie took Jake, Dec, and Rory.

It was a big night with about 20 bouts, and both Luke and Robbie won their fights. As before, there was a crowd from Orbost College, keen to see their school-mates get some glory, and lots of congratulating went on when each of our boys appeared after their fight. It was 11pm when we finally left Bairnsdale and headed home. I had Luke and Jake with me as they wanted to be together for the night, and Laurie drove Dec and Rory home.

Robbie had gone home with his girl-friend Jess and her dad. The two young sweethearts were sleeping together regularly; Jessica's parents had told Robbie & Jess that they approved of them being intimate as long as it was in their home, they always used protection, and always showed respect for each other. Robbie might be a jock, but he was clearly devoted to Jess, and her parents could see that.

The next day Laurie phoned me and said he'd seen Dec holding Rory's hand in the back seat of the car on their way home the previous night. "I reckon they're an item" he said. So I told Luke and we hatched a plan. The following week we skipped the Sunday training session and had instead invited Laurie and Jake to lunch, and also Dec and Rory who would come in Laurie's car to save Rory's folks a drive.

Rory apparently felt the same about boxing as Jake did. Over lunch he had declared "why the heck would anyone want to get punched?" and Dec reminded him that the idea was to avoid getting punched. Rory said he could do that just fine by staying well away from a boxing ring. Jake high-fived Rory across the table and we all had a laugh.

After we had eaten, Dec announced he had something to say to us all. He thanked us for being such good friends to him. And then said he and Rory wanted us to know they were "together".

We all congratulated Dec and Rory, then Luke told Dec to "make it official now, kiss your man" and Dec had done just that. A bit later Luke texted Robbie "you were right, Dec and Rory are boyfriends, they just told us". And shortly afterwards Dec's phone buzzed with a message from Robbie: "hey buddy, good to hear the news about you and Rory".

We learned that Rory had very recently come out to his parents who responded supportively, and told him they had guessed he was gay some time ago. They had then asked him if Declan was more than just a friend and Rory had said he was in love with Dec.

Rory's father had told him that even 16-year-old boys in love needed to be careful and had bought him a pack of condoms. And he had pleased Rory by saying that Dec could stay over whenever Rory wanted him to. Truly progressive parents!

Winter 2016.

It seemed like time really flew by during the next few months, and suddenly we were in July. Laurie and I were spending most of our spare time together every week, and our sons were progressing well at school and were both popular - they were upfront as a gay couple and got respect for it. And if anyone looked likely to bad-mouth them, Luke wouldn't need to throw a punch - he'd learned the art of verbal smack-downs, something Jake was truly good at.

Luke and Robbie had both had two more boxing bouts since March, and Robbie's father Neil had driven up from Melbourne with Jeff to be there for his son on both occasions. Robbie had introduced them to his girlfriend Jessica, and father and son seemed to be re-connecting well.

Robbie had not yet lost a fight and Luke had won his last two fights, with only two losses on his record. Luke was wanting to train harder to improve his skills so he and Robbie had been doing additional light sparring together in our garage gym each week under my supervision.

Robbie had lightning hands and although Luke was fast he had to really work to keep up with Robbie's relentless attacking style. As they both had fights imminent, the sparring intensity at the Bairnsdale gym had to be ratcheted up and even with protective headgear they both collected some bruises.

In late July Luke won a really tough fight at the show in Bairnsdale. His opponent had previously won all five of his fights but Luke managed to get the better of him early in the bout and stayed on top, finally showing the gritty determination that seemed to come so naturally to Robbie.