Bittersweet Irish Cream Ch. 19

"Whoa! That's three years from now for me!" he exclaimed.

"Right, and looking back I was way too young," Jack said, glancing at him then back at the road. "But I was going through a different experience than everyone else around me. I didn't have a lot of prospects. So when a boy named Chris came to town I didn't want to miss out on something that I never thought I would experience. I was still too young, though. You definitely want to wait until you're much older and mature."

"Okay," EJ said. "I mean, from what I saw it looked painful. Why would people do that?" He made a sour face.

Jack laughed out loud again. "I can't answer that for you, bud. You're going to have to discover that for yourself." Then he looked at him. "When you're much, much older."

EJ shook his head. "I'm not ready."

"Good. But you will start to feel things, if you haven't already. I started having dreams around 13 and would wake up very uncomfortable. And I didn't really start masturbating until I was 14. And I did a lot of that."

"Uuuuugh, why are we talking about this?" EJ whined.

Jack snickered. "Okay, I'll stop."

They were quiet again, then EJ asked, "Isn't masturbation a sin? I mean... It's not that I don't feel it sometimes but you're not supposed to touch yourself because your body is a temple. It's in the bible."

Jack's face scrunched up. "It's actually not in the bible, not in the way you just said. Yes, your body is a temple, that is in the bible, and you should listen to it, honor it and only put good things in it. But one thing doesn't have anything to do with the other. Masturbating is a normal response to a natural body reaction."

Jack took a moment and said, "At the same time, I can't tell you how to feel about things like masturbation and other so-called sins. If you feel it's a sin, then don't do it. I had to rectify a lot of things within me that I was told was a sin. You will have to do the same."

"Like being gay?" EJ asked.

"Yes, like that," Jack admitted. "Father O'Donnell helped me get there. I had to come to terms with who God made me to be and not what traditional Christian ideology is teaching out there. I'm a gay Catholic man and proud of it."

"I'm proud of you too, Pop," EJ said.

Jack smiled at him. "Thanks, son."

EJ said after a moment, "I'm gonna think about it some more. Maybe talk to Father O'Donnell about some of the things I'm thinking. Not just about sex stuff but other things too. Because I'm a real Catholic now."

"Yes, you are," Jack said with a smile. "And I'll get your dad to have the sex talk with you, and soon."

"Ugh," EJ groaned again. "He doesn't have to. I told you, I already know everything."

"Yea? So where do babies come from?" Jack tested him.

"You put your thing in a girl's thing and do five pumps and then a baby grows in her belly," EJ said in all seriousness.

Jack started laughing. "Yea, no. Ethan needs to have that talk with you asap." EJ groaned again.

~~~

Jack parked along the side of the large home and pulled the car seat out. EJ grabbed the stroller and the diaper bag, and they went to the front door. Jack expected their housekeeper Flur to open up but it was Mallory instead.

"Oh what a surprise!" she exclaimed when she saw EJ and hugged him first. "Come in, come in!"

They walked down the marble hall into the large family room. Tim was standing in the center of the room. "Jack," he said curtly.

"Tim," Jack said curtly back.

Mallory ignored the tension and began to take Jamie out of his car seat. The sleeping boy opened up his eyes and let out a small whine. Jack said to her, "He had a bottle about an hour before we left so he's probably hungry again. I have a can of Similac in the bag that you can keep here."

"We can buy our own formula thank you," Tim said gruffly.

Jack turned to him and said calmly, "I just wanted to make sure that you have the same formula we give him at home. Similac."

Mallory interjected, "We'll pick some up today, thank you Jack." She yelled toward the door, "Flur!"

The older lady appeared. "Si Mrs. Reedlin," she responded in her heavy Spanish accent.

"Can you order three cans of Similac for little Timmy, and have the supermarket bring it around today?"

"Si, Mrs. Reedlin. Anything else?"

Jack cringed at her calling him Timmy but said to Flur, "No, he's not on solids yet. We'll start next month."

"No rice cereal in the bottle?" Mallory asked. "To help him sleep through the night?"

"He sleeps just fine," Jack told her. "He'll fall asleep around nine, wake up once around 2am, take a bottle, go back to sleep and wake up again around seven. He also naps between 11:30am and 1:30pm, and another nap from four to five o'clock. Don't let him sleep past five o'clock and you'll be fine through the night."

Jamie fussed again in her arms. "You should give him a bottle now," Jack reminded her.

Before Mallory could answer, Flur said, "Si, Mr. Jack." She reached down for the diaper bag and disappeared back out.

When Jamie let out another cry, Jack instinctively reached for him. But Tim stepped forward and said, "We got it."

Mallory turned away from Jack and began to walk around the room. Jack glared at Tim, but then turned around himself to avoid showing his emotions. He didn't realize how much it would bother him to see Jamie in their arms, and he could feel his anger rising. He didn't want this any more than Ethan did.

He remembered when they first met, asking Ethan why he didn't take advantage of having the weekends to himself to recoup when EJ was with his grandparents. Ethan had said, "I don't recoup. I worry. Ruminate. For six days until I'm back in the car to get him and bring him home."

He understood how Ethan felt when EJ was a baby and he was leaving his son with the Reedlins. He realized he felt the same way about Jamie. It wouldn't be a restful night for either of them.

Tim had turned his attention to his other grandson. "How's it going, EJ? School is good?"

"Yea, Grandpa." They began talking as Jack left the room and headed to the kitchen, which was as big as the dining room they had at the Inn for the guests.

Flur looked up at him. "Mr. Jack, how are things? How is Mr. Ethan?"

"He's good," Jack said confidently. She raised one eyebrow, then looked away. "He's... dealing with it all," he said honestly.

"Si. It's going to be hard for him to go through this again. Hard for you too." She turned to him and said, "But they miss their daughter. And they love Jamie very much. They child-proof the whole house, and renovated the nursery. It's muy bonito, you should see it."

Jack smiled at her. "You know his name?"

"Si!" Flur said with gusto. "I listen when they talk, I know what you call him and what they call him. I'll call him Jamie when they not around. You tell Mr. Ethan, I am here, just like old times. Right next door."

"Next door?" Jack was confused. "You don't live here, you have your own home."

"I stay overnight when they have their niño, so they don't have to get up. I did with Little Ethan. I will do the same with Little Jamie. They pay me extra." She smiled.

Jack shook his head in awe. "I'm grateful to you, Flur. And so is Ethan."

She shrugged and grabbed the bottle that was warmed up out of the bottle warmer. She touched his shoulder and said, "Third door on the right on the second floor. Anda!" She walked out, back to the family room.

Jack went in the opposite direction and headed up the stairs. He opened the door to the nursery and his mouth dropped in shock. It looked straight out of a magazine.

The room was animal themed from the Disney show The Lion Guard. Large stuffed animals were placed in various parts of the room and one side of the wall was painted in a safari scene with the five main cartoon characters. The crib was oval with Kion, Ono, Beshte, Fuli and Bunga slowly floating above. And there was classical music played softly in the background.

Jack took a picture and texted it to Ethan. Ethan texted back:

[Babe: All they know how to do is buy their love.]

[Jack: I mean you have to admit, this is pretty damn awesome.]

[Babe: It would be more awesome if they gave me back my kid.]

Jack sighed. "The room is still cool," he said to himself. He looked around a little more before heading downstairs.

As he came down he could hear Jamie crying. When he went into the family room Marilyn was walking around holding him against her chest trying to soothe him. EJ said, "Give him his wubby."

"What's a wubby?" Tim asked.

"It's..." EJ went to the car seat and pulled out the brown bear attached to a white pacifier. "This."

Tim took it and gave it to Mallory. Jamie took it for one second, then spit it back out and began to whine. Jack started walking over to him. "Here, let me."

"NO!" Tim said loudly.

"Don't be a jerk, Tim, I'm just trying to help," Jack said calmly.

"We don't need your help, Jack," Tim growled. "He's our grandson."

"Just give him-"

EJ yelled, "It's because of the way you're burping him. He doesn't like it like that." They all turned to him but he was watching Mallory. "Let me show you."

EJ walked over to his grandmother and she allowed him to take Jamie from her. EJ sat in the nearest chair, put Jamie on his leg sitting up, held onto his chin gently to hold him steady and patted his back with his other hand. Within moments, Jamie let out a large burp.

EJ kept patting. "See? He doesn't like his belly to be restricted when he needs to burp."

Mallory sat next to him. "You're wonderful with him. Thank you, Little Ethan."

"Welcome," EJ said. He looked at his brother longingly as he made another burp. Mallory reached for the baby and EJ let her take his brother back. He clung to her and seemed calmer in her arms.

Jack said softly, "EJ, we have to get going. Your other grandparents are expecting us."

"Um..." He looked at Jack, then back at Jamie. He turned to Jack again. "Can I stay?"

"What?"

"I wanna stay and help grandma and grandpa take care of Jamie. They need help."

Jack shook his head. "You can't stay."

"Why not?" EJ asked.

"Because your dad is expecting you home." Jack knew Ethan would never allow it.

"But...." He looked at Tim. "It's okay if I want to stay, right Grandpa?"

"Sure you can, EJ," Tim said. "You can-"

"No you can't," Jack said sternly. He turned to Tim. "Don't you dare give him permission. I'm his father, not you. Don't undermine me."

Jack walked over to Mallory who was alarmed. But he bent down and kissed Jamie's forehead. "See you soon, buachaill," he said softly. He turned to his other son. "Let's go. Now." Jack turned around and began walking out. EJ had no choice but to follow.

EJ silently walked behind Jack to the car and got into the passenger side, but then started talking. "Pop, they need me. Jamie needs me. They don't know what to do with him and they need me to show them. Why don't you want me to help them?"

Jack turned on the ignition and put the car in reverse. Then back in park. He sat there thoughtful, weighing out the pros and cons of EJ staying overnight. He knew EJ was right, the Reedlins needed someone to help them. Flur was there but Flur didn't know Jamie either. EJ was the best person to be there to ensure Jamie's needs were met.

At the same time he knew Ethan would lose his shit if he left EJ there. He was already upset about Jamie staying. But if EJ was there, at least Ethan would know that Jamie would be looked after fully. And EJ would call him Jamie, not little Timmy.

"Fuck," Jack muttered. He turned the ignition back off. "Let's go."

He opened the driver's side and EJ happily jumped back out the car. They walked back up to the house and rang the doorbell. Flur answered. "Did you lose something, Mr. Jack?"

"Yes, Flur. My fucking mind." He walked past her and back to the family room. Tim and Mallory both looked up seeing them come back in.

"EJ's going to stay," Jack said. "You don't know Jamie and Jamie doesn't know you, but he knows his big brother. So he's going to stay and help."

Mallory looked relieved; Tim looked smug. He said, "I'll take you to the mall to get clothes today, EJ. It will give us some time to bond."

"Okay!" EJ said happily. Then he turned to Jack. "Is Dad gonna be mad?"

Jack shook his head. "You let me worry about that. Go spend time with your grandparents." EJ quickly gave him a hug, then ran back over to where Mallory and Jamie were sitting.

Jack watched them a moment more, then turned around. Flur was standing there in the doorway. As he walked past she said quietly, "I am here, just like old times." She winked at him and he smiled back at her.

Jack got into the car and began to drive off. He took a deep breath and pressed the button on his steering wheel. When it beeped he said, "Call Babe." The car called Ethan's phone.

Ethan answered on the second ring. "How'd it go?" he yelled. There were loud noises behind him so he had to talk loudly.

Jack cringed but of course Ethan couldn't see it. "It went fine. As expected. Mallory was all about Jamie, Tim was all about keeping me away. But EJ was able to keep things calm and even got them to listen about some of the things Jamie likes and how to handle him. So that was good."

"Good."

"And Flur is staying. She said to tell you, 'Just like old times.'"

Ethan chuckled. "Yea, their lazy asses wouldn't dream of getting up in the middle of the night if the baby needed something. So when EJ was there they used to make Flur sleep in the guest room next door. She made them pay her three times her regular pay to do it."

Jack chuckled back. "That's a smart lady right there. Hey, where are you?"

"Oh." Ethan looked around. "I am currently on roller skates at Roller Rinker in Providence."

Jack laughed out loud. "They got you on skates, huh?"

"Yea, and apparently Jamel is a damn pro at this." He grimaced at watching his friend skate forwards and backwards around the rink with his daughters. "We got Tykeya with us so the girls are having a blast. And so is he. I'm kind of trailing the wall."

Jack laughed again. "Tell Jamel to take a video of you falling."

"I haven't fallen yet, shut up," Ethan said back and Jack laughed again. "So y'all on your way to my folks?"

Jack cringed again, then said calmly, "Actually EJ and I talked about it and agreed it would be a good idea if he stayed overnight with them."

"WHAT!?" Ethan yelled. "What the fuck, Jack!? So now they have both my sons!?"

Jack sighed. "Can you calm down?"

"NO! I will-" He heard Ethan stumble and Jack stifled a laugh. But Ethan was fuming mad and continued to yell at him.

"Why didn't you call me? Why did you make that decision without me? You didn't think that was something I should have had a say in!? Instead you over there playing in the goddamn nursery and let them take my son! Both of them!" He heard Ethan stumble again. "Hold on, let me get to a wall."

Jack waited patiently for Ethan to stabilize. He came back to the phone and yelled, "How could you do that!?"

"You gonna keep yelling or you gonna let me talk?"

"Talk," Ethan gritted through his teeth.

"EJ wanted to stay and help Jamie get adjusted. Jamie doesn't know them but he knows EJ. He approached me with the idea and at first I did say no, mostly because Tim said yes and I didn't like him giving my son permission over me. But I thought about it and it's a good thing. Now we know Jamie will have someone there. And Flur is going to watch over them both. So it's going to be fine. They'll both be back tomorrow."

"I'm so fucking pissed at you for deciding this without me," Ethan said angrily.

"E, you would have just yelled 'hell no' and wouldn't have listened to reason. I made a decision that was going to benefit Jamie, not fuel the fire between us and them. Remember, I make decisions around this, you make decisions around Matty, because I know I don't think clearly when it comes to that asshole. Just like you don't think clearly when it comes to this asshole Tim. I'm trying to be the mature one."

Ethan was still fuming but knew Jack was right. "I hate you for this."

Jack smiled. "I love you too. And it will be fine. I'm more confident that it will be fine because EJ is with them, so worry less. We have the girls so we'll do something fun with them tomorrow, spend some daddy-daughter time with them."

"Hmpf," Ethan mumbled. Jack let him wallow in silence until he said, "Mom said she has a Fernando's strawberry cheesecake for me. Don't forget to bring it home."

Jack smiled. "I promise I won't forget. You deserve all the encouragement and rewards for being a good boy about this."

"Hmpf," Ethan mumbled again.

~~~

When Jack arrived home he paused and took a deep breath, expecting to manage Ethan's sully attitude. But when he opened the door he was pleasantly surprised. The house was dimmed with candles everywhere, and the table was set up for dinner with a bouquet of red roses in the center.

Jack looked over at Ethan as he was basting his grilled fish with olive oil. Ethan grinned at him.

"What's all this?" Jack said with a smile as he put the dessert box on the table.

"Well," Ethan began, "I talked it through with Jamel and he agreed with you. EJ staying with his brother was the best thing. At least someone will be there to call him Jamie."

Jack said, "Flur too. She said she will call him Jamie when they aren't around."

Ethan smiled. "I love that woman." He lifted up the tray and brought it to the table. "These need to settle so wash up and get ready for dinner."

"Where are the girls?" Jack asked.

"Mel took them back with him. They said since EJ and Jamie were having a sleepover they wanted one too. So they grabbed clothes and went back to Jamel's house with Tykeya, with the plan to eat pizza, popcorn and watch Disney movies all night."

Jack laughed. "All of Connor's favorite things." He gave Ethan a kiss and did as he was told.

Jack came back to the table and sat across from Ethan for dinner. After a couple of bites of baked fish, he said, "So I had a real interesting talk with our son today."

"Yea?" Ethan asked, curious. "What about?"

"Girls. Apparently he has a crush."

"Hmm... Imani?" Ethan guessed.

Jack looked at him in surprise. "You knew?"

"I suspected. I saw the way he blushed when she gave him a confirmation gift. I know that look."

"Wow. Does she like him back?" Jack asked.

"I think so. She was all googly-eyed at him when he turned around," Ethan replied, making Jack chuckle. "I think they're cute together. Young puppy love."

But Jack said, "You need to have the sex talk with him, E."

Ethan said dismissively. "Nah, he's not ready for that."

"Ethan," Jack said seriously. "He's watching porn. Him and Freddie."

Ethan almost choked on his rice. "What!? Where are they getting porn!?"

"What do you mean? Everywhere!" Jack said in disbelief. "They literally Googled sex and a bunch of videos came up. Times have changed. No more buying magazines or going into an X-rated video store. Sex and porn is literally at their fingertips."

"That's it. I'm taking away his phone," Ethan said. "I knew it was a bad birthday gift."

"That's not a response, E," Jack rebuked his husband. "He didn't do anything wrong. He's curious. He's a 12-year-old boy and he's curious about sex and relationships. He had questions about masturbation and sin. He needs guidance, not chastisement."

Ethan sat back in his chair. "Alright. I'll talk to him." He was then thoughtful. "What did you tell him?"

"The truth," said Jack. "That he's not ready for sex. But if he has questions I'll answer them honestly." He let a moment pass then said, "For example, he asked me when I lost my virginity and I told him."

Ethan scoffed. "You were barely 15. Why would you tell him that?"