The Older Man (BoyxBoy)

BONUS CHAPTER: One

                                                                 Oliver

The first and only time I went to an event with Ian everyone insisted on interviewing me instead of interviewing him. The reporter had asked me what it was like being married to Ian Stone the fashion mogul. At first I wasn’t going to answer but Ian looked eager to hear my answer as much as she did.

            “I’m not sure I want to answer that,” I had told her. 

            “Why not?”

            “Because I know Ian Stone the man, and you all know Ian Stone the fashion mogul. I don’t know what it’s like being with the person you mentioned, but being married to Ian Stone the man amazing.”

            I never went after that. It wasn’t my scene and I didn’t like all the attention on me.  Ian didn’t like it either. He said it himself. He didn’t want to share me with them and he didn’t want to share us with them either. It had always been a big thing for him.

            Ian almost sold the house in the city. I am not ashamed to say my tears saved it. They just started streaming down when he told me we should sell it. The memories I cherished the most was in our house—our home—and he remodeled the entire thing to make it one big house instead of two separate spaces for us and our family. I couldn’t stand the idea of losing it. We agreed that the house wasn’t safe now that we decided we were going ahead with starting our own family (the reason he wanted to get rid of it). It was not designed for a baby. It was in that same conversation that Ian confessed that he never thought he would ever be legally and morally married to someone he loved, much less starting a family.

            We fell asleep with me holding him that night. He had some raw and happy feelings that this was all coming through. The next morning when I woke up he had papers strewn all over our bed and floor of plans he had. I didn’t have it in my heart to stop him. He was excited and happy. Things got out of control, so much that he and his father had a small falling out. Ian was convinced that his father needed to move to the States immediately because he was missing everything and that he was going to miss the baby’s birth too.

            After a desperate call from my father-in-law, I had to sit my husband down and tell him that his excitement and his fear were putting his loved ones on edge and they were worried about him.

            “I know, love.” He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.

            I hated that I made him unhappy. He was quiet the rest of the evening. His face was expressionless the entire time but I knew him well enough to read the sadness coming off of him. I wanted to yell at everyone else for it.

            When I woke up and turned Ian was on his side staring at me. “Hi,” he said softly.

            I reached out and took his hand in mine, squeezing softly. “Hey.”

            We lied quiet for a while and I was in and out of sleep. When I looked at him again he had his thinking face on. I squeezed his hand again to draw him out of his hand.

            “Can we talk?” He asked, voice just as soft as before.

            I opened my eyes and shuffled a bit closer, just enough to maintain eye contact and give him my full attention. “Okay.”

            “We need to talk about the house. I know everyone thinks I’m going overboard and a little crazy, but this, this is between you and I. It has nothing to do with any of that. We need to figure out what we’re going to do. At first I thought remodeling it would work, moving the master from the third floor so we’d be closer to the baby, redoing the stairs…that kind of stuff.”

            “But?” I asked.

            “I want us to live a quieter life with our baby or babies if we decide to have more. I want a backyard so we can play with them and have barbecues like you used to have when your dad was alive. I want us to go wild with our little one in our yard. I want your mom and my dad and victor and Kevin and Cynthia to hang with us too.”

            “Sounds nice,” I said, picturing everything he just mentioned.

            “It is nice. This place will still be here. We can always get rid of something else but I agree, this should stay. I think we should keep it…for a weekend get away or something, you know?”

            I laughed at that. “Yeah, I know. Did you have any place in mind?”

            He shook his head. “I wanted to talk to you first and then we can both decide.”

            “Bathroom first, and we can talk it over while we make breakfast?”

            In answer, he pressed his lips to mine.