I Do Again

Chapter 2
 

The wedding of the century -- take-three or four -- was to be held at Snyder Pond, but the plans were all being orchestrated from the Walsh/Snyder home. A few months earlier, after they decided to get engaged again, Holden had moved back in with Lily.

Although the entire concept of this marriage was ridiculous, Reid did understand the importance to Lily and Holden, especially since they still had young children living with them. He wondered if he and Luke would want to take the plunge into parenthood, but that was something they could think about after living together for several more years. Reid was enjoying the life he and Luke had developed. When they weren’t working they could come and go as they pleased, and have sex whenever and wherever they desired -- definitely an advantage to living as a couple for a very long time.

Reid wanted nothing more than to spend every day enjoying his life with Luke to the fullest and to continue holding the well-deserved honor of supreme master of neurosurgery. All this while running one of the biggest up and coming hospital facilities in the Midwest. Not bad at all.

Following Luke into the Snyder and Walsh home he couldn’t help wondering if Luke was satisfied with the simple little commitment ceremony they’d had just before they moved in together. The most important people in their lives attended. Their closest family and friends along with a few members of the hospital staff Luke told Reid he was obligated to invite. Reid thought the event they held was massive, but Luke had started with a list of two hundred that thankfully, had been whittled down to seventy-five. He wondered as he watched Luke help with his parents’ umpteenth marriage whether he had cheated his partner out of an experience Reid only planned to endure once. They were certainly not going to follow Lily and Holden’s example in the wedding department.

Luke and Reid had insisted on no gifts, but people had brought packages anyway. Reid smiled remembering how excited Luke had been to open each one. He’d proudly handwritten each individual thank you note. Reid still wondered if it was enough.

Although they couldn’t legally marry in Illinois, they could have had a ceremony on a grander scale -- one to match the usual Oakdale nuptials he’d witnessed during the previous three years. Luke seemed content with a ring on his finger and a home of their own. Yet it gnawed at the back of his mind that Luke was giving up too much for Reid and that was not something Reid was proud of. Maybe someday, when Illinois legalized same sex marriage, he’d let Luke plan the wedding of his dreams. It was the least he could do. Watching Luke help his parents made it clear how much his partner loved these affairs.

As soon as they opened the door, Lily was there to greet them with hugs and kisses, something Reid never thought he’d get from his pseudo mother-in-law. She had been cold toward him, at best, although Reid knew he had earned her disdain with his obnoxious attitude and rude behavior upon his forced arrival in Oakdale. She had only been focusing on repairing Noah’s eyesight at the time and had no idea how her son had coerced Reid to direct his attention to Mr. Mayer’s case.

“Luke, Reid, I’m so happy you could both come here. We have a few very important matters to discuss with you.”

As if on cue, Holden entered the living room. Reid was a bit taken aback when Luke’s cowboy, good-dad embraced him in a powerful hug, complete with manly pats on the back, even before addressing his son. “I’m so glad you boys got here so quickly. Lily was anxious to speak with both of you.” Boys? Reid wondered if anyone in Luke’s family had any concept of his actual age. He had been addressed more than once as if he was the same age as Luke. Reid had yet to decide if this was an insult or a compliment, but he let it go since it made Luke smile and was also fuel for later teasing that would lead to a much more manly activity when they were alone.

Ushered to the sofa, Luke and Reid sat side by side. Lily sat in an armchair facing them and Holden perched himself on the arm of the same chair. With enough seating for twenty he nearly rolled his eyes at the overly affectionate, and completely unnecessary, set up. For the sake of family peace he kept his thoughts and reactions to himself.

“So, Mom, Dad, what was the big rush? Why’d you need us to come here?” Luke took Reid’s hand in his and somehow this gesture was much more comforting and comfortable. Staying connected to Luke, especially at chez Snyder-Walsh, always kept Reid from feeling like a fish out of water. It was amazing how Luke could anticipate Reid’s needs before he ever had to express them. He wondered for the thousandth time whether he did the same for Luke.

“I know we summoned you as if you’re both at our beck and call.” Lily gracefully pointed to a small spread of beverages and danish set out on the coffee table. “Please take something. The coffee’s just brewed so it should still be nice and hot.”

Releasing Luke’s hand and pouring himself a cup of coffee and grabbing a danish, Reid felt a bit more at home. With food in his mouth he wasn’t expected to speak. Although he never let anything stop him from giving his opinion, perhaps in this instance, any excuse to keep his mouth shut would probably be to his advantage.

Lily gazed up at Holden. “Why don’t you ask them? This was really your idea.”

His curiosity piqued, Reid looked up toward Holden, perched higher than the rest of them.

“What’s up, Dad? Is something wrong?” Reid set his danish on a plate and took Luke’s hand in his own. He could be just as supportive as his partner when given the chance.

“Nothing’s wrong, Luke. We just have a couple of favors to ask of you and Reid and a piece of information for both of you.”

Luke had practically single-handedly walked his mother through planning the entire wedding. How could they have another favor to ask? And Reid couldn’t figure out for the life of him where he came into the picture.

“Holden, ask them already.” Lily’s smile was so broad Reid thought he could count every one of her teeth. What was up?

“When Lily and I were talking about the particulars of the ceremony we discussed who we wanted closest to us. Son, we realized that technically you’ve been the most consistent man in your mother’s life since the day you were born.”

It was amusing to see Luke tilt his head and blush. No matter how bold he could be in the board room or the bedroom, Luke Snyder still had the class to be humble when complimented.

“Luke, sweetheart,” Lily chimed in. “Would you walk me down the aisle and give me away?”

There was no surprise when Luke’s response was to give his mother a tender hug. “I’d be honored. But, Dad, I thought... well, I always assumed--” Luke stopped talking, clearly not knowing how to express his thoughts without presuming too much.

“Son, I also assumed you’d be my best man, but since this means so much to your mother I yielded to her.”

Luke nodded. Reid picked up his danish and took another huge bite wondering why he had to be here to witness the Snyders playing happy family.

“That leaves your mother with Faith and Natalie as her two maids of honor, Ethan as the ring bearer, who’ll sit with you front and center when he reaches the top of the aisle, but now I’m one best man short since we decided on two people to stand up for each of us. I have Jack. He’s practically a brother, but I thought who better to have also stand by my side than my one and only son-in-law.” Holden, Lily, and Luke all turned their focus on Reid.

His eyes widened and he started to choke down the hunk of cake still in his mouth. “Me?” Reid couldn’t think of anything more to say; the shock of the entire concept still too fresh for him to get past.

“Yes, Reid, you. I have six children and only one has a male partner, spouse, whatever you two call yourselves. It’s obvious you’re going to be an important part of my family for the rest of our lives. Why not?” Holden rolled his lips inward for a moment. “Unless you don’t feel the interest or desire to support our marriage.”

“No, no. That’s not it. I’m just, well frankly I’m surprised.”

“That big shindig we had for you and Luke was meant to show all your friends and family you boys plan to be together for the duration, wasn’t it?”

Reid was tempted to say, “Unlike your weddings,” but he kept his tongue in check. “Yes. As far as I’m concerned that ceremony represented a permanent commitment on my part.”

“And mine.” Luke smiled and nudged his shoulder against Reid’s.

“Glad to hear it,” Reid whispered back.

“So that makes you my one and only son-in-law. Who better to stand up with me as I marry your partner’s mother?”

“I can’t think of anyone else at the moment.” Reid wasn’t sure what he was getting into. He’d never had close friends or family. As a result he’d never been asked to play an important role in the significant milestones of someone else’s life. He slowly took a sip of his coffee to wash down the rest of the sweet pastry, wiped his hands thoroughly on a napkin, stood up and warmly shook Holden’s hand. “I’m deeply honored by this, Holden.” He really was.

“Good. I’m glad that’s settled.”

“Holden,” Lily’s soft voice interrupted the brief moment of quiet mutual admiration. “There’s the other piece of news we wanted to share with them.”

“Mom, Dad, is everything okay?” Reid didn’t like the sense of dread in Luke’s voice. It was as if he sensed something wasn’t quite right with his parents. Luke was usually right where his sixth sense was concerned with family matters.

“Everything’s fine, honey. Your father and I have gone to see our lawyers now that we plan to make this the last time we marry. There were some changes we made to our wills and we thought you should be aware of them.”

“I’m sure however you divided everything up between all the kids will be fair. I don’t need to hear the details.” Luke shifted in his seat and gripped Reid’s hand tighter than expected.

Holden chuckled. “Nothing like that, Luke. Of course we can divide up our estate fairly. This has to do with the kids and in some ways where we want them to stay while we’re on our honeymoon.”

“Huh?” When Luke uttered the single word question, Reid couldn’t have expressed it better. The whole subject sounded confusing and cryptic.

“What your father is trying to say, but unfortunately not quite clearly enough, is that should anything happen to us both, Faith and Natalie would live with your Grandma Emma.”

Luke frowned. This must be a hard conversation to have, but Reid respected the fact that Luke’s parents felt he was mature enough to be made privy to the important information.

“After much thought and seeing you two together for the past two years, we decided that should anything happen to us, Ethan would stay with you. Both of you.”

Reid wasn’t sure how to react. Had he heard correctly? “Holden, Lily, I’m not a blood relative. I can understand about Luke, but you didn’t have to name me in your will.”

“While we may have made mistakes in our lives, there are some things that are evident. One of those things is how much you mean to Luke, and how much Luke means to you. There’s no question to either of us that you have both a stable home and, well, for lack of a better word, marriage. I think, should Ethan need to ever be with anyone other than us, he should have both of you as his role models.”

Swallowing hard, despite having no food in his mouth, Reid was dumbfounded. Luke remained silent.

Holden continued. “While we’re on our honeymoon, we’d like you both to watch Ethan. We think he’d be happier in a house full of men rather than a house full of women.”

“But, Mr. Snyder, Holden, he has a room of his own at the farm. We just have a guest room.”

“He’s stayed there more than once and talks about it for days after each visit. He loves visiting you. What do you say?”

[TBC]

Return to I Do Again