FAMILY VACATION

Chapter 2

Justin still couldn’t believe the bonus Brian received in gratitude for Liberty Air’s increased income. As the family of four (another thing Justin had a hard time believing) sat comfortably in first class, he thought back to just two days earlier.

“Brian, what the fuck was that all about?”

With a huge smile on his face Brian replied, “That, my dear Sunshine, was the President of Liberty Air. As the lovely Cynthia would say, they’re over the moon with their past two quarter closings, and they wanted to give credit where credit was due.”

“And that would be you, of course.”

“Of course,” Brian grinned. “They were my ideas that led the way for one of the best air travel campaigns going -- and when I told them to reinstate meals for domestic flights, as part of the deal, the public ate it up, so to speak.”

“Who would have thought eating airline shit would get more business?”

“People with families that don’t want to lug all kinds of food, drinks and toys to keep their kids busy for three-hour flights.”

“My brilliant husband strikes again.”

Justin wrapped his arms around Brian’s neck and gave him a peck on the cheek. “So, you still haven’t told me where we’re going.”

Brian gave Justin another quick kiss, “Think of the gayest place on earth.”

With a confused look on his face Justin questioned, “We’re going to West Hollywood?”

“Are you sure you really got 1500 on your SATs?” Brian laughed, “Oh, that’s right -- they don’t test for common sense.”

“Hey, give me a break. I was the one up with Jessica last night and then the same guy getting fucked while our son was knocking at the door.”

“Now put on your thinking cap, Sunshine. What’s the next gayest place on earth?”

“Oh my God, we’re going to Disneyland!”

“You’re getting warmer; think bigger and closer.”

“Disney World!” Brian nodded and Justin gave him a whopper of a kiss. “That’ll be great. I know Gus has been talking about going there, but I kept telling him we should wait until Jessica was a couple of years old.”

“Well, I guess Sonny Boy’s wait is over. Our first class airfare and deluxe Disney hotel are all paid for, including park tickets. We just have to pay for the food and souvenirs.”

Justin leaned in and kissed Brian more passionately. “I really am proud of you. Not only did you grab another client from Vance and make him aware of your incomparable advertising genius, but you solved the problem of what we’re going to do with the kids for the next two weeks.”

Justin looked down at the floor.

“Justin, what is it?”

“You do realize that we’ll be in fairly close quarters, don’t you?”

“They’ve booked us into a two-bedroom suite with a living room in the middle. I guess that means we’ll have to haul that fucking kiddy intercom to Florida.”

Justin looked up smiling, “I’ll make it so worth the effort.”

“I knew you would.”

And now, two days later with bags packed, including a huge suitcase just for all of Jessica’s paraphernalia, the four were on a flight to Orlando, Florida.

After the fairly uneventful flight, in which Jessica had the courtesy not to be one of those, “Asshole babies that scream the whole way,” according to Brian, the group collected their luggage. Before reaching the terminal exit, they saw a uniformed driver holding up a sign that read Kinney/Taylor Family.

Apparently when Liberty Air says Thank you, they do it right. The driver helped with the luggage and just outside the door was a stretch limousine.

“Holy shit! Dad is this for us?”

“Gus, your mothers would freak out if they heard that language.”

“It’s okay, Daddy, they’re not here.”

Brian laughed at the interchange, while he kept out of it with the excuse that he had to tend to Jessica and make sure she got buckled into her child seat properly.

“Yes, Sonny Boy, this is our mode of transportation to the kingdom of materialistic expense and extremely childish fantasies.”

“I thought we were going to Disney World?” Gus looked at Brian, his face a bit screwed up with confusion.

“That’s right, Gus, my mistake.” Brian smirked at Justin, who just shook his head at his husband’s antics.

When Brian checked in at the Grand Floridian, he was concerned about the reaction to his gay little family. Although he knew that both Disney parks in the United States were supposed to be gay-friendly, he trusted no one. There were too many times he’d been disappointed, and Justin had experienced even more prejudice throughout his life.

A lot was riding on the fact that he wanted to give his family a good experience, especially Gus. The youngster had so many changes in his life over the past year. Brian wanted this vacation to be special and to somehow truly solidify them all as one family. Brian had spent too many years in a typical family environment -- two parents, two children (one boy, one girl) -- and yet had been miserable and deprived of anything that was of true value.

While the vacation would be lavish, there was much more that Brian wanted from it. He wanted the family he had been denied since birth. He wanted the experiences that make a family happy, both at home and away. He wanted the love between parents and children to be evident, and he didn’t want anyone to spoil it with rude allusions to their sexual orientation.

The young woman at the check-in counter called next and the four moved to her space. She wore a name tag that read, Gail Davis, Little Rock, Arkansas. That didn’t help Brian’s nerves at all.

With a surprisingly soft southern accent she began her little welcome speech, and when she saw that they had one of the Presidential suites she became even more animated. Brian was cautiously optimistic as Gail told them about all that was available in their hotel and how to get around all the parks. She handed them what amounted to an entire notebook of papers, maps and then their park passes that would also be used as credit cards for the parents.

That’s when Brian realized she’d said, parents, without batting an eye. He didn’t pay too much attention after that until she spoke directly to Gus.

“What’s your name, honey?”

“I’m Gus Peterson Marcus Kinney-Taylor.”

“Well, my goodness, that’s a mouthful for a little boy.”

Gus stood proudly and recited, “My moms’ last names are Peterson and Marcus and Kinney is Dad’s name and Taylor is Daddy’s.”

“You are one lucky little boy to have so many moms and dads, I only have two.”

“Yeah, I know,” he smirked, looking much like his Dad.

“And is this your little sister?” Gail tickled Jessica’s tummy and the baby giggled while trying to grab one of her earrings.

“Yep, she’s Jessica Chanders Kinney-Taylor.”

“I see, well if I’ve been paying attention, that must mean she has a different set of moms.”

“Yeah, she only has one -- it’s my Aunt Daphne,” Gus said plainly as if every family had a similar makeup.

“I hope you have a lovely and super-fun time with us, Gus Peterson Marcus Kinney-Taylor.” Gail shook his hand as she handed him a Mickey Mouse button that read, I’m a cool Mouseketeer.

Brian exhaled his relief and thanked Gail as she called for a bellboy to take them to their suite. As the family started to head over to the elevators, Brian rushed back to give Gail a tip.

“Oh no, sir. Save it for the bellboy, we don’t take tips here.”

“No shit,” Brian mumbled louder than he’d planned.

Gail laughed, “No, Mr. Kinney. It’s a pleasure to meet your lovely family.”

“Are you for real?”

“Are you from New York? They have a reputation for being rather tainted.”

Brian laughed, “No, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” Brian paused and smiled at the young woman. “I was surprised at just how good you were about... I mean with the kids.”

“This is a child’s fantasyland -- and an adult’s, too. There’s never a reason for rudeness to a guest. It sounds like you’ve had some negative vacations.”

“No, we’ve avoided most vacations in general.”

“I hope we’ll convince you that this is,” Gail thought a moment as she chose her words, “this is a safe and happy place for everyone.”

“You may just do that with a few more encounters like this. By the way, what’s your supervisor’s name?”

“You don’t have to say anything, sir.”

“I know, that’s why I’m going to.” Gail gave Brian her supervisor’s business card and Brian left, placing it in his pocket along with the tip that would now make the bellboy very happy.

When they arrived at their room, or rather rooms, the bellboy placed the luggage in the locations that Justin showed him. Brian handed the kid, who seemed just a year or two younger than Justin, the tip and they were finally left to get settled.

Justin, Brian and Gus quickly unpacked. As requested, there was a playpen in the living room space, so they could safely leave Jessica to play while the others were busy.

“How come I have to share a room with Jessica?”

Justin looked at Brian, who wore a panicked look on his face. Justin, on the other hand, having traveled with a sister considerably younger than him when he was growing up, was able to easily respond. “When families go on vacations, you can’t have as many rooms as you have in your home so the children stay all together in one room and the parents stay in the other. Sometimes the whole family shares a room.”

“Cool! At least Jessica doesn’t talk all the time, like JR. She can keep going even if no one’s in the room with her.”

Brian smirked. “I guess she takes after her mo...”

“Brian!”

“Excuse me, Sunshine, automatic reaction -- I’ll try to tone it down.”

Justin smiled. Brian seemed to be trying hard to be the ideal father. Not the Father Knows Best phony ideal, but someone who really cared about his family and took part in their lives and interests.

Five years ago, Justin wasn’t sure they’d ever be married, and now he and Brian were married with two children -- a boy and a girl. Brian was clearly not going to fuck this up, and Justin was determined not to follow in his own father’s footsteps either. He wondered how two men, brought up by two of the most fucked up fathers, had ended up where they were now. The only answer he could come up with was love, tempered with perseverance.

“Hey.”

Brian startled Justin out of his reverie. “Sorry, just lost in thought.”

“Are you okay?”

Justin smiled, “I couldn’t be better if I tried.”
 

“Are you ready to hit the wonderful world of kids?”

“I do believe I am, Mr. Kinney. Any suggestions where to begin?”

“Well, since we were able to check in earlier than expected how about taking the boat launch to the Magic Kingdom?”

Before Justin could respond, Gus yelled, “Yeehaw!”

Brian laughed, “He gets more and more like you everyday.”

“We should be so lucky.”

“Brat.” Brian grabbed Justin and gave him a kiss and a nip on his earlobe.

“Dad, Daddy, let’s go before it gets too late.”

“Relax, Sonny Boy, we have ten glorious days to enjoy the land built by a mouse. Talk about a guy with a great angle -- now this is genius.”

With Jessica buckled in her stroller, happily babbling and gumming a teething ring, the four left for their first afternoon and evening of adventure in the second gayest place on earth.
 

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