Page 50 of Big Britches
“Tucker, how do you feel about me and Pedro?”
“I love y’all,” Tucker said, oblivious to any reasoning behind the question.
“Do you like it that Pedro sometimes spends the night here?”
“Yep.” Tucker nodded. “I wish he would stay here and never leave.”
Titus glanced at Pedro, both men tearing up.
“Would it be OK if Daddy and Pedro shared the same house, maybe even the same room like mommies and daddies do?”
Tucker's brow furrowed. “I don’t have a mommy.”
Titus winced. He excused himself from the table. Pedro reached out and took Tucker’s hand. “It’s OK. Some children have mommies and daddies. Some children have only a mommy or?—.”
“I just have Daddy. My Mama’s in heaven.”
Pedro heard Titus sniffle softly in the adjacent room.
“How would you feel about having two daddies?”
“You mean you and Daddy?”
Pedro nodded. “Yes, Sweet T. That’s what I mean. Me and your Daddy.”
Tucker’s eyes got big. “Awesome,” he said.
Pedro began sleeping in Titus’s bed in the main house during the last week of July. He didn’t move in completely, though. They still attempted to maintain a sense of separation outside of the gate. Roz had been their confidant early on, knowing somewhat instinctively and through sheer proximity that love was in the air. Shelly was as comfortable and accepting of Pedro’s presence as Tucker. She sensed nothing at all unusual, only that Pedro was fun and around more often, especially in the mornings when she and her mother arrived.
Barb, too, knew what was going on. Her mornings with Pedro had grown fewer. Their book club discussions had dwindled as his truck had frequented the boarding house parking lot less and less. Whenever she spoke with him, Titus and Tucker were at the forefront of the conversation so much that she was a tad jealous at having lost her literary companion.
“I still haven’t finished the Capote book,” Pedro said one morning, packing his cooler while she sat at the kitchen table. “I keep thinking I’ll have time later in the evenings, but Titus?—”
“No worries. I’m happy for you two, even if most of what I know is speculation.”
“Sorry I’ve been so scarce lately.”
“I’m just glad that Lennie has finally found his George.”
Pedro turned from the counter to face her. Barb was referencing Of Mice and Men, the Steinbeck novel they’d read earlier in the year.
“Do you think Lennie was gay?” he asked, intrigued. “I think George could have been. But Lennie was so hard to decipher–large, sweet, childlike, and with some sort of intellectual disability.”
“It’s easy to compare Titus to him. He’s large, sweet, and childlike, too.”
“But Titus isn’t simpleminded.”
“No. Definitely not. He’s as business savvy as they come, and a borderline news junkie. But he had his share of difficulty in school. I’ve since wondered if maybe he had a learning disability like ADHD, or dyslexia. But that doesn’t explain the agoraphobia. I mean, look at how long he’s been hiding away. That’s not exactly normal behavior.”
“That’s something else. And we’re working on it.” Pedro grinned. “Both of us. Baby steps. You’ll see. If anything, he’s more of a George, though, taking care of me.”
“I’m sure it’s mutual. Just be cautious. Bible-thumping idiots like that Phelps guy in Kansas can always come out of the woodwork. God knows the South has its share of ghosts. Advocating slavery’s a stigma that takes a hell of a long time to shake. But I think you’ll find Spoon is a little more progressive than the average southern town. Seems so to me, anyway.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Like Lennie, Titus doesn’t know his own strength. But I’m not talking just physically, I’m talking sway. The name Shepherd goes back way further than just him and his daddy. Spoon loves its history and its heroes. Titus has a lot of pull here. Big Britches, remember?”
“Yeah. He’s a little hesitant about all that.”