Page 38 of Branson's Promise
Just because you have money, Noel, it doesn’t make you better than anyone. Never forget that.He’d told me that once when I was fourteen and I’d remembered it every day since. Arthur Bennett was not an outwardly affectionate man but he was honest and considerate.
As I flipped to another boring page of legalese, my phone rang and I smiled, pleased to see my mother’s name on the caller ID.
“Hi mum, this is a nice surprise.”
I could hear soft music in the background as she spoke. “Hi Noely, how’s my baby boy?”
“Mum, I’m thirty seven, you remember that right?”
She sighed back at me, that loving yet exasperated sound only a parent could master, “Well obviously I know that Noel, I did carry you myself for nine months and destroyed my lady parts pushing you out. You’ll always be my baby boy though.”
“Bloody hell, mum, seriously?” My mother - Isla - was the polar opposite of my father. Where he was quiet, shewas a whirlwind of colour and noise. She was beautiful and sophisticated and rarely ever complained. She doted on my father and on me, spoke her mind constantly and spent her days trying to make the world a better place.
“Alright, child of mine who is thirty seven,” she joked, and I pushed my seat back further so I could rest my feet on my mahogany desk. “How are you? You haven’t called in a while and I was beginning to worry.”
Guilt gnawed at me, a churning, tumbling sensation in my stomach. “I’m sorry, mum. Things have been really busy here.”
“Dad told me about Dallas, is that all going well?”
I fiddled with my tie, pulling it loose while I spoke. “It will be once Archer irons out some wrinkles.”
“Oh, lovely boy, that Archer. Very handsome. Very capable.” My mother’s subtlety was like a giant pimple on a first date - very hard to miss.
“He’s good at what he does, yes. But I’m sure you didn’t call to quiz me on the people I work with. What’s up mum?”
The silence over the line was telling and I braced myself for her next words, clasping my free hand to the armrest of my leather chair.
“It’s your dad, Noel. He’s not getting any better. This new medication is making him feel terrible but the doctors said that’s a side effect and it should hopefully settle down. He misses you and you haven't been coming over as much as you used to.” Her words were a dagger to my already clenching stomach, because it was coming. Her real reason for the call and the one topic I wasn’t ready to discuss.
His heart attack almost two years ago had left him with irreparable damage to muscles of the organ but with medication, he was doing well. But how long he would stay that way was an unknown.
“I think it’s time for you to come home. Move your office back to London and be closer to us, to him.” There it was - the guilt inducing truth - my parents wanted me home.
Before Branson and Milo, I was spending at least a week a month back there but I hadn't been back since I'd started seeing them. It wasn't only because of them though. On my last visit, just after the wedding, Dad had seemed well and I'd convinced myself he was fine, and that as a result he didn't need me around as much. It was my way of dealing with the truth - that his health was deteriorating. For as smart as I was, this was one area I couldn't think rationally about, losing my dad was not something I wanted to consider.
Foolish, I know, and not for the first time since his heart attack, did my gut swirl with the guilt of what a bad son I was.
When he got ill and my parents returned to the UK, to the family estate, I should have followed. There was no reason the company had to be run from here. None whatsoever. But I didn’t want to admit that I was slowly losing him and moving back would be admitting that to everyone.
Neither of my parents had ever outwardly asked me to come home, content with my regular visits but I’d promised myself that if they ever did, I wouldn’t hesitate. But things were more complicated now. Rubbing at the ache behind my breastbone, I replied, “I can’t mum. Not right now.” My voice was quiet and child-like, the way it used to sound when I confessed to stealing sweets from the pantry when I was ten. A hint of sadness and fear ingrained in my words.
“Roman can handle anything pressing in the States if it’s business you’re worried about.” Roman was my much younger cousin. He wasn’t blood related but part of our family by marriage and while he was trustworthy and owned a small share in the company, he had no desire to sit in a corporate job. He had bigger, greater goals in mind.
“It’s not the business mum, it’s…” Did I want to get into this now? We’d been seeing each other for almost two months and I was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that Milo and Branson were it for me.
“It’s?” My mother’s voice broke through my thoughts, but she didn’t give me time to reply before she added, “Are you seeing someone? Is that what you’re not saying?”
Nodding though she couldn’t see me, I told her the truth. I knew she’d accept both of them as mine. She had no problem with me being bisexual, and I couldn’t picture her having issues with me being in a polyamorous relationship.
“Someones, actually. I have two incredible boyfriends. It's pretty new but I'm really happy. They're both amazing.” For the briefest moment, I felt so light and carefree, happy that I’d told her about them, something I should have done weeks ago. Milo and Branson had quickly become the centre of my universe.
Mum was quiet on the other end of the line, her voice gentle when she finally spoke.
“Two? Are you sure that’s wise, Noel? I don’t mean to stick my nose in where it is not wanted but this seems a little…. unconventional, don’t you think? I mean, I presume this means they know about each other and it’s not a case of hiding one from the other?”
I loved my mum and I knew that she meant well, I also knew she wouldn’t really have an issue with my relationship if she knew how much they both meant to me and how serious it was.
“Yes, mum. I’m in a committed relationship with two men. We’re all really happy together. I’ve never felt this way about anyone and I know society is adamant that people pair off, but relationships are so much more than that predefined notion.” I was starting to feel defensive, only too aware of how cruel the world could be towards anything it deemed as ‘outside thenorm’. Well, anyone with a narrow mind could fuck right off as far as I was concerned.