Counting Minutes | Gay MxM |

Epilogue

But he was such a strong, courageous man... It took him a moment to catch his breath, but then he lifted his head up, hope and determination written all over his face. And he smiled at me.

"Okay," he breathed out. "I can do this."

"Yes, you can," I told him with a wide smile.

We weren't in a hurry, and I knew he didn't want to burn his energy right in the beginning, so we stayed there for a little moment longer. Once he was ready to move, we walked down the rest of the steps, and stopped to take a breather again.

A few more steps, and we'd see the dining room... I tried not to think about it, since it made me nervous, and I feared Jordan would sense it. For a moment, I focused on my breathing, just like Jordan was doing next to me. It helped.

And then Jordan's hold on my hand grew tighter, and he took one step, then another. And another. The dining room came to our view, and I could see everyone turning to look at us, excitement shining in their eyes. Then, they remembered they weren't supposed to stare and turned back around in unison. I had to smile at that.

We'd all been waiting for this day so eagerly...

Jordan had to hug me again when his emotions tried to take over him. I couldn't even imagine how he was feeling at that moment. His entire family was right there, only a few feet away. For the thousandth time, it hurt me to think how lonely he must've been all those years while his family was right there, but still too far away.

"Everything is all right, my love," I whispered. "My baby is the strongest person I know."

He chuckled lightly against my shoulder. A very good sign. It took a little while before he was able to continue, but he was still in high spirits.

I knew at that moment that everything would go just fine.

Little by little, one step at a time, we crossed the hallway to the entrance of the dining room. Jordan's seat was the closest to us, at the corner of the table, with mine right next to him. Julia was sitting opposite of Jordan, and John right next to her. We had chosen this seating order to make it as comfortable for Jordan as possible. He trusted his mother the most, so it was safest to have her where he could see her.

His seat was exactly two feet away from us, but since it was such an emotional moment for him, getting to it took the longest.

But we got there. The moment he sat down in his seat, I was bursting from happiness and all the other amazing emotions, so keeping it cool for his sake was so, so unbelievably hard. He immediately hid himself under my arms, and I turned sideways so I could hold him. The others were silently holding back their tears. So did I. Julia had pressed both her hands over her mouth as she stared at her son, her eyes shining and unable to look away from him.

"You are so brave," I told Jordan, and I could hear a tiny sniff as a reply.

I wished so hard that I could just take his pain away... All their pain. The entire family had carried so much suffering with them this entire time, and I wished I could make it all go away. But I couldn't...

At least I could be there for them now.

Jordan stole my attention when he started taking deeper breaths. That meant he was getting ready. I caressed his back, kissed his cheek, and waited for him to lift his head up. When he did, I gave him a wide smile. It hurt to see his tears, no matter if spawned from happiness. He took a moment to wipe his face dry, still holding onto my hand. Then, slowly, he straightened his posture, but kept his gaze down at our joined hands.

Even slower, he turned to look at his family. They were all smiling and trying not to stare, but still stealing short glimpses of him. Jordan was nearly frozen in his seat, his whole body so tense I wanted to pull him back into a hug. But that was not what he needed at that very moment. All he needed was a little more time to get used to being there.