Counting Minutes | Gay MxM |

Epilogue

And he did. Of course he did! He had stopped being afraid of people a long time ago. No... It wasn't the people he had been afraid of. It was himself he'd been afraid of. He feared he would panic and hurt them, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Hi," Jordan breathed out timidly, a shy smile on his lips.

"My sweet baby boy..." Julia whispered, and moved like she wanted to lean over the table to touch his hand, but caught herself quickly. "I'm so proud of you."

"We all are," John added quietly, wiping a tear away as well.

Jordan retreated just a little while they spoke, but regained his composure really well. He looked down at the food in front of us and took a deep breath.

"I'm so hungry," he said.

"In that case, we should dig right in," Julia smiled at him, and gestured to others to do exactly that.

It was actually happening... While the others started piling food on their plates and talking quietly among themselves to take the focus away from Jordan so he could catch his breath, I stared at Jordan, that beautiful man I had the honor to call mine. He had come such a long way during the months I had known him. If I looked hard enough, I could see traces of that man who had screamed at my face before fainting when we first met. Mere traces... He didn't even look the same. He wasn't pale, he'd gained some weight, his hair was shining, and so were his eyes. And that smile... It was wide and free and happy.

"Do I already have something on my face?" he suddenly asked, and I realized he'd been staring at me for a moment as well.

"You're gorgeous," I told him gently. "How could I look away?"

He blushed lightly and looked down to hide his smile from me. "You're being silly..." he whispered.

"It's the truth," I said, leaning closer to take his plate. "What do you want?" I then asked, turning to look at all the food on the table. There was a lot of it. It was like Christmas all over again.

"Little bit of everything," he told me.

"All right," I smiled.

I kept my eyes on him, enjoying the curious look on his face. He flinched a few times whenever there was a louder sound, but he wasn't getting overwhelmed. He listened in to the conversations around us, and little by little, his body relaxed. Once I gave him his plate, he grabbed his fork, but didn't start eating yet. I assumed he was too nervous to do so, at least in the beginning, but as the minutes passed, he was giving more attention to it, and finally ate a tiny piece of potato.

The voices around us were growing a little bit louder when everyone started easing into the situation, and getting used to having Jordan there with us. That didn't bother Jordan at all, and I wasn't even sure if he noticed it himself. I was the nerve-wreck who paid attention to absolutely everything.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Jordan asked me.

"What? Oh!" I chuckled, when I realized my plate was still empty.

He shook his head in amusement and carefully leaned in to kiss my cheek. "You're taking such good care of me that you keep forgetting to take care of yourself."

"I'm fine," I told him, kissing him back. "You are doing so great."

"And you are trying to change the subject," he replied.

I heard Julia chuckling at us across the table, and when I looked at her, she raised her eyebrows at me.

"He's not wrong. We need you happy and healthy," she told me.

"I am happy and healthy," I said reassuringly. "I'm the happiest man on earth!"

"I'm afraid I must disagree," John said. "I am the happiest man on earth."

"No, I am," George said, making us all laugh. "I'm serious!"

"No," Jordan said with a gentle smile, and we all turned to look at him. "That title is mine."

None of challenged him for that title. It belonged to him, after all.

"I'm so happy," he whispered, taking my hand in his under the table. "I'm sorry for everything I put you guys through, and I am thankful that you still stood by me and gave me everything I needed to heal."

There was no one with dry eyes at that table. Jordan took a deep breath and wiped his cheeks while none of us dared to even breathe so we wouldn't disturb him.

"I love you guys, and I promise, I'm not stopping here. I will get out that door and we will sell the house, and everything will be just... just fine..." he had to stop again to catch his breath because he was crying so hard.

I wrapped my arms carefully around him, resting my head on his shoulder and tried to ride the storm that was my emotions.

"I'm not stopping here," he said again, looking at his family. "Everything will be just fine."

And he was right.