Evan anxiously watches outside the window for that red rental car of his to arrive. “Why didn’t he tell me he was leaving?” The model whispers to himself. This isn’t something Jonathan would do. Is it? A pallid hand touches the tan skin. Jenny sadly smiles at Evan, “He’ll be back. He always comes back. Trust me.” Just as Jenny states that, a red car comes speeding into the driveway. The tall man Evan knows and loves himself gets out of the car without shutting the door or turning the vehicle off. He nearly smashes through the door. The blue eyes search for the brown ones. Finally they meet and close together for a long kiss. The pallid hands of Jonathan’s run through the jet black hair of Evan’s. They both pull away, “Fuck, I’m so sorry,” Jonathan states. Evan places a kiss on Jonathan’s lips and then punches him in the arm. “Ouch, I deserve that,” Jonathan sighs. “I almost… I almost did heroin again today.” Jenny walks away now and lets the couple handle this themselves. Evan crosses his arms, “What?! Why?”

“I didn’t know how else to cope… I… Evan I’m sorry.” The photographer stays quiet after his last statement, waiting for the model to say something.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Evan questions. Jonathan opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out.

“I should have,” the older man finally admits. “You’re my other half. Why didn’t I come to you first?” Jonathan pauses and then thinks about his mother, “I was just panicking and I had no idea what to do to cope with the fact my mom might die before we’re married. Before we have kids…” Jonathan was crying now. He was sobbing into the shoulders of Evan’s. His other half.

“Johnny, Mom’s up. We can visit her now,” Jenny explains from the kitchen. Jonathan’s head is removed from Evan’s shoulders, “Really?”

“Yes! We were going to go sooner, but we couldn’t find you.” His sister’s statement adds greif to Jonathan’s stomach.

At the hospital Mr. and Mrs. Dennis wait for their children to arrive. “So, what do you think of Evan?” Mr. Dennis questions. Cassandra laughs, “He’s perfect for Jonathan. I want him to be our son-in-law. What about you honey?”

“I think he’s amazing as well. Now we’ll just have to wait for Jenny to find someone,” Mr. Dennis jokes and the couple laughs together. Their hands intertwine, “I can’t wait to see our youngest son get married to a beautiful man.”

Speaking of the engaged men, Jonathan and Evan barge into the room first followed by Melissa and Samuel, then Jenny with Daisy. They all surround Mrs. Dennis with hugs and kisses.

Jonathan then clears his throat to grab everyone’s attention. He grabs Evan’s hand and squeezes it. Blue eyes meet brown. The blue eyes think back to the nightmare he had last night; how his mother yelled at him for not having the wedding sooner. “Evan and I are pushing the wedding closer.” Evan’s heart beats in his ears, “What?”

“I can’t wait to be joined with you and spend the rest of my life with you. I want it to happen as soon as possible,” Jonathan explains in a fast rush. Evan stares speechless at his fiancé. His heart races so fast he can barely speak, “Sure! Yes! Is anyone in the Dennis family against this?” A quick silence goes through the hospital room, but Cassandra  ends it, “Hell yeah! The sooner the better!” She cheers and kisses Jonathan on the cheek. “Someone get the doctor. I need to get out of here as soon as possible so I can help you with a tux and get me a dress of my own!” Evan and Jonathan smile at their mother.

Later on a doctor finally arrives into the room. He has a clipboard in his hand and a smile on his creased face.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Marr, and I’ve been looking after your mother for the past night or so.” Everyone else nods in a silent greeting toward Dr. Marr. He clears his throat and flips through a page on his clipboard, “So, Cassandra, you are doing way better than you were last night. You’re wide awake and surrounded by family. You’ll just have to take it easy for a bit.”

“Well, what caused the heart attack?” Sam questions, holding the hand of his wife. Mr. Dennis sadly frowns at his wife. The doctor searches through more of his pages and finally speaks, “From our tests on Mrs. Dennis we noticed some cloudiness. She coughs a lot as well,” the doctor keeps explaining the things the nurses noticed on Cassandra. Matthew, Mr. Dennis, sadly turns to his wife and tears start to form. The doctor finally finishes the description with, “She needs to stop smoking.” All the kids turn to their mother. Evan doesn’t understand why, but he turns with them.

“I thought you quit a while ago Mom,” Jonathan raises his voice. Now Evan understands. Cassandra starts to sob, “I’m so sorry. It’s just… with all of you gone… I just… I’m sorry.” Matthew smiles at his wife and rubs her left temple, “It’s okay sweetie. If you beat it once, you can beat it again.” He kisses her forehead and squeezes her hands. Their offspring, and their offspring’s spouses, start to surround her again and promise to help her through her addiction. This moment suddenly reminds Evan of his father. His heart sinks as he thinks about the last time he’s actually talked to his dad. Evan rubs Jonathan on the shoulder and then leaves the room. He pulls out the red cased phone from his pocket and scrolls through his contacts. He taps on the vaguely familiar name and waits as the line rings.

“Hello?” His deep voice makes Evan smile and reminisce. “Hey Dad.”

“Evan! How are you? Where are you?”

Evan turns around and looks at the Dennis family surrounding their mother. He smiles, “I’m at the hospital with my fiancé’s mother. She had a heart attack, but she’s fine now. Jonathan, my finacé, are moving the wedding sooner.

Evan’s dad pauses and takes in what his son just explained to him, “I’m glad she’s okay. I was hoping I could meet my son-in-laws mother.” This statement makes Evan burst into laughter. “I miss you Dad.”

“I miss you too Evan.”

“Jonathan and I will be coming up soon.”

“Just call me when you two are on your way. I can’t wait.”

“Me neither. Oh I need you to ask Mom something.”

“Yeah?”

“Is it still bad luck if a groom sees his groom in his tux?” Evan’s dad laughs at the question. He smiles, “Of course.”

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, Evan.” Evan hangs up first and returns back to the room with his fiancé.

Evan’s dad sets his phone down and looks at the glass of whiskey he had poured right before Evan called. He bites his lips, a nervous habit Evan had as well from his father. Evan’s dad pictures his son walking down the aisle, a huge smile on his face. That smile wouldn’t be there if he was shit-faced. He takes the glass and pours it down the sink. Pouring all the bad memories of his fits while he was drunk. The one time he hit Evan. He’d never forgive himself. He was going to make it up by giving Evan the most magical wedding of all.

***