Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

on the fingers of one hand the number of times he'd even met Jacob the Second. Lily's wedding, because she'd insisted Trip bring him. Baby Hannah's birthdays a couple of times. Outside the newborn nursery when her sister Briana was born.
    Each time the older Jacob Segal had gazed through Daniel coldly as if he didn't even exist. Daniel thought it was some kind of miracle that his Trip had grown up under that icy stare and still become the loving man he was. Loving and brave, and Daniel had to know just how much courage Jacob had walked out with today. Slowly he went into the living room and looked. The photo was gone.
    It was a good thing art could engross him so completely. As it was, he still found himself looking at the clock over the studio door every twenty minutes. Now the supplier meeting Trip had gone in early for should be done. Now there was enough time for the older Jacob to have looked though the weekly sales report and read his paper, like Trip said he did every Monday. Now enough time had passed that if Trip was going to do it...
    Daniel stopped trying to time it and put his full energy into worrying, between brush strokes. He could imagine everything from success to disaster. Well not quite everything. Picturing Mr. Segal saying, "How lovely. He'll be like a second son to your mother and me..." Nope. Even Daniel's agile brain couldn't wrap itself around that. But every shade from indifference to disaster. Some form of disaster was probable. Even so, he was surprised when he looked up and saw Jacob standing in the doorway.
    Jacob's face was closed and unreadable. It didn't look like jubilant success. And he was here in Daniel's workplace instead of his own, at ten forty-five in the morning. Daniel laid his pen aside, carefully capped the ink, and got up. Jacob disappeared back into the hallway as Daniel wound his way to the front of the room.
    Daniel tapped on the senior layout editor's desk as he went by. When Andrew glanced up Daniel said, "Taking a break. I'll be back in fifteen minutes."
    "Sure." Andrew's attention went right back to the pages on his desk.
    Jacob was standing at the end of the hall, staring blankly out the little window above the stairs. Daniel put a careful hand on his arm. "You okay?"
    Jacob turned to him and his dark eyes were damp. He tried to say something and clamped his lips closed on a sob.
    "Damn." Daniel grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged him into the slightly more private confines of the nearby washroom. "What happened, Trip? Did he fire you?"
    "No." Jacob choked and stared down at the floor. In a hoarse voice he said, "I told him I wasn't hiding us any more. I told him you were my lover for the last twenty-six years and I was through treating you like you didn't exist around him. I was putting your picture on my desk and you were going to come with me to all the family events and he either had to live with that or throw me out the door. The bastard looked at me and said, 'What you do with your life is your own affair. But if you're going to try to bring him home for the holidays you'll have to ask your mother first.'"
    "So? That's good, right? You still have your job? Did he say Davidson would get the promotion over you?"
    "He didn't even mention it. Just told me we had a meeting with a drug company representative at noon. And to close the door on my way out."
    "I don't get it." Daniel put his arms around Jacob. He could feel the man trembling. "He's going to live with it. Why aren't you happy?"
    Jacob stared into his eyes. "Twenty-six years. I waited twenty-six years! I should have done it long ago. How many times have I left you home alone while I ran out for some family thing? Remember those first five years? I had every holiday meal with the family for five years before I stopped going over there for more than a quick hello. If I'd had an ounce of spine, I'd have stood up to him back then. I don't know why you even stayed with me."
    "Because I love you." Daniel kissed him. "Loved you then. Love you now. Trip, you can't beat yourself up for that. Just because your father is willing to accept me now doesn't mean he would have then. People change. After twenty-six years he's probably finally given up hope that you just need to find the right girl to give up this homo nonsense. He's bowing to the inevitable. But twenty-six years ago I'm betting he would have thrown you out."
    "You think so?"
    "Definitely. Look at my mother. Even ten years ago, she still didn't want me