Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

puke. And shed. Which means you get to vacuum too." Jacob gripped his cane firmly, and turned to the door.
    As he stepped out, he heard Daniel say softly to the cat, "Don't you mind Mr. Grouchy Pants there. He loves you already. You heard what he said. You're our girl, Gage."
    Jacob laughed silently to himself, and limped off down the hallway to pay for their girl's liberation from kitty jail.
    ****
    May 7, 1992
    Daniel reached across the bed to shake Jacob's shoulder. "Come on. Time to get up. We have to be at the hospital by six thirty."
    Jacob burrowed deeper into the covers. "I don't see why they have to take someone who's already looking at surgery and make them wake up at this ungodly hour of morning too. It's adding insult to injury."
    "Hey, I'm getting up too, and I'm not even having the surgery."
    "You can if you want to."
    Daniel pulled the covers back firmly. "At least this way the fasting won't be as big a deal. Come on, lazybones, get yourself showered."
    "I'm going already."
    Daniel winced internally to see how slowly Jacob moved, getting out of bed. You could tell just from the stiff guardedness of his stance how much his back and his hip hurt. The docs said there was nothing to be done about the back, but hopefully the hip replacement would at least help some. God, he hoped so. Jacob hated taking medications but lately Daniel had noticed the pill bottle going steadily downward.
    At least he was healthy enough even at sixty-eight for the docs to call him a good candidate for the surgery. Jacob had resisted that too for a long time. But two falls in the last month when they had tried to take their usual walks on the uneven trails in the preserve had done it. Daniel was really glad. He could definitely do without the feeling of his heart in his throat each time he watched Jacob go down just too far away to catch him.
    However, being glad didn't mean his stomach wasn't doing little loop-the-loops this morning. Being a good candidate didn't mean something couldn't go wrong. It was general anesthesia and bone surgery. And that hip was a mess from the old injury even before the arthritis. In fact the first doctor had thought the bone wouldn't stand up to a replacement insert. This new guy seemed confident though. Daniel firmly locked away all negative thoughts and headed for the kitchen.
    Jacob came in fifteen minutes later, hair damp and tousled, leaning heavily on his cane. With his wet hair darker than its usual wont, and a trace of sleepy softness still in his face, he looked younger. So familiar. Daniel looked at him silently, choked by the wave of affection that rose into his throat. His Trip. His for fifty years now, depending on when you were counting from. His for a lifetime, anyway.
    And for another thirty years to come, he told himself firmly. He cleared his throat. "Here, hon. I poured you a lovely glass of tap water."
    "Not even the good bottled stuff?" Jacob took the glass and sipped at it.
    "We're out." He would have to do a shopping run before Jacob came home. Well, he'd have time. A week, the doctor said, between the recovery and spending a few days in rehab. There were so many things Daniel still had to get. The wedge cushion and a raised seat for the toilet and all. He took a deep gulp of his own water.
    Jacob looked at him curiously. "You already had breakfast?"
    "Sure. Didn't want to make you jealous." But he couldn't meet Jacob's eyes.
    Jacob's gaze sharpened. "You did eat, right? I don't smell any coffee."
    "Didn't feel like coffee this morning."
    "Honey, you need to eat." Jacob gimped over to him and gave him a hug. "I don't know if you're fasting in sympathy or what, but stop it. If you faint from low blood sugar and break a hip we'll both be in trouble. And I can at least smell your good coffee even if I can't have any."
    "You're sure?"
    "Oh, Daniel." Jacob put a hand under his chin and tipped his face up so their eyes met. Jacob still had those big dark eyes that had grabbed at his soul that first morning on the Gageway . Except now the bastard knew the effect they had on Daniel. "Danny boy, you can't do this for me."
    "Don't call me that." The private joke couldn't make him smile this morning.  I would take your place if I could. Trust Trip to see what he was doing, intentionally or not, better than Daniel knew it himself. By now they each had each other's number. "Okay. But time is short. I'll just grab a bagel."
    "Make coffee too. Make the Amaretto. You can put it in a travel