Defining Moments

Chapter Six - Meetings

Daniel's POV:

I glanced at my watch to notice I was a little early as I stood on the porch, waiting for someone to open the door.

A car pulled into the driveway and I turned to see who it was. An older man got out before getting a baby out of the backseat as a young boy burst out of the car. He began to run up to the door when he noticed me and stopped dead in his tracks. "Grandpa, who's at our house?"

The man came around the side of the car and looked at me. "You must be Daniel." He said to me.

I nodded. "Yes sir, are you Adrian?"

The man chuckled and shook his head. "No. I'm Harrison Turner, Adrian is my husband." He made his way up the stairs to the porch, the little boy following closely behind him. He was obviously still apprehensive of me.

Harrison opened the front door. "Quinn go find Papa." He said to the little boy. Quinn ran inside. Harrison motioned for me to enter the house. "Come on in." He said to me.

I stepped inside, Harrison following after me. He shut the door. "I hope you weren't waiting out there very long. I can't imagine why Adrian wouldn't answer the door." He said to me.

I shook my head. "I wasn't there very long." I assured him.

Quinn comes running back. "Papa is in his office on the phone." He reported to his grandfather.

Harrison nodded. "Of course he is. That would explain it though." He said, before passing the baby girl to Quinn. "Will you take your sister into the living room and play with her?" He asked the young boy. Quinn nodded and did as he was told. Harrison then turned to me. "Would you like anything to drink?" He asked while making his way further into the house.

I follow after him. "I'm good." I responded.

"Well, I'll go let Adrian know that you are here then." He said, before disappearing.

I stayed where I was in the kitchen. When Harrison returned he led me through to Adrian's office.

Adrian was standing behind his desk, looking over a few papers. He looked up when I shut the door behind me. "Ah, Daniel, it's a pleasure to meet you."

I made my way across the room and held my hand out for him to shake. He takes it. "You as well sir." I said.

"Have a seat." Adrian gestured to the chair just to my left. "And Adrian is just fine."

I sat down in the chair while Adrian sat in his chair behind his desk. He pulled a folder with some paperwork in it out of a drawer and passed it over to me. "Here, if you could fill this out." He handed me a pen as well.

As I was filling out the paperwork, the door to the office opened and the sounds of a baby crying filled the room. I glanced back to see Quinn carrying his little sister over to his grandfather. "Papa, Macyn won't stop crying and Grandpa is busy."

Adrian sighed and took the baby girl from his grandson. "Will you go get Macyn's pacifier and make her a bottle please?" He asked Quinn.

Quinn nodded and left the room. He quickly returned with the items requested. Adrian took them and sat the pacifier on the desk in front of him. He offered the bottle to Macyn, which she quickly started to drink from. Once she was settled Adrian looked back at his grandson. "Will you please get started on your homework so your mom doesn't have to worry about it when she gets home?"

Quinn nodded. "Of course Papa."

Soon, it was just Adrian, me, and the baby left in the room, the only sound being Macyn sucking happily on her bottle. Adrian breaks the silence first. "Sorry about that, my daughter works so my husband and I help her take care of the kids during the day." He said.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it." I smiled as the little girl finished sucking down her bottle. Adrian quickly replaced it with her pacifier after burping her. She promptly fell asleep with her head on her grandfather's shoulder. "They're cute kids."

I resumed my filling out the paperwork, handing it back to Adrian once I finished it. He looked it over before setting it aside. "So, from what I heard, you used to be a divorce attorney." Adrian said.

I nodded. "Yes sir. I was."

Adrian nodded along. "Can I ask what made you choose divorce?"

At that I chuckled. "Well, you'd be surprised how many people want a divorce in New York City. They pay good money for a good lawyer too." I said honestly, because well, it was the truth. For the longest time I was in it for the money. Before my parents died and I inherited half of their fortune.

Adrian chuckled. "Well yes, money is always a nice thing to have." He said. "I remember when my husband and I were fresh out of law school. Neither of us knew how we would pay our loans off, or where we would even work. That's why we both started out in criminal law. But it soon became much more important to us to practice civil rights law in order to help those like us, and even ourselves, gain the right to marriage.

"Of course we didn't gain that right until much later. But it still meant so much more to Harrison and I than money could ever."

I smiled at his story. "That's amazing." I said. "So, you and Harrison opened a law firm together?" I asked.

He nodded. "We did. Almost 30 years ago."

I was floored. These men had been practicing longer than I've been alive.

We were once again interrupted when the door to Adrian's office opened. "Hey Papa- Sorry, I didn't realize you were in a meeting." I turn and see the girl who I had ran into a few days ago at the grocery store. I think Milo said her name was Madison or something.

Adrian smiled. "That's quite alright Madi." Madison made her way across the office and took a sleeping Macyn from him.

"Did the kids behave today?" She asked.

Adrian nodded. "Perfect saints."

She rolled her eyes. "I find that hard to believe. Well, I'll let you get back to your meeting."

She either hadn't noticed me yet, didn't remember me, or didn't care. Likely the latter, considering she had kids, she probably had a husband as well. At that moment I knew I would have to find a way to get her out of my head, which seemed highly unlikely considering I hadn't been able to all weekend.

Adrian cleared his throat after his daughter left the room. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

I shook my head. "I wouldn't want to impose..." I said.

Adrian chuckled and shook his head. "You wouldn't be imposing at all. Madison always makes enough to feed an entire army and still have enough leftovers to send with each and every one of them."

I chuckled. "Well, if it won't be a problem, then I would love to stay."