The Lockdown

35

The phrase 'his life flashed before his eyes' was usually reserved for near death experiences. Yet, when Cam recalled that moment later, there was no other terminology fit to describe what happened to him at that instant. But it wasn't his past that appeared in his mind, it was his future. He saw glimpses of his life as he was growing older, everything he ever wished for himself: having a quiet dinner with both of his parents, buying a small house with picket fences, raising a child, travelling all around the world, growing old peacefully, and there was one commonality in all of those images, Andy holding his hand. He knew deep down that all of that was mostly wishful thinking, still, he understood now what Andy talked about just a minute before because he felt the same way. Absolute certainty.

"Yes, I will," he answered simply climbing onto the lap of the love of his life ignoring the box, happy tears flowing freely from his eyes and kissed Andy with all the emotion he could muster.

Andy was shedding tears himself and he untangled their limbs just for a minute to remove the smaller ring from the box and put it on the young man's finger. Cam mimicked his actions with the larger one and finally looked at both rings side by side.

"They are amazing. There is no way you kept to the limit though."

"If you count only one of them, then I went over just a little, but I was thinking in a somewhat longer term than one birthday." Andy headed to the jeweler straight from the Bureau of Registrations and Licensing and immediately found the perfect ones for them: beautiful matte dark grey titanium rings that he loved at first sight and hoped that Cam would feel similarly. He had them engraved with 'Cameron' on the inside of the larger ring and 'Andrew' on the smaller one. The jeweler had similar size hands to Cam's and promised to resize the ring if needed free of charge. Fortunately, the ring fit, it may need a little adjustment later on but nothing that couldn't wait.

"I think I can forgive you just this once," the youngster said smiling at his fiancé. "I want to go home."

"What's the rush?"

"I want to have sex with you."

"Let's go!" They quickly packed up and made their way to the parking lot. As they were driving back to town, Andy remembered something. "Ugh, we do have to make one stop."

"Let me guess, the surprise party."

"Sorry, it was the only way to make everybody leave us alone all day. How long have you known?"

"Andy, I love you with all my heart, but you are incapable of keeping a secret. I overheard you arranging it at least three times the last few days."

"I kept the ring a secret, didn't I?"

"That, you did."

Andy sent a short text to Sarah thirty minutes before they arrived. "Please, act surprised, at least a little," he pleaded as they pulled up to the bar.

Cam's father, Sarah and Billy were inside with Maggie and Uncle Joe accompanying them. The bar was decorated with banners and they started to sing 'Happy Birthday' the moment they entered. It took Sarah five seconds to spot the rings on their fingers and she stopped singing shocked to her core. She could hardly wait for the song to end to grab Cam's hand and exclaimed looking at Andy: "You didn't."

"Sure, I did," he replied proudly. The others caught on quickly and the birthday celebrations promptly turned into an engagement party with lots of hugs and pronouncements of elation.

Even Abe embraced his son first and gave a slightly awkward hug to Andy soon after. "I wish I had earned the right for a call from you asking for permission to marry my son, but I understand and I am very happy for both of you."

Maggie baked a huge cake with twenty-three candles on top which Cam blew out with Andy's help. No one asked what he wished for, his emotions were clear on his face as he looked at his husband-to-be. Maggie gave him a beautiful wallet, Uncle Joe a bottle of single malt whiskey, Sarah handed him a carefully wrapped small box and whispered into his ear not to open it until he got home.

Abe pulled out an envelope from his jacket and motioned for the pair to move aside for a moment. "Andy, I think I will need you here as he opens this." He handed it over to Cam who tried to wave it off.

"Dad, you already gave me the car, I don't need any money from you," he protested.

"The car was a graduation gift, in some way, so is this."

Cam gingerly opened the envelope and pulled out a single sheet. He looked at it for a long time, handed it to Andy and stared at his father irately. "Explain."

"I told you I went to Samuel to look for you. He wouldn't tell me anything but he gave me your mail. I'm sorry that I opened them, I was hoping to find some information to locate you. One of the letters was from your bank with all the information regarding your student debt. You'd have never needed that loan had we not abandoned you, so I decided to pay it off. It's not about the money at all. You know that I have it and I know you would be more than capable to repay the loan eventually."

Cam was livid, seething with anger. "You had no right to interfere."

"I know." His father looked down in shame, he was ashamed of everything he failed to do to protect his son and he knew that money would never solve anything but he felt it was his duty to pay for Cam's education and he did not truly regret this last action.

Andy embraced the fuming youngster, he raised his chin and looked into his eyes. "He means well, he is doing the best he can. He loves you and he will never hurt you again like before." Cam melted into his arms and calmed down quickly. Abe mouthed a thank you to Andy who shook his head and told him: "You need to give him some time, why don't you come and have dinner with us next Sunday?"

The rest of the festivities were more subdued as a result, though when Maggie had her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter join them via a video call, their heartfelt happiness for the newly engaged eased the mood. Uncle Joe teased Andy a little for the breakneck speed he moved ahead in their relationship, but Maggie just sighed completely understanding her son.

"Once you know, you know."