After the Storm (manxman)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Stephen

(The media frenzy)

To say I was irritated and worried about this new development was putting it too mildly. The camera flashes going off across the street as I pulled my car through Luis' front gate was the least of my concerns. At least the local police were keeping those vultures on the other side of the road instead of having them swarming the now open entrance to the Randall Estate. My only concern at the moment was getting to Luis. He'd sounded so upset, and I'm sure he's beyond livid about this new development. I know for a fact that he's never so much as wanted a whisper of speculation about Jackson's Junior true illness to ever be made public.

Personally, I don't see why Jackson wanted to hide the fact that he's had HIV to begin with in the first place. As a physician, I understand the emotional ramifications behind having the disease, the displaced shame and embarrassment a person may feel, especially if they'd contracted the illness through sexual contact with an infected person. Jackson may have had other reasons to hide his true illness from his family and the public, but I 've no idea what they were and I hope it's worth putting Luis through all this stress. The entire situation could have been avoided if this was handled properly when Jackson was first diagnosed. The good the man could have done for HIV/AIDS awareness could have been unlimited.

No sooner than I'd pulled around the circular driveway and put my car in park, I was already pushing the door open and racing up the stairs towards the front door. The portal swung open and I'd barely managed to nod my head at Thomas before Melba stepped into the hall, and waved me towards Luis' library. I rushed down the passageway and brushed a brief kiss to her fragrant cheek before entering the room. Luis was standing off to the side of the window looking out at the media circus lining across the street from his front gate.

"I got here as soon as I can, baby. Are you alright?" I asked as I wrapped his slender frame and brought him flush against my body. He melted into my chest as I rubbed a soothing hand up and down his back.

"Can you believe this shit, don't these vultures have anything else do report on other than the true cause of someone's death?" He cried with his face buried in my chest.

"Well baby, you know that Jackson wasn't just a regular, day to day average person. He was a very prominent multi-millionaire businessman. An upstanding figure in the community with a well known lineage behind him. So this is news, the fact that he'd hidden his true diagnosis is something everyone is going to speculate about. I hate to say it, but if Jackson had just admitted it in the first place then none of this wouldn't be happening. Why the secrecy, babe? I hate to ask, but I'm just trying to understand." I quickly added when I felt his body tense up against mine.

Luis sighed deeply before pulling out of my arms and walking back over towards the window. With his back turned towards me he tiredly replied. "In the beginning Jackson avoided talking about his feelings about being infected. It took a lot of time and a total measure of trust in me to finally open up about how it was his own fault and his over inflated feelings of privilege that caused his promiscuous behavior resulting in him contracting the disease. He felt so ashamed, no matter what I said, and no matter what the counselors had to say, it didn't make any difference in his depression and self loathing. It didn't help that his father's holier than thou attitude in regards to their wealth and prominence in the community spurred Jackson to feel like he failed his heritage."

"By the time his health began to fail, Jackson's father was going through a messy divorce with his stepmother. His stepbrother was already acting out. Something had happened between Jackson and his stepmother that had caused the rift in his father's already troubled marriage and he's felt responsible for it as well. He'd already had a mountain of blame on his shoulders and then he added his diagnosis to it as well. He wasn't just ashamed by being positive, he was downright appalled by way he got it."