Southern Fried (35 page)

his turn to pause. “But are you? Okay, I mean?”

A warm flush road up my belly and exploded in my chest.

“Right as rain. You?”

“Same.” The pause returned. “But, I’m, uh, in the hospital.

Can you come down to County General?”

I jumped up. “Now? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Chill, Little Brother,” he said. “Just come down. Room two-

six-four.”

“I’m on my way.” I clicked off the phone. “Come on. Beau’s

in the hospital. Hurry!”

And then everyone was hopping up, and a minute later we

were piling into the Mercedes, Jeeves at the wheel. He sped all

the way there, my nerves a tangled, frayed mess. Thankfully, we

didn’t have far to go, all of us rushing inside and up the elevator.

We stopped dead in our tracks when we reached the room.

“Hi, ya’ll,” she said.

“Betty!” I exclaimed. “What’s… what’s going on?”

She looked wiped out, her hair a fright, plastered to her

forehead. But she was smiling so big and bright that I just about

had to squint to take her in. We all made our way inside the room,

filling it up to the brim. “Um, just wait,” she told me. “He’s on

230 Rob Rosen

his way back.”

“Who?” I asked, utterly and completely confused. Which

made six of us, Zeb and Stella and Jake and Jeeves and Pearl

included.

“Us,” we heard a split second later, and turned to find

Beau, wheeling in yet another surprise. “Meet your niece, Little

Brother.”

Well now, wouldn’t you know it, I started bawling right there

and then. As did pretty much everyone in the room. Everyone

except the baby, who was just about the most beautiful thing I’d

ever seen. And it was then, at long last, that the final pieces to the

puzzle fell into place.

“
Not yet
, you kept yelling at the funeral.” Beau frowned just a

little and stared at the baby. “You knew about this back then. You

wanted her to meet your daughter, right?”

He nodded, the smile making a triumphant return. “She was

afraid the line was going to stop with me and you, Trip. She

thought that once she went, so would the mansion and her name

and everything it meant to her.”

I nodded, ruefully. “I know. I was afraid of the same thing.”

Again I stared from the baby back to him. “You never really did

hate me then, did you? You were just protecting Betty and the

baby. Because if I stirred up trouble, it could hurt all of you? And

you weren’t living in the mansion from time to time to be near

Granny, right? You wanted to be near Betty.”

He smiled. “Smart, for such a pain in the ass.” He shrugged.

“But, no, I only hated you a little while, until I figured out what

Granny was up to, keeping us apart like she did. Protecting us

from the Pellinghams. She knew they’d somehow killed your

parents, Trip. And no way was she going to let that happen to us.”

I turned to Betty. “That’s why you looked so nervous when I

brought up Granny’s jewelry box.”

Her smile faltered. “I knew the birth certificate was in there.

I had to steal it, Trip. I’m… I’m so sorry. But we still have the

jewelry. You can have it all back.”

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231

I walked in and bent down, kissing her on the forehead. “No,”

I whispered. “They’re for your little girl. All of it. That would’ve

made Granny mighty happy.”

She nodded and sighed. “Ask me what we named her, Trip.”

I smiled and reached for her hand. “What did you name her,

Betty?”

“Mary,” she told me, her face lighting up. “After your granny.”

And that stream of tears of mine returned. “Thank you,” I

said, squeezing her hand in mine. Then I turned and walked over

to my brother. I grabbed him up and pulled him in tight. And,

man, did he feel good there. Better than playing catch with him

or building us a few sand castles. Better by a country mile. And

not an ounce of resistance from him, either. “Fucker,” I said.

“Ditto,” he replied, arms wrapped around me just as tightly.

I pulled an inch away. “Can I hold her?” I asked.

He nodded. “Not going to drop her, are you?” He laughed

and let go of me, then bent down and lifted the baby up before

placing her gently in my arms, the others craning in for a look at

her beautiful, round face.

“She looks just like you,” Zeb said, his hand on the small of

my back. “She has your nose.”

Pearl reached in and tickled her chin, my old friend’s face so

wet it shined. “Oh yeah, child, this here’s a Jackson for sure.”

I stared down at the newest addition. “You hear that, Mary?

You’re a Jackson.” I leaned in, face to face. “Lord help you on

that one, kiddo; we’re a final kettle of fish, we are.” She opened

her eyes and took me in, a smile appearing that just about broke

my heart.

But we weren’t done with the surprises just yet. It was Jake’s

turn next as he tapped me on the shoulder. “I, uh, don’t want to

startle you, so better hold on to that little niece of yours.”

I looked up and locked eyes with him. Thankfully, he was

smiling. “Oh, God, now what?”

232 Rob Rosen

He shrugged and reached over to hold Stella’s hand. “Well,

looks like you owe me a hundred and ten thousand dollars.”

Needless to say, I handed the baby over to her father. Though

I quickly figured out what he was telling me. “The will,” I said.

“The will,” Jake repeated. “Your granny left me three

thousand dollars. Three thousand dollars unless I settle down

and find a wife. If I do so within one year’s time, that amount will

increase to one hundred thousand. Enough to start a family. Plus

ten more thousand for every child my future wife gives birth to.”

He was repeating it verbatim.

I turned to look at Stella, who was blushing from ear to ear.

“You’re pregnant?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“And engaged,” she lifted up her hand, the diamond sparkling

atop her finger.

And damn if those tears of mine didn’t go full-on flood.

“Looks like the mansion’s gonna need a couple of new cribs.”

She nodded. “And if you don’t mind, since you already fired

Roy…”

“The ten acres to the far west of the property,” I said. “You,

you want them?”

She winked at me. “It will save you a trip to Crate & Barrel,”

she said. “For a wedding present, I mean.”

I walked the half a foot over to her and put my arms around

her waist. “All yours, Stella. No exceptions. You and Jake will own

it forever.”

Jake moved in and joined us. “Thanks, boss,” he said, his face

as wet as any of ours.

“You’re welcome, staff,” I told the two of them, half sobbing,

half laughing.

Then the whole group joined us, arms draped over shoulders.

Pearl spoke up next. “And I ain’t raising either of ‘em, boy. No,

sir.” She laughed, good and hard. “But I do plan on spoiling them

something rotten.”

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233

“Amen,” said Jeeves.

“Amen,” said Zeb.

“Amen,” said Jake.

“Amen,” said Stella.

“Amen,” said I, staring up at the ceiling with a sly wink to

Granny. “Amen to that.”

About the AuthoR

ROB ROSEN and his husband Kenny call San Francisco

home, but he lived in the deep, deep South for 15 years. He’s

written short stories for well over 150 anthologies and has three

other novels to his credit:
Sparkle: The Queerest Book You’ll Ever

Love
,
Divas Las Vegas
, winner of the 2010 TLA Gaybies for Best

Gay Fiction, and
Hot Lava
. His love of Popeyes fried chicken,

however, is no work of fiction. Please visit him at his website,

www.therobrosen.com