Chartreuse (25 page)

Epilogue

Two years later.

     Kasen appeared in the doorway, a huge grin
on his face as he stared at the anxious people seated in the waiting room,
“It’s a girl!” He announced excitedly.  “Mama’s doing fine,” And then he
disappeared again.  Anxious whispers filled the small room as everyone awaited
more news. 

     Again, the brown haired radio personality
appeared, laughing happily as he jumped up and down excitedly, “It’s a boy!” He
shouted, puffing his chest out like a proud father. 

     “We’ve got another one coming!” Someone
called from the hallway. 

     “I gotta get back in there.  We’ve got
another one coming,” Kasen laughed, turning on his heels and hurrying towards
the back.

     “He’s easily excited, isn’t he?” Jessica
asked as she flipped through the pages of a random magazine.

     “That he is,” Phineas, Jessica’s
attractive new boyfriend, replied as he glanced up from his cellphone.  He slid
his thumb over the screen before tucking it back into the pocket of his red
flannel shirt.  He cocked his head to the side and grinned at her.  “Who knew
becoming grandparents would be such a rush?”

     “Oh, hush!” Jessica cackled, smacking his
arm lightly before resting her head against his shoulder.  “At least I’m
remaining calm.  It’s not your baby in there having babies!”

     “Nope,” Phineas shook his head, patting
her knee gently before giving it a squeeze.  The deep rumble of his laughter
filled the room as Mister Perkins shifted in his seat.

     “How much longer?” The old man inquired as
he glanced at the watch on his wrist.  “I got somewhere to be today.”

     “Do you have a date?” Jessica asked,
lifting her head quickly to stare at him.

     Her father muttered something beneath his
breath before rolling his eyes, “You know your mama don’t like going on dates. 
If anybody needs to be going on dates around here, it’s you and him,” He nodded
to Phineas.

     “Hint taken, Sir,” Phineas saluted with
two fingers, flashing an award winning smile before wrapping his arm around
Jessica’s shoulders.  “How about a movie tonight?”

     “Umm…yes,” She smiled.  “Do you think
Kasen and Rowan could tag along? I want to see that new-”

     “It’s a boy!” Kasen crowed, entering the
waiting room a final time as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve
of his shirt.  “They are beautiful puppies, Jess.  Diana’s resting now.”

     “So how many does that give us?” Jessica
asked as she immediately bolted up from her seat, approaching her friend with
shared enthusiasm.       

     “Six,” Kasen replied as he loosened the
collar of his dress shirt, releasing a loud sigh of relief.  “She had six
beautiful, adorable, gorgeous puppies.  You’re going to have your hands full.”

     “Mhm,” She nodded.  “Well, you make sure
Rowan knows he owes me puppy support for those yippy little furballs,” Jessica
joked.  “Hey, Kase.  Do you think you and Rowan would like to go to the movies
with Phin and me tonight?”

     “Oh gosh, we’d love to but we’ve already
made dinner plans at The Dice,” Kasen frowned.  The Dice was a brand new
restaurant in Chartreuse.  The food was delicious, the staff was amazingly
friendly, and it had quickly become Kasen’s favorite place to eat.  He would
probably never pass up the opportunity to go there.

     “The Dice?!” Jessica groaned softly.  “Why
don’t you ever take me to the Dice?” She asked, turning to glare playfully at
Phineas.

     “Oh gee, I don’t know,” Phineas ran his
fingers through his dirty blond hair thoughtfully.  “Probably because A-you
work there, and B-I own it.”

     “Oh.  Right,” She sighed dramatically,
turning her attention back to Kasen.  “I guess we’ll be seeing the movie
alone.  Enjoy eating hoards of food
not
being served by me,” She winked.

     “Oh, I’m sure I will,” Kasen promised
jauntily.

     “We need to get going anyway,” Phineas
stated as he pushed himself up from his chair.  He easily towered over Kasen
and Jessica as he grabbed his jacket and moved towards the door.  The man was a
giant, but gentle in nature.  They’d ran into him nearly a year before at The
Waffle House in Enterprise, of all places.  He was on a business trip in hopes
of finding a location for his restaurant idea, and when Jessica walked through
the front door, he knew
exactly
where he wanted to open up shop;
wherever she lived.

     The rest was history.  Jessica was happy
and Kasen was happy for her.  Phineas was good to her, good for her, and on
occasion, he mentioned he’d love nothing more than to find her ex-husband and
reenact Fried Green Tomatoes.  Rowan hadn’t understood the reference until
Kasen set him down for some movie education, but after watching it, Rowan
seemed to like Phineas a little bit more.

     Kasen bid farewell to Jessica, her father,
and Phineas before heading back into the operating room.  Rowan had already put
Diana into a big, comfortable doggy bed in the corner with her six suckling
puppies surrounding her.  He was attempting to wash his hands.

     Kasen leaned against the doorway, smiling
broadly as he took a moment to just enjoy the sight.  Rowan must’ve felt his
eyes on him though, because he glanced up at him and chuckled.

     “What is it?” He asked.

    “Nothing,” Kasen shrugged.  “Just admiring
the view, really.”

     “Oh yeah?” Rowan chewed at his inner
cheek, turning off the faucet and reaching for a towel.  “Are you enjoying
yourself?”

     “I am, as a matter of fact,” Kasen stepped
into the room, closing the distance between them as his arms wrapped around
Rowan’s neck.  “You did a great job with those puppies.”

     “Well, it
is
my job,” Rowan leaned
down to press a kiss against his lips.  “Has Jessica already left?”

     “Yeah, Mister Perkins was in a hurry and
Phineas seemed just as eager.  I thought she would’ve stayed to see the
puppies….”

     “She’ll come back later,” Rowan promised,
sliding his hand down Kasen’s back as he pulled him a little closer.  “Besides,
we’ve got some plans, don’t we?  Something about…food?”

     “
Yes
,” Kasen’s tone became more
serious.  “And I’m starving.”

     It wasn’t long before the happy couple
found themselves in Rowan’s car, making their way towards the heart of town
where hot food and fun entertainment awaited them.  Things were different
now-in the best way possible.  Kasen was more confident and had crawled out of
his shell to become a more social person, and when everyone discovered he was
‘Cool Kasey’, he struck more popularity points than he could’ve ever imagined.

     Everyone was nicer it seemed.  That
fateful New Year’s Day celebration had changed
everything
.  Toby was
never seen again, and Glenn Brooks ‘resigned’ from his position at the police
department.  Though rumor had it that his father ‘ripped him a new one’, and
Glenn was trying to save himself from further humiliation.  It didn’t matter
what the small details were in Rowan and Kasen’s mind.  The fact of the matter
was that the harassment stopped and the tiny town of Chartreuse had embraced
them as two of their own.  It was more than they could’ve ever asked for.

     “All right, let’s see here…” Rowan said
thoughtfully as he glanced over the menu.  “What are we going to have today?”

     “I don’t know about you, but I’m eyeing
this steak pretty hard,” Kasen chuckled, glancing over the top of his menu to
gaze at Rowan. 

     “That sounds great.  I’ll have that, too,”
Rowan motioned the waitress over and smiled broadly.  “We’re ready to order.”

     “Sure thing, hot stuff,” Nikki pulled out
her guest check pad and tugged the pen out of her bun.  “What are we having,
fellas?”

     It was nice having Nikki in town as well. 
Phineas had practically offered her a job on the spot.  She and her girlfriend,
Marissa, moved to Chartreuse shortly afterwards and no one gave them any grief
over it.  Nikki had once stated that Chartreuse was the most welcoming town
she’d ever been to, and that made Kasen feel proud.  He knew that not everyone
agreed with his lifestyle, but they respected it.  That’s all he’d ever wanted.

     After ordering their food, Rowan leaned
over the table a bit and reached for Kasen’s hand, “Thank you for allowing me
to take you to dinner tonight,” He whispered.

     “You don’t have to thank me for that,”
Kasen blushed.  “I mean, I should be thanking
you
.  You’ve had a long
day, you know, delivering puppies and all that.”

     They shared a laugh as the double doors
swung open.  Jessica and Phineas entered the elegant establishment, along with
Mister Perkins, Mrs. Perkins, Chief Brooks, the fire chief, and much to Kasen’s
surprise, Mrs. Reed.  His curiosity got the better of him as he lifted a brow
and eyed Rowan suspiciously.

     “What are they doing here?” He asked
nervously.

     “Because some really great news came out
today,” Rowan explained as his eyes sparkled.

     “What do you mean?” Kasen shifted in his
seat, no longer worried about eating as his stomach twisted into anxious knots.

    “You’ll see,” Rowan nodded to Nikki then,
and she turned on the television.  The news was on and the video footage
playing currently showed thousands of people celebrating in Times Square.  Big
bold letters blinked at the bottom of the screen and it took a moment for those
words to register in Kasen’s mind.

    
MARRIAGE EQUALITY FOR AMERICA.

   
It was a fight they’d been fighting together
for two years.  One by one, each state followed in suit of giving
everyone
the right to marry the person of their choice, and Alabama was the state
everyone had been waiting for.  Chartreuse, though small, had become a strong
voice for the state in allowing two men or two women to marry one another; and
Kasen knew that his town was fighting for him and Rowan.

     The tingles shooting through his veins
made him feel faint, suddenly, and Kasen was certain he would’ve fallen out of
his seat had Jessica’s arms not been wrapping around him in celebration.

     “Isn’t it wonderful?” She asked happily,
planting a kiss against his cheek.  “Marriage equality has finally happened in
the United States!”

     “That’s great…” Kasen whispered in
disbelief.  It was like winning the lottery, or being accepted into a really,
really distinguished Ivy League school.  Kasen had never done either, but he
imagined the level of shock felt the same.  Hoots and hollers and applause
erupted in the restaurant as Kasen tried to grasp what was happening.  His eyes
flitted towards his mother and the huge smile she was giving him.  She seemed
to be happy, too.

    Their relationship had taken a lot of
mending and several different prescriptions from Doctor Smith, the local psychiatrist. 
Mrs. Reed finally admitted she needed help and after a few months, she and Kasen
had the heart to heart he’d been deprived of his entire life.  She apologized
for being a bad mother and he apologized for yelling at her over the Christmas
turkey. Mrs. Reed was making an effort to become acquainted with Rowan, too,
and again, Kasen couldn’t ask for more.

     More and more kept happening though, and
in this very moment, his townspeople were celebrating something that didn’t
even benefit them….yet here they were, rejoicing at the news of people like
Kasen being able to wed without anyone telling them they couldn’t.  No one
could say no to them now.

     “Kasen.”

     Kasen slowly turned his head to see Rowan
offering a hand to him.  When did he even stand up?  So much was happening all
at once….it was nearly too much.  He took Rowan’s hand anyway, allowing the
older male to pull him up from his seat before leading him to the middle of the
room.

     “What’s going on?” Kasen asked as he gazed
around, taking in each and every smiling face that stared back at him. 
Everyone seemed
so
happy.  He felt like he was stuck in a slow motion
applause scene that only happened in movies.  Maybe he needed to pinch himself
to see if he’d wake up.

     “Kasen,” Rowan repeated as he gazed at him
with tenderness in his eyes.  Kasen knew that look.  He’d seen it a thousand
times and it never ceased to give him butterflies. Kasen swallowed hard,
licking his lips before smiling nervously.

     “Yes?”

     And then it happened.  Rowan was getting
down on one knee and Kasen could’ve sworn he heard Jessica’s excited squeal
over the commotion happening in the restaurant.  His mouth fell open as he
realized what Rowan was about to do.

     “Today is a day of celebration for people
like you and me all over America,” Rowan started in a trembling voice.  Were
his hands shaking?  Kasen thought his hands were shaking as Rowan gripped his
fingers gently.  God, was
he
shaking?  Yes.  His knees were trying to
knock together as he kept his eyes on the handsome creature speaking.  Oh
wait.  What was he saying?  His lips were moving.  Kasen really needed to pay
attention.