"Lover At Last" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ward, J.R.)

His father, never the demonstrative type, reached out a hand and gave Luchas an awkward pat on the forearm. тАЬWeтАЩre so proud of you. You lookтАжperfect.тАЭ

тАЬYou do,тАЭ QhuinnтАЩs mother piped up. тАЬJust perfect. DoesnтАЩt your brother look perfect, Solange?тАЭ

тАЬYes, he does. Perfect.тАЭ

тАЬAnd I have something for you,тАЭ Lohstrong said.

The male reached into the inside pocket of his sport coat and took out a black velvet box the size of a baseball.

QhuinnтАЩs mother started to tear up and dabbed under her eyes.

тАЬThis is for you, my precious son.тАЭ

The box was slid across the white damask tablecloth, and his brotherтАЩs now-big hands shook as he took the thing and popped the lid.

Qhuinn caught the flash of gold all the way out in the foyer.

As everyone at the table went silent, his brother stared at the signet ring, clearly overwhelmed, as their mother kept up with the dab-dab, and even their father grew misty. And his sister sneaked a roll from the bread basket.

тАЬThank you, sir,тАЭ Luchas said as he put the heavy gold ring on his forefinger.

тАЬIt fits, does it not?тАЭ Lohstrong asked.

тАЬYes, sir. Perfectly.тАЭ

тАЬWe wear the same size, then.тАЭ

Of course they did.

At that moment, their father glanced away, like he was hoping the movement of his eyeballs would take care of the sheen of tears that had come over his vision.

He caught Qhuinn lurking outside the dining room.

There was a brief flash of recognition. Not the hi-howтАЩre-ya kind, or the oh-good-my-other-sonтАЩs-home. More like when you were walking through the grass and noticed a pile of dog shit too late to stop your foot from landing in it.

The male went back to staring at his family, locking Qhuinn out.

Clearly, the last thing Lohstrong wanted was such a historic moment to be ruinedтАФand that was probably why he didnтАЩt do the hand signals that warded off the evil eye. Usually everyone in the household performed the ritual when they saw Qhuinn. Not tonight. Daddio didnтАЩt want the others to know.

Qhuinn went over to his duffel. Slinging the weight onto his shoulder, he took the front stairs to his room. Usually his mother preferred him to use the servantsтАЩ set, but that would mean heтАЩd have to cut through all the love in there.

His room was as far away from the othersтАЩ as you could get, all the way over to the right. HeтАЩd often wondered why they didnтАЩt take the leap completely and put him in with the doggenтАФbut then the staff would probably quit.

Closing himself in, he dumped his duds on the bare floor and sat on his bed. Staring at his only piece of luggage, he figured he had better do that laundry soon, as there was a wet bathing suit in there.

The maids refused to touch his clothesтАФlike the evil in him lingered in the fibers of his jeans and his T-shirts. The upside was, he was never welcome at formal events, so his wardrobe was just wash-тАЩnтАЩ-wear, babyтАФ

He discovered he was crying when he looked down at his Ed Hardys and realized that there were a couple of drops of water right in the middle of the laces.