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Nothing gold can staywas a line from Jackson’s favorite Robert Frost poem, one he’d memorized back in high school thanks to doing stage crew for a senior-year play production ofThe Outsiders. All he’d really done was run a few props on and offstage in between light cues, but he’d been there for the rehearsals, listened to the story, and memorized the poem. He’d even read the entire book the play was based on, which was pretty amazing, since at the time Jackson was only allowed to read the Bible and a handful of books preapproved by his parents.
The story of the Curtis brothers and their struggles had hit home in a unique way for Jackson. Ponyboy’s effort to be part of the gang he’d been born into versus his desire for something bigger, and his realization that violence wasn’t the answer. Jackson had gone through his own battle to claim his identity in a world that wanted to define it for him. Ponyboy wasn’t a Greaser or a Soc; Jackson wasn’t a prostitute or a felon. Both young men were simply themselves, and they had to learn what being “himself” truly meant.
The poem’s lineNothing gold can staystuck with him through the weekend, and Jackson wasn’t sure why. His secret relationship with Wyatt was going strong, work was good, and yet in the very back of his mind, this bizarre gong of doom lingered, waiting to be rung. He didn’t want it to ever ring, obviously, but what if it did? Something undefinable about Wyatt’s secret search for his bio dad kept niggling at the back of Jackson’s mind, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
So he worked and loved on Wyatt every chance he got, and he did his best to ignore the feeling entirely.
They did, however, get an alarm system installed in Wyatt’s car to ease their peace of mind in case the neighborhood prankster decided to go at it again. So far, though, the police had no leads and no new reports of attempted trunk theft in the area. Hopefully, it had been a one-off prank and was over with.
Sundays were fairly casual at the ranch, thanks to generations-old beliefs that Sunday was for big family dinners, not work. Which was fine in theory, but on a ranch like this the cattle still needed tending, the horses still needed feeding, and nothing ever truly stopped moving. He and Wyatt were on line duty that morning, and when they found a breach in the fencing on the south pasture, he let Wyatt do the repair. Naturally, Wyatt cut his wrist on the barbed wire, which required a quick bandage fix, but the kid was pretty much 0-30 in terms of getting some sort of cut, scrape, or bruise.
Around four in the afternoon, the parking area by the main house began filling with vehicles as the Woods clan descended upon the house for a big family dinner. Jackson knew all the in-laws and various kids, and he greeted the handful he saw as they went inside. His best guess was that tonight was the night that Brand gave Hugo the commitment ring and/or asked Hugo to marry him. Either was an option at this point. A grand, romantic gesture at the end of a big family meal sounded like something Brand would do, and Jackson was kind of sorry he’d miss it. But he’d probably hear all about it at some point, if not from Brand directly then for sure from Rem. Rem was a huge gossip no matter the subject matter.
The only dark cloud over his day was Wyatt, who’d kept an emotional distance from him for the past few days. Jackson couldn’t put his finger on exactly what was different. Since they’d both worked, they didn’t have any real time off together to talk about whatever was bothering Wyatt, and Jackson didn’t like that. He was very much close to breaking his own “no relationships stuff at the ranch” rule just so he could find out what was bothering Wyatt and fix it.
He hadn’t managed a private moment with Wyatt today, despite being out on the line together for three hours, and it was ten minutes past quitting time when he finally gave up and headed for his truck. Wyatt’s car was still there but the guy was nowhere to be found. At his truck’s door, two figures on the bunkhouse porch captured his attention: Brand and Hugo. They weren’t up at the big house yet with the rest of the family.
While Jackson wasn’t much for eavesdropping on private business, neither man looked happy. So he stopped and watched, curiosity overtaking his manners.
Brand pointed at the family home and said something Jackson couldn’t hear. Hugo waved two hands in the air in a gesture Jackson couldn’t interpret. He felt a little douche-y for observing what was probably a private moment (and apparently not a happy one) but he couldn’t seem to move. Less to see what was going on and more so he didn’t startle or interrupt them.
He caught “told me sooner” from Hugo, followed by “telling you now” from Brand.
What on earth?
Hugo said something else too low to hear, then turned away from Brand. At this angle, Jackson wasn’t sure if he heard the words or just saw Hugo’s lips move to say, “Apologize to your mom for me.” Then he stormed off toward the garage. Brand watched him go, shoulders slumped, entire body radiating his upset.
He finally noticed Jackson and frowned. Instead of approaching or attempting to explain the fight, Brand pivoted and strode toward the main house. Unsure what was happening but pretty certain there wouldn’t be a proposal tonight, Jackson followed Hugo to the garage. He found his friend standing next to a workbench with a hammer in his hand, simply staring at it like he wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“Hey,” Jackson said. “You okay, bud?”
Hugo looked at him, not startled exactly, but probably confused why Jackson had chased after him instead of his boyfriend. “No, not really. I just, uh, needed some time alone.”
“Sorry. I can leave you alone.”
“It’s okay.” He put the hammer down, then picked up a screwdriver. Turned it over in his fingers a few times before he put it back, too. “Did you know?”
Jackson blinked. “Know what?”
“It’s just you were with Brand for a lot of years, so he had to have said something to you about it, right? But he waited almost a whole year before he told me about it.”
“Okay, you need to back up a minute. What do you think I knew about but Brand didn’t tell you?” While he and Brand had talked a lot during their interludes while “seeing each other,” they never had heavy heart-to-hearts, and if Brand had some sort of life-changing secret he hadn’t told Hugo about, Jackson couldn’t guess what it was.
“About the baby.”
“The what now?” He took a few steps closer to Hugo in case someone else wandered into the garage. No need to blare this conversation to the entire ranch. “What baby? Brand’s having a baby?”
“No, he had a baby. I mean, obviously he didn’t have the baby, but back in high school he apparently got his girlfriend pregnant, her parents forced him to sign away all his rights, and they moved away.”
Something began poking at the back of Jackson’s mind like the first hints of a migraine, warning him of devastating pain ahead. “Brand has a kid out there?”
“Yes. And I’m not mad about the fact that he’s got a kid, that’s not important. It all happened before I was even friends with Rem, so I never knew about it when it went down. But we’ve been together for a while and Brand just now told me. That he’s never looked for the kid because he wanted to put that part of his life away and live in the now, but he wanted me to know this part of him. His last big secret.”
“Wow.” Jackson braced his hand on the edge of the workbench, all turned around by this. Not just the shock of finding out Brand had a kid out there somewhere that no one knew about (except his family, obviously), but also that this new fact was clashing with Wyatt’s Maybe Daddy search out here in Weston. Clashing in an alarming way. The math was way too similar, the coincidence too freaking huge. “How old would his kid be now?”
“Twenty.”
Fuck. Fuuuuuck.
