Page 98 of Familiar Things New

They stayed like that for a while. And then, Andrew remembered the other truth he’d hoped to share.

“There’s . . . something else I want to tell you. Something that’s not so . . . sad.” Andrew’s heart pitter-pattered intensely. After one long breath, he moved his hand through Edwin’s soft hair and whispered, “Edwin, I’m in love with you.”

Despite the care Edwin had shown him, Andrew’s stomach still seized upon speaking those three words, and his muscles tensed as he waited for Edwin’s reaction. Edwin’s eyes widened a little. But only a second later, his lips curled into a sweet smile.

“I’m in love with you, too, my Andrew.”

Andrew sucked in a sharp breath. Had he not spent a chunk of the past hour crying, his eyes would have filled with tears.

“Really?” he asked.

Edwin huffed a soft laugh. “Really.” He nuzzled Andrew’s nose. “I love you, Andrew.”

Wonderstruck, Andrew simply stared wordlessly for a few long seconds, too happy, too shocked to speak. Then, he caught Edwin’s mouth in a kiss and prepared himself for what would hopefully be another long, beautiful round of sexual and sensual pleasure.

***

March 12, 1888

Hours later, Andrew and Edwin awoke from a nap. The only light in the bedroom was the trickle of white from the mostly obscured moon and the soft glow from the Rochester oil lamp on the nightstand. Andrew rolled onto his back and stretched. His stomach began to rumble before he even checked the time, which only confirmed that they’d missed dinner, likely by several hours, too. Hopefully Prudence hadn’t cooked a lot of food, thinking that Andrew and Edwin would join her.

“What’s wrong?” Edwin asked, propping himself up on his elbow.

“I’m worried Prudence may have cooked for us,” Andrew said.

Edwin bolted upright. “Oh, God, she knows I’m here, doesn’t she?” He looked out the window. “I should go. Otherwise, who knows what she might think.”

Quickly, Edwin swung his legs off the bed. He moved to stand, but Andrew caught his wrist.

“Edwin, wait,” Andrew said through a laugh. “Will you stop trying to run? Goodness gracious, I feel like you’re never not hurrying out of here.”

Edwin scrunched up his nose and sat back down with a sigh. “I do keep trying to run, don’t I?”

“Constantly,” Andrew said, still laughing. “Come back into bed. Prudence knows about us.”

“What?!” Edwin asked, his eyes bulging.

Andrew shrugged sheepishly. “Before you came back, I had sort of convinced myself that you might ruin my business. Which would mean that I’d have to move. So, when Prudence came up here to check on me, I . . . well, I told her that we had a fight and that I was worried. Because you were . . . special to me. And she, uhm, well, she figured out pretty quickly what I meant by that.”

Edwin’s hands flew to his mouth.

“Andrew!” he exclaimed as he removed them. “Why would you do that?! You could have been thrown out onto the streets! You could have lost your home! Or worse!”

“I know,” Andrew said through a wince. “Are you mad?”

Now it was Edwin who began to chuckle. He climbed back into bed and settled onto his side facing Andrew.

“I’m not mad,” he said. “I am a little concerned that you were so cavalier about our relationship, though.”

“I’m not very skilled in navigating social situations overall, so perhaps me confessing the nature of our relationship to my landlady shouldn’t be so surprising?” Andrew suggested playfully. Edwin simply crooked an eyebrow. Andrew groaned. “Oh, but she seemed so friendly! And I was so heartbroken!” He came out from hiding and locked eyes with Edwin. “I promise I’ll be more careful now that I know my life won’t soon be in shambles. And I know it was risky to tell her, but at least now we know you can stay over as often as either of us like, right?”

Edwin hummed, his brow creasing. Andrew reached up and poked the little vertical line between Edwin’s eyes, which seemed to pull Edwin out of his thoughts.

“What’s that line about?” Andrew asked.

“I was thinking about what you said. And what it might mean for our future.”

“Which is what?”