our business would prosper, because we were scared of being judged and losing everything.
“He gave me the best years of his life, and I tried to do the same, but as I look back on it now, I wish we wouldn’t have had to hide it for so long. I wished I had told every person in my life to fuck off, as my Lenny would say, and have had more years of our rings on each other’s fingers. But I think I would have felt that way even if we’d had a thousand of them. But it’s what we had to do, and it all worked out. What I’m trying to tell you all from the grave—”
There were a few watery snorts, because he’d gone there.
“Is this: I love you all, and I want you to remember now that I’m not around, to never forget what’s important. You’re each important. You’re each loved. And if you love something or someone, you don’t ever give up on it. Life’s not easy but hold on to the things that matter, even if you have to use some fingernails. I told one of you once that you don’t throw away the things that matter. Hold on for me. Fight for me, or like I’m behind you telling you that you better not quit,” Jonah read.
He had told me that. I remembered. When he’d fired me so Mo and I could go to Japan to be with Jonah, that had been the sentence he’d said when he’d hugged me tight and set me free. Kind of. Because he’d followed me there and stayed with me for ten months out of the year.
Jonah read a little more of the paper that was directly meant for his friends and the members of Jonah’s family that had come, and then this wonderful amazing man I had been lucky enough to spend the last two decades of my life with said, “Mo and Marcus, I love you two so much, and I’m so proud of you. I’m always here. I’ll always be listening for you. Jasper—” Jonah’s voice broke off with a laugh at the nickname the old vampire had never managed to totally drop even after so long. “—you are the second best man I know. It was a privilege knowing you—” He swallowed and glanced at me to whisper, “He called me son.”
I couldn’t help but smile at him as I wrapped my fingers around his forearm and said, “He’s been calling you that behind your back for years, Dimples. He loved you.”
He knew that. I knew he knew that. Jonah smiled before ducking down to give me a kiss on the nose. He straightened, swallowed hard, and nodded to himself. “Okay. There’s just a little more. To the two loves of my life—”
Peter and I made eye contact then. My second dad. His smile hadn’t gone anywhere, and I’d swear his eyes sparkled from behind his glasses. I smiled at him too then, knowing he was fine between Mo and Luna, while I gave my own strength to these two guys of mine who needed me.
“—you gave me a reason to live. And I’m going to haunt you both for the rest of your lives. That creaking noise you hear in the attic? It’s me. The shadow you see out of the corner of your eye? That’s me too. I love you both. You know that. You know what you mean to me. I love you all. I’m never far away. Do what you have to do to be happy, okay? No one else is going to do it for you.”
Do what you have to do to be happy.
Goddammit, Grandpa.
I was not going to cry. I was not going to cry. I was not going to cry.
Slipping my hand through Jonah’s arm, clutching Marcus’s hand close, I led them all toward Peter, and the next thing I knew, I had my cheek against his. Marcus was on one side of me, arm over his Grandpa Peter’s shoulder, and I had Jonah on my other side again, holding me close to his body with one arm, and the other around his mini-me, Mo. And Mo had her arm around Grandpa Peter too. From the weight on my back and on my arms, I knew we had been surrounded as well by another layer of love.
Grandpa Gus was there too.
I could feel him in my heart, and I knew he was in everyone’s then like he always would be. Where he belonged. Exactly where I knew he’d want to be.
With his family. With the people who loved him the most. The group of us who loved each other the most. My past, my present, and my future. The best things to ever happen to me.
And there was only one person in the world I could thank for it all.
For the life I had that even on the worst, most frustrating day, I could smile.
I love you so much, old man. Every good thing in my life has been because of you.
Thank you for being the best grandpa/grandma/uncle/brother/best friend/soul mate/enemy I could ever ask for, I threw out to him, knowing he was always listening, because some things never changed.
No vampire has ever been loved as much as you, Grandpa Gus. Tell my dad I said hi.