"How do I look? Do I look okay?" Gene was nervous as he was less than an hour away from getting married.
"You look fine," Jarrod told him.
"Except you're shaking like a leaf," Nick said as he splashed some witch hazel into his hand and slapped it on Gene's face.
"Boy Howdy, Nick, let him be," Heath offered. "You'll be shaking too when you marry Linda."
"And who says I'm marrying Linda?"
"See that. Just the mention of it is making you nervous," Heath teased.
Gene looked to Jarrod. "Is it that noticable?"
"No. You'll be fine." Jarrod looked him in the eye. "And I'm very proud of you."
Gene blushed slightly. "Come on, Jarrod, you're not going to get emotional on me again are you?"
Jarrod dropped a hand on Gene's shoulder. "As a matter of fact I am."
"You should know that by now," Heath told Gene as he walked by.
Jarrod continued. "Even though you're going to be a husband you're still going to be my brother and I'll always be here if you need me." He wrapped his arms around Gene and held him. In the embrace he found himself thinking to another time...
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"Is our new brother here yet?" nine-year-old Nick asked as he came running through the door. Jarrod then thirteen was a few steps behind.
"Not yet," their seventeen-year-old cousin Michelle answered. "And what makes you so sure it's a brother?"
"Jarrod told me," Nick answered with great certainty.
"And how is it that you would know?" she asked Jarrod.
"I always know. I knew Nick was going to be a brother."
Michelle laughed. "Yes, but if I remember correctly two years ago you thought Audra was going to be a brother too."
Jarrod gave her a look. "That's because I figured ONE bossy girl around here was enough."
Michelle was not to be thrown by the comment. "So you think if you get a brother you can do the bossing."
"He sure does!" Nick put in.
"I'm not that bad," Jarrod told him. "Besides you know I love you."
Nick felt a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, I know. Do you have to keep telling me?"
Jarrod's look was mischievous as he dropped a kiss on Nick's cheek and answered, "Yes."
It was then that Michelle's mother, the boys' Aunt Rosalie appeared at the top of the stairs. "It's a boy," she announced.
"See. We told you," Nick said gleefully to his cousin.
"Mom, can they come up?" Michelle asked.
"I think that will be fine," her mother answered. Nick took off like a shot.
"WALK!" Michelle and Rosalie said in unison.
Grudgingly Nick stopped halfway up the stairs and took the rest of the steps in a less speedy fashion. Jarrod followed, then Michelle who entered Victoria's room along side her mother.
Victoria was lying in her bed. Tom was at her side holding her hand. The baby was already in its bassinet but Victoria could read Jarrod's thoughts. "Would you like to hold him?" she asked her eldest.
Jarrod nodded and Rosalie carefully lifted the new born from the basket and gently placed him in Jarrod's arms.
"We've named him Eugene," their father told them.
Nick wrinkled his nose. "Eugene? What kind of a name is that?"
Michelle shushed him.
Jarrod gazed affectionately at the baby in his arms. He kissed his new brother on the forehead. "I love you," he said for the first time.
Nick who was watching intently said, "Hey, let me have a turn..."
@@@@@@@@@
"Hey, let me have a turn." Nick's voiced broke through Jarrod's reverie.
"What?" Jarrod was lost in thought.
"I said I'd like to give my brother a hug too if you don't mind."
"Oh." Jarrod released Gene. He watched as Nick embraced him and then surrendered him to Heath's arms.
When Heath let go Gene noticed Jarrod's eyes still on him. "Jarrod, it's not like this is the last time you'll ever hold me."
Jarrod smiled. "I know. It's just that I was remembering the FIRST."
@@@@@@@@@
An hour later in front of friends and family Eugene Barkley and Laura Templeton were joined in holy matrimony. Nick rested a comforting hand on Jarrod's shoulder as the minister said, "May I present for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Barkley."