Ivan brought the Buick to a stop behind the shop. Dylan and his father walked around to the boat ramp and went inside. Clay had hung up from his call with Harry about ten minutes before.
“What did the senator have to say?” Ivan asked.
“Glad you didn’t need to take this message. I’ve got my work cut out for me. Bill and Logan are coming to Harry’s. The documentary is finished,” Clay said. “We’re invited to dinner Thursday evening.”
“Kewl,” Dylan said. “Logan is coming here?”
“According to Harry. You’re invited to go with us to dinner, if you’re interested. Logan should be there. Both of you were involved in creating the documentary. I can’t wait to see what Logan did with it.”
“Can I bring the newest edits for my film?” Dylan asked.
“You finished editing?” Clay asked.
“I finished weeks ago. I spliced in some of the latest footage I added the fish kill footage. It belongs in my film. It
isn’t as dramatic as Logan’s documentary. He did his thing and I did mine,” Dylan said.
“I’d bet on it,” Ivan said. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve done. I can’t wait to see what you two did all summer.”
“What’s for dinner?” Dylan asked
“Fried chicken tonight,” Clay said. “Thursday’s dinner, I don’t know. Harry didn’t say. With Twila as his cook, it will be excellent.”
“My mother signed for about ten pounds of prime rib while I was waiting for the egg sandwiches this morning. Since Harry won’t come in until Thursday, I’d bet that’s dinner Thursday,” Tag said.
“Fried chicken,” Dylan said. “I bet she made biscuits. I love Mama’s biscuits.”
“Don’t we all,” Ivan said. “Biscuits to die for and I’m hungry again. What time is dinner?”
“Mama will put it on the table at six. Be there or be square, all you kewl cats out there,” Clay quipped like a radio DJ. “And we better get going, kiddo, if we don’t want to be square. I brought the Nikon to get some stills of the plant I had you filming yesterday. I’m not sure if it’s a variation on a plant we’ve identified or not. I want Bill to look at it. He’ll know right away what we’re looking at.”
“I took the movie camera to the house yesterday. I didn’t bring it this morning. I can take the stills if you want,” Dylan said.
“Yes, I was hoping you’d say that. Since you got the movie camera, you haven’t been that interested in the Nikons.”
“Dad, I want to do what you need me to do. The movie camera takes a lot of time to master. I’m not halfway there, I figure,” Dylan said. “I don’t want to forget how to use the Nikon. In some ways stills give you something pictures in motion don’t give you. Let’s get going. I can already taste Mama’s fried chicken.”
They checked the gauges on their SCUBA tanks before picking them up at the back of the shop and headed for the Sea Lab.
Ivan stood in the window to watch his men carrying the air tanks down the dock to the rear of Sea Lab. Clay stepped down onto the deck first. Dylan handed down one set of tanks and then the other and he stepped down beside his father. They took the air tanks inside as Ivan watched.
The engines came to life a few minutes later. Dylan came back on deck to move forward to cast off the bow line. Then he moved back to the two stern lines, unfastening one and then the other. Sea Lab drifted forward and out of her slip into cove waters.
Sea Lab began idling along at the 5mph cove speed limit. It took five minutes for her to be moving into the cove’s mouth. Clay turned her westward, holding the idling speed for a few minutes longer.
At a point Ivan could imagine but couldn’t see, Sea Lab reached the edge of Gulf. Clay could see the change from the deep blue of the cove waters to the aquamarine of the Gulf. Sea Lab’s nose lifted precipitously as the two Detroits responded when Clay pushed the throttles half way forward.
He’d let Sea Lab run at half speed until the engines were sufficiently warm. Then he’d push the throttles forward to two thirds. By then, after turning south southwest, the two Detroits stood ready to give Clay all the power he needed. This was part of why Ivan was here. Watching his lover going off to save the Gulf of Mexico exhilarated Ivan.
As Clay went about his business day in and day out, Ivan got to play, entertain, and excite hard working men and women who came to the cove to have fun. Life was weird that way. For Ivan his job was to have a good time while entertaining guests at the Cove Campground.
After Ivan came back from being gone for so long, he had no idea what he was going to do or how he’d give something back for the wonderful life that was waiting for him at the cove. He needed something that excited him but kept him in the cove.
Once the old Bait Shop burned, the entire north side of the cove was his to do anything he pleased. Standing there with Clay comforting him, Ivan began to see the beach and campsites.
He began to see his cove empire taking shape.
Once Ivan was home, he couldn’t imagine leaving again. He found out he had a son. Because he had a son, Clay slowly gave ground reluctantly. Dylan made up his mind about Ivan right away. Clay knew he had to take Ivan back into his life, like it or not.
Ivan saw the pain in Clay’s eyes. Clay wanted no part of him, but his love for Dylan meant he couldn’t reject Dylan’s father. He wouldn’t put his son in the middle of a war zone. Clay had to accept Ivan’s presence in Dylan’s life.
Ivan started working on changing Clay’s mind. Dylan gave him the opening he needed and he wouldn’t waste it. He’d prove to Clay that he was here to stay and being away for all those years wasn’t entirely his doing.
For Dylan’s sake, Clay forgave Ivan, but he’d never forget what Ivan did to him. Slowly, the anger subsided. Seeing so much of Ivan, Clay became accustomed to having him back in his life. There was a time when Ivan was Clay’s life. Those were good days.
Being around wasn’t what Ivan had in mind for Clay. He wanted to prove to the man who once loved him, he wasn’t going anywhere. Ivan dreamed up pizza night. It was a family affair that included Ivan, Dylan and Clay. Clay had to go along. He wasn’t trusting Dylan with his father alone.
It was the little things that kept bringing them together. Dylan wasn’t that little, but he knew he figured into what happened between his two dads. Although Ivan was gone all Dylan’s life, he was on Ivan’s side about this. Dylan wasn’t sure why. It just felt right.
Ivan’s routine surrounding his treatment of Clay was taking shape. When Clay went out on Sea Lab, Ivan had a simple routine. He’d help Clay load his equipment and he’d stand in plain view to watch Sea Lab work her way to the mouth of the cove, and once she turned westward, he’d watch her speed away into the Gulf of Mexico.
Clay knew he stayed to watch Sea Lab disappear. He didn’t mind. There had been a time when he did everything with Ivan, and then there was a time when Ivan left him, and when he remembered that, his anger boiled up again.
Ivan was patient. Yes, he’d been gone for a long time, but he was home now, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
With two against one, Clay was eventually going to weaken. Ivan knew Clay was still angry with him, but he saw the sparkle of love in his eyes that overshadowed his anger. Ivan was in no hurry.
This was early on after Ivan’s return. Even before he dreamed up Cove Enterprises and the Cove Campground, Ivan stood watching Clay going off to save the seas. Each time he went, Ivan was there. These days, as soon as he heard the distinctive sound of Sea Lab’s engines throttling back to come into the cove, Ivan went outside to stand in front of the shop’s huge window. Before he built the shop, he stood next to the old Bait Shop. He estimated how long before Clay returned, and Ivan was there, waiting for Clay to come home.
When Dylan went with Clay, he stood on deck watching Ivan watch the Sea Lab. When they returned, Ivan was waiting. The impression this left on Ivan’s son was indelible. When they came back from a dive, seeing Ivan waiting for them warmed Dylan’s heart.
Ivan was always waiting for his men to come home from the sea. If he was there today, and he’d been there yesterday, he was probably going to be there tomorrow and the day after.
Everyone in and around the cove knew Clay and Ivan were together. They’d been together as far back as anyone remembered. They were together now, and while no one was all that clear on what it meant, they hardly remembered Ivan being gone.
What people were sure about was that Ivan brought a new economic vibrancy to the cove. They were enjoying the sudden burst of prosperity that came with the people who came to the cove from all over the country.
Ivan wasn’t going anywhere. He continued his routine long after the wounds were healed. He never got tired of watching Sea Lab leave the cove and then come home. Clay and Dylan never got tired of seeing him waiting for them, no matter where they went.
Ivan might admit he worried a little when his men were at sea. Things did happen and he didn’t want anything to happen that might separate him from his men.
At five thirty on Tuesday evening, Ivan heard Sea Lab throttling back to enter the mouth of the cove. He put down the ink pen on the order form he was filling out. He stood and stretched before going outside to stand in front of the shop’s huge window. As Sea Lab made her turn toward her slip, Ivan came into view for his men to see.
Dylan stood beside Clay as they moved toward Sea Lab’s slip.
They smiled once they saw Ivan. It was reassuring, even if they knew Ivan was home to stay by then. Any time Clay saw Ivan, after being away for an hour or a summer, his heart fluttered with anticipation.
As soon as Sea Lab’s bow was facing him, Ivan gave them a sweeping wave. It was his welcome home.
After Ivan first came home, if Clay or Dylan left the cove, the message to Ivan was clear: ‘You better be here when I get back.’
Ivan was always there.
The building of the Cove Campground was further proof that he was home to stay. It took a while to figure out a way to demonstrate that he wasn’t going anywhere. His ‘Cove Empire’ slowly took shape. It was still growing, expanding, and pleasing visitors all year round.
Even Ivan didn’t see how popular his invention would become. It started out with building a beach and campsites. Each year he added more attractions to entertain his guests. Each time he added something else he was sure it was perfect, until he thought up the next thing to thrill his guests.
Ivan’s routine was particularly meaningful to Dylan. One day, as Clay took Sea Lab out alone, Dylan stood beside Ivan in the shop’s huge window to film Sea Lab’s departure. He filmed what Ivan saw. When Clay returned later in the afternoon, Dylan was still there, and he went out to stand beside Ivan and he filmed Sea Lab’s return to her slip. He captured Ivan’s perspective. Ivan proved he wasn’t going anywhere and Dylan documented that fact. It was Ivan’s cove.
Popov gave him the land, except for the Fish Warehouse and JK’s.
No one needed to tell Dylan why Ivan did the same thing every time they left on Sea Lab. Dylan knew why. He did it for them. It was his apology and his promise. It was Ivan saying ‘I’m sorry I caused you so much pain. I’m still here and I’m not going anywhere.’
Both Ivan and Dylan knew Clay better than anyone else. Dylan knew his father forgave Ivan, but he’d never forget the pain he caused. Dylan knew Ivan because he was Ivan. Knowing what went on inside Clayton Olson was impossible. Ivan was smart. Clay had a depth and breadth Dylan could only admire from a distance.
His father was the right hand man and good friend of a Senator. He was admired by his college professor and a young filmmaker. It wasn’t simply a friendship they shared. These men respected Clay because he was devoted to his profession and never took a day off.
His father spoke at universities and in front of Congress. He studied conditions in the Gulf and he wrote papers about it. Dylan didn’t know if Clay would save the world one day, but he’d never stop trying. These were the times that made Ivan glad to be alive. He had it all and Dylan was the gift that kept on giving. Ivan knew he was the luckiest man alive. He nearly gave it all away, but he was home now.
Dylan still recalled when he came face to face with his biology for the first time. He’d thought about it for years. He’d known Ivan was his father since Clay told him when he was five. As he grew up, he looked more and more like Ivan, and Clay told him the truth.
Upon their first meeting, it was Ivan who needed time to process what he was seeing in front of him. It gave Dylan an immediate advantage. The fact they looked so much alike added to the connection between them.
It helped Dylan throw caution to the wind and admit he loved his biological father every bit as much as he loved the father who raised him. Almost from the start, Dylan knew it was he who would bring his two dads back together. It’s what he wanted. It’s what they needed. It’s the kind of thing Dylan knew instinctively. Yes, he still busted his father’s balls every chance he got, but he’d been absent for ten years of his life. Dylan wasn’t ready to let him forget it quite yet.
In his two fathers, he had an incredible mix of experiences and knowledge. Because they loved each other as much as they did, they could tell it like it is. Hurt feelings weren’t part of the bargain. The truth was the entire point of who they were.
While accepting that Ivan was home to stay, Dylan knew nothing about his long absence. He’d been in Southeast Asia. He went there to get his brother. Dylan heard about where he was and what he’d done from men like Harry, who said it was probably the most remarkable thing he’d ever seen.
The one thing Dylan wanted to know about Ivan was where was he and what did he do while he was gone. Ivan never mentioned his time away. It was like he wanted to forget it ever happened.
What happened?
Everyone respected Ivan for reasons Dylan wasn’t sure about. Dylan sensed a toughness in his father he sensed in no one else. Most men seemed to be careful around him, but Dylan didn’t know why.
Ivan had gone to get his brother from Southeast Asia. He was gone ten years. Dylan knew it didn’t take ten years to go to Southeast Asia and back. Maybe if you walked slow. He knew not to ask his father about what took him so long.
Instinct told him not to go there. He had no fear of asking Ivan anything. The reason he never spoke about being gone, it would open wounds no one wanted opened, and Dylan understood that too.
It didn’t mean Dylan wasn’t curious. He was Ivan’s son and he wanted to know everything about his father.
It was nearly five years since Ivan and Dylan came face to face for the first time. For Ivan it was like looking into a mirror twenty years ago. No one needed to tell him who Dylan was.
But how?
It took a Ivan a few minutes to figure out how it was done. Ivan hadn’t missed a minute of Dylan’s life since his return. The tour of duty that kept Ivan away for all those years was forced on him.
He was doing all within his power to forget he’d been shanghaied by his government. Men held him against his will, after forcing him to sign a five-year contract that kept him in Southeast Asia.
There was one thing for certain: Ivan didn’t intend to miss any more of Dylan’s life. He never saw himself as a father, but once he’d seen Dylan, he couldn’t recall loving anyone more completely.
He loved Clay and the point of everything he did was to win him back. It wasn’t going to be easy, but Ivan kept being there, reliable, and steady. His grip on the cove tightened as he built it.
Everything Ivan did was geared for one outcome. That’s not to say his feelings and actions weren’t authentic, because they were, but none of it meant a thing without the man he loved in his life as his lover, not as a chaperone protecting his son from his absentee father.
It took until the holidays the year Ivan came home for the three of them to be able to go out as equals and without Clay acting as a watchdog. It wasn’t a sudden event. For a month or more they’d been spending time together to simply be together. They shared something in common and absolutely nothing stood in the way any longer.
Dylan was always excited by Christmas and he could run both Clay and Ivan ragged with energy he stored all year for the holidays. They’d gone to dinner and came in after nine. Instead of going to the Conservancy house, which they usually did, they went to Ivan’s.
It was the day after New Year’s Day and Dylan would return to school the next day. Dylan yawned a few times as the three of them sat on the deck next to Ivan’s bedroom and they listened and watched the sound of the evening.
There was a slight breeze and the sound of the river meeting the Gulf was distinctive. It was a crystal clear night with a billion times a billion stars flooding the sky without lights to diminish them.
“Hey, kiddo, why don’t you walk home? You’ve got school tomorrow and it’s already past your bedtime,” Clay said.
“Yes, sir,” Dylan said, yawning.
“No argument? Is this a first?” Ivan asked.
Dylan stood, disappeared through the drapes into Ivan’s bedroom, and a minute later he came out of the back of the house and started toward the Conservancy house.
“Goodnight,” Dylan said.
“Goodnight,” both Clay and Ivan said.
“I won’t be long,” Clay said.
They heard Dylan laughing as he walked along the water’s edge.
“He sees right through us,” Ivan said.
“What do you mean? You don’t think I’m staying here tonight, do you? What gave you that idea?”
Ivan got up to sit in the chair where Dylan was sitting. He was sitting beside Clay now. Clay didn’t pull away and he didn’t flinch. The signs had been there for weeks, but Ivan was in no hurry; he knew where they were heading, and he knew the right minute would come, and he’d know when it did.
Clay’s lips were as soft as Ivan remembered them to be. As their lips mingled and their arms stretched around the other’s body, the old feelings washed over them. It was a lot like riding a bicycle, only it was nothing like riding a bike, but it was like they’d never been apart.
Ivan had one big advantage over Clay. He loved Clay more now that he’d ever loved him before. He loved him as a man loves a man, and no anger clouded the experience. If Clay had any doubts or residual anger, he hid them well.
Neither one of them said anything but, “I love you. I love you so much.”
It seemed like it fit and they said it over and over again.
They knew every inch of each other’s bodies. They’d added ten years of wear, but everything was still in the same places and they had no difficulty figuring out what to do. Just to make sure, once they were satisfied, they did it all over again.
“I love you. I love you so much.”
There was a maturity to making love now. They were still in their teens the last time they’d slept together. The lovemaking hadn’t cooled off. Within a month of sleeping together the first time, Clay slept in Ivan’s bed nearly as much as he slept in his own. When he did sleep in his own bed, Ivan was in it.
They worried about Dylan hearing and they curbed their passion.
When Dylan realized Clay wasn’t in bed when he got up in the mornings, he smiled a knowing little smile. It took a while, but his two dads were back together again. Dylan was sure that was the way it was supposed to be.
Since coming home from the summer’s research trip, Clay slept at Ivan’s every night. They couldn’t get enough of each other and Dylan was a teenager now. He never mentioned his father staying at Ivan’s and he smiled at his two dads a lot.
It was a knowing little smile and Clay knew they weren’t fooling Dylan even a little.
Life was good. Life was very, very good.