Page 69 of Resilience on Canvas

Epilogue

Robert

One year later . . .

Lying on the sofa in the front room, Robert waited while Henry finished packing up his painting supplies so that the two of them could head to the beach for a while.

After completing a series of posters for the WPA over the last few weeks, Henry was now free to paint whatever he chose for the next month (as long as it wasn’t lewd or political in nature), and his creations would then be hung up in a few of the federal buildings across the city.

Earlier that morning, Henry had said he wanted to paint the ocean.

So, Robert and Henry would be walking there together soon.

Even though it was a Monday. Because Robert wasn’t working no more. At all.

After Henry had brought home those first few paychecks from Uncle Sam, Robert and Henry had taken a look at both Henry’s salary and at Robert’s and had come to the conclusion that the extra bit of money Robert was bringing home wasn’t worth him breaking his back in the fields.

And so, Robert had become a househusband of sorts, tasked with cooking meals and washing clothes and cleaning the house.

Typically, though, Robert spent the bulk of his time either with Henry—mostly watching him work—or relaxing by himself, oftentimes on the beach with a book but sometimes elsewhere in the city, trying out new eateries or shopping for his family.

Even though Robert still hoped to find work for himself, he tried not to focus on that so much and instead kept in mind how Goddamn lucky he was—lucky to have a wonderful husband like Henry, who took care of him in every way possible; lucky to have such a beautiful family, one whose bond had been forged by overcoming hardship and caring for each other, not by blood alone; and lucky to have made it out to California, where there weren’t no black blizzards wrecking his lungs.

Every day, Robert counted his blessings, of which there were many.

Someday he would find work. Until then, he would be happy letting the people he loved take care of him, and in return, he would give them what he could—his love.

“Ready!” Henry called out from the upper floor.

Robert sat up as Henry’s fast footsteps started down the stairs. When Robert caught his eye, he faked an irritated sigh.

“Finally, Hen,” Robert said. “What took you so long?”

“I had to pack both my oil paints and my watercolors.”

“ Had to or wanted to ?” Robert teased.

“Uhm . . . both?” Henry replied sheepishly.

Robert took Henry by the shirt collar and pulled him close, so close that their noses were very nearly touching. “I know you know what I’m gonna say next. Are you—”

“I’m tellin’ you,” Henry interrupted before planting a soft kiss on Robert’s lips.

Letting out a happy hum, Robert released Henry’s shirt, but then Henry caught his instead, keeping Robert fixed to the spot.

Henry let his backpack fall to the floor and then kissed Robert harder.

Much harder. Hard enough to make Robert’s breath catch.

“I can tell you somethin’ else, too,” he murmured as his free hand found the top button on Robert’s pants.

“Which is that we have the house to ourselves. ”

Once Henry loosened Robert’s pants, he slipped his hand inside, and as he took Robert’s hardening cock in his palm, Robert’s pants fell to his feet.

“I’m sorry I made you wait for so long,” Henry said into Robert’s ear. He began to pump his fist. “I hope this can be a sufficient enough apology.”

“Uh-huh,” Robert eked out, slightly breathless.

Henry continued moving his fist. After only a few seconds, Robert could feel the heat pooling low in his belly, a soft tingling starting at the base of his spine. Henry was so Goddamn talented, Robert was already teetering close to the edge of release.

“Hen . . .” he rasped.

There must have been something telling the tone of his voice because Henry immediately fell to his knees.

He took Robert’s cock into his mouth only seconds before it started to pulse.

Slack-jawed, Robert watched his husband eagerly swallow every bit of his release.

He threaded his fingers through Henry’s hair as Henry hollowed his cheeks.

“Jesus Christ, I love you,” Robert said.

After a pause, Henry popped off and pressed a kiss to the softening tip.

“I know,” Henry teased.

He pushed himself to stand and started for the kitchen. Robert caught his wrist.

“Hey, can’t I return the favor?”

Henry looked at his watch. “Maybe later? I wanted us to get to the beach kind of early. We’ll have some more privacy that way. Get ourselves a nice spot to sit so I can paint?”

Robert rolled his eyes, though he wasn’t really mad. He knew how particular Henry could be with choosing a spot to work. Besides, he’d return the favor that night. Him and Henry, well, they had plenty of time to themselves nowadays .

“ Fine ,” Robert huffed, feigning exasperation as he released Henry’s wrist. “Go wash up.”

Grinning playfully, Henry hurried to the kitchen as Robert pulled up his pants. Just as he finished rebuttoning them, there was a knock at the front door. Crooking an eyebrow, Robert walked over to answer.

“Clara?”

“Hi,” she said with a tiny wave. “I know I’m supposed to be workin’, but I had to come here as soon as I saw this.”

She thrust a piece of paper into Robert’s hands. He turned it over to read the text:

NOW HIRING LONGSHOREMEN

HOLT CORPORATION

PIER 54

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

“Wait,” he spluttered. “Now hiring?! Now as in now ?!”

Clara’s eyes were wide and wild and filled with excitement, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

“I think so,” she said. “And I think you’ll really have a chance this time.

I caught the man hangin’ these right when he had finished puttin’ this one up out in front of the bank.

And I asked him how many he’d hung up so far, and he said only twelve or thereabouts.

And I... well, I asked him not to hang no more because I knew the perfect person for this.

He said he’d wait on hangin’ the rest ’til after he had his lunch.

Luckily, they’re hirin’ more than one person too.

Robert, I really think you ought to try for this. ”

“Holy Jesus,” Robert blurted out before whirling around. “Henry Goddamn Davis, we need to leave now! Right now!”

Henry strolled into the front room and took his bag from the floor.

“Good God, Robert, keep your pants on,” Henry said .

“Yer the one who took ’em off before,” Robert said with a snort, which elicited a giggle from Clara.

He held the paper out for Henry to see. “I know we’ve tried for a bunch of these kinds of things over the last four or five months, but Clara said that she really thinks I have a chance with this one.

What do you think, Hen? Mind if we rush over to that pier before we head to the beach? ”

“Of course not.”

“Alright then, come on,” Robert said, taking Henry’s hand and pulling him out the door.

Robert turned to lock it while Henry pulled Clara in for a hug.

“Thank you for comin’ here,” he said.

“Oh, it’s nothin’. I told my boss why I needed to leave and”—she pulled back from the hug and pointed to a new Model T that was parked on the street—“he even let me borrow his car. Do y’all want a ride to the pier?”

“He won’t mind?” Robert asked, shoving the paper in his pocket. Clara shook her head. “Well, then, yes, we want one. I need to beat the other men to the punch.”

All three of them walked briskly to the car. Clara took a seat behind the wheel while Robert walked around to the front to help start it. Once the engine roared to life, Robert climbed in next to Henry, who was waiting in the middle of the long front seat. He took Henry’s hand and squeezed it.

“Say a prayer that they’ll hire me. Not that we need the money right now, but if this Goddamn economy has taught me anything, it’s that we can’t never save up too much money. Besides, I miss workin’ sometimes. It’ll be good to feel useful again.”

Henry lifted Robert’s hand and kissed it. “I’ll say a prayer for you. But yer never not useful, Robert.”

“Yeah, I’ll prove that to you later,” Robert said with a wink.

Clara let out a loud gasp, whipping her head to face Robert with a look of feigned shock. Robert and Henry both cackled .

While Clara drove them to Pier 54, Robert took the paper out to study it some more.

“What is a longshoreman anyway?” he asked.

Henry replied, “Uhm, I think it’s someone who unloads cargo maybe?”

“Ah, well, I’m plenty strong enough for that.”

“Yeah, they’d be fools not to hire you,” Henry said, knocking Robert’s leg with his.

“Damn right they would be.”

It took Clara a few minutes to find a parking spot.

Afterward, Robert hopped out of the car by himself, leaving Clara and Henry behind to chat, and hurried over to a building that said “Holt Corporation” and “Pier 54” in bold, red letters, the words painted right on the metal exterior.

Men were filtering in and out of the place, which looked more like a big warehouse than a building where a company’s regular happenings might take place.

Robert wondered if there were offices inside or if it was only a large open space filled with crates of cargo.

When Robert reached the building, he paused before going in so that he could calm his fast-racing heart with a few long breaths. He had to have his wits about him if he wanted to convince the owner to hire him. Or whoever it was he might soon be talking to.