Page 161 of String Boys

Cramer rolled his eyes. “Sure, you are.” He turned back to Kelly and Seth. “I can hook you up with someone who can make the adoption final before you leave the state. You’re both… really damned young. Are you sure you want this?”

Seth gave his dreamy boy smile. “Well, you know. Being a fugitive ages you.”

Kelly buried his face against Seth’s side and laughed.

THEY EVENTUALLYleft, after giving Seth and Kelly a number of cards, including Rivers’s personal phone number, in case the press got too rough. But by the time they were gone, the entire family sagged with exhaustion.

The girls brought spaghetti—a little overcooked—out to them as they sat on the couch, on the chairs, and ate, and Agnes got Chloe to bed with minimal fuss.

Somewhere in the drained silence, Linda said, “A wedding after Christmas?”

“Yeah, Mommy. Do you approve?”

“Of course, baby. Isn’t tomorrow your birthday?”

“Yeah.”

“Happy birthday, son. Is it everything you wanted?” She smiled, almost playfully.

“Best birthday ever,” Kelly vowed. “He’s all I ever dreamed of. I swear.”

Seth looked at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “You know, we still need to see France.”

Kelly laughed softly.

New dreams.

The world lay at their feet.

Just as soon as they finished their spaghetti.

THAT NIGHT,lying in Seth’s old bed where they’d been sleeping, they talked softly, making plans for the future. Sometime, about an hour in, Seth stopped talking and started kissing the back of Kelly’s neck, his ears, his shoulders.

Kelly left off talking about the future and concentrated on the now.

Right now, the man of his dreams was making love to him, and they were free as birds, free as sound, ascending the heavens, holding each other close in their hearts.

The song of their love was like Seth’s music.

It would forever make the angels cry.