Page 244 of The Valiant Knight

“Do you want more?” he asked.

He shook his head.

“No, I’m good.”

When Tony sat down, Graham didn’t look over at him, but he did speak to him.

“Your kids are lucky. If they turn out gay, don’t kick them out. They’ll need you. It’s not easy out there. That’s why so many men join the military. It’s to prove their masculinity and hide.”

He hugged him because his heart broke for this man. While Tony took things with a grain of salt, most of the time, he understood when someone was in pain.

The need to comfort was always there.

He’d learned that from the two people who taught him how to survive and be a family.

“A good parent will never turn their kid out, or leave them behind. We don’t all get good parents, Graham. If you everbecome one, remember that. Be the parent you needed at this time, and not the parent yours were.”

Graham held him.

It had been a long time since someone hugged him, and he felt like he deserved it.

“Thanks, Tony.”

He kissed him on the temple.

“If you need me, you call me. I don’t care what time it is, or what it’s for. If I can help you, I will. I promise. And if you ever find love again, and you settle down, do me one favor,” he said, slipping him one of his work cards with his personal number on the back.

He looked over.

“What?”

“Name a kid after me. Anthony is not my real name. It’s Wilbur Bartholomew Egbert Spanky McSpankerson the third.”

He stared at him.

And Tony started laughing. The look on his face was priceless.

“Kidding. Call that kid Tony for short.”

He got him to smile.

Well, that was a start.

“Now, since your work is done for the day, help me put this skull back together. It’s like a puzzle. Then, we’re putting Ceit’s skull back in her crypt. Last night was a shitshow.”

He looked worried.

“What happened?”

When he told him what nearly happened with Gabby, his eyes were huge.

“Oh, shit. Is she okay?” he asked. “It’s never been that bad before. We’ve stirred them up by opening that part of the castle up.”

Yeah, or they just wanted their story told. That tower seemed to be the epicenter for something.

Was it Ceit’s death?

Or was it something more?