Chapter Text
Three years later...
“Gavin! Gavin!!” Gemma is screaming from the doorway.
Gavin runs as quickly as he can down the stairs, fully expecting someone to be bleeding or something to be on fire. “What?” he says, gasping for air. It’s a good thing he’s a year away from retirement, because even if someone broke into the museum, he couldn’t chase them.
There’s no imminent danger in the front hall, just Gemma holding a creamy white envelope. She stares at him for a full minute before she can speak, so pale he’s afraid she might faint. “We...we….we got an invitation to the Royal Wedding.”
Gavin plucks the envelope from her hands and reads the fancy calligraphy, inviting them both to Henry and Alex’s wedding at Westminster Abbey.
“Well, isn’t that nice,” Gavin comments, handing the invitation back to her.
“Nice? Nice!?” She’s shouting again. “How did we even get invited to this? This must be a mistake. They’re going to tell us it was some sort of clerical error and shove us out the back door, is what they’re going to do.”
“I don’t think it’s a mistake, dear.” He calmly takes the envelope again and flips it over. “That’s the Royal Seal. And our names are engraved on the invitation and the envelope.”
Gemma clutches the envelope to her chest. “Oh dear Lord, what will I wear?” She runs upstairs, presumably to her closet, leaving her husband to smile to himself. He’s never told her, never broken the promise he made to Henry years ago to keep his visits secret.
“You must have something, you’ve been planning for this half your life,” he calls up the stairs.
She only gets a little angry at him when they chat with Henry at the wedding reception, and Henry explains how they know each other, how long they’ve known each other. She agrees to forgive her husband when Henry asks her to dance, because all her neighbors will see the pictures of her dancing with royalty in Hello! magazine the next month.
Gavin gets a chance to tell Henry about all his children and grandchildren. Henry’s especially interested to hear about Oliver, but he asks questions about all of them and patiently looks at pictures on Gavin’s phone.
And Gavin finally gets to give Henry the hug he’s wanted to give him for years.
He’s always assumed Henry had everything he could ever want, but he realizes now that there’s one very important thing he doesn’t have. Gavin can’t take the place of Arthur Fox, but he can do something. So he holds Henry in a tight hug and whispers in his ear, “I’m so proud of you, and your father would be so proud of you.”
Henry’s eyes seem to be damp, but Gavin can’t be sure because his own are a little blurry.
He has one other gift for Henry. He pulls an envelope out of his breast pocket and hands it over.
“What’s this?” Henry asks.
“It’s your money.”
Henry stares at him, mouth hanging open, as he pulls out a wad of bills. “Gavin, this isn't at all necessary. We don’t need--”
“No, Sir, that’s not a gift. That’s your money, the money you gave me every time you visited. ‘Course I had to change it all into some larger bills or it wouldn’t fit into my pocket,” he chuckles.
Henry’s staring at the pastel banknotes in his hands. Gavin leans in. “You never needed to pay me to keep your secret, sir. Some of us have good old-fashioned integrity.”
Henry tries to push the envelope back into his hands. “You should keep this. You--”
Gavin shakes his head and holds his hands up, away from the money. “I’m not exactly giving it to you, Henry. I thought you could use it for your charity.” And he tells Henry about Oliver’s husband, Keith, who was rejected by his own parents when he came out. He thinks about all the children he’s met at pride parades and other events, who found themselves but lost their families in the process.
“My children are grown and doing well. My grandkids are spoiled rotten. I’m about to start collecting a nice retirement pension.” He looks around and sees Gemma, chatting with the President of the United States like they’re old friends. “And I’m about to dance with my wife in a ballroom at Buckingham Palace.” He straightens up proudly. “I have everything I need. Those kids don’t.” He pushes the envelope toward Henry one more time. “Give it to them.”
With another tearful hug and a promise to keep in touch, Henry steps away to chat with his other guests. Gavin straightens his suit and tie, and asks the most beautiful woman in the room to dance.
She says yes.