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Matthew Eric Henderson III was a jackass but he was a rich jackass. After screwing – financially – his now ex-wife number 2, he shook Harvey’s hand, smiling and stated:
“Let’s have dinner tomorrow night. As a celebration. I’ll bring Felicia and you bring the spouse you never talk about.”
“Sorry what?”
Then Henderson pointed to Harvey’s wedding band. The lawyer sighed and immediately tried to get out of this.
“I don’t think my spouse is free…”
“Then the day after tomorrow then. I won’t take no for an answer. I want to meet the woman who managed to put her hand on a man like you. 8 pm? Canlis?”
After a final handshake, Matthew Eric Henderson III made his exit. His new girlfriend – soon to be wife number 3 – Felicia was waiting by the elevator for him. Harvey waited for them to enter one of the lifts and for its doors to close before making his way from his office to the one at the other side of the floor. He passed the entrance and its large ‘Specter Ross’ sign before making his way through the junior associate bullpen. A few of the firm’s recent hires even stood up as he passed them, probably as a sign of respect. Harvey ignored it . He stopped as he arrived to the glass door of an office. The name on the door said ‘Mike Ross, co-managing partner’. He smiled at the sight of Mike Ross’ face, focused on some brief.
Harvey knocked on the door before entering, allowing Mike to pu t aside whatever he was doing and turn his focus on Harvey. The older man sat one of the chairs in front of the desk. Mike was surprised by that. Usually, Harvey stood close to him, half-sitting on the desk. But Mike knew better than to ask.
“Henderson wants to take me to dinner to celebrate. The day after tomorrow.”
“I don’t see a problem in that.”
“He wants me to bring my spouse.”
“Oh…”
The two men exchanged a worried look, understanding one another. They both knew one thing about Matthew Eric Henderson III, despite his multiple affairs, his divorces, the man believed that ‘fags’ – as he called them with a disgusted look on his face – put the sanctity of marriage in jeopardy. He was a well known donor of many conservative politicians on the West Coast. And now he wanted Harvey to bring his spouse to dinner, without considering the possibility that the said spouse was not some leggy woman but the man he was leading a firm with.
Mike stood up and moved around the desk to sit on the chair on Harvey’s left. He intertwined their fingers. They never came out at work. But they also never really hid. They both wore their wedding bands, they arrived together in the morning and left together at night, they had lunch in each other’s office. All that people knew was from the internet. They were both divorced from Rachel and Donna. They both were former New-Yorkers and they were friends. They kept PDA to a minimum. Their secretaries knew about their relationship but never said anything. They were both happy things being that way. Most clients assumed the both of them were happily married to some beautiful women and that the two of them were good friends.
After a rather long silence, Mike asked without letting his hand go:
“What are you going to say to Henderson?”
“I don’t know puppy.”
Henderson’s secretary called Lisa, Harvey’s one, the following day to arrange the detail. Lisa, being really in tune with her boss, came to see him. Harvey knew what he had to do.
“Tell her that my husband is not free tomorrow. Use those exact word.”
The reaction to that was quick. Within 10 minutes, his secretary was back in his office. She looked uneasy at ease.
“Henderson is on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”
The conversation was short. Of course, Henderson was firing him. He told him he wanted a lawyer that had at least some sense of morality; It took everything for Harvey not to mention that Matthew Eric Henderson III was the one who had just divorced his second wife, not him. That he was the one in a happy, fulfilling marriage and that he had never cheat on any he had been married to. But he bit his tongue instead. He cut short the conversation when Henderson started being even more insulting. He didn’t have the patience for this.
At first, he thought about not talking to Mike about it. But Mike knew. Like always, he knew. They were in the back of their car, their driver taking them home.
“I suppose you told Henderson then?”
“I had Lisa tell him my husband wasn’t free for dinner.”
“And he fired you then.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
He felt Mike take his hand and press him lips against the back of it. The rest of the ride was silent, but Mike held his hand all the way. They both knew that something like that could happen but still, it hurt. During dinner – Mike’s famous spaghetti recipe –, Harvey warned Mike:
“Henderson will talk. We might loose some clients.”
“I don’t care. I won’t cry for the lose of those arseholes.”
“Mike… We could loose millions in revenue each year.”
“And I don’t care! This is our firm. When we left Forsyth, you told me it would allow us to pick who we represent. So that’s what we are doing.”
Henderson had a big mouth and word went around fast. They lost two other hedge funds. But got an amazing publicity. Lisa was passing calls from reporters everyday. They wanted to talk to the two lawyers that made it to the top despite the barriers they had in front of them. Out and proud Magazine was begging them both to grace their cover. They talked about it with Mike. After some consideration, they decided to do the interview.
The reporter wanted it to take place in their home – the interview and the photo shoot that would go with it – but the couple declined. Their home was a sanctuary. They kept their home life and firm life apart. Instead they blocked a whole afternoon of their calendar and the team of Out and Proud invaded their offices. The interview took place in Mike’s office. They held hands. The photographer tried to make them do some PDA but both men were rather reluctant. Not that they were ashamed in any way but they were private people. Their wedding had been a small affair in a suite of the Chilton Hotel in New-York – yes the same Chilton where they had met – . Their whole life was about them being private people.
The journalist called them sweet when Mike put his head on Harvey’s shoulder. Then the last question came:
“Why now to come out?”
“We were never really in the closet,” answered Harvey. “We just keep our private life out of our business. Anyone could have looked us up and see that we were married for more than 2 years now.”
“2 years ago? Isn’t it when you founded this firm?”
“We had the idea during our honeymoon. When we came back, we decided to create our own business to run it as we wanted. Not being out helped us professionally to land a few clients with quite conservative views,” explained Mike. “We both thought we couldn’t have a functioning business and go public.”
“What changed?”
“A client. He wanted me to bring my ‘wife’ to dinner,” answered Harvey. And I knew I couldn’t hide anymore. We couldn’t hide. I couldn’t hide it.”
After a few pictures in Mike’s office, the reporter asked for a tour of the firm, to take pictures in the halls, in Harvey’s office and then of the couple in front of the sign at the entrance with both their names. Mike put his arm around Harvey’s waist who then did the same. The reporter and the photographer then thanked them for their time before leaving.
When the article came out the following month, that latest picture of the couple holding each other by the waist in front of the sign of their law firm was on the cover. Every associate had read the article and wast trying the hide an issue of Out and proud in the drawer of their desk. Rebecca, one of their most promising associate – who would probably be their first person named partner within the following year – and who supervised the junior associates, tried to stop people from gossiping but Mike stopped her, saying that him and Harvey were alright with it.
The article brought in business. LGBT business owners and executives who were in more traditional law firms were starting to call. They wanted to bring their business somewhere they wouldn’t have to hide who they were, where they could talk freely. When Mike reviewed their firm’s finances a couple of months after the article, he was able to inform Harvey of a very significant rise in their revenue.
Finally, 6 years after Harvey came to Seattle, 15 after Mike dropped a briefcase full of pot in that hotel room, after all their adventures and their roller coaster lives, they were happy.