Dragged to the Wedding(57)
“Then get used to disappointment, Mother,” James countered, and Daniel stilled. “I said for both of you to go into the kitchen. I won’t tolerate any more yelling at me or at Daniel. You are out of line. And if you insist on continuing down this path, then we will leave, and after the wedding tomorrow, neither of you will ever see me again. Do you understand? I’ve done a good job of staying away for years, I can easily make it permanent.” The anger rolling off James seemed to darken the entire room.
“In my house...”
James pointed his finger at his mother. “Don’t even finish that, old lady, or so help me I will never speak to you again.”
Holy hell. This hadn’t been the reaction he had expected at all.
“Just go,” James added to his father, who took Grace by the hand and led her out of the room.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, son,” Phillip added more calmly.
“Nope, I’m winging it, but I won’t take being treated like this anymore, and I will not allow mistreatment of my friends no matter what.” James’s high emotion seemed to lessen as soon as his parents left the room, James’s mother still fuming. “Please don’t go,” he said to Daniel. “I don’t mind if you stay here or go back to the bedroom, but I don’t want you to go.”
“James, this is your parents’ home and they want me out. I don’t think I can stay.” Daniel wasn’t comfortable here any longer.
“I know what it is, and I have to talk to them, but I don’t want you to leave. I need a chance to make them understand.” Daniel stayed where he was as James hugged him and then went into the kitchen, giving him a nervous smile before disappearing behind the half wall that divided the rooms.
“Is he still here?” Grace snapped.
“Yes, because I asked him to stay.” A chair scraped the floor. Daniel imagined James sitting down. “None of this is Daniel’s fault or has anything to do with him.”
“Of course it’s his fault. You weren’t like this until you came here with him.”
“Like what, Mom? Do you want to elaborate? Because I’ve known I was gay since I was fifteen years old. Just because you found out about it today doesn’t mean that it hasn’t always been that way. I just neglected to share that information with you.”
This exact conversation, or at least one very close to it, had played out between so many gay kids and their parents for decades. Daniel remembered his own conversation with his grandmother and how hard it had been, but also how free he’d felt once it was over.
“But...why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped you. There are places you could go to fix this,” Grace said, and Daniel cringed for James, knowing that attitude was exactly why he hadn’t said anything. She was so very old-fashioned, set in her ways, and just plain wrong.
“Because there’s nothing for me to be cured of. I am this way because I was born like this, and before you say anything more...this is part of who I am, and anyone trying to cure someone of being gay is a quack and deluding themselves and you. Part of the reason I didn’t tell you was because I knew you would act this way.”
Daniel slowly sat down, trying not to make any noise and sending James all the strength and care he possibly could. He would do just about anything to prevent James from having to go through this, but it was a gay rite of passage for most people.
There were stages to coming out. The first was that you had to accept yourself as gay, then you told a few people close to you, finally you told your family...and eventually you ran out of people to come out to when you decided to live a fully out and open life.
“But the reverend...”
“You mean the same one who lied to everyone in the church? The one who took you all for fools? Reverend Sociopathic Phony. Is that the one?” James wasn’t giving an inch.
“James. We just want to try to understand,” Phillip interjected.
“I don’t think Mom wants to understand. All she wants is for things to be exactly the way she expects them to be, and I can’t do that anymore. I won’t try to live up to her ideals and what she thinks she wants.” Man, James was on a roll. Daniel sat back and could only hope that the hard line he was taking didn’t end up scorching the earth of his relationship with his parents to the point where there was no turning back.
“Both of you need to take a step back,” Phillip said, playing what sounded like the voice of reason. “Grace, James is our son, an adult, and he can make his own choices.”
“And I’m his mother.”
“With no right to make decisions for any of our grown children.” Phillip paused, and Daniel leaned forward. “You’ve pushed and prodded for years, and now it’s coming back to haunt you. I sat by and watched as you insinuated yourself into this wedding. You worked around Holly to change her wedding service and you did the same with her dress. And who fixed both of those problems?” Phillip grew quiet.
“The person you want to kick out of the house,” James pressed. “You don’t understand, so you demand and fuss and expect things to be done your way.” Frustration rang in his words. Daniel wished he could help him, but everyone had to find their own way through this, even though it could be difficult. “I’m gay, Mom. I will never fall in love with a woman or get married to one. That isn’t going to happen.”