Chapter One Hundred Thirteen - Don
The next morning I woke up to find Rick running his fingertips through my hair. He has had a fascination with my hair from the first time we slept together. I love the feeling of his hands in my hair. When he first did it, I thought he was crazy. Then, he told me he couldn’t resist touching my hair. He had looked so self-conscious about it that I told him he could play with my hair any time he wanted to. I let him play for a while longer before lifting my head up from his chest and looking into his eyes. “Good morning, Babe.”
“Good morning, sweetheart. I hope you haven’t forgotten that we need to
leave for the airport in about an hour,” Rick said.
“No, I haven’t forgotten. I’m glad you woke me up,” I said, yawning
widely.
Rick said, “Tyler and Joey’s flight
leaves about the same time as ours does; but they won’t have room for us in the
minivan. I’m afraid we’ll have to take
the hotel shuttle to the airport.”
I played with the dark hair on Rick’s
chest, and then gently bit his left nipple.
I heard the sharp intake of his breath as his body reacted to my
teasing. I moved to his right one,
doing the same thing. I moved up his
body to his lips and kissed him deeply.
“Let’s get a shower,” I murmured against his open lips, kissing him
again.
We moved to the en suite. Rick turned on the water and adjusted the
temperature. We stepped into the shower
together and enjoyed our usual activities.
Did I mention that showers are for lovers? Well, they are, at least for us they count as
wonderful place to make love to each other.
Afterward, we dried each other off.
We were soon dressed and packed.
We made our way down to the lobby to find Tyler and Joey already there
with the rest of their family.
They both gave us a hug and a kiss. Joey said, “Thank you so much for being
here.”
Tyler added, “We’re so glad you made it
for our wedding.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it for anything
else in the world,” Rick said.
“We’re looking forward to visiting you
in Spain next summer,” I said.
Tyler said, “We should be settled into
our new house by then. Our friends have
a house on the Costa del Sol, and we can spend a few days on the beach when you
come.”
“That sounds fantastic,” Rick said,
grinning. “We’re beach people and love playing in the
sand and surf.”
Joey laughed and said, “Yes, we
know. We’ve heard about your Cancun
trip.”
Rick grinned, “Everything you’ve heard
is all true.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Joey said. “We’ll make sure you get plenty of time in
the sun when you come to Spain. Maybe
by then, I will be able to speak Spanish.”
Tyler put his arm around Joey’s waist
and said, “Don’t worry, Joey. I’ll take
good care of you.”
Joey smiled at his husband and said,
“I’m counting on it, especially now that we’re married.”
Rachel pulled on Rick’s hand, “Good bye,
Uncle Rick.”
Rick knelt down and gave Rachel a hug
and a kiss on the cheek. “Good bye,
Rachel. Take care of your dads for me.”
She nodded her head and said, “I will.”
I knelt down beside Rick and asked, “Do
I get a hug and a kiss, too?”
Rachel giggled. “Yes, Uncle Glenn.” She put her arms around my neck and hugged
me. She gave me a peck on the cheek and
said, “There, I gave you a hug and a kiss.”
She looked at me seriously and said, “You be good for Uncle Rick.”
I blushed at her admonition, wondering
what had prompted that remark; but I said, “Okay, I’ll be good for Uncle Rick
if you’re good for your dads.”
She nodded her head and said, “I’ll be
good.”
I smiled at her and said, “Then we have
a deal.”
I stood up and Joey said, “I hope Rachel
didn’t offend you, Glenn. She overheard
us talking about Perry and what happened between you and Rick.”
I nodded my head in understanding. “It’s okay.
She’s right. I need to be good
for Rick.”
Joey smiled, “We all go through rough
patches at one time or another.” He put
an arm around Tyler’s shoulders. “We’ll
have to tell you about our rough spot sometime.”
Tyler laughed, “Remind us to tell you
about it when you come to Spain.”
Greg and Cory joined us in the
lobby. They detoured to the front desk
before approaching us. Greg announced,
“We’re all checked out.”
Rick asked, “What are you plans for the
rest of spring break?”
Cory said, “We’re driving down to
Niagara Falls where we’ll spend a few days, and then we’re driving back to
Minneapolis.”
“You have to go to the Skylon Tower for
dinner. It’s really cool,” I said.
Greg smiled and said, “I’m one step
ahead of you, because I’ve already made dinner reservations for tonight.”
“Good,” I said, approvingly.
Tyler said, “Why don’t all of you plan
to join us in Spain as soon as school is out?”
Greg looked at Cory and said, “That
sounds exciting. What do you think,
Cory?”
“I think we should do it. I’ve always wanted to go to Europe,” Cory
replied.
Joey said, “Then it’s settled. We’ll see you in June. I hope you can stay with us for a
while. There’s a lot to see and do.”
Greg said, “I’d like to make it all
summer if that’s okay with you guys?”
“We’d love to have all four of you stay
for the summer,” Tyler said. “We have
enough room in our new house for you to stay with us.”
I said, “I’ll call you later, Greg, to
plan out the details.” I turned to Joey
and Tyler, “Do you mind if we bring along a few more of our friends to spend a
few weeks at the beach?”
“Do you mean everyone who went with you
to Cancun?” Joey asked.
“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “I think you two would fit right in with the
rest of the crew.”
“Well, let’s plan to rent a house at the
beach for a couple of weeks. That way
there will be room for everyone. We
wouldn’t be able to accommodate that large of a group at our new place in
Madrid,” Tyler said.
“Okay, I’ll call you in a few weeks and
we can work out the logistics. We’ll
have to figure out what dates would be the best ones for everyone.” I said.
Joey nodded his agreement and said, “That
sounds good to me. I hate to break up
our party, but we need to be on our way to the airport as do you two.”
We said our farewells to Louise and
Harry. Louise said, “Thank you for
coming to the wedding.”
Harry said, “We expect to see you in
Spain this summer.”
Rick said, “We’ve already made
arrangements to do just that.”
“Good,” Harry said, with a smile.
We finished our farewells before we
caught the hotel shuttle to the airport.
As soon as we had our luggage checked in, and we were sitting in the
boarding area near our gate, I turned to Rick and said, “I hope Mom and Dad
have managed to at least talk to each other.”
“Me, too,” Rick replied. “Didn’t Mom say she and Dad were going to a
counseling session yesterday?”
“Yes, she did,” I said. We chatted about our plans for the rest of
the week as we waited to board the plane to Regina.
*** ***
At that moment, Eva sat in her front
room thinking about the marriage counseling session she had participated in
yesterday. She thought the session had
gone pretty well for the most part; however, it ended in a bad way. She went back over what had happened during
that session.
*** ***
She had arrived early and had been shown
into the counselor’s office.
The marriage counselor stood up and
introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Durant
Marshall.”
“Eva Nielsen,” she had responded. She ignored his outstretched hand, choosing
to acknowledge him with a nod of her head.
He withdrew his hand and said, “Please
have a seat. Mr. Nielsen should be here
shortly.”
She had agreed to this session only
because she wanted to give Don one last chance to prove to her that he was
capable of changing his ways. Don had
chosen this counselor; and that alone had made her suspicious of this
counselor’s ability to be impartial.
“Mr. Marshall, let me be blunt. I am very doubtful that you can facilitate
this session with impartiality. The
fact that my estranged husband chose you raises doubts in my mind about the value
this session will have in resolving the issues that divide us at the moment,”
Eva said, giving him a steely-eyed stare.
Durant said, “Thank you for being
candid, Mrs. Nielsen. I would rather
have any doubts and questions brought out now rather than waiting until the
session is over.”
The office door was opened and Don
walked in. Durant stood up and said,
“Welcome, Mr. Nielsen. Please take a
seat.”
Don took a seat opposite Eva. He looked over at her and smiled, “Hello,
Eva.”
“Don,” she replied in acknowledgement. Don wondered how the session was going to
turn out since Eva was obviously not in good mood.
Durant said, “We need to address a
couple of items before we start. First,
I must assure you both that I do not have a vested interest in the outcome of
this session, other than to provide a neutral place for you two to discuss your
relationship. I will not take sides,
nor will I make value judgments. Now
let’s lay down some ground rules for this discussion.”
He outlined a list of rules and then
said, “I’ve posted the ground rules on this board so we can be reminded of them
during the course of the discussion.”
He walked over and turned around a white board filled with writing. “Do you both understand the ground rules?”
They both said, “Yes.”
“Good, let’s get started,” Durant said.
They began their discussion, laying out
their grievances and talking about their root causes. The conversation grew heated from time to
time. At such times, Durant would call
for a 10 minute cooling off period.
They would get up to walk around, get coffee or take a walk
outside. Then, they returned to begin
their conversation afresh.
They had worked through all of their
issues and concerns when Eva said, “I’m satisfied with where we are on
everything we have talked about up until now.
However, that leaves one more major item unresolved.” Don’s body went taut as he anticipated what
she was about to say. She noted the
tension in his face and said, “Don, your treatment of our sons and their
partners is something I cannot countenance.
I will not remain under the same roof with a man who can’t accept his
children for who they are; and who chooses to interfere in their relationships
to their detriment.”
Don knew this was coming and had steeled
himself to stand strong in his opposition to his sons’ same sex
relationships. He had conferred with is
pastor the night before to help strengthen his resolve. He wanted to make sure he was on good terms
with the church. He looked across at
Eva and said, “I can’t approve of their relationships.”
“Then, this conversation is at an end,
Don. Your rejection of them is also a
rejection of me. They are my flesh and
blood and I refuse to stand idly by while you persecute them, and display your
ignorance and bigotry for all to see.
I’m sorry, Don, but this will be the last time I speak to you.”
She stood up to go; but Don said,
“Please, Eva, can we talk about this in a logical manner.”
She glared at him and said, “What more
is there to discuss? The logic behind
your position is purely based on your religious beliefs. That alone tells me that logic doesn’t enter
into this discussion. I don’t think there
is anything more for us to talk about.
Goodbye, Don.”
She walked out of the door and got into
her car. Don had followed her out of
the building and tapped on the car window.
She rolled it down and looked up at him. “Yes?” she asked, giving him a look that
would have stopped anyone else dead in their tracks.
“I’m willing to accept them for who they
are, Eva. I just don’t approve of their
same-sex relationships. Can’t I hold that opinion?” he asked,
practically begging her to accept his position.
“Not when you actively engage in
activities designed to drive them apart.
I still can’t believe how far you went trying to convince Randy and
Shawn to get a divorce not to mention your conversations with Rick, pushing him
to leave Glenn,” she said. “You tried
to impose your belief system on your sons without regard to their feelings or their
right to choose who they marry.”
Don said, “I realize I was wrong to try
to interfere in their relationships, Eva.
I did go too far. I recognize
that I acted completely out of self-interest rather than looking out for the
best interests of my sons.”
His confession that he had acted out of
self-interest surprised Eva, but it still didn’t change her mind about ending
her marriage to him. “Maybe you can try
to make amends with them since the four of them will be here tomorrow,” she
said. “It might also be a good time for
you try out your idea of accepting them for who they are, but not approving of
their relationships. Let me know how
that works for you.”
The sarcasm in her voice shocked
him. “You know they won’t come to see
me, let alone speak to me,” he replied.
“Do you blame them?” she asked,
pointedly.
“No, I guess I don’t,” he said.
“Like I said, I hope you can reconcile
your acceptance of your sons’ sexuality with your refusal to acknowledge that they
are happy with their partners despite your disapproval. I don’t remember there being any law that
required them to gain your approval before choosing a mate. I know our other sons certainly didn’t
consult you on who they married; and you haven’t tried to break up their
marriages,” she said.
“But that’s different,” he responded.
“I fail to see how it could be any
different for Randy to choose Shawn as his mate than it was for Gary to choose
Jessica. You disapproved of Gary’s
marriage to Jessica; but yet you haven’t tried to break up their marriage,” Eva
said. “It seems like a double standard
to me.”
Don started to respond, but she cut him
off, “I’m through arguing with you, Don.
You need to face the fact that our marriage is over. You obviously aren’t going to change your
ways. From this point forward, I will be operating
under the assumption that I will be moving to Georgia within the year. I hope you are able to find someone else to
take my place in your bed, because we’re through.” Her voice was harsh and left no doubt her
mind was made up about the subject of their marriage.
She rolled up the car window,
effectively cutting off any further discussion. She backed out of the parking space. She was extremely disappointed by her
husband’s continued opposition to her sons’ same-sex relationships. She had to admit that she wasn’t surprised,
given her husband’s disposition and penchant for always being right; even if he
was dead wrong. She hoped that one day
he would come to his senses before it was too late to have relationship with
his sons.
*** ***
Eva’s mind returned to the present with
the ringing of her cell phone. She
picked it up off of the coffee table and answered it. “Hello.”
“Hi, Mom,” I said. “We’ve landed in Regina. Randy and Shawn are here to pick us up. I thought I’d call you to let you know we
had arrived.”
Eva said, “Thank you for calling me,
Glenn. I’m excited to see you boys.”
“How did the session go with Dad yesterday?”
I asked.
“I will tell you all about it when you
get here,” she said. “Drive safely.”
I said, “We will, Mom. Shawn is driving, remember?”
She smiled and responded, “Yes, I do
remember. It’s a good thing, too, since
Randy drives like a crazy man; and you aren’t much better.”
I laughed, “We are crazy men, Mom. That’s why we have such stable partners to
keep us well grounded.”
“You both have chosen well. Rick and Shawn are wonderful men,” Eva said,
smiling.
“I’ll call you if our plans change,” I
said.
Eva said, “I love you, son.”
She placed the phone back on the coffee
table in front of her and leaned back into the cushions of the oversized
couch. She thought about her two gay
sons and their partners. She felt that
Randy and Shawn were well matched. She
had taken a shine to Shawn from the moment she met him. Her maternal instincts told her that Shawn
would be as protective of her son as she was.
She was happy that her first impression of him had been correct.
She turned her thoughts to Glenn and his
partner, Rick. She loved Rick and felt he
was the right man for Glenn. But, she
knew that there needed to be better communication between them; especially
given the recent events with some guy named Perry. She knew her son well, and hoped that Rick
would have the patience to work with Glenn, to establish the kind of
relationship that they both needed. Her
heart went out to them, because of the things they had both suffered at the
hands of family members; specifically Glenn by his cousin and Rick by his parents,
cousin and uncle. She knew that those
kinds of emotional and psychological wounds take time to heal; and sometimes
reopen at the most unexpected times.
She wanted to do everything in her power to help them reach their full
potential.
She had talked to Rick at length last
week about the ‘Perry Incident’ as Rick called it. She had counseled him to love Glenn
unconditionally, and to overlook Glenn’s apparent lack of trust in Rick. She had reminded Rick that Glenn had
remained faithful to him, despite Perry’s attempts to take him away from
Rick. Rick had openly wept as he spoke
to her about how deeply hurt he was by Glenn’s accusations that he wasn’t
totally committed to him, and that he would abandon him for the next beautiful
babe that walked by him. Her memory
returned to that conversation:
*** ***
She had tried to console Rick and said,
“Let Glenn know how you feel. You need to
talk these things out between you two.”
Rick replied, “But I don’t want to
reopen that conversation. It still
really hurts when I remember what Glenn said.”
“Rick, I know my son loves you very
much. Trust him to listen to you. Go tell him how you feel. You can’t move past this until you both have
relief from the hurt that you feel.
Trying to plaster over it won’t work.
That wound won’t heal until you’ve cleaned it out and sterilized
it. I want you to hang up and go talk
to Glenn right now.”
Rick had replied, “Okay. I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, my son,” she replied.
Later that night, they had called
her. She picked up the cell phone and
said, “Hello.”
Rick said, “Mom, it’s Glenn and Rick.”
“I hope you’ve called me with good
news,” she said.
Rick said, “We wanted to thank you for
your advice. I did as you said and
talked to Glenn.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Glenn said. “I thought we had worked through all the
issues we had with the Perry Incident; but, apparently we hadn’t. I’m glad Rick reopened the subject and we
were able to address his concerns.”
They both sounded happy. Maybe they were beginning to become perfect
soul mates for each other like Randy and Shawn were. “Good, I’m happy you two are back in synch. I was worried that you two were starting to
drift apart.”
There was a guilty silence on the other
end. Rick said, “We were drifting
apart, Mom, at warp speed.”
“If we hadn’t stopped to talk things
over, we wouldn’t be together now,” Glenn said. “We were both at fault for not looking past
our own interests, especially me. I let
Perry turn my head and I should have kept my eyes on my best friend in the
entire world.”
“It’s the same with me,” Rick said. “We just wanted to call you to let you know
we worked things out.”
“How are things working out with Dad?”
Glenn asked.
She said, “We’re not any closer to
resolving our differences than we were when I first left him.”
“Have you gone to marriage counseling?”
Rick asked.
Her voice was hard and brittle as she
said, “No, but I’m not going to even try to get Don to go to counseling. He will have to be the one to initiate
it. I tried several times over the
years to get him to go with me to marriage counseling and he refused. He always tried to make it seem like I was
the one with a problem; and that I was the one who needed the counseling, not
him.”
“Maybe you could get Uncle Dave to talk
to him about it. Sometimes Dad will
listen to him,” Glenn suggested.
“I’ll do that,” she said. “You boys need to get to bed. It’s late.”
“You’re right, Mom. It’s nearly 1 AM here,” Rick said. “We’ll call you tomorrow.”
“We love you, Mom,” Glenn said.
“I love you, too,” she said.
*** ***
She
had done as the boys had suggested. The
next morning she had called Dave and asked him to talk to Don. That conversation had born fruit in the form
of the marriage counseling session that took place yesterday. She had been hopeful that something positive
would have come of it. However, it had
ended badly and she was very depressed and lonely. She looked forward to seeing her boys, but
she didn’t want them to know how down she felt. She made up her mind to put on a happy face
and enjoy the time she had with them.
*** ***
I ended the call to my mother and turned
to Rick and said, “The session with Dad didn’t go well.”
“Did she say that?” Rick asked, raising
his eyebrows.
“No, but she wouldn’t tell me how it
went over the phone,” I said.
Rick nodded his head, “I’m thinking
you’re right. Here come Randy and Shawn.”
The two men were given an enthusiastic
greeting as they were swept into a bear hug by Shawn. Shawn
said, “You two are a wonderful sight. I
think you’re even better looking than I remember.”
Rick laughed, “And you’re still a real
charmer, Shawn.”
Shawn grinned and said, “That’s my
middle name. I’ve always been Mr.
Charming.”
Randy gave them a firm hug and said,
“Let’s get your luggage. I’m eager to
get on the road.” He put his arm around
Shawn’s waist, “Alright Mr. Charming, let’s go.” He gave his husband a quick kiss.
Shawn laughed and said, “Is there more?”
“Yes, when we get to Uncle Dave’s
house,” Randy said, smiling at his husband.
“But not before then.” Shawn
pouted until Randy gave him another kiss on the lips.
Shawn smiled and said, “I know I can
always get Randy to give me a kiss.”
Rick said, “He’s just like his
brother. He loves giving kisses.”
I grinned and said, “Absolutely.”
Our luggage showed up on the carousel
and we grabbed it. We made our way to
Shawn’s SUV and piled our gear in the back.
We climbed inside and Shawn started the car. He asked, “Are you guys hungry?”
I looked at Rick, who shrugged. “I’m good for now. Maybe we could stop for something in Moose
Jaw.”
Shawn nodded his head. “That sounds good. We’ll probably be hungry by then. We had a big breakfast this morning, so we aren’t
very hungry right now.”
I said, “Since we’re going to stop in
Moose Jaw, let’s take a detour to Buffalo Pound Provincial Park. Rick has never been there and I think he’d
like it.”
Shawn looked at Randy. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a good idea. We don’t have to be in Swift Current until
dinner time,” Randy said.
Shawn said, “Okay, let’s do it.”
Randy looked over his shoulder at us and
smiled. Rick had his arm around my
shoulders and I had put my head on his shoulder. I placed my hand on Rick’s thigh. “I’m glad to see you two still like each
other.”
Rick asked, “Why do you say that?”
“We heard you two had a little falling
out a little bit ago,” Randy said.
“Did Mom tell you what happened?” I
asked.
“No, but she hinted that things weren’t
going well between you guys,” Randy said.
Shawn looked at us in his rearview
mirror and said, “What Randy is trying to say is that he wants to hear all the
gory details.”
Rick said, “Okay, we’ll tell you, but
you have to wait until we’re done to make any comments.”
Randy said, “Alright, we’re
listening.” Between the two of us, we
explained what had happened with Perry.
When we finished, Randy said, “You guys aren’t the only ones to go
through something like that.”
I sat up and leaned forward in my
seat. “Out with it Randy! We shared with you, it’s time you shared your
experiences with us.”
Randy looked at Shawn before
proceeding. “It was before we were
married. Shawn was working long hours
on his art project in Vancouver; and I was working the night shift. I was given the assignment to train a new
guy. Phillip turned out to be gay. He was an extremely cute blond kid, with
bright blue eyes and a pert little nose and mouth. Shawn and I weren’t seeing much of each
other; and I was beginning to fall for Phillip. Phillip and I had taken to sleeping together
during the day. We always stayed at
Phillip’s place. One day Shawn came
home early and didn’t find me at home.
He came over to Phillips place and walked in on us fucking each other.”
To say I was shocked would be an
understatement. I said, “I thought you
two had never had any doubts that you were meant for each other.”
“We haven’t had any doubts about
that. It’s just that Randy was feeling
lonely and decided to take advantage of a young, horny guy,” Shawn said.
“I didn’t take advantage of Phillip; he
wanted it as much as I did,” Randy said, defensively.
Shawn reached over and patted his
husband’s knee. “Don’t get so upset,
Randy. Randy felt so bad for stepping
out on me that he promised never to do it again.”
“That was the day Shawn proposed to me,”
Randy said.
Shawn said, “I realized I would lose
Randy if I didn’t get a ring on his finger.”
Randy smiled, “We have been happily
married ever since.”
Rick said, “I’m glad to know that we
aren’t the only ones who have had our ups and downs.”
Shawn laughed, “I hope you didn’t think
we were the perfect couple.”
I grinned and said, “I know better. I grew up with Randy, remember?”
The kilometers flew by as we caught up
on each other’s lives. About an hour
later, we pulled into Moose Jaw. “Where
do you want to eat?” Shawn asked.
Randy said, “Let’s do Humpty’s.”
We pulled into Humpty’s where we had a
quick meal; then drove north from Moose Jaw to Buffalo Pound Provincial
Park. As we entered the park, I said,
“Dad used to bring us here to go camping and fishing.”
Randy asked, “Do you remember how scared
you were of the buffalo?”
I said, “Yes, I remember and I also
remember how much you and Eric used to tease me about being a scaredy cat.”
“Well, you were,” Randy said. “Glenn used to be scared of his own
shadow. I remember hiding under his
bed, pretending to be a monster under the bed.
Glenn thought Eric and I were real under-the-bed monsters.”
“You guys were mean to me,” I protested. “You would jump out of the closet and scare
the piss out of me.”
Randy laughed, “We did do that a time or
two. I’ve never seen anyone get as
scared as you did. Mom would get so mad
at us, because you wouldn’t go to bed on your own. You would beg her and Dad to sleep in your
bed until you fell asleep.”
“Well, if you guys hadn’t scared me so
much, I wouldn’t have needed their protection,” I said.
“Gary tried to stop us most of the
time,” Randy said. “He felt sorry for
you.”
“At least somebody did,” I retorted.
Rick rubbed my back, soothingly. “It’s okay, Glenn.”
Shawn drove us through the park, while
we pointed out things of interest.
Since we didn’t intend to stay, we soon headed back the way we came
until we hit the Trans-Canada Highway.
Shawn pulled onto the main highway and we were soon flying along at a
good pace. I leaned against Rick and
relaxed. I soon drifted off with Rick’s
arm around my shoulders.
*** ***
Don sat across from his brother, Dave,
at the kitchen table. There was tension
in the air between them. Don’s faced
was contorted in anger and his hands clenching and unclenching.
Dave said, “Getting angry with me serves
no purpose, Don. You know what you need
to do to resolve the situation your actions have placed you in. I’m just saying that if you intend to
continue to feud with your boys and their partners, I’m going to ask you to
leave my home. I don’t agree with how
you’ve treated them and I won’t condone such behavior in my home. I’m asking you to behave civilly and to abide
by my wishes to make them feel welcome.
If you can’t do that, there’s the door.” He pointed to the front door that was
visible from the kitchen.
Don tried to stare down his brother, but
failed. He knew Dave was right. Not only must he respect his wishes as the
owner of house; but also about his ongoing feud with his boys. He hadn’t changed his views, nor did he
intend to stop what he saw as his parental duty to prevent them from going to
hell as the sinners they were.
His pastor, at his request, had visited
him for the second night in a row, and had reassured him that he was doing the
right thing. But when he had started to
talk to Dave about it, Dave let him know exactly where he could take his
religious bigotry. While he was still
trying to decide how to respond, Dave said, “In fact, Don, if you insist on
pushing your religious views on others, I don’t want anything more to do with
you.”
“Are you saying that you are going to
disown me?” Don asked, barely holding on to his temper.
“Yes, I am, Don. Our parents raised us to be respectful of
all people, no matter what our differences were. Your insistence that everyone has to conform
to your view of the world is wrong, and I won’t have you insulting my guests or
badgering them to meet your expectations.
The boys are adults now. You
ceased to have any authority over them when they left your home. You need to face the fact that they are not
your responsibility anymore. You have
made your choices, and they’ve made theirs.
You need to get over your need to control their lives. You are no longer their guardian; nor are
you their keeper. If anything, you have
become their number one enemy. I hope
you give that some serious thought, Don.
You are viewed as an enemy to their happiness. Your actions have proven you to be a
hypocrite. You espouse Christian values,
yet you don’t practice them.”
“How dare you preach to me?” Don said,
his voice beginning to rise.
“I dare to preach to you because you are
in my house, under my roof. If you
don’t wish to hear it, you are invited to leave my home and never to return,”
Dave said. “You have destroyed your
marriage, Don. You have destroyed your
relationship with your boys, and now you are destroying your relationship with
me. While we’re being candid with each
other, I think it’s time that you owned up to the fact that I’ve been more of a
father to Randy and Glenn than you ever have been. You sent them to live with me during their
senior year at high school because you couldn’t take the time to be their
father. You couldn’t accept that they
weren’t carbon copies of yourself and dismissed them from your life. I don’t know how you can look at yourself in
the mirror every morning, knowing how you abandoned them. It is beyond my ability to comprehend how
you can even be related to me, given the arrogant and condescending attitude
you have toward your sons. With regards
to their sexuality, how dare you pretend to know what is best for them? Who do you think you are to force your sons
to bend to your will? Do you think you
are a bloody tyrant that can demand complete and utter obedience from your
family; just because you say it is your will that it be so?”
Dave’s face was flushed and he knew he
had said many things that maybe he shouldn’t have. He gave himself a mental shake and said, in a
voice that belied his mental and emotional state, “I think it is time for you
to go.”
Don stood up from the table and glared
at his brother. He started to leave
when Mary entered the house. She saw
Don’s face and knew things hadn’t gone well between the two brothers. She stepped aside as her brother-in-law
stormed past her and left the house.
Mary walked into the kitchen and asked
her husband, “What happened?”
Dave related to her his conversation
with Don. He shook his head and said,
“I wish it didn’t have to come to this, but Don is so hardheaded. It takes a major disaster to get him to reconsider
his position when he has already made up his mind about it.”
Mary put her arms around his waist,
“Don’t let it bother you. Don is
responsible for his own actions. You
shouldn’t worry about him, Dave. He
will come around eventually.”
“I don’t think so, Mary. I said some pretty harsh things just
now. I hope he thinks about what I’ve
said; instead of letting his anger overwhelm his sense of reason,” Dave said.
*** ***
Don climbed into his truck and slammed
the door shut. He turned the key in the
ignition and backed out of the driveway.
He was seething, and he wanted to put as much distance between himself
and his brother as possible. He put the
truck in gear and started his journey home to the farm.
He was about half way to the farm when
his anger started to dissipate and reason started to reassert itself. He felt completely drained. He pulled over to the side of the road and
turned off the engine. He put his head
in his hands and leaned against the steering wheel. Dave’s words kept coming back to him as he
sat there. Every one of his statements
had struck him hard. That was why he
had been so angry. He knew what Dave
had said was true. He had sent Randy
and Glenn to Dave’s home to get them out of his house. He had been ashamed of them and didn’t want
to be reminded of his failure to turn them into men like himself. He had wanted them to be “true” men.
Randy had been the first to tell him to
fuck off. He remembered how upset he
had been that night. He had called Dave
and begged him to let Randy move in with him.
He had dragged Randy out of bed in the middle of the night and driven
him to Swift Current. Dave had welcomed
Randy with open arms, telling him that everything would be alright. The memory of Dave holding his son in his
arms and comforting him seared his heart.
It should have been him who had consoled his son, and told him it didn’t
matter what Randy did, and that he still loved him. But that wasn’t how it happened. He had failed as a father, and wasn’t
willing to admit defeat. Instead, he had
banished Randy to Swift Current so he could pretend that he wasn’t a
failure. When Randy had shown up with
Shawn and announced they were partners, Don had completely lost it. He knew he had failed Randy again.
Later, when he was faced with Nancy’s rebellion
against his authority; he, again, went to his brother and asked him to take his
child into his home. He had also taken
the opportunity to send Glenn away as well.
In Glenn’s case, it was jealousy that motivated him to send him to Swift
Current. He had always been jealous of
the closeness between his wife and his son.
There was a special connection between them; and he resented the fact
that he didn’t share in that special connection. She had always taken a special interest in
Glenn. Now that he thought about it,
they were a lot alike. As Glenn grew
up, the bond between them seemed only to grow stronger. He had tried to ignore his feelings over the
years, but had failed miserably. So,
when the opportunity presented itself to get Glenn out of the house, he made
the case for sending both of them to live with Dave.
Dave and Mary had been more than willing
to take in their niece and nephew. Their
own children were the same ages as Nancy and Glenn, so it was natural for them
to fit right into their family as if they had always been there. Looking back on that time, Don realized that
he had given up the opportunity to share in his children’s lives. He had abdicated his responsibility as their
father in favor of his brother, Dave.
He was too proud to cry, but he came
pretty close to it, as he sat there pondering Dave’s words. He felt a huge emptiness inside. His wife had left him and his sons had made
it clear they didn’t want any association with him. He still had contact with his other three
children; but, even that was becoming less and less, as they had their own
lives to lead. He was startled by
someone tapping on the window. He
looked out to see an elderly gentleman signaling for him to roll down the
window, which he did.
“Are you all right?” he asked Don.
“Yes, I’m okay. Thank you for stopping to check on me,” Don
said.
“Okay, we’ll continue on our way
then. We saw you slumped over the wheel
and thought maybe you had suffered a heart attack or a stroke,” he said.
Don smiled and said, “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Well, don’t stay out here too much
longer,” he said.
Don acknowledged the advice. “I’ll be on my way shortly.”
He rolled up his window and started the
engine. He decided he needed to go back
to Dave’s house and try to set things right with his boys. Dave had been right. Everything he had said was true. His pride hadn’t let him admit that his sons
were unique individuals; not automatons that could be pre-programmed to achieve
what their creators designed them to do and nothing more, nothing less.
The more he thought about his
conversation with his minister, the more he was convinced that the paid
professional preacher had been wrong. The
guy had insisted that, as their father, Don had a responsibility to rise up and
condemn his sons. Don had argued that
he wasn’t their judge and executioner.
However, the pastor kept reading and rereading the story of Eli and his
sons from the Old Testament; emphasizing Don’s responsibility to weed out the iniquity
in his family.
However, Don couldn’t reconcile the
pastor’s vision of the Mosaic Law with the New Testament teachings of Jesus
that said to judge no man and to love everyone. He had always been taught that Jesus’ love
overcame all. It occurred to Don that the
man was more interested in keeping his flock happy and, thus, they would keep paying
him rather than being right. He taught
the congregation what they wanted to hear rather than delve into the true
meaning of the scriptures to help them draw closer to God.
As he drove his truck north toward Swift
Current, Don decided he needed his family more than the preacher’s
sermons. That, coupled with his admission
that he had committed some grave mistakes with his sons, caused Don’s remarkable
transformation during that ride back into Swift Current. By the time he arrived at Dave’s house, it
seemed as if a different man sat in the cab of his truck. He knew what he had to do to repair his
relationships with his sons and his wife.
It was going to take a lot of courage on his part to face them; but he
knew in his heart of hearts that it was the only way for him to be happy.
As he pulled into the driveway, he
noticed Shawn’s SUV was parked next to Dave’s car. He put the truck in reverse and pulled out
onto the street. He pulled parallel to
the curb and parked his truck. He
climbed out, walked over to the front door and knocked.
*** ***
Author’s Note:
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One Lawyer Specializing in Gay
Immigration for Canada -http://www.jordanbattista.com/immigration.html
Music that inspired this chapter –
