Pride Goeth...

Chapter 11

“Your stalker is back,” Gordon said with a smirk as he glanced over John’s shoulder. Samantha was standing on the sidewalk watching the construction of the new schools.

“You know, Brian used to refer to Justin as his stalker,” John remarked with a sigh.

“That story has a happy ending. This, unfortunately won’t.”

“No, it won’t. I guess I better get this over with,” John said with resignation as he turned to face the music. “Hi,” he greeted Samantha.

“Hi. Have you heard anything yet?”

“No, not yet. I called Dan; he thinks we’ll know soon. Samantha, I have to ask, what will you do if the test shows I’m Grace’s father? Will you tell her?”

“I don’t know. After all this time, I’m not sure if it’ll do any good except to disrupt her life. That’s why she doesn’t know I’m doing this. And if it turns out that Warren is her father, then no harm done.”

“Samantha, Warren was her father no matter what the tests will show. And as for no harm being done...”

“I’m sorry if my search for the truth created a wedge between you and your partner,” Samantha said with an insincere tone. “Maybe you need to rethink your situation.”

“Maybe you need to rethink your motives. My relationship with my husband has never been stronger. My brother and his partner’s support of me and Bobby has never wavered. I have to get back to work. Samantha, I’m truly sorry your husband died; he sounded like a nice guy. But I can’t be what you think I can be. I’ll make sure Dr. Morrison notifies you as soon as possible. ”

With that, John turned and strode back to his construction site.

 

*****
 

“Dada, I like this dress,” Bree said as she pointed to a two-piece outfit that had a rainbow on the t-shirt top. The accompanying mini-skirt was pink.

Bree had gone into Harrisburg with her father ostensibly to check in with Part Deux, but also for Bree to pick out that special outfit for PRIDE. Brian found that the picturesque city had a lot to offer in the way of fashionable little girl wear.

“Why am I not surprised,” Brian mumbled to himself. His daughter was truly the result of their alternative family. Before taking the dress to the checkout line, they stopped by the shoe department. Brian wanted to make sure Bree had appropriate footwear for walking, and it didn’t hurt that said footwear was pink with a big purple buckle.

“Thank you, Dada,” Bree said with a big smile as she and Brian walked through the parking lot toward the car. He held her little hand tightly as Bree skipped along beside him. Brian had a big bag in his other hand filled with her new PRIDE outfit.

 

*****
 

A loud rumble from the yard caught Jamie’s attention. She put down her sketchpad and walked to the back door.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Leda said as she steered the three-wheeled all terrain vehicle around the large yard. “Hop on,” she called to Jamie. Leda pulled up to the back of the house to let Jamie on the back of the seat. Jamie laughed with delight as she hung onto her lover while they made figure eights in the grass.

 

*****
 

“You look beautiful, honey,” Debbie said as Richie aka Nina, modeled the now tailored dress for her and Emmett. Emmett sniffled with the tears of pride twinkling in his eyes. The proper undergarments made the dress look just right on the slim young man.

“I feel transformed,” Nina replied as she studied herself in the mirror. “Thank you, Mrs. Horvath.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart, and it’s Grandma. You’re one of my boys now,” she said as she wrapped her arms around her newest lost boy. “And I’d be very happy to march with you and your...”

Debbie wasn’t sure how to refer to Emmett and Drew. She didn’t want to presume that Richie considered them his parents yet. The family had only been together for less than two months.

“My dads. And I’d be very happy if you’d march with me and my dads,” Nina beamed.

“Oh oh oh!” tripped out of Emmett’s mouth as he tightly hugged his son while Debbie pressed a wad of tissues into Emm’s hand.

“Congratulations, Emmett, it’s a boy...and a girl!” Debbie quipped with a smile as she went to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee.

 

*****
 

“Curtis?” JR said into her cell phone.

“Hi, JR, what’s up?”

“I … I’m at my dads’.”

“Your dads’? How come?”

“I had a fight with Mama.”

“I thought she was okay about us being together?”

“She’s never okay with anything I do,” JR sighed.

“Did she get on your case again … about going out with me?” Curtis was getting angry. This was all pure bullshit.

“No, it wasn’t about that,” JR started to explain.

“Then what the hell was it about?”

“I’m going to march in the PRIDE parade,” JR stated.

“Yeah, my dads are too. They asked me if I wanted to go with them.”

“Have you decided that you will?” JR asked, hoping Curtis might be there with her.

“I … I haven’t decided,” Curtis said uncertainly. “I’m not gay.”

JR giggled. “I know.”

“But people … will think I am … if I’m in the parade.”

“Who cares what they think. I don’t,” JR said.

“You’re always so … decisive.”

“Mama would say I was just stubborn and a spoiled brat,” JR said sadly.

“She’d be wrong,” Curtis declared. “You’re just brave … and smart … and great.”

JR laughed. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

“More than one, I hope.”

“Many.”

“That’s good to know,” Curtis said with a big smile spreading across his face. “So, were you fighting with your mom about the parade?”

“Yeah.”

“So what happened?”

“My dads are going to march with PFLAG.”

“That’s who my dads will march with too.”

“That’s what I intend to do as well. I belong to the Rainbow Club at school, so do you. I want to be with them in the parade, and they’re marching with PFLAG.”

“So…?”

“My mama is going to march with the equal marriage rights movement … and she wants me to be there with her.”

“What’s the difference?” Curtis asked with a frown.

“That’s exactly what I asked. I’m still marching in the parade. But she says I’m not supporting her.”

“Is she a little … crazy?” Curtis asked tentatively.

JR giggled. “I wonder that all the time.”

“I never know what to expect from her.”

“That makes two of us.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Curtis asked.

“I’m staying with my dads until after the parade. I’m going to march with them.”

“I hate to see you fighting with your mom,” Curtis said softly. He knew the value of having parents … and not having them. The first was far preferable to the latter.

“I hate fighting with her too, but … she never listens to me. I’m always wrong. I never do anything right,” JR stated. “Sometimes I really hate her.”

“No you don’t,” Curtis contradicted.

“Yes, I do.”

“You’re just too much like her,” Curtis declared. “That’s why you two don’t get along.”

“I am not like her,” JR objected.

“Yeah, you are,” Curtis repeated. “But you’re a lot nicer about everything.”

JR frowned. “How do you think I’m like my mother?” She was genuinely curious.

“You’re both so strong and definite about things.”

“Yeah, I guess we are,” JR admitted.

“Neither of you back down when you think you’re right. That’s why you had this fight.”

JR’s frown increased. She knew Curtis was right. “What should I do?” she asked confused.

Curtis laughed gently. “There’s not much you can do,” he said. “Each of you is what you are, and you’re not likely to change. Just be sure that you pick the fights that matter. This one doesn’t seem so important, at least that’s how it seems to me.”

There was silence on the line for a few minutes as JR thought about what Curtis had just said.

“JR?”

“Yeah, sorry, just thinking.”

“I know what it’s like to be all alone. You’ve got four parents. Don’t lose any of them.” Curtis thought JR needed to hear that. It was too easy to take for granted what you had. “I’m sorry if I upset you,” Curtis added when JR didn’t respond.

“You didn’t upset me.”

“Good.”

“Will you march in the parade with your dads … and me?”

“I guess I could be talked into it,” Curtis grinned. JR sounded okay once again.

“And how would I talk you into it?”

“Tell me that you’ll hold my hand while we march,” Curtis teased.

“Is that so everyone will know you’re not gay?” JR giggled.

“It’s so everyone will know you’re with me.”

JR smiled broadly. “Consider yourself talked into it,” she said cheerfully.

“Done,” Curtis said before he cut the connection.

 

*****
 

“What are we going to do about the PRIDE parade?” Ben asked as he sat down on the sofa with Michael.

“What do you mean? We’re marching with Ma and PFLAG.”

“I know, but then there’s Mel and our daughter to consider.”

“What are you saying – that we should march with the equal marriage rights group?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. But I do think we need to sort out this mess between JR and her mother,” Ben said gently.

“And just how the fuck are we going to do that?”

“I have no idea. I thought maybe you’d have an answer.”

“Well, I don’t,” Michael said shaking his head.

“Could JR march half of the parade route with us, and then the rest of the parade with her mothers?”

“Hm,” Michael said thinking about that. “We’d have to talk JR into that, but it might work…”

Ben smiled and kissed Michael’s cheek. “It’s worth a try.”

Michael grinned. “Trust you to make things better.”

“Always, where my family is concerned.”

“What are you going to wear?”

“I hadn’t thought about it. Why?”

“Um…”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“A long time ago I dressed up as a woman and marched with my mother.”

“You did?” Ben asked with a chuckle. “I bet you were a real looker. What made you do that?”

“It, um, was before I came out at work. Ma wanted me to march with her, and I didn’t want anyone to know that I was gay.”

“People who aren’t gay march in the PRIDE parade too.”

“I know, but I was worried they’d find out about me at work.”

“Did they?”

“No,” Michael laughed. “In fact I got back at one of the assholes I worked with.”

“And how did you do that?”

“I saw a group from work along the parade route. I went over and kissed that asshole Andrew. He didn’t know what hit him.” Michael laughed heartily at the memory.

“Didn’t he recognize you?” Ben asked.

Michael shook his head. “Nope, he thought I was a woman … or maybe not. Who knows? I think he enjoyed the kiss.”

“You must have made quite a woman,” Ben said waggling his eyebrows.

“Emmett said I turned out pretty good,” Michael laughed. “I wore Godiva’s dress.”

“I’ve heard of Godiva.”

“Yeah, she was pretty special to Emmett, and she died just before that parade.”

“So, are you going to dress as a woman for this parade?” Ben asked.

“Would you like it if I did?”

Ben raised an eyebrow and gave that question considerable thought.

 

*****
 

“Uncle Brian?” JR said tentatively into her phone as Brian answered his cell.

“That’s me. And what can I do for you, little lady?” Brian asked using the same endearment his brother used for JR.

“Uncle Brian, I have a problem.”

“Don’t we all,” he snarked. “How can I help?”

“Uncle Bri, I still don’t know what to do about the parade.”

“What about the parade?” Brian asked and then he heard Michael’s voice in the background calling JR to dinner. “Jenny Rebecca, is your dad visiting your house?” Brian was unaware of JR’s temporary change of address.

“No,” JR mumbled.

“Before we discuss anything further about the parade I think you better explain,” Brian said sternly. JR could practically see her uncle’s eyebrow arch. She quickly explained what had transpired with her moms. “So let me get this straight...you ran away from home to your dads’ house because Mel is pissed that you’re going to march with PFLAG instead of her and the equal marriage rights committee.”

“Yeah.”

“Put Mikey on the phone,” Brian demanded.

“Okay,” she said meekly. Her mother wasn’t the only one pissed. “DAAAD! Uncle Bri’s on the phone,” JR shouted into the air.

“Fuck!” Brian exclaimed as he quickly pulled the phone away from his ear. “That girl sounds more and more like Debbie every fucking day,” he grumbled.

“Bri?”

“Mikey! What the fuck is going on in the Pitts?”

“I’m not sure how it happened. One minute Ben and I were sitting down to dinner and the next we’re at the girls’ house with Ma, picking up JR. I love it that she’s here but she’s so upset. I don’t know how to make it better.”

“Sometimes, Mikey, you just can’t make it better.”

“We have to try.”

Both men remained silent for a moment. Michael had no clue how to help his daughter other than being there for her and providing a home.

“Michael, you and the professor going to march with the family?”

“Yeah.”

“And the family is marching with the GLC.”

“Yeah, the GLC hosts a chapter of PFLAG.”

“Is my old friend Tannis still the head dyke of the GLC?”

“Yes, she is. Why?”

“Just curious. Gotta go, Mikey, I’ll see you at the parade.”

“Brian, what are you up to?”

“Moi? Nothing. Good night, Mikey. Give JR and the professor a kiss for me!” Brian quipped before he hung up.

“Asshole,” Michael mumbled as he hung up. But he gave his daughter and his husband a kiss anyway when he joined them for supper.

“Tannis, my old friend!” Brian said cheerfully into his phone when the no nonsense woman answered.

“What can I do for you, Kinney?” she replied curtly. After all this time, Tannis was still a bit suspicious of Brian. Brian smirked at the tension in her voice.

“So good of you to ask. Now about this parade...”

 

Return to Pride Goeth