Liam
“You have the patience of a saint.” Liam pulled a freshly-scrubbed plate from the sink and handed it over to Mark to dry. He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody else was in earshot. “If they were my in-laws, I would move and not give them my new address.”
“They are the grandparents to my children.”
“That’s only a fluke of genetics. Did you hear what he was saying about Franny’s dress?” Liam wished Pastor Fry and Brenda had seen when Franny first showed it off to them, how new levels of confidence radiated out of her. Watching his niece deflate in front of his eyes because of their words infuriated him. He added it to the long list of things he couldn’t stand about the Pastor.
“They’re just from a different time,” Mark said, forever the mediator.
“A different century. Whenever they come over, they always criticize your parenting or complain about something.”
“So do you,” Mark said with a teasing smile. Liam made sure there was dishwater in the spoon he handed to Mark.
“Oops.”
“That’s what in-laws do. It’s because they care.”
“Mariel didn’t seem to think so.” Liam wanted to take back his words, but he knew that his late sister-in-law would agree with him. She always seemed to have this look of barely concealed frustration, even hatred, whenever Liam saw her and the Pastor together. “She was the one who decided that you and the kids should stop going to their church. And remember those stories you used to tell me about what a rebel she was in high school, changing into dresses in the parking lot that were a lot more revealing than what your daughter had on.”
That was before Liam was born, but Mariel had showed him pictures of her teen years, and she totally would’ve tried to get him to smoke cigarettes with her behind the school. In a way, she kind of reminded him of Nathan. They had the same hint of mischief in their eyes. They even held their cigarettes in a similar fashion. Although if Liam’s father had been a conservative preacher, maybe he would’ve tried to rebel, too.
Mark balanced the final serving dish on the drying rack. “Mariel’s relationship with her parents was complicated, but they loved her deeply, and they love those kids just as deeply. They just want the best for them. We all do.”
“I think their version of best and our version of best are not the same.”
Mark put down his dishtowel and heaved out a breath. Having saint-like patience was not for the weak.
“I’m sorry. I’ll shut up.”
“Nathan seemed to like them,” Mark said.
“He did.” Liam thought about all the questions he asked the Pastor and how eager and friendly he seemed when chatting with Brenda. It was cute.
“Things seem to be going well with you boys.”
“What?” Liam dropped his sponge in the sink. It splashed a few droplets in his face. “What do you mean?”
“With lambing.”
“Oh, right. Good as gold. Listen, Mark. There’s something I need to tell you. Or rather, that I want to tell you.”
Mark turned to him, his face switching to concern in a blink. “What is it?”
Liam had been both looking forward to and dreading this moment. He didn’t like keeping secrets from his brother. “I’m—I’m bi.”
“You mean bisexual?”
Liam nodded yes. Mark nodded as well.
“I think it’s been something that’s always been there. And Nathan’s helped me…discover it.”
Mark nodded again. His apparent stoicism was burning a hole in Liam.
“Well, out with it,” Liam said.
“Do I say congratulations?”
“If you want to.”
