Then Cessily was back, guiding me from the room like I was a zombie. "I told Meredith that she can have fifteen minutes with her. It will probably be more; we will not count. There are also a few people who are very excited for you."
When we reached the hall, she turned me to the left, and kept walking. It wasn't far, and I saw our little portion of the rainbow standing there. They were all looking at me, and I could see something in their eyes, but the smiles on their lips made it better.
"You did it," Violet said when I was close enough.
I didn't slow down. I marched straight to her and wrapped my arms around her, but my mouth followed. Fuck her lipstick. Today, I deserved this, and from the way she kissed me back, she agreed.
"I love you," I breathed, releasing one arm to turn and hug Cy against my other side. "I died. I'm pretty sure I'm in heaven, so someone please tell me that this is real?"
"It's real," Ash promised. "And you're also completely out now."
"I'm sorry," Cy said.
I just hugged him against my side a little harder. "I am not ashamed. I had a couple of amazing men teach me that." Then I looked at Darnell. "Ah, hell." Letting go of both Cy and Violet, I turned to hug him as well, and then Ash crashed into my back, wrapping his arms around both of us.
Then Violet pressed up against my side. A moment later, Cessily moved to take the other, and Cy hugged up against Darnell's back, making us into one very massive group hug. I knew I looked like an idiot, and I didn't fucking care. This? It was perfect. It was why Southwind was so important. This, right here, was my family.
And then a laugh made us all pull back. "That didn't go like I expected." The voice belonged to David, the pastor at the church. I turned with a smile, but when I saw Bev beside him, it faded quickly.
"I forgot you both were here," I told her.
She just stepped up and hugged me lightly. "I was proud of you in there, Luke. You'd have made Vera and Bea so proud too."
David just patted my arm. "So, you worked everything out, then?"
"I did," I assured him. "Thank you both for the videos and all the help."
"I'm not picking sides," David said. "I'm actually on my way over to offer Meredith a shoulder, but I wanted to make it clear that your business is between you and God. I think God would be pretty proud of you, though. I also know about Zeke, and he told me that all of you have been kind to him. It may have been enough for me to write a letter to the court to make it clear that his problems at school had a cause."
"Ah, hell," Ash groaned. "I have spent my entire life hating church, and you're gonna change that, aren't ya?"
"Got you to come a few times already, but I have a feeling I won't be seeing any of you this weekend. Enjoy the celebration." He turned away, but something slammed into my back, almost making me stumble.
"Dad!" Faith squealed, explaining the impact.
"Hey, cupcake." I turned around making her release me, but my daughter just turned and hugged Violet instead.
"You let me be mad at you because you were protecting them. That's what an ally is, right?" she asked.
Violet hugged her back. "It's how I do it," she said, gripping my daughter tightly. "I wanted to explain everything to you, but we couldn't."
"You could've," she insisted. "I know not to out someone, and I'd never do that to Dad."
Violet just hooked a finger under her chin. "But when you go on that stand, you have to tell the truth. If you don't know things, then you can't be made to say them. I would much rather you hated my guts than lost your dad. That's why we couldn't explain things to you."
"Why we said it's complicated," I told her.
She nodded. "So Dad kissed Cy because you spent the night with Ash?"
I just about choked. "What?" A huff got my brain working again. "Faith, no. Those pictures were from a few weeks ago, back when we were cutting hay. Around the time Zeke came riding."
"Oh..." She nodded. "So because you kissed Cy, Violet got to spend the night with Ash?"
Ash groaned. "You should not know about hall passes until you're at least fifteen."
"Like, at school?" she asked.
"Least there's that," Darnell said, because clearly the term wasnotone she knew.
