Page 56 of Wistful in Wyoming
Meanwhile, Whitehouse seemed oblivious to the evident tension in the group as he plastered on a relieved smile. “John! Patricia! Bless you—I’m so happy to see you two. Maybe you can help me talk some sense into these boys. Living in perverted sin. It’s shameful, I tell you.”
“The only thing I see that’s shameful, Whitehouse, is you.” John’s voice was so frigid, Dale was surprised they couldn’t see his breath floating through the air. The man was clearly not happy to see the pastor standing on JP property.
Whitehouse frowned. “John, I don’t understand? You support this?” He pointed back and forth between Dale and Jeremiah. “This affront to the good Lord? Engaging in sodomy and living together as two men were never meant to?”
Patricia broke in, placing a hand on her enraged husband’s chest when he moved to advance on the pastor. “John, your blood pressure.” She faced Whitehouse and scowled, and in that moment, Dale knew he would never want to piss the older woman off. She would rain fury down on anyone who crossed her family. “I wouldn’t send my teenaged son away to a conversion camp when you and my sister practically ordered me to, and I’m certainly not going to condemn him now. It’s not your place to tell my son who he can and can’t love, and it’s also not your place to tell me I have to do that either. I love my son and support him, no matter what, and if God has a problem with that, then he can tell me himself on my Judgment Day.” She moved to the side, giving the man a clear passage to the steps. “Leave. Now. You weren’t welcome then and you damn well aren’t welcome here now.”
“Mom? Dad?” Jeremiah seemed stunned, his head ping-ponging between his parents and the pastor as if watching a table-tennis match.
“Hush, Jeremiah—let us handle this,” Patricia gently corrected him, showing that no matter how old her offspring, she was still the protective mother she’d been all his life.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jeremiah replied, but he reached for Dale’s hand, gripping it tightly.
Whitehouse’s lips curled back in disgust as he pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his brow. “You don’t seem to understand any better now than you did then. These two men are sin incarnate. Leviticus 18:22—‘Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.’ ”
Patricia put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. “ ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’—John 8:7. Are you without sin,Pastor? And before you answer that, let me remind you I know all about your youthful ... indiscretions.” She raised an eyebrow at the man, seeming to look down her nose at him even though she was the shorter of the two. Whitehouse’s face turned to granite, his jaw clenched in pious fury, but the outraged women in front of him didn’t let him get a word in. “Love isnevera sin, and I am not going to argue with you any further. Not now, not ever again.” She pointed toward the steps. “Now, you’ve been asked to leave—I suggest you do so before I have to call my nephew. And you know just how Grady feels about you, don’t you?”
Without another word, Whitehouse stormed off, getting into his eco-friendly car and slamming the door shut. As the man drove off, Patricia smiled and brushed her hands together as if getting rid of some dirt. “Now that the local hypocrite’s been taken care of, Jeremiah, sweetheart, introduce me to your young man.” Dale barely kept a burst of laughter from escaping at being called a “young man.” Holding out both hands, Patricia reached over and grasped Dale’s hand between her own, while still talking to her son. “I’ve heard so much about him from your sister as well. I have to agree with Jenna—he’s quite handsome—though the words your sister used were a little less polite.”
Jeremiah chuckled. “Yes, he is. Dale, this is Patricia and John Urban, my parents. Ma, Dad, this is Dale—he’s ... um ...” Jeremiah trailed off, his nerves clearly coming to the surface and getting the better of him.
Dale winked at Jeremiah, loving the blush that painted the man’s face, before holding out his free hand for John to shake, since Patricia still wasn’t letting him stand. “Ma’am, sir, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Dale Harris.”
“Jeremiah, where are your manners?”
“Sorry, Ma, I think I lost them back there when you and Dad told off the pastor.” Jeremiah gestured to the two empty chairs on the porch. “Why don’t you two have a seat, or would you rather go inside?”
“Let’s go in—I could use a cold drink while we sit and chat,” Patricia said.
John clapped Jeremiah’s shoulder. “Come on, son, let’s do as your mother says. That’s her mama-bear tone, and you know as well as I do, it’s best not to argue with her when she wants tositandchat.”
“Oh, hush. You make me sound like an ogre.”
Her husband kissed her cheek. “Prettiest darn ogre I’ve ever met.”
Shaking his head at his parent’s antics, Jeremiah helped Dale to his feet, and they followed the couple into the house. Patricia led the way as if she owned the place. Dale had to remind himself she used to—this had been her home for most of her life, and she still treated it as such.
“Where’s Jenna?”
Jeremiah replied, “She ran to Butterfield to get a couple of things she forgot in the storage unit, and then she was going to stop at the Pack & Sack for a few things for dinner. She should be back soon.”
Moments later, they were seated around Jeremiah’s large dining room table, glasses of sweet tea in front of each of them. Despite the older couple’s smiles and relaxed demeanor, the tension felt thick and awkward as Jeremiah sat staring at his parents. Dale wasn’t sure if he should say something to break the ice. Even with Jeremiah’s conversation with them on the phone the other night, it was the first time he was ever introducing a male lover to his folks. That alone was enough to make Dale feel anxious for him too.
Patricia took a sip of her drink, then set the glass to the side. “So, I want to get this right out there. Jeremiah, sweetheart, I love you. Your father loves you. We always have, and always will. As we said on the phone, we don’t care who you date, only that you’re happy. Does Dale make you happy?”
Jeremiah beamed at him, and the love and adoration Dale saw on his cowboy’s face would’ve brought him to his knees had he been standing. Jeremiah nodded, his gaze never leaving Dale’s. “Yes, Ma, he does—happier than I ever thought I could be. I love him and he loves me. I never imagined I could ever be so lucky to find someone this wonderful.”
“I’m so glad.” Tears sparkled in her eyes as she reached across the table, clasping Jeremiah’s hand with her right and Dale’s with her left. “Love each other, even when it seems too hard and scares the crap out of you, and you’ll be just fine.”
“Your mother’s right, Jeremiah,” John added. “If you’re happy and cared for in return, we couldn’t be more pleased. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”
Jeremiah pulled his hand free from his mother’s grip and covered his face with both palms as sobs tore free from his chest. Dale didn’t hesitate and, ignoring the pain in his stomach, wrapped his arms around Jeremiah’s shoulders, holding him close.
“Oh honey ...” Patricia started crying in earnest as well, and Dale felt his own emotions rise up. Even John swiped at his eyes a few times.
A thump sounded to the right of Dale and everyone’s gaze swung toward the noise. Jenna had dropped a tote bag and now stood there with her hands on her hips, scowling at all the tears she saw. “All right. What did I miss, and whose ass are we kicking now?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
