“You’re dating a woman?” Chris was the first of her children to find his voice again. “For how long?”
“Is that why you and dad got a divorce?” Olivia asked.
“It’s not you, is it?” Gina asked Amber, obviously not having properly absorbed the mention of Robin’s name.
Amber just shook her head solemnly.
“You must have many questions, and I will do my best to answer them all, but I need you to know that this is not something I’ve been hiding from all of you for a long time. It’s new to me as well. Falling in love with another woman has been—” Micky had to stop herself there. Because this wasn’t about Robin and how hard Micky had fallen for her, this was about her and her family. “Robin and I have been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, so not very long. You can meet her if you want, but you don’t have to. And, Liv, honey, your question is very difficult because I can’t really give a straight answer to that. Your dad and I got divorced because our marriage wasn’t working anymore, and I’d be lying if I said that all of this had nothing to do with it whatsoever, but marriages end for a whole bunch of reasons and this was just one of many.”
“I would certainly like to meet this… Robin,” Gina said, then turned to Amber again. “Did you have anything to do with this?”
“Amber has nothing to do with it. It’s not because she’s a lesbian that I suddenly became one.” If her children hadn’t been present, Micky might have tried explaining the spectrum to her mother, but she deemed it inappropriate—not so much for children’s ears, but because it involved their mother.
Liv and Chris sat there, leaning back in the sofa, with a stupefied look on their faces. Poor things. They’d never seen it coming.
“Is she your first, then?” Gina asked, making Micky truly wish she’d told her mother on a separate occasion. She’d overlooked the fact that she would have questions of a different nature, and she’d also believed, wrongly it appeared now, that her children would find comfort in their grandmother’s presence, in not having to face the news alone.
“Yes, Mom, she is.” Micky couldn’t keep a hint of annoyance from creeping into her tone.
“I don’t understand,” Olivia said. “You were married to dad for so long. You’re not like auntie Amber, who’s been gay forever. How can it just change like that?”
“How, I don’t know, honey, but well, people can change over time and fall in love with totally different people in the course of their lives, even people of a different sex.”
“I hope you’re not rushing into anything just because Darren has a girlfriend now,” Gina said. Of all three of them, she seemed to be taking it the hardest. Or perhaps she was just better at translating her shock—and other emotions—into words.
“It has nothing to do with Darren.” And I met Robin before he even told me about Lisa, Micky added, in a very petulant voice, in her head.
“I would like to meet her as well.” Christopher’s voice was confident. “So what if it’s with another woman? I just want you to be happy, Mom.”
Micky felt a tear pearl in the corner of her eye at the words from her beautiful boy. His reaction she had been afraid of the least, perhaps because he was the eldest of her children and he understood the most. And he’d always been a bit of a mommy’s boy. His comment earned him an eye roll from his sister, though.
“Thank you, Chris. That means a lot.” Micky wanted to get up and give him a long hug.
“Whereas I will need some time to process this information about my only child,” Gina said. She’d barely touched her tea. Now, she rose and started looking around for her purse.
“Liv, Chris, why don’t I take you guys out for some fro-yo so your mom and granny can talk,” Amber said. She rose and made for the door and, in between, caught Micky’s gaze and mouthed I’ve got this.
✶ ✶ ✶
“I’m your mother, Michaela,” Gina said, “and I didn’t have the faintest idea.” After Amber had ushered the kids out of the house, her mother had sat back down. “You used to always tell me what was going on with you.”
“I didn’t tell you sooner because I was still figuring it out myself.” Perhaps this was the hardest part for Micky. She hadn’t just one day woken up and realized she only wanted to be with women for the rest of her life. It had been a slow, gradual process of small lightbulbs going off, often with years in between them, and finally illuminating a path for Micky through the darkness in which the desires of her subconscious mind had been cast.