“No,” Janey says again, stronger this time. “I’m staying.”
“You're coming home.”
“This is my home, now.”
Eleanor’s face flushes. “This isn’t a home. This is some fantasy you’ve built because you're scared and hormonal and surrounded by men who are taking advantage of your confusion. You saw your friend living in sin and wanted to join her.”
Janey steps down to stand in the yard, directly in front of her mother.
“Joelle isn’t living in sin. She’s in a polyamorous relationship that’s filled with love and commitment. And I’m not confused,” she says. “I won’t pretend I’m not scared. But being scared doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
Eleanor’s lips tremble with fury. “You’ll regret this.”
“Maybe I’ll regret parts of it,” Janey says softly. “Maybe it’ll be hard. Maybe people will talk. Maybe I’ll cry more than I want to. But I would rather live a hard life that’s mine than an easy one that belongs to you.”
Her father wipes a hand over his face. “Janey…”
She turns to him, and her voice gentles. “I love you, Dad. So please leave it.”
“I love you too.” His voice breaks. “I don’t know how to protect you from this.”
Janey’s smile is small and sad. “You don’t have to protectme from my own life or my own choices. Not anymore.”
He stares at her for a long moment. Then his gaze shifts to me and Mason, then back to Janey.
“Are they good to you?”
Eleanor makes a sharp sound. “Richard.”
But he doesn’t look at his wife.
Janey nods, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Yes.”
“Do they make you feel safe?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love them?”
Her breath trembles. “Yes.”
Her father’s eyes shine. He looks older suddenly, as if the last few minutes have worn years into him.
He nods once and his wife’s face hardens with betrayal. “You can’t be serious.”
Richard’s shoulders sag. “She’s standing right in front of us telling us who she is and what she wants. She’s having a child. You can’t wipe that away and pretend it never happened.”
“She’s making a mistake.”
“Maybe,” he says quietly. “But she isn’t a child anymore. Her life is hers. She has to paint her own canvas.”
Janey presses a hand over her mouth as a sob escapes. Unable to stop myself, I stand behind her right shoulder. Mason moves to her left. She leans back the smallest amount, enough that her shoulder brushes my chest and her fingers find Mason’s hand.
Eleanor’s lips curl as she looks at the three of us.
“This is disgraceful,” she says. “After everything we’ve done for you. The schools. The lessons. The connections. The doors we opened. And this is what you choose?”
Janey’s face crumples. “I’m grateful for what you gaveme. But love isn’t a debt I have to repay by becoming someone I’m not.”
