and go, and she would be there for them, and they would be there for each other. Their foundations were built on rock, and the family was as strong as she had hoped. It was all she had to give them of real value.
Chapter 16
Scott called Kate two days after Christmas, and invited her to dinner and a movie. She accepted happily. She was quiet when he picked her up, and he thought she seemed different. He asked her if anything was wrong.
“Not really. My kids are growing up. My son announced on Christmas Eve that he’s moving to India for two years. It’s a wonderful opportunity for him. I’m just going to miss him. He’s coming home next summer for three weeks, possibly to get married. His moving away like that is a big change. I have to get used to it. It kind of shocked me. We’ve had a lot of shocks in the past six months, but this is a big one and a good one. But even the good changes can be hard.” He nodded, trying to imagine what it felt like for a mother to watch her children move away. He had done it to his parents when he left Montana. He had never realized how much it must have hurt them. And then his mother died later. He’d had a happy childhood with them, and he still missed them at times, especially now with his father so far away. He had never thought of it before from their perspective, when he left for college and never moved back, and how hard it must have been for them. He had only thought of it from his point of view. He had never before realized the selflessness it took to let one’s children go and fly away, because it was what they wanted.
“None of your kids are married yet?” Scott asked her and she shook her head.
“Not yet. Almost. Anthony was supposed to get married this month, and he canceled the wedding in September. He fell in love with a different girl. She’s going to India with him. Stupidly, I would have objected to her before. And I think she’s lovely and the right girl for him. I would have picked the wrong one, for all the wrong reasons. He found a better one, for him, which is what matters. They’re thinking of getting married next summer.” She thought about telling him the rest then, but she wasn’t ready to share it with him yet.
They went to a movie that made them laugh, and had dinner afterward. They talked about a million different things until the restaurant closed, and then he took her home. She didn’t invite him up, and he didn’t suggest it. They were still learning about each other and having fun. Kate no longer cared about the age gap between them, it seemed irrelevant.
He was going on his ski trip four days later. He planned to leave the morning of New Year’s Eve. She was going to stay home cozily in her pajamas, which was what she had done for several years. She used to go to parties on that night, but she felt that people tried too hard, and it was never as much fun as she’d thought it would be. She liked staying home better.
When he dropped her off at her place, he wished her a happy New Year and said he’d call her from Vermont. She’d had another lovely evening with him, and he kissed her gently on the lips before he left her. It was a heady promise of things to come, if everything worked out right.
The next morning, Tammy called her.
“We just got a wedding license, Mom.” She sounded breathless. “We’ve been wrestling with a decision. It changed things once Stacey met the family, and we’re not a secret anymore. We want to get married and try to have a baby, and we want to do it in the right order. Neither of us care about a wedding or a big white dress. We have the wedding license now. We want to get married in two days, on the thirtieth. Will you be my witness?” Tears filled Kate’s eyes. She was going to be the witness to her daughter’s gay marriage, and if what she had always said to them was true, that all she wanted was their happiness, this was the proof of it. This was the happiness Tammy wanted.
“I’d be honored,” Kate said, with