Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 10

wings weren't fluttering pointlessly around his shoulders.
    "I don't understand," he protested.
    Sephrim turned away, linking hands with the soldier. Rough scars marred his shoulder blades. The angel never turned back as the pair walked away, leaving George alone on the far side of a bridge to nowhere. He stared after them until they disappeared over a hill. The place where the angel touched him felt warm yet he didn't understand why he'd been dragged out here to cross an unsafe bridge for no reason. Finally, in frustration, George turned back, thrusting his hands thrust deep inside the front pockets of his jeans, his thoughts racing. Just before he stepped off the bridge, he heard Sephrim's voice again.
    "Of course you do, George. I wasn't the one trying to use broken wings to fly."
    ****
    George tossed the ball to Adam, who fired it back, deliberately offline, he knew, but he jumped, stretching as far as he could and snagged it. He tossed it back with a flick of his wrist. "We need to talk, Adam."
    The kid scowled, shaking his head so hard his hair stood out from his head, so straight compared with George's waves, but the espresso color was the same. George wondered guiltily whether Connie had the money to get his hair cut.
    "Then listen. I know you're pissed off at me for leaving your mother and you. But let me ask you something. The other night, after your ballgame, do you remember that girl you were staring at? The one wearing the pink top?"
    Adam's brows disappeared beneath his too-long bangs. "Crystal, you mean? Justin's older sister?"
    George grinned as he fielded a toss from the gangly kid that wasn't quite as hard as the last. "That's her. Tell me something, Adam. Did you choose to be attracted to her? Is it something you planned?"
    Adam scowled and threw the ball wide, but George laid out in the grass, managing to catch it with the tip of his glove. Rolling onto his back, he tossed it back. Adam stepped to the side, allowing the ball to sail past. He jerked off his glove and hurled it to the ground.
    "I get it, okay? I get that you don't like girls anymore. What I don't get is why you married us." Adam's mouth twisted, and he blinked rapidly. "If you can stop liking Mom and stop liking your job, doesn't that mean you can stop liking me?"
    The kid didn't give him a chance to respond. George watched the stripes on his son's shirt blur as the boy raced into the house, slamming the back door with enough force to bring Connie outside to see what the fuss was about.
    He shoved his hands through his hair and met her inquisitive look. "I'm trying, dammit. Trying to explain something to him even you barely understand. He thinks I'm going to quit loving him because—" He let his arms fall, staring at her miserably. "I haven't stopped loving you, Connie. I just needed to stop feeling like a freak."
    She held up her hand like a traffic cop. "Stop. Just stop talking, George. It's my fault too. My fault because I can't help it, dammit. I can't look at you without wondering what I did wrong. I love you, and I want you. Do you have any idea what it's done to me to know you don't feel that same way?" Tears began to roll down her cheeks. He had trouble understanding her next words. "I can start accepting that I can't blame you for how you're made, but it makes me want to scream because if people hadn't made you feel as if you had to hide who you are, then I'd never have had what I can't accept that I've lost." Her sunburned shoulders looked as red and raw as he felt.
    He blinked at her, stunned by the pain her admission caused him. "Can't it be enough to know you're the only woman I'll ever love? I mean, I chose you both. It wasn't some accident of nature. Denying I was gay was only part of that."
    "You mean that?"
    She looked so vulnerable and so disbelieving. "Of course I do, Connie. Can't you take what I can give you?" He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. Her arms wound around his neck, and he felt her trembling. "You allowed me the privilege of sharing Adam's life, and I couldn't love him more if we'd made him together. I always took that as one of the biggest honors I ever received, you letting me adopt your baby, because I know how much you love him. I'll always love you both. That's never going to change. If it makes me selfish to hope you'll always love me too, then that's what I am, selfish. But you need to make room in your heart for another man. It's time. Get happy, and stop waiting for me to make