One Bright Star Read Online Free PDF

strength.
    “We’re a family,” Evan said. He sounded like was prepared to be interrupted, but neither Jeff nor Dan spoke. “We can’t get married, but I am more committed to you two, and to our family, than to anything else I’ve ever done. Maybe it’s stupid to need some sort of external validation—rings or not, I’ll feel the same way. But… I’d like it if we wore rings.” He leaned back against the cushions and anxiously waited.
    Dan turned his head toward Jeff. “You didn’t know about this?”
    “No,” Jeff said. He wished he had; this seemed like something that should be discussed. There were larger issues, especially now that they had a baby to take care of.
    But for once, Dan didn’t seem to be asking too many questions. “I like it,” he said firmly, and pulled the ring out of its box.
    “It’s a beautiful idea, Evan.” Jeff needed to be careful with this. “And if it was just us, I’d be all for it. I’d be jealous of whoever designed these for you, because he or she has a great eye—they’re gorgeous. And I’d wear it with pride and love. Absolutely.”
    “But…” Evan prompted. Jeff had a feeling that his concerns weren’t a total surprise to Evan, but Dan was squinting at him as if waiting for further explanation.
    “But we currently have plausible deniability,” Jeff said reluctantly. “We have no idea how things are going to play out in Robert’s lifetime. Sometimes it seems like things are getting more open, and sometimes it seems like the country’s getting even more close-minded. It’s not impossible that at some point, it’ll be best for Robbie if we play down our relationship.” He saw Dan’s expression and hastened to add, “In public! The three of us, here, in this safe little bubble… this is forever. I believe that. But we may want to have a different public face for the family. Two gay parents is already a lot for some people to accept; three gay parents would be even worse.”
    “And that’s why your book shows me and Dan with the baby, and you standing in the background like a benevolent uncle,” Evan said, his tone almost accusing. “That’s why you always make sure that we take some photos of just me and Dan and Robbie for every occasion, so that we can discard or hide the ones with all of us, if we have to.”
    “For Robbie ,” Jeff said. He knew that would be the way to take the hurt out of Dan’s face. “If it was just me, just us… I would never even think about hiding it. And I’m not saying we should , the way things are now. But if we walk around with rings on, advertising to the world that we consider ourselves married, there are people who are going to hate us. And the three of us can handle that. But I don’t know if it’s fair to ask a little boy to face it. When it comes down to it, the rings don’t matter, not compared to how Robbie matters.”
    Dan was clearly torn, as Jeff had known he would be. He’d been planning to have this conversation at some point, but not on Christmas Eve. He’d been careful, as Evan had noticed, to create a backup version of the baby’s childhood, a family that was a little untraditional but not completely beyond the understanding of most people. He’d hoped he’d be able to get away with that for a little longer, just to give the family a bit more time to find normalcy. They’d already dealt with so much; it would have been better to put this issue off until the new year, at least.
    “We need to think about it,” Dan said slowly. He looked at Evan. “I love you. I love the rings, and the idea behind them. But Jeff’s right. We need to think about RJ. We need to do what’s best for him.”
    Evan smiled. “Yeah. Okay.” He reached his hand out as if planning to retrieve the boxes, but Dan jerked his gift away.
    “Hey! I said we should think about it . I didn’t say a damn thing about giving the ring back, not yet!” He looked down at it fondly, then over at Jeff. “It’s so shiny