The Man With the Alabaster Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

little dent in his armor?
    "Don't you have anything to say to me?" I asked.
    The answer to my question didn't come from Great Uncle Sherman, but from Milton's mom.
    "It's not his fault," she said.
    I wasn't sure when she'd come in from the kitchen. I'd been too focused on the old man.
    He turned toward her. "Gloria, don't," he said.
    She looked absolutely miserable. I'd never seen her cry, and while she wasn't crying now, she looked like she could start at any moment. "We can't keep this a secret anymore. I've done that for thirty-five years, and look what it's done to my family."
    "It hasn't done anything to this family," Sherman said. "If anything, it's made us strong." He turned his icy gaze at me. "You young people today. You think you should get whatever you want. Live how you want. With no thought of the consequences to anyone but yourselves." He snorted. "Life doesn't work that way."
    I spread my hands wide. "Why not? Who does it hurt if Milton admits that he's gay? That he loves the man he lives with? Because you couldn't?"
    That was it. I could see it in his eyes. He tried to stay angry at me, but he couldn't.
    "Get out," he said. "I don't want to see you in this house ever again, not while I'm alive."
    "I guess that's your answer to everything you don't like."
    He turned his back on me. The conversation was over as far as he was concerned.
    I glanced at Milton's mother. "You'd better leave," she said.
    Milton's mother walked me to the door. "Mrs. Grosbeck..." I said when I got my shoes back on, but then I stopped. I'd wanted to make a last ditch appeal to her, but then I thought better of it. I didn't want to burn this bridge, too. "Look, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have come except for Milton."
    She seemed surprised. "Did he ask you?"
    "No. I just wanted to help."
    She touched the side of my face, the first time she'd ever done that. "You're a good man. He's lucky to have you. I don't think I've ever told you that, but I feel that I should."
    In case she never saw me again.
    I took her hand and kissed the back of it, then I turned and left my boyfriend's mother's house. I hoped it wouldn't be for the last time.
    [?] [?] [?]
    ∗ ∗ ∗
    I wasn't looking forward to telling Milton that night how badly I'd screwed up, but I didn't want to keep it a secret either.
    All afternoon I thought about various ways to bring up the subject. How do you tell your boyfriend that you just outed his great uncle to his mom? "Hi, honey, I think I got you disowned for life. How was your day?" didn't seem like the kindest way to do it. An expensive dinner out was also out of the question. I'd only broken up with my boyfriend's family; I didn't want him to think even for a moment that I was breaking up with him.
    I settled on making lasagna. I'm not the world's greatest cook, but there are a few things I make well. Lasagna is one of them. I don't make it often, but when I do, Milton always has seconds.
    Apparently I also only make it when things go badly.
    "Oh, God, what happened?" Milton asked when he came through our front door.
    I straightened up from checking on the lasagna in the oven. "What do you mean?"
    Milton put his briefcase down and leaned on the counter that separated the entry way from the kitchen. "You're making lasagna. Who died?"
    "Nobody." I smiled at him. "Why would you think that?"
    "The last time you made lasagna, it was because you had to tell me that Mr. Childress from downstairs had died in his sleep."
    True.
    "And the time before that it was because our apartment building was going condo and you didn't think we'd be able to afford it."
    True again.
    "And the time before that--"
    I held up my oven-mitted hand. "Okay, okay. Well, the good news is, nobody died."
    "And?"
    I took a deep breath. "And the not-so-good news is that I went to see your great uncle today."
    Milton groaned and plopped down on a bar stool. "You didn't."
    "I'm afraid I did."
    "And?"
    "Well... " I took off the oven mitt and reached for Milton's