Variation on a Theme, Book 6
Copyright© 2024 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 163: Harmony
Friday, July 4, 1986
Today’s weather turned out to be reasonable for the family reunion, but one might have doubted that in the morning. We awoke to thunderstorms, and fairly vigorous ones. They continued throughout breakfast.
The rain stopped mid-morning, just before we headed to the grocery store. We were on the hook for chips, carrots, any other fruits or veggies we wanted, and some soda. All of that made sense. None of them would trust the Texans to purchase bratwurst, cheese, or beer, amongst other things. I could have done just fine with them, and so could Mom, but everyone was happier leaving those things to the real ‘cheeseheads.’
Everyone’s shopping lists overlapped, at least a bit. Ryan and Colleen were also bringing fruits and veggies, while Tim and Helen were bringing chips and soda. Everyone felt like that would help ensure we had enough, both in terms of quantity and variety.
We got back to the hotel around eleven-thirty and checked out. The plan was to spend the night down in Rockford, Illinois. The drive wasn’t that bad, and it would put us hours closer to Chicago for our flight tomorrow without our having to drive all of the way to O’Hare after the party.
The rain started back up around noon, while we were hanging out at a table in the lobby. With the reunion slated to start at one, Mom said, “It’s a good thing they booked the pavilion at the park! At this rate, we’re going to get soaked!”
“I hope it’s not an omen,” Jas said. “Not that I really believe in omens, but...”
“If they’re really omens, they’re true whether you believe in them or not,” Angie finished, chuckling.
Mom shook her head and said, “That makes sense. In an odd way, definitely, but it does.”
“If the weather clears, is that also an omen?” Jas asked.
“I guess we’ll find out later!” Mom said, which got everyone laughing.
We left for the reunion at twelve-thirty. The weather was already starting to clear as we headed to the car. By the time we arrived at the park, it was partly cloudy.
“It’s going to be hot by Wisconsin standards,” Dad said. “Just you wait!”
He was right. Once the clouds mostly cleared away, it got into the mid-90s. By Houston standards, it was ‘fairly warm.’ Humid, too, with the rain evaporating beneath our feet. Thus, it was approaching ‘outrageously hot’ by central Wisconsin standards.
We turned out to be the first to arrive at the park. Fortunately, the pavilion they’d reserved had a sign saying ‘Herrmann,’ so we had no trouble finding it and getting settled.
Uncle Ryan and Aunt Colleen arrived next. Dwight was riding with them, along with his new girlfriend, Shannon, who looked to be in her late twenties (as was Dwight). We hadn’t even heard of Shannon, but that didn’t prevent Jas, Angie, or Paige from greeting her with hugs. She seemed to enjoy the welcome. Along with Colleen, she immediately launched into a heated discussion of their rings, wedding plans, and all sorts of related topics.
If it bothered her that Angie and Paige were a couple, we certainly saw no sign of it. But then, it was nearly certain Ryan and Colleen would have made sure they were fine with it first.
Keith and Sue probably would have as well. They arrived about fifteen minutes later, accompanied by four-year-old Kim and two-year-old Martin. He might be able to act as ring bearer at our weddings. I thought three was on the young end, but perhaps not too young. It was too hard to judge right now. While it wasn’t crystal clear, I could remember how much kids grew in the year between two and three.
Sue also did plenty of admiring of the rings. Kim did, too, from a wildly different perspective. She was up to the stage where ‘the handsome prince married the beautiful maiden’ was part of her world, but had no real concept of what ‘married’ meant. That she lacked any model for the beautiful maiden marrying a lovely princess didn’t seem to slow her down, at least.
Daniel and his fiancée Cindy turned up next. They still didn’t have a date for their wedding. I suspected our having a date might turn up the pressure there. They seemed very happy, though.
Not long after they arrived, Dean arrived. He introduced us to his new girlfriend, Paula. She was an elementary school teacher, and thus the only girlfriend at this reunion who might pass the Aunt Helen test. Cindy had apparently skated by based largely on Aunt Helen being so distracted with things with Angie, but there was some latent displeasure there.
Grant, my other cousin, and his wife, Sidney, were off in Alaska. If we were going to see them anytime soon, it would either because we went there or they came to Houston for the weddings. I was pretty sure he was actively avoiding family reunions for now. In fairness, July was his busy season, with Alaska weather being what it was. It was much easier to check river water quality in the summer, since most of Alaska’s creeks and rivers froze over in the winter.
Once we’d gotten the greetings and engagement talk off the table, the next most obvious topic was ‘60 Minutes’. They had all seen it, and everyone was amazed that relatives of theirs had been on a national news show. Fortunately, it mostly died out as a conversation topic after they’d run through the obvious questions. There was only so much to ask, really.
We had things generally in full swing by the time Tim and Helen arrived. Tim was the first to make it to the pavilion. He apologized for their late arrival and said they’d had to put the spare on the car thanks to a flat tire that happened about halfway to the park.
Angie gave Paige a look and raised an eyebrow, which had Paige struggling not to collapse in laughter. Jas and me, too, but it got to Paige the most. There was clearly no way she could have done anything, but it was still hilarious. It might even have been more hilarious because we could all imagine what lengths Paige would have had to go to in order to actually mess up Tim’s tire.
Tim greeted everyone with hearty hellos. Men got bear hugs, while women got much more gentle hugs. I was pretty sure he’d been this way in my first life, but my memories were stale. The last time I’d seen him had been in 1988, after all, and that had been at Grandma’s funeral.
He also spent at least a little time admiring all of the rings. Not as much, but a bit.
Helen followed along after a few minutes. My first impression was that she was putting in something of an effort. Her pantsuit was brightly colored, and she greeted everyone with at least a moderate smile on her face.
Even Angie, and even Paige. If anyone had been likely to get the cold shoulder, it was Paige, who was (at this point, at least) only ‘family’ by courtesy. Honestly, given Helen’s views about gay people, Paige might not be any more ‘family’ after the wedding than she was now. Instead, Paige got, at worst, a slightly cool shoulder. That felt like a good sign.
There was very little else said right away. She didn’t admire Angie and Paige’s rings, did admire Jasmine’s, and gave Jas well-wishes while congratulating me. Both were somewhat on the tepid side, but she wasn’t overly effusive with Paula, either.
Ryan had the grill going, and soon we had bratwurst and burgers cooking. People munched on pretzels and chips, cheese curds, fruit and veggies, and other snacks, and sipped sodas, beer, tea, or juice.
It wasn’t magical, but it was functional. We could manage things if future family reunions went this way. It wouldn’t be ideal, but no one was being thrown out, denounced, or yelled at, and we were safe from the need for police intervention.
I could look forward and imagine things might be different next year, since we would likely see each other at the weddings and not before. They might be different again in another year, with it open knowledge that the four of us were quite well off.
But this was a start. That was, for now, enough.
For the next hour or so, I paid as much attention to Aunt Helen as I could. What I saw confirmed what I’d guessed. Tim spent some time with her, but plenty of time with the rest of the family (including Angie and Paige) as well. On the other hand, it felt like most conversations between anyone else and Aunt Helen were brief. Pleasantries, most likely. She talked to everyone, but they weren’t spending much time with her.
None of it was blatant. A casual observer might not have noticed anything being off at all. It looked like a family reunion, with everyone socializing and having fun. The only one on the periphery was Aunt Helen.
The family had decided. Angie and Paige were fine by them. If Aunt Helen was going to make a big stink about it, as she had last year, they weren’t going to spend much time with her.
I felt bad for her. But she’d made her bed, and now she was lying in it.
Around three-fifteen, as Jas, Angie, Paige, and Mom were deep in discussion with Colleen and Sue about flower girls, ring bearers, and all things wedding, Aunt Helen came over.
“Might we talk for a bit, Steve?” she said.
That set me on edge more than she meant it to, I think. For one thing, she had — as best as I could remember — never called me ‘Steve’ before. It was always ‘Steven.’ For another, I wasn’t entirely sure what we might have to say to each other. For a woman I had barely spoken to in years, there was plenty hanging over us.
Still, talking to her was the right thing to do. If I couldn’t go toe to toe with Aunt Helen, how would I handle a business rival who wanted to harm me or my business? Or any of the many other conflicts I might run into?
So I said, “Certainly, Aunt Helen.”
She nodded a bit, away from the pavilion. We headed just a bit to the side. I noticed Angie and Mom, at least, watching us. It felt like Aunt Helen might not be able to see that they’d noticed, but I wouldn’t put anything past her.
Once we were apart, she said, “I ... some of what I have to say should really be addressed to Angel-”
She paused, shook her head, and then corrected herself, saying, “Angie.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“Still, I am ... I hope ... maybe ... we can talk a bit first.”
“I’m ready to listen,” I said.
She sighed.
“I think ... in retrospect...”
Again, she stopped herself, shook her head a bit, then said, “No. I know I stepped in things back in 1981. That was the start of it. I’m not ... it’s ... nothing that happened then caused things to be where they are now, but it didn’t help.”
“It didn’t,” I said, nodding. “But, yes. You did step in it. Thank you for saying it.”
“I ... I am set in my ways, and firm in my beliefs. That hasn’t changed. I believe there are roles for men and women, roles ordained by God, and ... well. You know they do not align with ... not just you, and your family, but even my family, or Ryan and Colleen’s.”
I nodded again, then said, “You are certainly entitled to your own beliefs. None of us would disagree with that.”
She blew out a breath, then said, “Thank you. I ... I watched you, all of you, on ‘60 Minutes’. I’m sure you know there was much I couldn’t agree with.”
“I do.”
“What I can agree with ... well, after some discussion with my husband ... is this: you have strong views, too, and you are also entitled to them. You aren’t just acting frivolously.”
“Thank you, again,” I said.
“Tim told me the story ... or some of the story ... of your friend Cammie. I ... I don’t want to become someone who would lose connection with her family because I took things too far. Or caused others to.”
I nodded slowly, then said, “Aunt Helen, I feel fairly certain we can accept your disagreement at some level. If you know Cammie’s story, you might have heard about Penelope and David.”
She frowned a bit, then shook her head and said, “I don’t think I have.”
“They’re Cammie’s aunt and uncle. Penelope is Cammie’s mother’s sister. Alone among Cammie’s family, they’ve stayed in touch and come to birthday celebrations and the like. They are ... well, honestly, I’m not sure what religion they are, exactly. But it’s quite conservative, and I know they disapprove of Cammie and Mel being a couple. Everyone knows that. But they love their niece and accept Mel being part of her life. ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin’ is one phrasing, but we all know that’s a limited thing. They’ve found a place in that philosophy for Cammie and Mel. Perhaps you can do the same with Angie and Paige.”
She said, slowly, “That ... is ... mostly where I’m coming from. I think I can. It’s ... just...”
I took a guess and said, “Aunt Helen, if you’re thinking of the problem of their being sinners...”
She nodded quickly, not saying anything.
“First, they don’t see it as sin, and that’s their choice, not anyone else’s.”
She nodded again.
“Second — and this is really where things went wrong for Cammie — it’s not right to try to force things on anyone. They know how you feel. You don’t have to repeat it, and repeating it will just drive wedges between you and them.”
She sighed deeply, nodding.
“I ... just...” she started. Then she paused, shook her head, and said, “No. No, you’re right.”
I considered making some theological points, but decided it was the wrong time. We had something of a compromise. Why risk messing it up? There might be a time for it later.
Instead, I asked, “So ... why me?”
She smiled a bit and said, “I was fairly certain you would listen. Your mother...”
She shook her head, then said, “She’s as strong-willed as I am. Maybe more. If we got off on the wrong foot ... well, let’s not think about that.”
I smiled and nodded.
“And Angie ... she’s the core of this. It’s personal for you, but it’s a lot more personal for her.”
“Also true.”
“So ... you. Sam would have listened, but I think you have Angie’s ear more than he does.”
“Likely true,” I said, still smiling.
“So...?”
“I’ll talk to her. She’ll listen, I’m sure.”
“Thank you, Steve,” she said.
“Thank you, Aunt Helen. No one wants a family feud. And no one wants to hurt Uncle Tim.”
She snorted a tiny bit.
“That’s how this happened. I don’t want to put my husband in that sort of position. His sister and niece versus his wife? That’s not fair.”
“It’s not,” I said.
“I’ll wait, I guess,” she said.
It didn’t take long. I talked to Angie, both of us talked to Mom, and then we added Dad, Paige, and Jasmine to the discussion. It went exactly as I expected. Everyone agreed: as long as she behaved, Aunt Helen was no longer persona non grata. We might be somewhat wary, but we would take her at face value for now.
It wasn’t as if we had that much leverage. Aside from giving her the cold shoulder, there wasn’t much we could do. It certainly made a difference that the rest of the family was also giving her a bit of a cool shoulder, but it was still pretty limited. If we had asked them to be mean to her, they undoubtedly would have refused, and rightly so.