Chapter 5

Jeff and Chelsea sat in adjacent seats on a regional jet. They held hands as they awaited the closing of the cabin door. “I don’t fly well,” she said.

“I can’t believe your parents are paying to fly us home for Christmas.”

“When I told them I had a serious boyfriend, they said they wanted to meet him.”

“I wish my last final exam hadn’t been scheduled for the day before Christmas Eve.”

“I know you were concerned about that exam,” she said.

“Concerned is putting it mildly. Thermodynamics is my Waterloo. It’s the one course that could sink my GPA.”

“You’re so good,” Chelsea replied. “I’m sure you did fine. You certainly studied hard enough.”

“Thermo is more math than chemistry,” he replied. “I’m not strong in math and I simply do NOT understand partial differentials. I was memorizing solutions to problems in the textbook hoping they’d apply to questions on the test. I just hope my final grade in thermo is better than 2.7. All the others are in the 3.9 range. My GPA would take a hit and I won’t qualify for Dean’s List but at least my scholarship will be safe.” He grasped her hand. “I do appreciate you sticking around. Your last final was a week ago.”

“I don’t like flying alone. I didn’t tell my folks I was done a week ago. I just said we’d be taking the early flight on Christmas Eve.”

“And, the even earlier bus to the airport,” he remarked.

“Plus, it gave us a few more nights together,” she said. “We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. I mean, we have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve but we open presents on Christmas morning. After that, my mom said we could take her car and drive to your home.”

“Right. My folks will hold Christmas ‘til we get there. It’s only about an hour and a half drive even though it is over the state line.”

“I’ve never been across the state line,” she replied.

“No?”

“No. No reason to go there.”

“Now you have a reason. The day after Christmas you drive home while I spend a week with family. One of my parents will drive me to the airport on New Year’s Day. I will miss you that week.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” she replied.

“Registration is on the second and then it’ll be back to the grind.”

“Are you nervous about meeting my parents?” she asked.

“No.”

“You should be.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well ... My mom’s okay but my dad ... I mean, I know he loves me. He can be pretty stern. I guess you need to be no-nonsense if you run your own business.”

“That’s right I still have your business card ... Lambda Industries.”

“It’s a metal fabrication business -- about a hundred employees. He makes custom products for the aerospace industry.”

“Hmm ... He must be a good manager.”

“He’s a tough boss. When I worked for him he treated me like every other employee ... strict but fair.”

“Are you nervous about meeting my folks?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“I’m afraid I’ll turn into a whimpering blob of jelly.”

“My folks will love you -- I guarantee it. What do you think our sleeping arrangements will be? I mean -- my folks will want us in different rooms so as not to scandalize Beth.”

“Beth’s your sister? The one with...”

“The one with spina bifida, yes. She’s my only sister. I don’t have other siblings.”

“How old did you say she was?”

“Fifteen. My folks will think the two of us sleeping together would make a bad precedent. That doesn’t mean we can’t sneak off for some necking.” Chelsea giggled. “What about your folks?”

“I dunno ... We’ll need to play it by ear. I think my mom would be okay with us sleeping together. My dad’s a tougher nut.”

The cabin crew closed the door and began running through the aircraft’s safety material. Jeff felt the wheel brakes release and the jet was pushed back from the jetway. After several minutes of taxiing, the craft sat poised for takeoff.

“I hate flying,” Chelsea said.

“Flying isn’t so bad. It’s the takeoff and landing...”

“That’s for sure.”

The engines revved up and the two were forced into their seats by the acceleration. Chelsea gripped Jeff’s hand. She closed her eyes.

After a flight of about forty-five minutes the aircraft began its descent, landing at its destination. Jeff and Chelsea took their carry-on bags from the overhead bins and headed toward baggage claim. Jeff stood by the carousel and watched for Chelsea’s checked bag. Spotting it he moved into position and snagged it off the belt.

“I don’t understand why you needed to pack so much stuff,” he said as he dragged the bag toward the concourse. “What is in this? You’re going home for a week, not going on safari.”

“This is my fall wardrobe,” she said. “I’m swapping it out for my winter clothes. Otherwise I’ll run out of closet space.”

“I have an all-season wardrobe,” Jeff replied. “I have four short-sleeve shirts for when it’s warm and four long-sleeved ones for when it’s not. I have four pairs of jeans, a pair of shorts, a pair of khakis, sufficient socks and underwear and a hoodie. My whole wardrobe would fit in your carry-on.”

“What about a heavy winter coat?” she asked. “It’s going to get cold up there.”

“That I will wear on the trip back.”

Once they reached the main terminal Chelsea broke into a sprint and headed toward a slender woman whose chestnut hair was streaked with gray. Jeff trotted after her, dragging their bags.

“Jeff,” Chelsea said, “this is my mom.”

She extended her hand. “Pleased to meet you. Chelsea has told me all about you.”

“Mostly good things,” Chelsea added.

“Mostly?” Jeff regarded Chelsea’s mother. He could see features common to both their faces -- the same upturned nose, strong jaw and blue eyes. “Pleased to meet you, too, Mrs Lane,” he said. “I see where Chelsea gets her good looks.”

“Call me Livia. And, young man ... Flattery will get you ... everywhere. Come -- I’m parked in the short-term lot. Did you have a good flight?”

“As good as any,” her daughter remarked.

“Looks like no white Christmas this year,” Jeff remarked.

“No,” Livia replied. “Not like last year ... we were snowed in.”

The three approached a black late model BMW X5. Livia pressed a button on her key and the doors unlocked. Jeff stashed their bags in the rear and sat beside Chelsea in the back seat. They held hands and locked fingers. “You two look like a happy couple,” Livia remarked.

“Oh, we are,” Chelsea replied.

“Chelsea told me about you, too,” Jeff said.

“Also, mostly good,” Chelsea interjected.

“I understand you’re a counselor...”

“That’s right -- at the health clinic at the local university. We’re off for the break so I have a little vacation.”

Livia drove a short distance on the Interstate and then turned onto a county trunk. The landscape became more rural, with rolling hills. “This is pretty country,” Jeff remarked. “Out my way it’s much more flat.”

“It’s a glacial area,” Livia explained. “The hills are drumlins and eskers left over when the ice age ended.”

She turned onto a country lane and parked the car near a white farmhouse. Jeff regarded the structure -- he saw a modern addition on an older house. To the left was a neatly painted barn. “I’ll get the bags,” he said and opened the rear hatch.

Livia led him into the lower level of the new addition. “This is our guest suite,” she said.

“This is very nice.”

“You have your own bath and rec area.”

Chelsea joined them. “I put my bag in my room,” she said.

“Once you get settled,” Livia said, “Chelsea, dear ... You’re just in time to help me get the turkey into the oven.”

“Be right there...”

“This is really nice,” Jeff remarked as he sat on the queen-sized bed in the guest bedroom.

“A lot nicer than my room,” Chelsea replied. “My mom and dad built this for my grandmother. She lived here ... until she passed away. Now it’s guest quarters.” She took his hand. “Come...”

She led him upstairs to a gourmet chef’s kitchen in the newer addition. “Where’s Daddy?” she asked her mother.

“He’s out back -- playing with his new toy.”

“New toy?” Chelsea asked.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask...”

“Come -- I’ll introduce you.” Chelsea led Jeff outside into the back yard.

“This is all your land?” he asked.

“Yes -- the old family farm -- two hundred acres. Daddy rents some of the fields out to a local farmer. He gets some tax relief for keeping it in production.”

The back yard stretched flat for a hundred yards before rising on the slope of a drumlin. At about the halfway point Jeff could see a man standing near a collapsible bench. Nearby was a garden tractor with a cart attached. About twenty- five feet from the bench was a row of a half-dozen plastic gallon milk jugs filled with water and beyond that at three times the distance was a frame with a paper target attached.

The man put on a pair of ear protectors and picked up an automatic handgun. “Daddy!” Chelsea yelled.

He turned around, regarded them, put down the pistol and took off the ear protectors. Chelsea ran to him and hugged him. “Daddy -- this is Jeff. I told you about him.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr Lane,” Jeff said.

“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Chelsea said. “Mommy needs me in the kitchen.” Jeff watched her sprint back toward the house.

Her dad opened a tackle box and handed Jeff a pair of foam earplugs. “You better put these in.”

Jeff stuffed the plugs into his ears. “Chelsea’s mom said you have a new toy. Is that it?”

Her father picked up the pistol. “Yes ... Just got it last week from a collector. It’s an old Army service pistol ... Colt 45 automatic, World War II vintage. I needed to replace some parts but now it’s as good as new.” He slid a magazine loaded with cartridges into the grip and racked the slide to chamber a round. Then, he slipped on the ear protectors, aimed at one of the jugs and fired. The target exploded with a spray of water. “Imagine what that would do to a man...” He turned to Jeff. “Ever handle one of these?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

Lane aimed and fired at the next jug and it burst. “You know -- I love my daughter. I really don’t know what I’d do if anybody hurt her.” He fired another round that missed its target. “I’d lump into that category anyone who led her down a primrose path.”

“I’m not sure I’m following you,” Jeff said.

“When Chelsea told us she had a boyfriend ... and a serious one at that ... her mother and I were surprised. She never dated in high school ... never dated anyone in her life as far as we knew. How did you two connect?”

“I’m sure Chelsea has told you the story.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

“We’re in a class together. She’s pre-med. I’m a chem major. We’re both in the same technical elective -- Clinical Analytics. She and I were assigned to work on a project together -- which we aced, by the way. While we were working together we discovered we have a lot in common.”

“Hmph,” Lane retorted, “I imagine you’ll discover you have more in common than you bargained for.”

Jeff regarded him for a long moment. “If that’s a ... a veiled reference to the fact that Chelsea is a trans-woman ... well, I’m fully aware of that.”

“And you stick around, anyway. What are your intentions?”

“My intentions? I intend to stand by her.”

“I can’t help think that some day one of you will find yourself ... less than satisfied.”

Jeff could feel his blood pressure rising. “I normally wouldn’t say this to the father of my girlfriend, but Chelsea and I enjoy a varied, interesting and mutually satisfying love life. Mr Lane -- I fell in love with the woman who lives inside Chelsea’s body. If that body isn’t a perfect fit ... it doesn’t diminish my feelings for the woman inside. And, no, I don’t have a prurient interest in her. I’m not drawn to her out of a perverse attraction to trans women. In fact I was in love with her before I knew she was trans-gender. When she revealed that to me ... well, it did not change the depth of my love for her. She is, in my eyes, all woman.”

Lane raised his eyebrows. “Indeed ... Have you thought about family?”

“No. We haven’t broached that topic.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “If we should come to that bridge ... we’ll have options. There’s adoption ... surrogates ... Mr Lane -- Chelsea’s situation isn’t a new one. It’s been around for as long as we’ve been human. Modern technology can solve a lot of Chelsea’s problems. What it can’t solve is the hostility some segments of our society have toward her and her kind. I’ll never understand how someone simply living a life that’s different from the mainstream threatens anyone. Chelsea has been very fortunate. She has parents of means who ... who if they don’t exactly understand what’s she’s going through, they at least took her seriously when she told them if she couldn’t live as a female, she inevitably would take her own life.”

Lane clenched his jaw and Jeff could see the muscles in his face working.

“Chelsea has lived a sheltered and guarded life,” Jeff continued. “Now she’s grown and in college to start a career. If she’s going to succeed she’s going to need to start taking some risks, socially. I think she’ll be much more likely to succeed with someone who loves her at her side, giving her support.”

“Are you saying she needs a beard?” Lane asked.

“A beard is fraudulent. There’s nothing phony about my love for Chelsea or her love for me.” Jeff felt his eyes burning and he tried to steel himself so he wouldn’t start shedding tears. “You asked my intentions, sir. Now you have them.”

Lane regarded him and nodded. “You speak the truth, and you speak wisely -- especially for someone so young.”

“Let me add,” Jeff continued, “that I, too, would not know what I would do if someone hurt her. I’m not a violent person, but I would not let such a hurt go unanswered. I have pledged to her I would never intentionally hurt her, physically or emotionally. Mr Lane, you and I have something in common. We both love the same remarkable woman ... and we both want nothing but the best for her.”

“Where do you think you two are in your relationship?”

“I’d say we’re beyond going steady but not quite engaged.”

“Do you intend to pop the question?”

“When the time’s right. Chelsea and I both know each other’s minds so well, I probably won’t even have to pop it. We’ll just know.”

Lane picked up the pistol. “You said you never handled one of these. Want to give it a try?” he asked as he handed the gun to Jeff. “Safety’s there.”

Jeff tested the arm for balance. He flicked off the safety, held it two-handed, took aim and squeezed off a round. “Not bad,” he remarked. “No, I’ve never fired one of these. I’m more of a revolver guy.” He squeezed off another round. “When I was little, my dad was into Civil War re-enacting. He got me interested in black-powder shooting. I did some competitively and I won a junior trophy when I was fifteen. I have a replica Colt 44 Army revolver ... cap ‘n’ ball. It’s single action so I have to remind myself that I don’t have to keep cocking the hammer with this one.”

“Black powder ... cap ‘n’ ball ... I would like to see that,” her father replied. Jeff squeezed off another round and then two more. He set the safety and handed the pistol to Chelsea’s dad. Lane snorted. “Five shots, five misses...”

“I don’t think so. I wasn’t aiming at the jugs. I was going for the target on the frame. I think I hit it at least once ... low and to the left. Probably because it’s not sighted in for me.”

“Your eyes are better than mine...” Lane picked up a pair of binoculars and peered at the target. He handed them to Jeff. Through the glass he could see five holes, low and to the left, making up a pattern about five inches across. “I haven’t been able to hit that sucker once at this distance.” He offered Jeff his hand. “You’re okay, Jeff. It’s nice to meet a young man who has a pair.”

“Thanks, Mr Lane.”

“Call me Chet. Help me put this stuff in the cart. We’ll break out the ATV and I’ll give you a tour of the place. Who knows? It might be yours some day.”

Jeff sat beside Chelsea in the living room. They held hands, bathed in the light of her parents’ Christmas tree. The room was located in the old part of the house and he regarded some of the architecture. “That was some dinner you and your mom put together. I’m stuffed.”

“Me, too...” She snuggled against him.

“What’s the plan?” he asked.

“Well ... We can both go to our rooms. Once Mommy and Daddy are in bed I can sneak down to the guest quarters.”

“How late do they stay up?” he asked.

“Usually not late -- they’re usually upstairs by nine-thirty. Their bedroom is in this part of the house. The guestroom is pretty isolated. We’ll have privacy.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He leaned and kissed her cheek and she snuggled closer to him.

“I don’t know if your dad was trying to scare me with that pistol,” he said to her quietly. “How should a guy take if the first thing his girlfriend’s dad says is, I don’t know what I’d do to anybody who hurt my daughter ... BLAM! Ever see what a 45-ACP slug does to a body? Kinda like what it does to these milk jugs ... BLAM!”

“Is that really what he said? Oh, Jeff ... I’m so sorry. That’s not how I wanted you to meet him.”

“It’s okay. He was vetting me in his own way. In fact, it’s a little amusing. It’s the sort of thing we’ll be laughing about years from now. I think, if we’re going to laugh about something years from now, we might as well laugh at it now.”