Chapter 9
June, 2018
"You mean it?" Cady looked up at her wife, tears in her eyes.
Janis smiled. "Of course."
Cady buried her face in Janis's shoulder. "I love you," she murmured, the words slightly muffled.
"I love you too, Caddy."
A week later, while Janis and Cady were in the middle of a celebratory dinner with Veronica and Heather, the doorbell rang. Janis glanced at Cady, surprised. Cady shrugged and got up to go open the door. Janis glanced at her moms, then got up and followed her wife.
By the time Janis reached the door, Cady had already flung it open and was gaping at the people on the other side. Janis stuck her head around the frame to see a tall, brown haired man standing beside a shorter, business-type looking woman with hair the same color as Cady's.
Cady swallowed. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"
Cady's parent's glanced at each other. "We, um," Cady's mother began, shifting uncomfortably and stealing a quick glance at Janis. "We saw on your Instagram that you and your... special friend..."
"Wife," Janis corrected quietly. Cady's mom ignored her.
"We saw that you are adopting a baby."
Cady blinked. "You have Instagram? Actually, more importantly, you stalk my Instagram?"
"Well," Mrs. Heron huffed, "We didn't have much choice after you cut us out. We want to know what's going on in your life."
"I cut you out? You refused to come to my wedding!"
Janis placed a hand on Cady's back, a gentle warning.
"We haven't always approved of your... choices," Mrs. Heron glanced at Janis again. "Which is what brings us here today."
Cady closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Do I want to know how you found out where we live?"
"Probably not," Mr. Heron admitted.
Cady opened her eyes. "Okay," she said, speaking more to herself than to them.
"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Mrs. Heron tapped her toe against the ground impatiently.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Of course not!" Cady exploded.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't owe you anything!" Cady fumbled for Janis's hand and squeezed it tightly.
Heather and Veronica appeared behind Janis, matching expressions of concern etched onto their faces. "What's going on out here?"
Mrs. Heron frowned at them. "Who are these people?"
"These people are Janis's moms," Cady said tersely.
"Oh," Mrs. Heron said, more judgement packed into that single syllable than Janis had thought was possible.
"I'm Veronica, and this is Heather," Veronica said, her tone sickeningly sweet, but Janis could sense the underlying rage behind her mother's politeness.
"I see," Mrs. Heron gave both women a once over, then added, "So you must be Janis's real mom, then."
Cady was gripping Janis's hand so tightly now that Janis was afraid the bones would shatter. Veronica gave Mrs. Heron another sweet smile, and in the nicest voice imaginable, she said, "We're both her moms, Karen! Go fuck yourself."
Mrs. Heron looked scandalized. "My name isn't Karen."
"She knows, Mom," Cady muttered.
"Also, as someone who is friends with a very nice Karen, I feel the need remind everyone that not all of them are bad," Janis added.
Cady shook her head. "Not the time, babe."
"Right. Sorry."
"How did such a bitch produce Cady?" Heather murmured in Janis's ear.
"No clue," Janis whispered back.
Cady shot them a look that was halfway between grateful and annoyed. Then, turning back to her parents, she said, "You know what? Fine. You can come in. But only because I don't want my wife and mothers-in-law to have to listen to your homophobic comments. We are going to go have a civil conversation in the guest room. She turned on her heel and disappeared into the house. Mr. and Mrs. Heron hesitated, then followed her.
Janis closed the door and turned to Heather and Veronica. "I'm just gonna..." she gestured to the room that the Herons had disappeared into.
"Yeah," Veronica said with a nod. "We'll be in here."
Janis started toward the door, then glanced back at her moms. "I love you guys. You know that, right? What Cady's mom said-"
"We know," Heather said quickly. "We love you too."
Janis smiled and headed down the hall to eavesdrop.
"Cady, we have your best interests at heart-"
"No you don't! You just came here to judge me and my wife, who, by the way, is an incredible person, which you would know if you'd ever even tried to get to know her! But you never have, because you're too stuck in an idiotic tradition! You wouldn't even come to my fucking wedding. Do you have any idea how much that hurts? My best friend gave me away. And I love him, but it was supposed to be one of you!"
"Cady-"
"I'm not done! You have barely said two words to me in five years. Then you come marching into my home claiming that you have my best interests at heart and try to talk me out of adopting a child! But guess what? It's not your decision. And while I sure as hell didn't choose to be bisexual, but I did choose Janis. And I am choosing to take this next step with her. And I don't want to have to choose between that life and my fucking family. But you've made it abundantly clear that that's what needs to happen. So I chose. My mind has been made up for years. And I will not let you barge into my life, the life that I love, and tell me that I made the wrong decision. Because if anything, that just makes me more sure that I made the right one."
There was silence for a long moment. Janis could picture Cady glaring defiantly up at her parents, trying desperately not to let them see how much she was hurting. After a moment, Janis heard Cady mutter, "you should go," and pad over to the door.
Cady stepped out into the hall, not looking at all surprised to see Janis there. Wordlessly, Janis held out her arms, and Cady collapsed into them, finally breaking down into the tears Janis knew she'd been holding in since she'd first opened the front door.
"I'm so sorry, baby," Janis murmured into Cady's hair, letting a few tears of her own fall. "I'm so sorry, you're so brave, I love you, I'm sorry." Wrapping her arms around her trembling wife, she guided her gently into their bedroom and lay carefully down on the bed so that she could hold Cady in her arms. Cady's breath was coming in short gasps now, and Janis had been through enough of this sort of thing herself to know that Cady was having a panic attack. "Hey, hey, breathe," Janis said softly, grasping Cady's chin and tilting Cady's face up to look at her. "Do it with me," Janis said, gentle but firm. "One big breath. Good. Next one. Good. One more time. There you go," she kissed Cady's forehead.
"I'm sorry," Cady whispered miserably. "I'm a mess."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Janis pulled Cady closer until their foreheads were touching. "What you said in there was incredibly brave. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks," Cady smiled a little. "Were you eavesdropping the entire time?"
"Oh, yeah, one hundred percent."
Cady gave a watery giggle. Janis watched her nose scrunch up as she laughed, a warm feeling blooming in her chest.
"Do you want to talk about it more?"
Cady shook her head. "No. No, I just want to... forget about it for a little while. Can we watch TV or something?"
"Of course." Janis kissed Cady's nose and reached for her laptop, pulling up an episode of New Girl. Cady snuggled comfortably into her side.
Five minutes into the episode, Veronica's head appeared in the doorway, followed closely by Heather. "Are you guys watching New Girl ?"
Janis nodded.
"Mind if we join you?"
Cady patted the bed. The two older women smiled and took up places on the bed beside Janis. Veronica reached over and squeezed Cady's shoulder. The simple gesture almost brought Cady to tears again - Veronica was a much better mother to her than Mrs. Heron had ever been.
And speak of the devil, both Herons appeared in the doorway. Cady paused the show and looked up at them, surprised.
"I thought you guys left."
"We were going to, but... what you said... you're right," Mrs. Heron said. "I can't say I fully understand this life you've chosen for yourself, but... I don't want you to have choose. So, if you'll let me - us," she amended, remembering that she had a husband. "We'd like to try to be part of your life. And we'd like to get to know Janis better, as well." Mrs. Heron looked Janis directly in the eye for the first time ever.
"And we know you don't owe us anything," Cady's dad added. "And we can never really make up for all the ways we've hurt you. We were terrible parents. But we'd like to be better grandparents."
Cady glanced at Janis, a question in her eyes. Janis shrugged. Up to you, she mouthed.
Cady took a deep breath and looked back at her parents. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Why don't you start right now?" she pointed to the empty spot on the bed beside her. "Come watch New Girl with us."
Mr. and Mrs. Heron looked at each other, then shrugged and sat down beside their daughter. Cady smiled at them and snuggled closer to Janis, watching carefully to gauge their reaction. Mrs. Heron was watching Janis's face, the way it lit up when Cady was close to her.
"Yeah," Mrs. Heron murmured, half to herself, half to Cady. "I think we can manage this."