Suzanne Nelson was raised just outside of San Francisco. A Stanford grad and varsity runner, she heads to New York City for law school. She is gay, but has come out to no one. In New York she meets Kerry Neally, a New Yorker and fellow student. Who is straight. First in a study group and then as a pair, they find themselves become attached to one another. And have to work out that Kerry thinks she's straight. Eileen is Kerry's mother. She is a widow, and meeting Suzanne helps her leave the shell into which she placed herself after her husband died. And she comes to the attention of two men. One a widower. The other divorced. And love intevenes for her choice. With Suzanne settled into her New York life, she turns her back on her parents, who turned their backs on Suzanne's aunt Mary, a gay woman disowned by her parents and brother decades before. She, too, lives in New York and she and Eileen attempt to get Suzanne's parents to understand their daughter. Kate Nelson comes to New York to reason with her daughter. As eventually does William, her father. The story is about how the members of what becomes a large New York family deal with themselves, each other, and love.

The Neallys

Annie Baxter was far more nervous than she was letting on. She sat on a JetBlue flight on its final approach into San Francisco International Airport. Beside her was her fiancé, Martin Foster, and in the two seats in front of her were her maid-of-honor, Suzanne Neally, and Suzanne’s wife, Kerry. They were all happy to be away from New York cold for a while.


Annie was nervous because in just under two days she would be married. It was January 23, 2020, and, in fact, each of the four was nervous. Suzanne perhaps even more than Annie. For she was returning to where she grew up and was in many respects a completely different person than when she left over three years before. For the next week, in addition to her wedding duties for Annie, she would try to re-introduce herself to parts of her family. And introduce Kerry to them.


Chapter 93