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

He pushed me away to look at my face. I sniffled as I got control of my tears.


“‘Is that all?’ I bare my soul to you and that is all you can say? ‘Is that all?’’


He quickly understood that I was teasing. He sat me down and was next to me on the couch.


“I miss her all the time. But I know it’s not like for you. That’s the nature of parents. Boys and their fathers. Girls and their mothers. I know how important she was to you and I have always known how much you miss her. We all do.”


“I am sorry I’ve ruined your wedding.”


He put his fingers below my chin and lifted my head.


“You would only ruin my wedding if you didn’t come.”


“Hey. You burst in a couple of hours before I am to get married like Dustin Hoffman, and I’m full of shit. And you need to watch your language.”


Chapter 99