Chapter 24

“Then she died,” Emory continued, “I had loved her very much, loved the family we had created together. Now I was free. But not totally. Somehow the years of self-denial had built barriers. Barriers I wasn’t able to break through. I struggled with wanting…needing to be, once again, the gay man I really was. I couldn’t. I guess I felt that, even though she was gone, I still owed it to her memory and to our children, to continue to repress what I knew was my true nature.”

Emory stopped, looked down at the sleeping dog at the foot of the bed, then back to Cam. He tightened his embrace. “Then I met you two and something changed.”

Cam started to speak but Emory put a finger on his lips and stopped him.