When his snobbish future in-laws travel all the way from Boston to visit, wise-cracking Southerner Wiley Cantrell learns gay marriage is not without its disadvantages. He’s preoccupied by concerns over the health of his special needs son Noah, a meth baby who was not expected to live yet is now on the cusp of puberty, and the antics of Wiley's outrageous would-be mother-in-law and severely conservative father-in-law strain his relationship with Jackson Ledbetter, a pediatric nurse who poses problems of his own. As their respective families meet and greet, each just as meddlesome and inflexible as the other, North meets South and the fireworks and cultural misunderstandings are plenty.<br><br>Then a tornado blows through the small Mississippi town where Wiley's mother lives, wrecking his mother's house and leaving their lives in disarray. And Jackson's secret drug addiction comes to light, devastating Wiley and Noah. With so many stones in the road, Wiley and Jackson find their dream of becoming a real family falling apart. Though Wiley relies on humor to cope, he'll need something more to keep his happily ever after from slipping away.

Stones in the Road

I looked at Jackson, wondering what the hell he was thinking, why he was so insistent on his rights. He was clean now, wasn’t he?


“Why won’t you take the test?” I asked.


“That’s how it starts,” he said. “You go one mile with them, then they want two, then suddenly they’re into all of your business and telling you what to do and threatening legal trouble if you don’t go along with every last little thing they want. I’m not going to be bullied by the DHS.”


“I’m sorry that you think of it in those terms, Mr. Jackson,” she said. “I will say this. From what I’ve seen today so far, I have no reason to believe that Noah is being abused. He seems to be loved very much, and he’s fortunate to live in a nice apartment where he is obviously well cared for. My only concern at this point is the drug test. If you both passed the test, I might very well have come to the conclusion that the allegations made against you were untrue. Yet you are refusing, which throws up a big red flag.”


Chapter 35