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

“Wiley, please,” Mama said. “Don’t push it.”


Mama looked at me, sighed rather heavily. “I’ll go get him. But if he starts acting up—”


Noah was sitting in the waiting room with Bill. Mama went to fetch them.


Noah took one look at me and started bawling. Mama tried to comfort him, but Noah shrank away from her.


“No die, Daddy!” Noah shouted at me, in a sudden, furious, confrontational rage. “No die! No!” He pointed his finger at me accusingly, his hands trembling, his lips trembling, his whole body on fire with anger.


“No!” he exclaimed, waving his hand back and forth. “No die! Why, Daddy? Why?”


“Maybe you’d better take him away,” Mama said to Jackson.


Noah opened his mouth, groaned. “Aaaaahhhhh! Huh! Haaahhhh!” He was frustrated that he couldn’t say what he wanted to say.


Chapter 56