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 had to carry Papaw out of his room,” I pointed out.


“He must have dragged you to the doorway,” Jackson said. “We had to clear away a bunch of boards to get to you, and I could see right away that your grandfather had suffered a lot of trauma to his head.”


“People do a lot of amazing things in an emergency situation,” Jackson said softly.


There was nowhere to sit down, so I eased myself onto the ground, feeling suddenly that I couldn’t stand, that my legs wouldn’t support me.


Noah crouched down, peering at me intently.


“Your papaw loved you,” Tina said. “He was a crazy old man, but he really, really loved you. You and Billy both. You were the world to him.”


Chapter 63