Quinn still didn’t move. She was like a marble statue,
so white, so lifeless.
“They changed their minds. Years later.” The
waterworks were turning on again and this time, there was a
real buildup of pressure behind them. Dallas didn’t want to
start full on ugly crying, but it was dicey as to whether or not
she was going to be able to hold back the tears. “They did
accept that I wasn’t going to change mine. Eventually. A few
years ago.”
Quinn’s lips wavered. “You didn’t have to go with
them,” she whispered. “You could have stayed with us.”
“I wasn’t eighteen yet.”
“You could have moved back after.”
“I- I know. But they’re- they’re my family. You know
that I just have one aunt and one uncle and three cousins. I
have no living grandparents left. No siblings. My family is so
small. I couldn’t just leave them. It would have broken their
hearts.”
“So you broke ours instead? Mine? And my family’s?”
“I’m sorry. I was young. I made the wrong choice. I
couldn’t tell you the truth, because I knew you would hate
them and I couldn’t stand that. I do love them. Looking back
now, I can see how terrible it was for them to have done that to
me. To make the decision to just move away, but I can
also see
that they loved me and they were so confused and scared. The
church they dedicated so much time to, most of their friends-
they all believed that a, it was wrong, and b, that they could
change my mind. It wasn’t right. They’re sorry. They’re so
sorry that they treated me like that and made those decisions.