“Hey!” Ava shouted, rising to rush after Frederick and Lois who were shoving Jasmine out the door, but her own parents stood in her way.
Lois made sure Jasmine was out of the room, but Frederick turned to face them all, addressing Ava over her parents’ shoulders. “Twenty years of friendship down the drain, I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
“Oh Fred, can’t we work this out?” William asked.
“What’s there to work out, Bill? How can we come back from this? Regardless of who’s fault this is, the fact is both of our daughters are sick. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to make mine well again. Starting with making sure she stays well away from yours.”
“You can’t keep her away from me.”
Frederick took a menacing step forward with a pointed finger, “Don’t you dare think to tell me what I can do with my only daughter. The things I’ve seen today make me sick. I love her. You don’t. She’s simply a pawn in your foul fantasy. A beautiful girl has been corrupted. If you have ruined her chances for a normal life, I will never forgive you, and you will be sorry.”
“I’m not sorry, and fuck your forgiveness.”
Frederick was ready to retaliate, but Ava felt the sharp sting of a slap from her own mother, whipping her head around.
“Ava Beckinsale!”
When Ava turned back, her palm against her cheek, Frederick was gone.
“Enough! What is wrong with you? Where is this selfishness coming from? Your behaviour?Your language? Twenty. Years. Of friendship! Gone! And you don’t even care. You are a disgrace to this family!” Patricia lowered herself into a chair, her head in her hands.
“If I may, Mr and Mrs Beckinsale?” came Coyne’s voice. “While I completely understand the anger, this may not be all Ava’s fault. Or yours. It’s society that has let our young people think this behaviour is acceptable. There are professionals you can go to, however, that deal with this type of thing. My brother, for example, has always stood for the true nature of the family dynamic. Andrew Van Gould?”
“Dr. Van Gould?TheDr. Van Gould?” Patricia’s head shot up.
“The same. In a world filling with the ridiculous nonsense of gender fluidity, making mothers and fathers irrelevant in raising children, he is one of the few that are a voice of stability and sense. He has even helped some children in the past who went on to lead normal lives. If you want proof, one is speaking to you.” Coyne paused as all eyes turned to her. “There was a brief phase in my life which I am not proud of. My brother discovered it, and after months, made me see how wrong my choices were. How much I was hurting my family. I came back to righteousness, I came back to God. I have a husband now and I’m very happy. He can do the same for Ava. I’m sure. We can all be forgiven as long as we repent.”
“You make it sound like she needs a priest?” William scoffed.
“No, I think she needs my brother,” she started, handing over a business card. “He can heal her mind so that she can understand the seriousness of what she has done. How far she’s fallen. Then God can heal her soul.”
3
“Are you comfortable, Ava?”
What a question. Obvious answer was no. How could she be? She sat opposite Dr. Van Gould and between her parents in a sterile, white, off-white, or was it an ivory, room? Whatever. Every surface she looked at besides the rich brown mahogany desk was glistening like a virgin’s wedding dress.
Van Gould seemed pleasant enough, regarding her with a curious expression. He was a balding man, rather thin, with half-moon spectacles. Behind his head, on the wall, sat almost a dozen framed awards for various things. The font was so fancy Ava couldn’t make out anything other than his name, and they failed to make her feel any better. Her phone had been confiscated, most likely destroyed. She hadn’t talked to Jasmine in two days, not since the incident at school.
“Not really,” she replied.
“I understand. You don’t want to be here. You think it’s unfair what your parents have done, am I right?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Well, let me try and put you at ease. This is a horrible situation for all involved. I think we can begin by agreeing on that?”
Ava looked at him straight in the eyes before flicking her gaze down. “Yeah, it is. But it’s not my, or Jasmine’s, fault.”
“Well whose is it then?” Patricia spat.
Dr. Van Gould put up a hand. “Let’s not talk about blame. That’s not going to help here. If someone has a same-sex attraction, that is just a part of their make-up. It isn’t who they are.” He pressed his fingers together and leaned back in his chair, looking from Ava’s mum to her dad as he continued, “Let’s be clear on what we are trying to accomplish here. A suitable outcome for all. For that to happen, there must be compromise and understanding from all three of you, and myself too. It’s wrong for us to place all of this onto Ava’s shoulders—” Van Gould stopped and held up a finger, indicating he would explain as William sat forward, looking about to interrupt.
William look confused and Ava knew what he was thinking. How could their daughter’s ‘condition’ be their fault? Her dad had a look of not wanting to be here anymore than Ava did.
“Having a same-sex attraction carries absolutely no moral blame. It’s no one’s fault, it’s just one of those puzzling things. Punishing Ava for such a thing is doing her a disservice and not helping her.” the doctor said.
William sat back and flicked a gaze over Ava’s head to Patricia, his expression hard to pin down.