Redefining Love (Original)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was Sunday morning and Teri was making her way to her kids. Luckily the airport was accommodating and she was able to get an earlier flight. She pulled up to Jeanie and Matt's house trying to stay calm and unfazed. She didn't want to give her children any ammunition to get upset all over again.

Jeanie was already waiting up for Teri, so once she let her in Teri walked right into the room her kids were in. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked at their sleeping faces. She sat by her son and began to rub his hair to wake him up.

"Mom?" he spoke with his small raspy voice as he sat up in bed. "Hey big man. Rough weekend huh?" Griffin looked down as his face turned red and tears flooded his eyes. "I'm sorry you had to come back home. You could have stayed in New York". Teri tilted his chin up to look at him. "Hey. None of that. I would fly around the world for you". Teri wiped his tears and scooted closer to him.

"So tell me what happened after your baseball game. I heard things got a bit crazy". Griffin swallowed hard, thinking back to yesterday's events. "They had it coming, Mom", Teri was a bit shocked. Her son would never hurt a fly. He was the sweetest boy she knew. If anything he would run from fights not be a part of them. "No honey. Violence should never be the answer".

"Mom, in this case it was. After we won we went to go shake with the other team. Some of the boys there came up to me and..." Griffin stopped, not wanting to say anything else. "And what?" Teri pushed. "They started talking about you. They said that our family never earns anything we just take and cheat like you did with Mam- Sherri. They called you guys awful things like freaks and dykes. They said that we were terrible people and when I told them to shut up they started to push and hit me so I had to fight back. Matt and Jeanie came running out to the field to push them away and get me. But then before we could make it to the car some of the parents started yelling at all of us and throwing things. We tried to keep going but then this lady grabbed Bayley's arm and was yanking her. Matt and Jeanie didn't noticed because they were arguing with some of the parents trying to get them to leave us alone. So when I heard Bayley scream I didn't know what else to do besides use my bat to hit the lady until she let go. We started running to the car and got away. But it was too much Mom," the little boy said, finally crying as Teri was at a complete lost for words.

Bayley sat up once she realized that Griffin was in fact talking to their mom. "Yeah Mommy. They were all so mean and scary". Teri took both of her kids into a huge embrace. "I'm so sorry that this all happened to you guys. I never wanted you two to have to go through any of that," Teri cried.

She let go to look at the both of them. "What those people said and did out there on that field was completely wrong. There will sometimes be people that believe that being different is a bad thing, but that's not true. Sometimes two women love each other and sometimes two men love each other and there's nothing wrong or abnormal about that. Sometimes people are afraid of what they don't know or understand. So they are abusive and violent towards others. But don't be afraid to be brave, and proud, and to stick up for whatever you believe in".

"But you love Sherri, don't you?" her son asked, "Like, aren't you two girlfriend-girlfriend?"

"Uhm, yeah, we are," Teri wasn't exactly prepared for this convo. She has yet to come out to her kids. She tried to be careful in regards to Sherri around them, but they were smart kids. "Why didn't you just come out and tell us?" Griffin quizzed. "I'm not sure bud. I wasn't sure how you guys would take it". Bayley finally broke her silence, "But if you love someone it shouldn't be a secret. Remember you said it is bad to keep secrets. Don't be scared". All Teri could do was smile as she held back tears. "What did I do to deserve you two?"