chapter 13: marius's decision

~marius~

       I knock on the front door of my parents' house, thankful that they're both home considering their cars are parked in the driveway. I don't want to put off this conversation for too long because I know that it's going to be an unpleasant one on my dad's side. He may have bitten his tongue recently about my relationship with Fawn, but I know that the moment he finds out I'm getting married to Fawn, he'll probably blow up.

       Mom is the one to answer the door, and she immediately smiles and pulls me into a hug once she sees me. "Marius, what a surprise," Mom says. "You should have told me you were coming over. We could have made some extra food for you."

       "No, it's okay, I'm not planning on staying long," I say. "There's just something I want to tell you and Dad, and I figured I could do it in person after work since my office is close enough."

       "Well, come inside, then," Mom says, letting me into the house. She leads me to the living room where Dad is on his laptop, probably still working despite being home. That's the type of person he is. Everything is about work.

       Dad doesn't even notice that I'm here until Mom tells him. Dad just glances at me, nods a 'hello' before going back to work.

       Mom sighs quietly so Dad doesn't sense her frustration, then she says, "Marius has something he would like to tell us."

       Dad doesn't look away from his laptop, but he does at least acknowledge what Mom just said by saying, "Okay, go ahead."

       I am a bit nervous to tell my parents, solely because I know Dad's reaction isn't going to be positive. Even though I am embracing myself for his negative reaction, I don't know if I'll be fully prepared to actually see it.

       I sit down on one of the couches and take a deep breath before ripping off the bandaid and saying, "Fawn and I are getting married."

       That one sentence is enough for Dad to actually look away from his laptop and look at me. "I'm sorry. You're what?"

       Mom, on the other hand, has a more positive reaction, just like I was expecting, so I guess the reactions do balance out a bit. It's still not enough for me to not feel nervous about this conversation. "Oh, Marius!" She sits down beside me and gives me a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

       "Thank you," I say.

       Dad actually closes his laptop to pay full attention to the conversation, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. He's silent for a few moments before he says, "I don't accept this."

       "You don't accept what?" Mom asks. "Marius getting married to the man he loves?"

       "Exactly," Dad says. "To a man. I've held back for so long because I thought that Marius was eventually going to get over it, but enough is enough. I won't accept any son of mine getting married to another man."

       "Well, you're going to have to accept it," I say. "Because it's going to happen whether you like it or not. I just don't get how you haven't accepted it yet. You've had four years."

       "Yes, four years of understanding that you need to be with a woman, not with a man," Dad says. "Especially if you're going to take over the company one day."

       I groan. "Dad, I've told you so many times that I'm not going to take over your company. I have my own to run now. And even if I ever did take over your company, me marrying a man has nothing to do with my ability to run a company. I'm going to be marrying Fawn. That's happening. Nothing you say or do will change your mind."

       "Fine," Dad says. "Then if you do choose to get married to him, I won't be attending your wedding."

       "Russ!" Mom says.

       "What? I will not be attending a wedding I don't support."

       Does it hurt that my dad won't attend my wedding? Yeah, it does. But is that going to change my mind? No. I love Fawn more than everything and I want to marry him. I want to be able to call him my husband. My own dad not supporting it isn't going to change anything about my relationship with me and Fawn.

       But it is going to change one thing.

       "If that's your choice, then so be it," I say. "But don't think that means you'll still be able to have a relationship with your granddaughters."

       Dad hesitates a bit before asking, "What do you mean?"

       "I mean that even though you can't stand my relationship with Fawn, I know you love Harlow and Fern more than anything," I say. "I know you love being their grandfather, but I'm not going to let them continue to be around someone who is so judgmental and close-minded."

       "You can't keep them away from me," Dad says.

       "Yeah, I can," I say. "I'm their father. Fawn is their father. And if we don't feel comfortable with our daughters being around someone, then they're not going to be around someone. So you can make whatever decision you want about my wedding and my relationship with Fawn, but just know that there won't be consequences."

       I get up to leave, and Mom follows me. "Marius, just what. Let's talk about this."

       "Mom, no," I say. "I'm not going to continue letting Dad act this way about my relationship, and he can't have both things. He can't be against me and Fawn but also still expect to be a grandfather to Fern and Harlow."

       "He's just--"

       "Don't. Please don't try to find excuses for him. He's had four years to figure out that there's nothing wrong with my relationship with Fawn. Look, you don't have anything to worry about. You've accepted me and Fawn, so you get to still see the twins. But as long as Dad doesn't accept us, he won't."

       I leave my parents' house, thankfully without my mom trying to convince me to talk things out with my dad. If I'm being honest, I should have not let my dad see the twins along time ago. Even if he has been biting his tongue, he still doesn't accept me and Fawn, and he can't have it both ways. He either accepts my family, my entire family, or he doesn't get to see them.

       I know he loves his granddaughters, but I don't think stopping him from seeing the twins is going to change his mind about me and Fawn. Nothing will.

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marius's dad will probably say to robbie "at least one of my sons will marry a woman" and robbie will probably be like "lol i'm going to marry a man just to spite you" even though robbie is straight lol.

robbie very much loves fawn for marius and will be mad to find out his dad won't even attend the wedding.