Page 14 of Dearly Unbeloved
My mom crosses her arms. “You two are always too in sync for these things.”
“Or I’m just really good at charades,” I counter, tilting my laptop screen so the glare of my bedside lamp stopsreflecting off of it.
“You’re good at everything, Sierra,” my dad assures me. It’s a lie, but one I appreciate.
Since my family moved to California, we’ve tried to keep in touch as much as possible: texting, calling, video call game nights. At all times, there are a dozen different conversations going on between my parents, Kyo, Lina, Rylan, and me. Which means there have been at least a hundred opportunities for me to mention I got married.
All five of them are on the call for a change, and I can’t put it off any longer. It’s now or never.
“So, I have some big news. And it might come as a bit of a shock.”
My parents exchange a concerned look.
My mom leans in toward the camera. “The last time you had big news, you told us you were a lesbian. Are younota lesbian? Because you know we’ll support you no matter what, SiSi, but I think your dad’s flag tattoo is probably too big to cover.”
I almost laugh. My parents really are the most supportive parents in existence. Not only did my dad tattoo a watercolor lesbian flag on his shoulder when I came out, he tattooed the polyamorous flag on the other arm for Kyo, Lina, and Rylan.
“I’m still a lesbian. That’s not going to change,” I assure them. “Actually, speaking of lesbians, you know my roommate, Rose?”
“Of course we do. You complain about her constantly,” Rylan chimes in. “I feel like I know her personally at this stage.”
“Right. Well, about that… As it turns out, our dislike of each other might not have been as strong as we thought it was.” God, it sounds so stupid when I say it like that.
Lina gasps, whacking Kyo on the arm. “I told you they had feelings for each other!”
“You and Rose are dating?” my dad asks, and it’s a testament to how great my parents are that he looks happy to hear that his daughter might be dating the person she’s been ranting about for a year straight.
Now let’s see if that happiness extends to the ring on my finger.
“We’re not dating, per se…” I hold up my hand, flashing my ring, and their jaws drop. “Surprise! We got married!”
My mom squeals and claps her hand to her mouth. I think I hear something like “oh my god” muffled behind her hand.
Dad recovers first, clearing his throat. “Congratulations, SiSi. That’s…Well, like you said, it’s a bit of a shock. Are you happy?”
Are you happy?
It’s what my parents ask whenever we do something they don’t understand: when I came home with an eyebrow piercing (that I took out a week later,) when I quit law school, when Kyo and Lina canceled their wedding because they didn’t want to marry each other if they couldn’t marry Rylan, too. As long as we’re not hurting ourselves or anyone else, they don’t care what we do if it makes us happy.
“Yeah, Dad. I’m happy. Rose and I are both happy.” The lie makes me nauseous, like I’m spitting on something sacred—my parents’ trust.
But it’s enough for my mom, Lina, and Rylan’s shock to morph into excitement as they congratulate me. Kyo’s the only one who looks suspicious, and I wish I could say I’m surprised.
By the time my family’s finished quizzing me on all things Rose and our wedding, and my mom has asked no less than ten times when they get to meet her, it’s almost midnight, and we’re all yawning. We say our goodbyes and goodnights, but my relief is short-lived when we finally hang up.
Almost immediately, my phone lights up with a video call from Kyo. I lie down before answering it, propping my phone up on my pillow.
“Are you hiding in the bathroom?” I ask, peering at the wall of duck paintings on the wall behind him. My mom loves a theme.
“Yes. What the fuck, Sierra? Tell me you didn’t marry your roommate for money?”
“I didn’t marry my roommate for money,” I reply instantly. “I didn’t! We got drunk, and you know how it is.”
He glares at me. “Not really.”
Kyo and I have always looked more like twins than siblings, favoring our dad so strongly that people often seem surprised that our mom isn’t Japanese, too. Side by side with her, we look nothing alike—until we show any emotion, that is. Our mom never learned to hide a single emotion from her face, and Kyo and I are exactly the same. Everyone talks about how we have her smile, but we have her frowns, her fury, her frustration, and her restingbitch face, too.
There’s no point in lying to him—even if he didn’t know about the inheritance stipulation, he’s always been able to see right through me. My parents are probably under the impression that I’ve given up on the inheritance, and I’ve never told them, or Lina and Rylan, that my plan was to give Kyo the money for IVF.
