Becoming

The Legacy

Over the next several weeks, Dave and Ade got themselves reacquainted with London and helped Tasha acclimate as well. Their first real challenge would be letting their mothers know about their impending divorces, and more importantly, that they were a couple. They didn't want the older women to find out via the tabloids.

Picking a day when Tasha had plans to go shopping with Kia, the two men rang up their mothers and arranged to take them out to a tea shop that had a couple of rooms for private gatherings. Dave called ahead to reserve one of the private rooms.

After getting themselves comfortably settled with steaming cups of tea and plates of little tea sandwiches and cakes, Kathleen Smith looked at her son. "So, what is this all about, then? I can't believe you came all the way to London just to take us out for tea."

"No, Mum, we didn't," Ade said. "I've just moved back to London. Nathalie and I are getting divorced."

"Tamar and I are also getting divorced," Dave told his mother quietly. "Tasha's staying with me, as we discovered she's had trouble with bullies at her school in Hawaii. She wanted a fresh start elsewhere, and Tamar agreed, since Tasha's more than old enough to travel alone for visits."

Mary Murray frowned. "But I thought you two were happy? I mean... you didn't divorce her back when she lost the baby that caused you to marry so quickly."

Dave took a deep breath. "We weren't unhappy, Mum, but Tamar and I were never anything more than good friends. The baby she lost wasn't mine and I knew it, but I'd offered to marry her anyway to give it a name, because I wanted to be a father... but I never had an interest in marrying a woman. Tamar didn't want a traditional marriage either, as she'd discovered with that baby's father that intimacy disgusted her."

"You never wanted to marry a woman?" Mary asked, looking puzzled. "But then why... I don't understand."

Kathleen looked at Ade. "I suppose you've a similar story?"

"Similar, yes," Ade said softly. "Tamar introduced me to Nathalie with the idea that she and I might get along in the same sort of arrangement that she and Dave had, because she suspected that Nathalie was in love with a girl from their university. Tamar was right about that. But of course, back then, it was much less acceptable, y'know? Neither Nathalie nor her partner were in a position to defy their families to be together - no more than Dave and I were."

Kathleen blinked a little, then laughed and shook her head. "You and Dave. Well, I always did look on him as an extra son, especially when he left home and your father let him stay in the garage until he could save up enough money for his own bedsit. All these years?"

Dave nodded. "Yeah. We knew we had to keep things quiet cos of the band and all, but times have changed since the late seventies. And when Steve didn't toss a wobbler over Bruce getting together with his partner Emppu from Nightwish, we decided that it was time we came out to the band so we could be together openly. But of course, we wanted to tell you before we went public - which won't be until our divorces are final in any case."

Mary sighed. "Given your father's views, I certainly understand why you wouldn't want to admit to being gay... that is the right word these days, isn't it? And I assume Tamar knew about you two before she agreed to marry you?"

"Yeah," Dave nodded. "I actually met her when her then-boyfriend dragged her to our show and the meet'n'greet after, then proceeded to ignore her in favour of arguing with Ade. As you know, we'd chosen to stay in America over the Christmas tour break since it wasn't even two weeks and we wanted to avoid the jet lag. Well, on our first night in Chicago, we saw them in the restaurant we'd chosen for dinner, and I could see that something was off, so when the boyfriend went to the loo, I gave Tamar our number at the hotel we were at, just in case she needed a friend. A few days later, we got a call in the middle of the night - they'd had a massive row and he'd literally tossed her out of his flat in her nightgown."