“So…are you finally going to tell me why you are so upset about the fact that it was a woman that Tina was with before you?”

Dan and Kathy were sitting down by the lake, watching the beautiful orange and pink hues of the early morning sun reflect off the water. After Dan had stormed off the day before, the rest of the family tried their best to busy themselves with other activities…anything that would keep them from having to sit around the campfire together, trying to figure out what was going on with their parents.

Tina had taken Kathy aside to explain the situation, and to let her know why Dan was so upset. Kathy had surprised her by telling her that she had a brother who was *****, and that after watching him and his partner of twenty years, she knew in her heart that love was love, no matter the gender. That gave Tina some hope that Kathy would be able to help calm Dan down, help him to understand.

The evening meal had been quiet, but Tina had been right about one thing. No matter how angry Dan was with her, he was good about trying not to let that show in front of the children. They had somewhat enjoyed the evening by telling Tina stories of their different adventures, all of which were embellished just a touch, but that’s what your supposed to do when telling campfire stories. And after lighting a couple of lanterns, they had all gathered around the picnic table to play card games. Alex had stayed close to Dan for the remainder of the day and night, which saddened Tina a little bit, but she knew how close those two were, and also understood Alex’s need to show her father some extra attention, in an attempt to make him feel better. Tina was patiently waiting for a signal from Dan, that would give her the go-ahead to continue their conversation.

Now, sitting here at the lake, Dan looked down at the stone he had been fiddling with, and threw it in the water, watching it bounce three times across the smooth surface, before sinking. “I feel like our whole relationship was based on a lie. How could she not have told me something as important as that?”

“Dan…when you and Tina started dating, didn’t she tell you that she was still in love with the person she had just left?”

“Yes.”

“And didn’t she tell you that they had been together for seven years, and that her heart had been broken by the infidelity of her partner?”

“Yes.”

And what was your reaction to that?”

Dan looked over at the woman who he was madly in love with, loving her even more, because he knew he could talk with her about this without feeling foolish, or less than. “I couldn’t believe that anyone could ever cheat on someone like Tina. It made me want to take care of her even more, to show her that we weren’t all like HIM…it made me love her even more.

“How did Tina react to you courting her?”

Dan smiled at the memory of all those e-mails they had shared…how he use to jump out of bed in the morning to see if she had sent him a good morning note…how he was distracted at work, checking his email over and over again, to see if by chance she was thinking about him during the day. He thought about all the long weekends they had spent together, slowly getting to know each other.

“Well, she took it slow at first, but she was always open with me. At least I thought she was. At first, I think it was a good thing we lived in different cities, because I knew I wanted to be with her from the first night I met her, at Jim and Amy’s anniversary party. I think if I had been in the same town, I probably would have come on too strong and scared her away. I didn’t want to do that. I loved her so much…I wanted to be the one to help her through her heart break…wanted to be the one she shared her life with.”

Kathy gently laid her hand on Dan’s shoulder, and very quietly repeated her question. “So…knowing all that, why does the fact that it was a woman who broke Tina’s heart, make you feel like what you just described was all a lie?”

Dan blew a breath out, and ran his hand through his hair. He knew that he couldn’t avoid this question any longer, but was a little embarrassed to be talking about it out loud. “Because, now I wonder if I ever satisfied her sexually. Was she just settling for me, because she couldn’t be with her? It makes me wonder if she ever met a woman while we were together that she was attracted to. Was she fighting those urges the whole time she was sleeping with me?”

“Sweetheart, did you ever doubt Tina’s love for you while you were married? I mean, I know that you always felt that you were not the love of her life, but didn’t you feel her love for you while you were together? Did you ever feel like she was holding back from you when you made love?”

Dan sat for a moment with his eyes closed, thinking back to his life with Tina…the look in her eyes when she gave birth to Dani. It was the same look she had with the birth of all three of their children…love, happiness, contentment, peace.

“No, I always felt Tina’s love for me. She showed me every day, and our ***** life was always good…Tina is very passionate, but also very playful. No, I guess at the time I never felt like she wanted to be somewhere else. I always felt she wanted to be with me…was present with me when we were making love.”

“So, knowing all those things…believing all those things…does it really matter whether she was with a man or a woman before you, or are you letting your ego get in the way? Sweetheart, I remember you telling me that Tina was really hurt when you wanted the divorce…that she was happy with you, and thought you were to. Baby, she was happy enough with you that she chose to marry you, have three children with you…and she would still be with you, and be happy with you if you hadn’t asked for the divorce.”

Kathy stopped for a moment. “Honey, I say this to you with all the love I have for you in my heart…Please don’t let your male pride get in the way and negate everything that you too shared together. Because that is what you are doing. By reacting this way, you are saying that the love that Tina felt for you all those years, and still feels for you, doesn’t matter, just because her previous partner was a woman. Please Dan, don’t let that happen.”

Dan let his eyes wander over the scenery in front of him. He loved being outdoors…he loved being with the woman next to him. He reached over and wrapped her up in his arms. “*****…your right. Even though I knew I wasn’t the love of Tina’s life, I always knew she loved me…always. I stayed with her all those years knowing that.” He blew out a big breath. “I guess it would be unfair of me to throw that up in her face now. *****, I don’t even know why she brought it up after all these years…I didn’t give her a chance to finish.” He leaned over and kissed his wife. “Thank you…thank you for walking me through that, and helping me to see past my ego. I think I better go and finish this conversation with Tina…find out what she actually wanted to tell me yesterday.”

He stood up and reached for Kathy’s hand. “Come on, let’s go back up. Tina’s probably a wreck on the inside. You know how she hates confrontations.”

They walked back up to the camp site, seeing that Tina was up and sitting by herself, sipping on a cup of coffee. As they approached, she heard their footsteps, and quickly wiped away the tears that had been slowing making their way down her cheeks. She had been thinking about the pain she had so clearly caused Dan. This movement wasn’t lost on either Dan or Kathy, which made Dan feel even worse about his reaction of the day before.

“Hey you two.” Tina gave them a sad smile. “There’s fresh coffee in the pot.”

Dan walked over to Tina and laid his hand on her shoulder. “I would love a cup, but can I get mine to go? I think you and I still have to finish the walk we started yesterday.”

Tina, looking up and seeing the anger gone from his eyes, knew that Kathy had achieved what they had hoped for. She stood up and hugged him tight to her.

“Yea, grab a cup and let’s go.”