Our New Normal

  “Are you the one who corrupted Victoria?” Timothy demanded of the girl in the driveway. “Are you the one sending my daughter to hell?” As Gwendolyn heard the girl scream back a response, she inspected her neighbors’ windows to see if any of them were watching the debacle.

  Timothy drew in a sharp breath. “Get off my property! Victoria, I’m calling the authorities in five minutes if you and your abomination don’t leave!”

  Gwen cringed. She wanted to drag her husband into the house before he made an even bigger scene, but there was no using logic with Timothy when he was this upset. Victoria was about to charge back to the house when the girl got a hold of Tori and said something that convinced her to return to the car. After loading the rest of Tori’s bags, the girl blared the horn as she gave Timothy the middle finger and sped away.

  “The nerve of that harlot, giving us the finger when she’s the one leading our daughter to hell!” Timothy yelled as he slammed the door. He brushed his hands together in a washing motion. “Well, that’s that. We no longer have a daughter.”

  Gwendolyn was consumed with a new wave of grief as his words hit home. She leaned against the counter, slid to the floor, and tucked her knees under her chin. She wept loudly, wishing that she could hold her daughter or that Timothy would console her. Instead, he walked out of the kitchen and into the den, shutting the door behind him without another word.

  * * *

  “Where’s Victoria?” was the question that everybody asked in church on the Sunday after Tori left. Gwendolyn struggled to suppress her tears every time she heard her daughter’s name, but she wasn’t always successful; she had to excuse herself to the bathroom more than once.

  “Victoria is ill,” Timothy lied over and over again. He’d instructed Gwendolyn not to discuss what had happened; the last thing they needed was to be embarrassed in front of the whole congregation. The lie also helped to explain Gwen’s behavior; everyone just assumed that she was frequenting the bathroom as a result of the same sickness that Tori did.

  “I will pray for Tori’s speedy recovery,” one of their neighbors said as she shook their hands. She seemed oblivious of Friday’s events, and Gwendolyn was grateful that the debacle hadn’t drawn enough attention for the neighbors to gossip.

  Jeff Trainor walked up to Timothy and Gwendolyn, his daughter, Sabrina, in tow. He shook Timothy’s hand sadly. “I’m so sorry to hear about the tragedy in your family,” he said solemnly. “My daughter informed me of the situation with Victoria, and I feel just awful. It is so horrible when teenagers stray from the Path due to carnal desires.”

  Timothy scowled, his eyes quickly scanning the area for eavesdroppers. “I appreciate your concern,” he began quietly, “but right now we’re keeping it quiet. We’re both hoping that Victoria will see the error of her ways and return home soon. Once she realizes how difficult things are in the real world, I’m sure she’ll come crawling back.”

  “I hope so, for both your family’s sake and for the sake of her soul,” Mr. Trainor stated. “I couldn’t imagine the embarrassment and shame I would feel if it were my own daughter venturing toward Satan’s grasp.”

  Gwendolyn glared at Jeff. While she also worried about Victoria’s soul, he’d said it with obvious malice. She took a deep breath, swallowing the anger building in her throat, and turned to Sabrina. “Have you heard anything about her? Is she okay?”

  Sabrina shook her head. “She hasn’t been answering her phone,” she replied. “Besides, we’re probably the last people she’d want to talk to.”

  Gwendolyn wrung her hands nervously. “I just wish I knew if she was alive, if she’s okay…”

  Timothy shook his head and put his arm around her. “Not here,” he spat forcefully. “I don’t want anyone to overhear. Besides, she’s no longer our concern.”

  * * *

  “Gwendolyn?” Timothy called, shaking her gently.

  She woke with a start and confusedly looked around her sunset-drenched bedroom. Because Timothy had already returned home from work, she surmised that she’d been asleep for hours. Her groggy mind swirled with images of her daughter, both from the past and from earlier that afternoon, as she struggled to focus. “Hello, Tim,” she murmured, slowly sitting up in bed.

  “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly. “The maid said that you’ve been sleeping all day.”

  She nodded. “I’m fine. It was a draining afternoon, and I needed rest.”

  Timothy’s eyebrow rose with suspicion. “Why was it draining? What happened?”

  Gwendolyn squinted at him, confused. I guess Cathy didn’t tell him, she thought. I suppose she thought it was my place to tell him the news. “Well, Victoria stopped by this afternoon, and—”

  “Victoria?” he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “What did she want?”

  Gwendolyn handed him the crinkled emancipation form. “She dropped this off,” she explained. “She asked us to sign it.”

  Timothy read it over, his face turning crimson. “We’ll do no such thing!” he screamed, crumpling it into a ball.

  “All that paper is saying is that we no longer assume any responsibility for her,” she argued. “Considering we have no intention of supporting her anymore, wouldn’t it make sense to sign it?”

  “If we sign that, we’ll be condoning her lifestyle, and I will have no parts of that!”

  “She’s not coming back, Tim!” Gwendolyn cried, her heart heavy as her words hit home. “We should least let her go so she can live her life!”

  “I won’t sign away my daughter’s soul!” he bellowed. Timothy unfolded the paper, tore it into bits, and threw it into the bedside trash bin. “She can go to court and prove that she’s able to take care of herself. Let’s see if abandoning her family to pursue sins of the flesh is responsible in their eyes!”

  Gwendolyn sighed, knowing that her opinion didn’t matter, even if he hadn’t ripped up the form. “Okay,” she conceded, sinking back into bed and turning away from him.

  She sniffled, the sign of imminent tears. Before she could start crying again, though, Timothy walked out of the room without saying a word and locked himself in the den for the rest of the night.

  * * *

  “I think we should finally admit to the congregation that Victoria’s not coming back,” Gwendolyn suggested the following Sunday morning.

  They’d yet to admit to the congregation why Victoria was no longer coming to church; they made up various excuses every week and asked for prayers for her well-being. In a way, Gwendolyn was relieved that they could finally be done with all of the hiding and lies. Hopefully, once everyone knew the truth, they’d stop asking about Victoria; every time that someone asked her about their estranged daughter, it gouged the healing wound back open. She was looking forward to closure.

  Timothy sighed. “I suppose you’re right; it’s time,” he conceded. “There’s no hope left for her.”

  “I just wish I understood what we did wrong,” she lamented. “I thought we did a good job as parents, that we protected our child from the world’s sinful clutches.”

  Timothy shrugged. “The only way we could’ve fully prevented this would’ve been to home-school her and shelter her from the outside world,” he replied. “The gays and their influence are everywhere. It’s practically forced down our throats these days. Some people are just more easily manipulated than others, especially if they are weak in faith.”

  “Maybe if we would’ve sent her to Bible camp during the summer or to Bible study during the week…”

  “There’s no point in speculating,” Timothy insisted. “This happened while she was in school. Unless we sat there with her every moment, had complete control over the students she interacted with, or transferred her out of the school completely, the odds were that she would have been corrupted by sin.”

  “But she spent so much time with Sabrina and the other normal girls!” Gwen cried. “I just don’t understand how one person could
barge in and ruin our little girl within a couple of months.”

  Timothy placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder—the first real contact they’d shared since Victoria had left—and Gwendolyn’s eyes brimmed with tears. It felt good to finally discuss the matter with her husband, and his concern about how she felt was appreciated.

  “No one expects this level of betrayal from their child, especially one who seemed so normal. She never showed any signs, or else I’m sure we would have done something to prevent this. We cannot blame ourselves, Gwen.” He squeezed her shoulder lovingly. “We’ll get through this.”

  * * *

  “How is Victoria?” Elaine asked after service, just as she did every week.

  Timothy swallowed nervously. “She is not well,” he replied simply.

  “Still? Oh my, how awful!” Elaine exclaimed. “Will she be okay, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Gwendolyn shook her head, wishing she could say that Victoria would eventually be back to normal. “She has strayed from God’s path,” she replied, tears brimming.

  Elaine’s brow furrowed. “How so?”

  Timothy reached over and clenched his wife’s hand. “Satan tempted her with sins of the flesh, and she failed to resist. She is living in sin with another woman.”

  Elaine and a few passersby gasped. A small crowd formed around the Reynolds, and they all began talking at once.

  “She’s a homosexual?”

  “It’s so awful when these things happen!”

  “But she always seemed so normal!”

  “I will make sure to pray for her soul.”

  “Did you try the conversion therapy center?”

  “Has she always liked other women?”

  “I hope she finds her way back to God before she goes to the lake of fire!”

  Timothy waved his hands in the air to shush the horde. “Everyone, please!” he bellowed. “What my wife and I need right now are your prayers and support. Our daughter is sick, and our attempts to bring her back to the Path have all backfired. She is living without any financial assistance from us. From what I’ve heard, she is still going to school and has a job at a local business, but that’s all we know.”

  “Why didn’t you make her stay with you?” someone asked. “A child needs her parents in times like these.”

  Gwendolyn glanced at Timothy nervously. “When she refused to repent for her actions, we had no other choice but to rid ourselves of the sin.”

  “You kicked her out?” the same person continued, stepping out of the crowd. It was a young man, one who occasionally talked to Victoria after service. “During the most confusing and terrifying time in her young life, you abandoned her?” A few other parishioners nodded their heads and muttered their dissent against the Reynolds.

  “We didn’t abandon her!” Timothy argued. “She was insolent and belligerent when we tried to reason with her and offered to get her help. She treated us like we were the enemy! She believes that she’s doing the right thing and that she’s not defying God by consorting with another woman. There was nothing more we could do for her.”

  The young man, his face a gentle crimson, shook his head. “You threw out Tori, a minor who has never had a job or any sort of responsibility, and you think this is what she deserves because she’s attracted to women? Don’t you wonder if she okay, if she’s dead on the side of the road somewhere—or do you also think that’s what she deserves?”

  Gwendolyn stepped forward. “Of course we worry about her! She’s our daughter!”

  “Have you tried to call her?”

  Timothy scowled as his irritation grew. “No, we have not,” he replied through gritted teeth. “We’ve checked on her status through other sources.”

  “And Tori continues to think that you’re going about your lives without giving a damn about her well-being.” The young man shook his head in disgust. “You guys are right; that’s exactly how Jesus would want us to behave: throw away anybody different from us without looking back, even if they’re our own flesh and blood.”

  “Hold on a minute!” Jeff Trainor demanded, standing next to Timothy and placing a hand on his shoulder. “If she’s unrepentant, what else can they do? Would you have them live with Satan himself? Would you allow unspeakable sins to take place under your roof and do nothing about it? If his daughter would rather live a life of sin than to try and repair her defect, then there’s only one thing that can be done—exactly what they already did!” A few people nodded.

  “Tori does not have a defect, and she is certainly not Satan!” the man bellowed. Before anyone else delivered a counterargument, he threw his hands in the air. “This is hopeless!” He barged out of the sanctuary and into the parking lot, a few others following him.

  The room was filled with awkward silence for a few moments until it was broken by Gwendolyn’s sobs. “If only we had enrolled her in Bible study or encouraged her to be more serious about service—”

  Elaine embraced Gwendolyn, handing her a tissue. “There is nothing you could have done differently,” she said soothingly. “She is young, and I’m sure this is just a phase she’ll grow out of once she gets older. Besides, this is God’s will. He is testing Victoria, and only she can be held accountable for her actions.”

  Chapter 37

  “I swear I would’ve punched her in the throat if she said that shit to me,” Meghan growled as Tori recounted the latest encounter with her mother.

  “I’m just thankful my dad wasn’t there,” Tori said. “It would’ve been so much worse.”

  “So when’s the hearing?” Meghan asked.

  “In a week and a half,” Tori replied. “As I’m sure you can imagine, I’m a little bit nervous about it.”

  “You should be fine,” Meghan assured her. “You have plenty of proof that you’re more than capable of making it on your own, and god knows you’re more mature than your stupid parents.” They both chuckled as the bell on the entrance jingled.

  “I’d like a café mocha with extra whip,” a male voice said.

  Tori’s eyes widened as she spun around. Much to her surprise, one of the few friends from her previous church greeted her with a warm smile. “Troy Mathers!” she exclaimed as she came around the counter.

  After lowering a large cardboard box onto a nearby table, he hurried to the end of the counter. “It’s so good to see you!” he exclaimed.

  “Of all the people to show up from our church, I’m so glad it’s you!” She frowned slightly. “You’re not here to lecture me, are you?”

  “He’d better not,” Meghan warned over the gurgling espresso machine. “The last thing you need is any more drama, especially at work.”

  “No, no lecturing or drama, I promise,” he replied, his hands raised passively. “I heard you were working here, so I just wanted to drop by and make sure you were okay. Your parents finally broke the news to the congregation last week. We had no idea you were on your own until then; they kept saying you were sick or busy or whatever.”

  Tori grimaced. “According to them, I am sick,” she muttered bitterly. “But I’m glad they finally came out of the closet.”

  “It got a little ugly, actually,” Troy said. “I was none too happy with the news of you being kicked out. There were a few of us who were upset when we found out what happened, and we went as a group to talk to the minister about it. He ended up quoting a couple of Bible passages to defend your parents’ behavior and asked us to leave. We ended up walking out of the church that day, for good. You’re just a kid—albeit one who seems like she’s doing okay, considering the circumstances—and it’s not right that they did that to you. They should go to jail for negligence, if you ask me.”

  “You and other people left the church over me?” Tori asked in disbelief. Never in a million years did she think anyone would care enough to stick up for her like that.

  Troy nodded. “I brushed off the petition they passed around—which I didn’t sign, of
course—as I figured all churches are probably being pressured by higher-ups to pass out that sort of thing. However, your parents being unrepentant about throwing their teenage daughter out on the streets—and the minister backing their actions—is pretty much the exact opposite of anything Jesus ever taught.”

  “I’m surprised that anyone would walk out over me,” Tori began, “but I’m thankful there are people out there on my side, even if I don’t know them all that well. I’m sorry that you had to leave your church, though.”

  Troy shrugged. “There are plenty of other churches in Pittsburgh, more inclusive ones. I’ll find a better one soon, I’m sure.” He held up a finger, motioning her to wait as he retrieved the box that he’d carried in. “But enough about me. Those of us who left the church got together and made you a care package. It’s nothing too fancy; just a little something to help get your new life started.” He pushed the box across the counter, nodding at her to open it.

  Tori’s hands were trembling slightly as she opened the package, unsure of what to expect. Once she peered in the box, though, tears began to stream down her face.

  “Look at all of this stuff!” Meghan exclaimed as she peeked inside.

  Inside were bottles of shampoo, boxes of feminine products, deodorant, packs of toilet paper, bars of soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a hairbrush, hair accessories, assorted makeup, a curling iron, a couple bags of potato chips and other snacks, a purse, a backpack filled with school supplies, and an assortment of gift cards for local grocery stores and department stores.

  Tori’s eyes got wider with every item that she pulled out of the package. “This is incredible!”

  Troy’s cheeks flushed. “You probably don’t need all of this stuff, especially since you seem to have gotten yourself situated, but we wanted to make sure you have everything you need.”

  “I can’t thank you enough,” Tori said. “I won’t have to ask Chloe’s mom for supplies for months!” She wiped tears from her eyes as Meghan helped pack everything back into the box. “I appreciate all of this, more than you know. Please, tell everyone thank you for me.”