“I hear your parents are freaking out,” Jenny said. “Which is so understandable.”
“Are you still teaching kindergarten?” Liz asked.
After hearing in detail about the whimsies of five-year-olds, Liz found herself in the living room, at the edge of a conversation about whether clean and jerks or burpee pull-ups were the single best CrossFit exercise, when Ham tapped a fork against his glass. He stood in front of the fireplace, Lydia beside him. “Thank you all for joining us tonight,” he said, and this remark alone prompted clapping and hoots. “I just want to say, on behalf of Lydia and me, we’re thrilled to have you celebrating with us, and we appreciate your support as we enter the next stage of our lives together. And I want to say to Lydia, baby, thank you for making me the happiest guy alive!” They turned their faces to kiss, and the cheering that ensued was positively uproarious. When the embrace ended, Lydia raised both her arms above her head like an Olympic skier who’d completed a victorious run. “Turn on the music!” she cried out, and Liz couldn’t tell if the first dance that followed, to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” was planned or impromptu. That Lydia and Ham were in love seemed beyond doubt.
A few minutes later, while Lydia was dancing with Jenny Teetelbaum, Liz tapped her sister on the shoulder. “I’m headed out,” she said. “Congratulations again.”
Lydia’s expression was scornful. “It’s not even eleven!”
“I’m going back to New York in the morning. Lydia, I really hope you’ll get in touch with Mom and Dad.”
“Don’t nag me at our party.”
“They might be old and weird and narrow-minded, but they’re the only parents you have.”
“Oh my God, can you even stop for one second?” Lydia reached for Liz’s hand, grasped it, and began twirling under their linked arms. “Have you completely forgotten how to enjoy yourself?” Lydia asked, and Liz thought, Maybe.
She stepped in and hugged her loathsome, charming younger sister. “Keep me posted,” she said.
OUTSIDE, LIZ WALKED briskly to her father’s car and was just a few feet from it when she heard her name. She turned to see Ham jogging after her.
“You slipped out without giving me a chance to say thanks again for coming tonight. Really.”
“Thanks for including me,” Liz said automatically, and then they both were quiet, and Liz wondered if they would continue to be part of each other’s lives for decades to come—if Ham and Lydia would stay married.
“I hope you don’t feel”—Ham paused—“I guess, ah, misled.”
“I don’t care that you’re transgender,” Liz said. “And even if I did, I realize you don’t need my approval. But it’ll be a huge bummer if Lydia becomes permanently estranged from our parents.”
“No one wants her to have a good relationship with them more than I do,” Ham said. “I didn’t plan to—she was the one who had the idea of eloping. I could have said no, obviously, but what if I did and your parents succeeded in turning her against me? I couldn’t risk losing the love of my life.”
To be adored as deeply and inexplicably as Ham adored Lydia—would she herself, Liz wondered, ever experience it?
“I decided the best strategy was to tie the knot now, then spend as long as it takes convincing your mom and dad I’m a good guy,” Ham was saying. “That’s still my aim, and I welcome your advice.”
“So the other stuff you’ve told me,” Liz said, “or your bio on your website—I’d understand if it’s not, but is it all true? Were you in the army, and did you grow up in Seattle?”
“It’s definitely all true,” Ham said. “I was commissioned into the Signal Corps as a female and I had a different name, but yes.”
Liz sighed. “Do you think the storage locker with all the stuff from my parents’ basement is infested with spiders?”
“That crossed my mind. I can check. Liz, I know that Lydia can be hard on you, but your opinion matters a lot to both of us. I’m really happy we have your blessing, and I promise I’ll make things right with your parents.”
“I believe you,” Liz said. “Now go inside. You’re missing your own party.” As Ham stepped forward to hug her once more, she said, “Lydia’s lucky she found you.”
LIZ’S PLANE LANDED at JFK shortly after eleven A.M., and as it taxied toward the gate, she switched the setting on her phone out of airplane mode. Immediately, three texts popped onto her screen, one of which was from her editor, Talia, a second from Jane, and a third that read, It’s Darcy. Hope things are okay with your family. Can I buy you a drink this weekend?