The Death Process

Diane looked at us in shock. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were somewhere else. She looked as if she would break out in tears any second now.

"Aunt Diane, I'm so sorry. I miss him too." Mikey whispered as he moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Diane, still in shock, let him embrace her.

"He was so young. How did it happen?"

"He was in a serious drunk car accident. A piece of glass stabbed him to death."

Diane looked like she too had a shard of glass plunged into her gut. "My Gerard would never do that. He stopped drinking two years ago. He's sober!"

"No, he wasn't the driver. No one is really sure why he died; we just know that he went out during school and came back in a wrecked car with dead bodies inside. The driver is in jail now."

Something seemed to break inside of her as she began to cry before pulling her body away from Mikey. She then turned to me and asked, with venom in her voice, "What were you to Gerard?"

My entire body went stiff at her question. Did she even know that her nephew was gay? Did Gee ever tell her? Did he even ever trust her? "I'm his..." at the last moment I decided that Gerard would have wanted me to be honest. "I'm his boyfriend. He loved me and I loved him."

I was expecting to be told to get out and to never be able to see him again, but Diane surprised me completely. She began to cry before reaching out and hugging me. "I'm so glad that Gerard was able to love before passing. When he was young he was so different, I was sure he would never find a lover. Thank you for giving him this. You are truly part of our family."