Disowned

By J.P. Garland

In the novel Coming to Terms, we were introduced to Mary Elizabeth Nelson. She was Suzanne Nelson's aunt. When she was a sophomore at Cal-Berkeley, her mother discovered Mary with another woman. Mary was immediately and summarily disowned. She fled to New York where she built an independent life for herself. But she also met Helen Anne Elliot, who went off to marry someone else. Until she reappeared in Mary's life. And became a core of Mary's life. 

This short novella is Mary Elizabeth Nelson's story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dermody House LLC
• Release date: Apr 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201142360

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Copyright © 2019 J.P. Garland

All rights reserved.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author.

Cover  Photo by Gustavo Lanes on Unsplash

Contents

Introduction

Catching Up

New York, New York

A Brief Reunion

Working Girl

A Phone Call

Mary and Helen

A Devoutly-Wished-For Consummation

Gerry

Thanksgiving 2010 in Mill Valley

Coming to New York II

Marriage

About the Author

Introduction

In the first pages of Coming to Terms , Suzanne Nelson and Annie Baxter complete their drive across the US from California and double park in front of the brownstone at 17 West 87th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It is less than 100 yards from Central Park. Waiting on the stoop for them is Mary Elizabeth Nelson. She is Suzanne’s Aunt, and the two met only twice before, at a disaster of a Thanksgiving years earlier.

In the course of Suzanne’s story, we hear a great deal about Mary. But some things are glossed over with yada yada yada. Mary’s story is worth her telling. This is that story. Most of it takes place before that summer day when Suzanne and Annie saw her on West 87th Street

.

Catching Up

Iwasn’t much of a rebel growing up, the oldest child in a strict Catholic family in Mill Valley, a wealthy San Francisco suburb. I had—have—one sibling. That’s my brother Billy who’s three years younger than me. I had good grades at a good Catholic high school and I enrolled at Cal-Berkeley. On my folks’ dime, I’m afraid to say. But we were way to rich for financial aid and my father convinced me not to go into the student loan trap.

We can afford it, he said, and I’d have paid more for you to go to Stanford, but I’m happy to do it to my only girl.

Stanford was his alma mater so while he was disappointed I didn’t go there, he was happy to foot the bill.

Of course it was at Berkeley that it all, and I mean all, went to hell. It’s where my little story begins.

The details before that aren’t so important. I was gay—of course my parents and brother had no idea and I worked hard to keep it that way—and had some slight liaisons before I got to Berkeley and had quite a bit more when I did. Nothing too serious and often quite spontaneous. Majoring in English Lit and enjoying the good life of the area’s openness. I’d go with friends into generally forbidden parts of San Francisco without a particular care of where my degree would take me when I finally decided to settle myself down.

To save money after freshman year, I lived at home and tolerated the house rules while I worked as a clerk at a San Francisco law firm. My father got me the gig. He was a pretty big deal lawyer at a firm in the city and made a few phone calls and I was in.

I did get in trouble the first time I didn’t get home to Mill Valley one weekend and since I knew I’d be out on