The flashback scenes in ’Til Death Do Us Part chronicle the time from when Henry and Sam first began their courtship through to the night before Henry leaves on his ill-fated flight. To catch up with the flashback scenes previously posted, click this link to the the category archives: https://authoraddisonalbright.com/category/til-death-do-us-part/flashback-scenes-from-sams-pov/.
This series of blog posts was motivated by a comment from one of the book’s reviewers, Bethany at Rainbow Gold Reviews, who made the comment that she wished the flashback scenes had been from Sam’s POV instead of from Henry’s.
This week’s scene is from the 10th flashback in the book, found at the beginning of Chapter 11. I think I prefer this one from Sam’s POV:
“Do you think it would help if I made the phone call?” Sam’s dad offered.
Henry took a deep breath. His entire body was tense. It was obvious he didn’t want to do this, but it seemed to Sam that not attempting to include Henry’s parents in their wedding would be a slight that would cut off any hope of a reconciliation.
“No,” Henry replied. “I don’t think it would make a difference. I know you have a hard time understanding that parents could be so resolute in rejecting their own child, but they really don’t want anything to do with me. If it means that much to you guys that I try to extend an olive branch with a wedding invitation, I’ll make the call myself. Seriously, though, I don’t hold out any hope.”
Sam’s mom shook her head sadly. “No, I can’t understand it. You’re a wonderful young man. You’re smart and outgoing, you’re kind, you’re witty. I don’t understand a religion that could turn parents against their son simply because he’s attracted to other men—like-minded men—and not to women. It has no effect on how we feel about our son.”
“They’re not like you and Truman, Claire. Their lives revolve around their church. If their church says I’m evil, then to them I’m evil.”
“Is it possible they’ve done some research? Modified their thinking? Some churches have been updating their doctrines regarding homosexuality,” Simon added.
Closing his eyes, Henry’s fingers worked overtime fiddling with the spare button sewn onto the underside hem of his shirt. A sure sign he was stressed.
Henry’s eyes reopened. Maybe it would be better to let this go. Henry didn’t talk much about his family, but what little he’d shared did give the impression that they were unyielding in their convictions—or at least Henry believed they were.
Sam searched Henry’s eyes and resolved to give up the cause, but Henry spoke first. “I’ll give them a call.”
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
’Til Death Do Us Part
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Ok, so my New Years resolution is going to be to finally get around to reading “Til Death Do Us Part” 🙂
I’m anxious to get your opinion!
I’m sure I’ll like it! I’m a bit anxious for Nash though since I like him so much. I don’t want him to hurt, poor baby! 🙂
But at least you know it’ll eventually end well for him! <3
That’s true! 🙂
Since I make a point of keeping my New Year’s resolutions (granted, I mostly make them along the lines of “I won’t pick up smoking this year either”—so not so difficult ones is what I’m saying) I started it this morning.
And holy sh*t, Addison!! I probably won’t be flying to Sweden ever again after reading chapter one. I will connect all complaining calls from my daughter and mother to you, and you can explain why! 😉
Since it started out with Nash it’s difficult for me to disconnect my analytical, editorial brain and my fingers itch to break out my red pen. I have to remind myself that I read this is for pure enjoyment, not for helping you improve it. (I don’t mean that it needs a lot of work, mind you, just that my analytical brain engaged as soon as I read the word “Nash”. Funny how that works! 😀 )
I always choose seats in the back of the plane when I fly = close to the emergency exits. Great strategy, I see 🙂
Ah well, time for morning coffee before I continue 🙂
LOL. Don’t sic them on me! Just make sure you sit near a Henry-type that can save you, right?
Do your itchy red pen fingers have anything to do with the continuity issue of the discovery being a month before the wedding in the first book, but referred to as two weeks before in Nash’s story? I don’t know how that got by me, other than that I kept screwing with the timeline in the 2nd book to get things right, and must’ve changed it at some point. It’s been bothering me ever since I noticed it.
Yes 😉 And that you used the word “phobia” a lot in chapter one (ok, maybe only three times, but it’s such a noticeable word so it seemed like more) 😉
But what I would comment on if it was my job, is the amount of research you must have done for this chapter alone. I’ve never been in a plane crash, but it felt realistic. And something I liked a lot: every time I fly and watch the safety video they say to put the oxygen mask on yourself first and then help anyone next to you. And every time I think that it’s gotta be hard to put it on myself before my daughter (if she was next to me, because on the Emirates video it’s always a kid next to the grown up – emotional blackmailers!), because the instinct says help the child first, right? So I liked that he put it on himself and forgot about the old couple next to him. Sure, they didn’t even know each other, but I really appreciated his thought process about it afterwards. It connected with me on a personal level.
But seriously, I’m going to put my red pen down now. I promise 🙂
Gah! Overusing words in close proximity is one of my worst failings. They mostly get caught. That one I actually trimmed out a few, believe it or not, but it’s not a word with much in the way of good synonyms that wouldn’t come off sounding like you’re just trying not to say “phobia” again. Alas. Probably should’ve just cut a few of the lines altogether and still made the point, eh?
Yeah, there was a LOT of research for this story. You’ll see, it just keeps piling on. Your example is funny, because I’ve always thought the same thing. It does make sense to do yourself first especially if the person you’re helping wouldn’t be able to return the favor if you pass out before getting to yourself, but instincts are so hard to overcome!
Yeah, it makes sense, and my husband has the same argument as you (we’ve discussed this many, many times 🙂 ). It’s just that after spending her entire lifetime putting her first, going against it must be incredibly hard.
But I really liked that attention to detail. Maybe nobody else gives a crap about the oxygen mask, but I noticed and I cared. So great work.
(And I probably miss the critiquing process more than I realized – I hope someone in the group puts up something to work on soon, or I’ll just have to bug Miss Amy to write faster so I can beta Yakuza 2 😀
And let me know if I’m being annoying 🙂 )
Ha! You are never annoying. You’re opinion is highly valued. 🙂
If you’re serious about wanting something to critique, I’m working on the overhaul of my short story collection and need to have it all turned in by the 10th. 8 down, 3 to go if you’re interested in taking a look at them. They’re really short, the whole collection is sitting at 47,369 words right now, although that’ll change a little by the time I’m done. So that’s an average of only about 4,300 words/story.
Oh my god, YES! 🙂 Send them over, you have my e-mail. Let me know what you want me to watch out for, and I’ll get to work!
Seriously: anytime you need anything I can probably make time to help (unless it’s Christmas and I’m in Sweden, in that case I’m super busy 🙂 ). Other than that I don’t work other than my writing, so I have a lot of time at my disposal, so just let me know 🙂
Cool! I’ll send you what I’ve got so far. 😀
You have mail. 😉 <3