Loving Eleanor(BWWM)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Date: January 27th, 1950
Name: Eleanor Hazel Bush
Age: twenty-three

Dale stood up and walked to turn on the record player.

The pair were spending the evening at Dale's, cuddled and calm.

"How does a trip to LA sound for Valentine's Day?" He asked while looking through his records.

"Did I hear you right?" She asked in shock.

Dale turned away from the records and nodded. "I want to bring you to LA," He stated firmly and picked a record.

Once it was playing, he sat back on the couch.

"I'd love to go!" Eleanor squealed and pecked his lips.

Dale wrapped his arm around her waist and put his feet on the coffee table. "My brother, Patrick lives in Beverly Hills with his wife and two sons. Would you be willing to meet them?"

"Are they racist?" Eleanor asked hesitantly.

Dale shook his head. "He-, heck no. I wouldn't bring you around trash like that."

Eleanor was flattered. "Oh, well I'd like to meet them. What's Patrick like?"

Dale huffed and sucked his teeth. "He's four years younger than me but much wiser and he has an open heart." He sighed. "He was a real sensitive kid and growing up people called him fag and sissy. Pissed me off, I always defended him though I thought he was a little strange myself." He was ashamed of how he looked at Patrick.

"He left the church at thirteen to travel with a missionary family, the Howards, boy was he excited to explore the states and learn, but our parents were happier to get rid of him. When he came back it was a bit before I left for the Navy, he was telling us about the real Jesus that he learned about. Our parents hated him for that." He spat angrily. Those people were terrible.

"I wasn't into Christianity growing up, church was just a place I went out of habit. Even when I got old, I felt the same. Patrick was different, he always wanted to know more and that's why he was so happy to go away with the Howard family. The day they dropped him off at home, he cried his eyes out. I thought it was weird, but my parents called him names and talked to the pastor of our church about a reformation camp." Eleanor gasped and held onto Dale's arm.

"They signed him up without telling him, but the day he was to be dropped off, they got me to take him. I couldn't take my brother to that awful place, God knows I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night knowing that he was being hurt. He didn't deserve that for being a little different, so I took him back to the Howards. They took him with open arms."

Eleanor kissed his cheek and held his face. "That's so sweet."

"Patrick didn't even know that he wasn't supposed to be with them. Our parents only packed his things and told him that he was leaving." He couldn't believe how underhanded his parents were. "I still don't have it in me to tell Patrick about what really happened that day. He was only fourteen and bright as the sun, I didn't want that light to fade. I didn't want my brother to be ruined by the world and our parents." He grumbled annoyed.

Eleanor smiled at her thoughtful fiancee. "That's so sweet of you to do that for your brother." She didn't know how sweet he could be, he was mostly sour.

"I couldn't allow my brother's life to be ruined by my parents. They've been closed-minded lice since they were born. When they found out that Patrick was married to a woman they were happy enough to welcome him back to the family." He chuckled spitefully. "When they found out that she was Hawaiian, they disowned him." He twinkled his fingers and smiled sardonically