The Girl In The Suit

Gemma

After I tuck Anne into bed, I head back downstairs to see Alison fixing one of the certificates with sellotape. I sit down beside her.

"Will it be alright?", I ask.

She sighs. "It should be. I'm sorry you had to see that, Gemma."

"Its ok. I come from a broken family so I'm used to stuff like that."

She smiles over at me. "Thanks."

Theres a few minutes of silence as she tapes it back together perfectly. She holds it up when shes done.

"Looks about right, don't you think?"

I smile at her. "You did a good job."

"Thanks."

Theres a silence before I speak again.

"Alison?" She hums in response. "Do God and Jesus really hate gays, or is that made up?"

She looks at me. "No, I don't think they do. Love is a huge part of Christianity and hate isn't a part of it at all. To be honest, as long as you love someone, they don't care what gender you are or what gender the person you're loving is. As long as its love, theres nothing purer."

I bite my lip as I take in the information.

"My family has always been atheists, but I have always believed a small bit, but no one knows. I just never wanted to go fully into it or attend mass because I thought it was hateful and hypocritical. I haven't been baptised, I haven't gotten my Communion and I haven't gotten my Confirmation. I was always allowed to just wear the dress and sit by the choir, but I wanted to be with everyone else. Now that I know that it isn't homophobic, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Is it too late for me to get baptised, my Communion and Confirmation? I know I'll have to wait till next year for my Communion and a few more years till Confirmation but how about baptism? Is there a problem with that at my age?"

Alison looks at me before bursting into a smile and throwing her arms around me.

"Gemma, that's great news! I'm going to call up Father Ryan later on and I'll organise you to meet him. I'm sure he'll allow it. You need to make sure you're really committed to this, though. Are you sure about this?"

I smile up at her face. "I'm sure."

The look on her face before she hugs me tighter is something I'll never forget. I truly feel like I'm a part of this family.