VI
Silence in the darkness creeps into your soul
Envy moves the light of self control
The gate that holds you captive has the door
Burnin' with determination to even up the score
Heart's on fire, strong desire, rages deep within
Heart's on fire, fever's risin', high
The moment of truth draws near
Time will not allow you to stay still, no
Silence breaks the heart and bends the will
Defense is guilty passions out of control
Rules and regulations have no meaning any more
Heart's on fire, strong desire, rages deep within
Heart's on fire, fever's risin', high
The moment of truth is here
OH!
Is here
Oh yeeeeeaaaaaah!
Heart's on fire, strong desire, rages deep within
Fever's risin', energizin', right up to till end
Heart's on fire (heart's on fire)
Strong desire (heart's on fire)
Rages deep within
Ooooh
Fades
Fever's risin' (heart's on fire)
Energizin' (heart's on fire)
Right up till the end
Ooooh
Heart's on fire (heart's on fire) (heart's on fire)
Strong desire (heart's on fire)
Hearts On Fire, John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band
June 12, 2011
Blair and Jo were relaxing at home with David, who was now going on eight, and Gloria, who was soon to be five. It had been a stressful last year, so many things going on in their lives and that of their friends and family.
Just a month earlier, Natalie and Curt had been married in Peekskill at the Chapel on the campus of Eastland, in a small but very moving and emotional ceremony, Blair, Jo, and Tootie all standing as Bridesmaids for their friend. Natalie had asked Charlie Polniaczek to give her away, the man almost overcome with emotion in being asked, Jo proudly watching him walk Natalie down the aisle.
Monica Warner had beaten her cancer, and in August of this year, she would have the beginning of her reconstructive surgeries to replace the breasts that had been taken from her. Blair, Jo, and Bailey, along with Edna and Charlie and Rose had helped her immensely deal with the loss she felt, and in keeping her spirits up as she looked forward to better days.
Boots and Georgia had won the Pulitzer Prize for their photographs that were part of the Denver Post's expose on teenage homelessness. They were now much-sought after freelance photojournalists. Natalie and The Post itself had been runner up for the prize, but she was overjoyed for Boots and Georgia.
Edna and Mark Browning were an established couple, and even though they traveled a lot, they made their home in Peekskill to be with their extended family. Both had been present when Natalie had been married, Edna crying as hard as Evie Green at the ceremony.
Bailey Warner was approaching her final year at Eastland, where it was certain she would graduate with high honors, and already had accepted a full scholarship to The Ohio State University to begin undergraduate work to become a physician and perhaps a surgeon.
Jo had not returned to the motorcycle business, her heart and soul beyond her family given to the cause of marriage equality, and helping teenagers who had run away as she had almost twenty years earlier. She and Blair were now forty-one, both recently celebrating their birthdays. Their love was just as strong, just as passionate, just as remarkable as it had ever been. But they were still short of that final step.
After lunch that afternoon, Blair was napping, as were the kids, Blair coming down with a milder version of the headaches that had bedeviled her since her close call years earlier. Jo wanted to clean the living room, but when her troupe lay down, she quietly read through a book she had been devouring over the last few weeks.
Her cell phone, it's ringtone set on low, broke the silence, Jo looking down to see who it was. This one she had to answer. It was Foundation CEO Margaret Jones. Jo picked up the call.
"Hey Margaret, what can I do for you?"
The voice on the other end was excited. "Jo, you and Blair need to get to Albany and post-haste."
"Slow down, Margaret, what's going on?"
"Apparently Governor Cuomo has been talking with both Republican and Democratic Senators about the Marriage Equality Bill. Plus the three Democrat left who voted no the last time have indicated privately they would vote yes now. We're definitely within striking distance of passing this thing in both chambers."
"Holy shit", Jo said in her best Bronx accent. "Blair just laid down a little while, she got a mild headache, but for this, I have a feeling the headache will disappear."
The CEO laughed a little to loudly, the adrenaline still coursing through her with the news. "Just get up here as quick as you two can. There's a good chance we may have to stay here for over a week. This thing is really fluid right now."
"We'll be there before the evening's out, Margaret, thanks for the heads up."
She hung up the phone, and quietly walked into the bedroom. "Hey Blair, honey?"
"Hmm? I thought I said no visitors Joey", Blair groaned.
"I know baby, but we need to get to Albany. There's a chance that before the end of the month, same-sex marriage might be the law of the state."
"That's nice", Blair said, not really hearing the words at first, making Jo want to laugh, but she held it in. A few moments later...
"W...what did you say?"
"The Governor has been meeting with both sides, and apparently the three Dem Senators that voted no last time are gonna flip their vote, and there's a chance a couple of Republicans might turn as well."
Blair sat up, as Jo had predicted, her headache suddenly gone. "Holy shit", Blair said, echoing Jo on the phone with the CEO a few moments earlier. "She give us a timeline?"
"No, but it sounds like it's gonna go before the Assembly again as early as tomorrow, then the fun begins, I guess."
"Call mom and dad, I know they'll understand and be thrilled." Blair was suddenly acting like a corporate officer, Jo finding it amusing. "Take enough clothing for a week, as I think we'll need it. I'll make hotel arrangements for us at the Hilton next to the Capitol."
"Aye aye, Captain", Jo said with a smirk.
"Oh, turn blue you barbarian", Blair laughed, then went to her lover. "This might be it, Joey. What we've wanted; what we've worked and dreamed about for so many years."
"Easy babe", Jo said, even though she felt the excitement herself. "We've been here before. But let's get this show on the road."
The General Assembly vote was now scheduled for the 15th, but the big news on the 13th was that those three Democrats in the Senate who had voted no before, publicly announced that they were switching their vote.
In May the Conservative Party of New York State, basically an offshoot of the GOP, had publicly declared they would support no candidate in future elections that supported same-sex marriage. It didn't garner much notice at the time, but apparently that bit of news had freed up some wiggle room on the conservative side of the legislature. That May missive, along with the public declaration of the vote-switching began to turn the wheels, with Governor Andrew Cuomo meeting almost daily with both Democratic and Republican Senators.]
The day before the Assembly vote, two Republican State Senators indicated that they would vote in favor of passage. That's when all hell broke loose.
On the 15th, as expected, the General Assembly passed the legislation.
Beginning that day, and for ten days hence, protests from groups on both sides of the issue flocked to Albany, they, too, sensing that something big might be about to happen, one side pushing it ahead, the other side trying to deny it.
Jo, Blair, the top tier at the Warner-Polniaczek Foundation, were in constant session with themselves, or with the ACLU and other groups, as well as meeting with Senators on both sides of the aisle, and several meetings with the Governor himself. It was chaos in Albany for ten straight days, everyone, on both sides, running on nothing but adrenaline and lot's of caffeine.
No one was quite sure where things stood.
June 24, 2011
That morning, the Senate Majority Leader, a Republican, indicated that the legislation would come to a vote on the Senate floor. The day before, he had indicated that his Party members would be free to vote their conscience.
Tension continued to build throughout the day. Members of the State Assembly, who had already voted for the legislation, worked with some of their counterparts in the Senate to draft amendment to the bill that would protect religious-based organizations in opposition to same-sex marriage, in essence saying that, if passed, religious institutions were not bound to marry anyone they didn't want to. This also protected the legislation so that it could not be challenged in court on religious grounds.
The Assembly passed the amendments quickly, sending the revised legislation to the Senate, hoping the amendments would make the bill palatable to those who were sitting on the fence (Hearing this news, Jo had commented to Blair sardonically that fence-sitters often got splinters in their asses because they couldn't decide, making Blair choke with laughter).
Then the Senate began an abridged debate of the bill, only being allowed to state if they would vote yea or nay, and why. Jo had pulled out a pen and pad of paper, following the tally of each member, but no one trusting anything until the actual roll call was taken.
The amendments were vote on first, and passed by a margin of 36-26, which set everyone on pins and needles, Blair and Jo squeezing each others' hand so hard that it would leave marks. That still didn't mean the bill would pass.
Shortly before 11pm, so that it would make the late news cycle, the President of the Senate announced, "On the legislation, the ayes have 33 votes, the nays 29. The legislation has been accepted."
A roar went up in the galleries and on the Democratic side of the Senate, Blair and Jo turning to each other and hugging each other has hard as they ever had, sobs coming from both of them, tears streaming down their faces.
"Blair, we did it! Oh, my God, we did it!"
"Joey! Oh, God Joey, we made it baby!"
They turned to hug others in their organization and in the organizations that had worked with each other to make this day happen. There wasn't a dry eye in the galleries, even Diane Ramsey was crying unabashedly.
Natalie and Curt Tompkins had been watching CNN as the drama unfolded. When the vote tally was announced, they heard the eruption in Albany, a camera even getting a shot of Jo and Blair.
Much to her surprise-but not to her husband-Natalie fell on the floor, crying happily for her two dear friends.
The current play that Tootie was in had just taken their late curtain of the night, when someone came running into the dressing rooms.
"It passed!" Someone was screaming at the top of their lungs. "It passed."
Dorothy Ramsey didn't need to be told what had passed. Like Natalie, she grabbed the closest member of the production into a hug, and openly wept. She sent a quick text to her mother: Give them a hug and kiss for me, mom!
Rose and Charlie Polniaczek had driven up to White Plains with their grandchildren that day, as both Blair and Jo had told them a vote was certain. They wanted to be with Monica when the news broke, which every way the vote went. Instead of cooking dinner, they all ordered pizza. Unfortunately, the grandkids were in bed before the vote was tallied.
When the result was announced, all three adults stood up, and openly wept in joy. The three parents of these two women, who once adamantly opposed their daughter's relationship with the other, now openly wept in happiness because their girls could now fulfill their life's dream and get married. Monica wept for an hour.
In London, England, it was very early morning. Boots St. Clair and Georgia Compton were on assignment for The Times Of London. They had stayed up all night watching CNN International, following the drama in Albany.
Like with the others, when the vote was announced, the two women wept and wept, and sobbed happily. When they saw Blair and Jo hugging and crying, they both broke down even more. They, too, could now move forward, at least in the State of New York, and become married to one another, sealing their deal for life.
The celebration went on late into the night in Albany, Jo even having a sip of wine-the first alcohol she had drank since returning form her lost years. There was dancing, hugging, a lot of singing, and just plain happiness among those who had worked so hard to make this day a reality. It still hadn't sunk in. At 11:55pm, it was announced that the Governor had signed the legislation, another roar going up from the throng at the conference center at the Hilton.
Around 3am, exhausted, but delirious with happiness, Jo and Blair made it to their suite at the hotel. Both got out of the clothes they had literally been wearing for two days, took separate showers. Jo showered first, then got under the covers, the grin still stuck on her face.
Blair came out of the bathroom, the lights still on, Jo looking at her magnificent nude figure, then throwing open the covers revealing her own. Blair smiled and fell into bed with Jo, the two locking immediately in a fiery, passionate, very long kiss, their bodies pressed warmly together.
"I can't believe it, Joey" Blair said, wonder in her voice, a dazed look still in her eyes. "We did it. Well, not just we", she amended, and started to babble. Jo stopped her.
"There's a lot of people in that 'we' babe, I get it. Sit up for me Princess?"
"Uh, okay", Blair said with a giggle, as Jo went to the dresser, still wearing nothing. When she returned, she got down on one knee in front of Blair.
"Maybe this is a little weird, doing what I'm about to with both of us naked, but I don't want to wait." She took her one hand that was behind her back and held a ring in front of Blair. "Blair Warner, I've been in love with you for most of my life, and will never stop loving you. Will you marry me?"
"Oh, my God, Joey, yes, yes, I'll marry you!" Jo got offer her feet, Blair joining her standing up, the brunette pushing the ring on the ring finger of Blair's left hand. Then they kissed as if there would be no tomorrow, and made love til dawn.