`` i 'm proud of you , and i love you , '' blay said yet again , that old , familiar voice cutting through all of those years of rejection and judgment , giving him not just a rope of acceptance to hang onto , but a flesh-and-blood hand to lead him out of the darkness of his past ... . and into a future that did n't require lies or excuses , because what he was , and what they were , was both extraordinary - and nothing out of the ordinary .