Seasons
Page 23
That sounded like a good plan to Maxie. He didn’t particularly want to go outside, but anywhere was better than this tension-filled room. He stood and followed John through the patio doors.
His son-in-law called to a little boy engaged in some kind of game with a teenage boy and another child. The boy looked when he heard his name and frowned as his daddy told him to come.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Sean, come here. You can go back in a minute.” John walked across the patio, took the little boy from the teenager who had scooped him up, and walked back over to Maxie.
“Sean, this man is Mommy’s daddy. He’s your other papa.”
The little boy looked at Maxie and shook his head emphatically. “No!”
“Remember, Mommy told you about your other papa.”
The little boy looked at Maxie again, then said, “P’ay pease.” He pointed to the other children running around the yard, anxious to get back into the game.
“Hey, little fella, come talk to me.” Maxie reached out to take the child from John, but Sean cowered, hugging his daddy close. Maxie dropped his arms, a strange feeling of disappointment settling in his heart.
“Nice-looking little fellow,” Maxie said to John.
John looked at Maxie with a shrug of his shoulders, turned, and put Sean down. Sean’s plump little legs immediately went into action as he ran back to the other children.
“Yeah. Some say he looks just like his mother. Of course, me and my folks all think he looks like me. I guess he just looks like himself.”
Maxie sat down in one of the lawn chairs under the covered patio. Nice, he thought, looking around the yard. Even without the pool, it was a nice yard.
The patio door opened and a young woman who had to be Randi walked out. She looked so much like Jacetta they could have been sisters. She walked over to him. “Hi, I’m Randi.”
Maxie searched her face in an effort to decipher her feelings, but like her mother, Randi had a closed, distant expression.
Giving her his most charming smile, he took her hand in his and held it. “You don’t know how much I’ve looked forward to this. If I’d had my way, we wouldn’t be meeting for the first time today. I’ve tried but . . . Well, you have to ask your mother about that. She’s the one who . . .”
“Uh, Uh! Stop right there!” Randi said. Snatching her hand out of his and putting her finger in his face, she calmly continued. “Let’s get this understood right now. I don’t want to hear any negative remarks about my mother. You see, when I was fifteen, we drove all over Dallas and made numerous phone calls looking for you. And that was just the last time. Every time I asked my mom about you, she tried to find you. My mom never put you down or said anything negative about you to me. But I’m not stupid. I know how we had to struggle and how hard my mother had to work to take care of us. And I know who wasn’t there to help. So don’t even try that, mister.”
As Maxie stood there with his mouth hanging open, Randi continued her barrage. “My mother has asked that we leave her out of any relationship we establish. I promised her I would. I’m letting you know right now, if you want to get to know me and your grandchildren, I don’t even want to hear her name coming out of your mouth. I don’t need you in my life now, but I’ve been taught to forgive and to love everyone. That’s what I’m trying to do. I hope you comprehend what I’m saying. If you can’t handle it, then you’d better leave right now.”
His daughter’s words rattled him. The self-assured young woman made it clear, he could take a hike off of a short pier as far as she was concerned. And for one of a very few times in his life, Maxie was at a complete loss for an appropriate response. “I wasn’t trying to put your mother down. I was just saying . . .”
“Yes, you were!” both Randi and John stated. Several pairs of eyes were riveted on them by now and the young man playing with Sean came to stand next to Randi, looking at him with an angry expression.
“Want me to throw him out, Randi?”
“Nooo! Patrick, just be cool, I’m okay.”
Patrick threw him a dirty look, then took a few steps away and stood leaning against one of the patio posts, where he continued to toss threatening looks at Maxie.
“Who is that?” Maxie asked.
“My brother,” Randi calmly answered.
Surprise and other questioning expressions ran across Maxie’s face. Brother? George hadn’t mentioned Jacetta having another child! Oh man. This was getting more complicated than he expected. But nobody was throwing him out until he got ready to go, he thought to himself, remembering the beautiful woman inside who was now called Jaci.
“I didn’t know Jaci had any other children.”
“Patrick is my stepbrother.” Randi didn’t know why she stopped short of saying, “to be.” She and Patrick met each other only months ago, but they quickly formed an easy alliance and friendship with one another, jokingly plotting how they could push their parents over the broom.
“Ohhhh . . .” Maxie responded, still with a puzzled look but not saying anything else.
The door opened again and Gilmore stepped out. “Pat! Come here a minute.”
With a look on his face that said he knew he was in trouble, Patrick walked slowly toward his dad and followed the man inside.
“Is that his . . . ?” Maxie began.
“Uh, uh, uh.” Randi held her hand up. “Remember. This is about you and me. Anything else is none of your business.”
J.P.
Pat, what do you think you’re doing out there? I would have left your butt at home if I had known you were going to come over here and jump into something that’s none of your business.”
“But, Pop, that dude was . . .”
“No, no. Now we all talked about this before anybody else got here and decided to let Randi deal with her father. Now if you can’t do any better, you’d better go ahead and leave.”
“Okay, okay!” Patrick answered quickly, not ready to leave. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna let him bad-talk Jaci. And all I was saying was that I would throw his behind out of here.”
“I know that, son.” J.P. was proud of Patrick for wanting to defend Jaci. It showed how deeply he felt about her. “But Pat, let me look out for Jaci, okay? I’m an old man, but I’m up to it.”
“Yeah, okay. But I’ma keep my eye on him. That dude is slick, Pop.”
“Another word and you’re out of here. And I’m keeping my eye on you.”
Jaci
With the help of Jason, her cousin C.J., and Lena, Jaci worked to replenish the quickly disappearing food. As she carried on, she fought tumultuous emotions. Jaci didn’t like the idea of Maxie’s coming to her house to meet her daughter and grandchildren, but she had been outvoted by Randi and Jason. She would rather have had Maxie go to Randi’s house for the meeting, leaving her totally out of it. But both Randi and Jason, after listening to Maxie’s persistent messages on her answering machine, felt that a big part of Maxie’s insistence on this visit was about Jaci, not about meeting his daughter.
Jaci agreed with them that Maxie probably wanted to satisfy his curiosity about her and reluctantly agreed with their plan. Both Randi and Jason were so protective of her that they didn’t want her to go through a scene with Maxie alone. So here they were—in the midst of a face-off with tensions so thick they couldn’t be cut with a sharp knife.
Jaci watched from the kitchen window as Randi spoke to Maxie. Although she couldn’t hear what Randi said, she could tell by the expression on her face that Maxie had said something to upset her. And when Patrick ran over to them, she knew things were not going well. She motioned to Jason to come to the window. He got there in time to see Patrick giving Maxie a dirty look before walking away.
“Let me get that young man in hand,” Jason said before leaving the kitchen to call Patrick inside. It warmed her heart to know that Patrick considered himself a part of her family, so much so that he had run to defend them, conveniently forgetting
that Randi was to handle everything. Oh, man! Maxie must have really said something volatile, she thought.
“This was a mistake,” Jaci remarked to C.J., who was busy taking a large tray of chicken wings out of the oven, and to Lena who was making more iced tea.
“I don’t know why I let them talk me into this fiasco. Even if the man had come and tried to have some sort of face-off with me, I would have been all right. Why do they think I’m such a wimp that I couldn’t have handled him? Heck, I’ve got so much pent-up anger toward that guy, I could probably toss him out of here with one hand. I prayed that I would be able to keep my cool with him. I’d convinced myself that I had forgiven him and put everything behind me. But I tell you, I could hardly speak civilly to him when he walked in the door. I don’t recall ever being that cold to anyone. This lets me know I’ve still got lots of praying to do.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Lena said. “You have a right to those feelings, Jaci. The bottom line is, the man dogged you and abandoned his child. Any way you slice it, it comes down to that. There is no justifiable story he can tell, or action he can take at this point, to dispute that fact.”
“But I’ve still had to accept my own guilt and responsibility in the matter. I have to keep reminding myself of that.”
“Girl, we been over this how many times over the years?” C.J. almost yelled. “I’m totally out of patience with you in this. Yes, you made a mistake. Because you were in love with him! You didn’t set out to use him, and then disappear, like he did. You know what? I agree with Jason and Randi. I’m glad this is happening with all of us here. If he could have gotten you alone, Maxie would have been pushing all your buttons and had you crying in his arms, asking him for forgiveness.”
“Woooo!” Lena said, laughing. “Did you see how he was checking you out when he came in? Even before he realized who you were, his eyes were traveling. Why do you think J.P. jumped up and got between you like he did? He was sending a hands-off message to Maxie. Now that jerk knows he has more than you to deal with, and if he’s smart, he’ll slither on back to where he came from.”
J.P.
Most of the guests had finally left. Randi and John were still outside talking to Maxie and watching Sean and Patrick, who had finally settled down and were now sitting at a table eating. Jaci, C.J., and Lena were busy cleaning up and putting the leftovers away. Jason was half-lying on the sofa, flipping channels on the television. The baby, who had been asleep in Jaci’s bedroom, started crying, and Jaci left the kitchen to go see about her. She came back with the baby in the crook of one arm, retrieved a bottle from the refrigerator, and put it in a pot of water to warm. While the milk was warming up, she walked back over to Jason and handed him the baby. He took the baby and began talking to her. The baby stopped crying and listened with a wide toothless smile.
“Now, look at that. We already know she’s going to love men,” Jaci said, laughing.
She got the warmed bottle and headed toward the hallway leading to her bedroom. “Come on, lover boy, follow me. I’m not about to break up that love affair, but you can continue your conversation after I feed her.” Jason stood carefully, maintaining a tight hold on the tiny baby. Although she had come a long way, she was still too small for him to feel comfortable holding her. When they got to the bedroom, Jaci took the baby from him and placed the bottle into her eager little mouth. Jason stretched out across the bed with his hands behind his head and watched them, making idle conversation about the happenings of the day. He was relating something John’s dad had said when they heard footseps in the hallway. Since the master bedroom was the only room at that end of the hallway, they knew someone was coming to that room. Jaci was laughing, but when the expression on her face changed, Jason looked around to see who had entered the room.
Maxie stood there taking in the scene, an indecipherable look on his face. “Uh, Jaci . . . we need to talk, just you and I, privately. Any idea how long it’s going to be before everyone leaves? I just need to know if I should cancel my flight or not.”
J.P. saw red. He jumped up from the bed so quickly that Jaci almost lost her hold on the baby. “Man, I suggest you get on to the airport and catch your plane. You don’t have anything to discuss privately with Jaci.”
“I’m not talking to you. I’m addressing Jaci. Who are you anyway? This is none of your business.”
“I’m her fiancé—that makes it my business. And whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us. Now, we’ve tried to graciously accommodate your repeated requests to see your daughter and grandchildren. But the first thing out of your mouth was to try to lie on this woman. Well, I’ll settle that once and for all. You don’t have a darn thing to do with Jaci. You got that? Nothing! Your only business here is Randi and her children. If that business is finished, then it’s time for you to leave. There’s no reason for you to call or return to this house ever again. Am I making myself clear?”
Maxie huffed. “I share a child with this woman and any business between us is none of your concern. So like I said, butt out of this.”
“Man, you don’t share no child with this woman. All you did was plant a seed. You haven’t done anything that even remotely resembles sharing. And beyond that, Randi is no longer a child. She’s a grown woman, with a family of her own. We won’t even talk about how you did absolutely nothing to get her to this point. Nothing! You ought to be ashamed to even show your sorry face anywhere near here.”
“Jason, maybe I sh—”
“No, Jaci, you shouldn’t!” Jason interrupted. “Whatever you were about to say is not happening. This guy gon’ come strolling into your bedroom like he has a right and start demanding to talk privately! No way! Man, your talking should have been done twenty-something years ago. That’s when Jaci needed to hear from you. Not now.”
“Well, you’re not her husband yet, and . . .”
Jason’s voice grew softer and more menacing. “For all intents and purposes I am, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get out of here before I throw you out.” Jason made threatening steps toward Maxie.
Maxie held up his hand. “Aw’ight, I’m going—for now. Jaci, I’ll call you later because we are going to talk. As for you,” he pointed a finger toward Jason, “just remember one thing. I had her first.”
Jason moved before the gasp left Jaci’s mouth. Maxie was against the wall with one of Jason’s muscular arms across his throat, Jason’s other fist was busy punching him. Pictures fell to the floor, and it seemed as if Maxie were going to crash through the wall at any time. It looked like Jason was trying to punish Maxie for all the hurt he had heaped on Jaci.
By the time Jaci laid the baby down and ran to pull Jason off him, Maxie was sliding to the floor, groaning.
“You know what?” Jason yelled down to Maxie. “Maybe you did have her first. But you had a young, inexperienced girl that you took advantage of, mistreated, and threw away. I have the best of her. All that she managed to scrape together after you nearly destroyed her. All that she’s worked hard to become—all the wisdom, courage, strength, beauty, and love that makes her who she is now. I have all of that.
“You were foolish enough to throw a good thing away. I’m wise enough and man enough to recognize something precious when I see it. And I ain’t throwing it away. If you having her first made it possible for me to have who she is now, then I guess I ought to be thanking you instead of beating the crap out of you. But I’m not going to let you disrespect or insult her. Now get up on out of here, and go somewhere and grow up, old man.”
Maxie struggled to his feet and stood there for a few minutes to gain his balance, then started back down the hallway.
Randi, John, C.J., and Lena stood at the other end of the hallway watching him. They didn’t say a word as they stood back to let him pass. Jaci’s hands covered her mouth as she watched Maxie move slowly through the door to leave. She turned to Jason, who was leaning against the wall rubbing his hands, and walked over to him.
Jason finally lifted his head and said, “If I had known that was all I had to do to get a reaction like this from you, I would have found him and whipped his tail a long time ago.”
After everyone left, Jaci pulled J.P. down beside her on the couch and snuggled up close to him. “Jason, I have something to say to you. I hope you’re ready to hear it.”
“What is it, sweetheart?” he asked, looking concerned.
“Well, do you think we can start our counseling soon? It’s time for us to get married.”
He gave a whoop. “Oh, honey! Yes! I’ll talk to the pastor in the morning.”
Jaci shook her head unbelievingly. “The way I see it, we’d better hurry up and get married before we have to beat somebody else up.”
“I heard that!” he said. “What in the world has gotten into us?” They both laughed until tears ran down their cheeks, then settled down with a calendar to work out a wedding date.
“You know it could take a year to plan a wedding. That’s if you do it right.”
“We won’t be doing it right then. There’s no way I’m waiting a year. Can we do it around June or July? That’s six months and as far as I’m willing to go sweetheart. Heck, as far as I’m concerned we can go to the courthouse.”
“I want to have a church wedding. And weddings, even small ones, are expensive. We know ours won’t be small since we both come from large families and are part of large churches. I just finished paying for my daughter’s wedding. It’s going to take me more than a few months to get ready for another one.”