“No, I read about it the same time as you probably did, Jacob. And, wait a minute. You’re coming in here hurling accusations. Why on earth would I be happy that your wife left you, Son?” she asked, but before I could answer she said, “Poor girl never knew what she had in the first place. If Justine hadn’t gone crazy and killed that man, she would've been the perfect wife for you, whether she played games or not.”
“You’re wrong for defending Justine’s bullshit, Mom. Do you even hear what you are saying? Justine never was the woman for me. Destiny is. I didn’t know love until I met her. It’s just a shame that you would want me to be with a murderer, just because you and your friend arranged for us to be together when we were kids, instead of Destiny.”
“I never said that.”
“But you did say it.”
“Son, I just wanted what was best for you.”
“Bullshit, and you know it! Rick would still be alive if you had not played with Justine’s marriage.” Mom’s eyes bucked wide and her jaws tightened with her lips in a straight line across her face.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I went by and had a talk with his wife and she told me all about what you did to interfere in Justine and Rick’s engagement, including paying her money to quit the guy she was with and to try to get Rick back. You knew that since she and Rick already had children he would be willing to reconcile. He didn’t want to leave Justine, but you and Martha just kept interfering until he was persuaded to go back to his family and leave Justine at the altar. Do you know that man would probably still be alive, and Justine wouldn’t be facing hard time, if you had not meddled in their relationship? Instead, Justine would probably be happily married.”
“Watch how you are talking to me, Jacob. I’m still your mother.”
“Only a sorry excuse of a mother would participate in a scheme to tear two people apart who love each other. Then, you dishonor my wife while propping up the woman that you drove looney by your interference. Now, Justine’s life is ruined and Rick’s is gone. That hurts me deep, but what hurts even more is that the mother of my child, and your grandchild, is distraught because you kept allegiance to Justine, after she attacked her.”
“Destiny is pregnant, too?” Mom asked in classic fashion. She was more concerned with who would be the heir of Turner than all her dirty shenanigans that had ruined so many lives.
“Yes, she is pregnant with the only rightful heir of Turner Enterprises. If Justine tries to drag me into a paternity battle, I will have no recourse than to expose her for the sperm stealer that she is.”
“If her child is yours, then he or she will be an heir, as well. We will take care of her baby and love it, because we take care of ours, plain and simple.”
“Yeah, like you have taken care of me, Mom? No thanks.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?” she asked incredulously.
“You spend too much time caught up with what other people think, you always have, and you never took the time to see what we thought about you or you about us. You just care about appearances. But that appearance you imagined for our family is over. Dad’s gone, and soon I’ll be gone too,” I said, certain she wasn’t going to change her ways, and I wasn’t about to change my world view either. Which meant there was no way for us to go but in separate directions.
I had to look out for what was important to me and stop trying to feed plants that were dead at the root. Now, that’s a hard pill to swallow about my flesh and blood, my mother, the first woman I ever loved. But when you know better, you do better. What I knew was Mom’s love didn’t flow like a fluid river both ways, and I would die of thirst waiting to be nourished by it. I refused to die. My river was flowing in Atlanta. With my seed growing in the woman I loved, there was a waterfall of love that I’d miss out on if I kept holding on to the past.
I didn’t have anything holding me in Miami. With Destiny gone, Atlanta was the only place I wanted to be.
“You know I really loved your father,” Mom cut into my thoughts.
“You had an odd way of showing it, Mom.”
“I may not have shown it the right way. I’m different than other people, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have love in me, Son. Your father was the love of my life. I'll never find anyone else quite like John.”
“Dad is a good man,” I agreed. “But his heart was someplace else, Mom. The last thing a man wants to do is live his life knowing that his heart is in another household. It hurts deep, and it’s something the wrong woman can never repair.”
Mom gasped as hurt filled her hardened features.
“I understand that better than you think I do, Son. I only brought up your father to tell you that I love you, too. I just love in my own way.”
I didn’t care about her differences in loving. She never cared about how badly I’d be hurt by her constant backing of Justine’s mess. She didn’t care enough to respect my heart, which beat inside of Destiny’s chest. Therefore, I was done with it all. It was time for me to move on with my mind and conscious clear of people who I once loved to no end, but who had disregarded and disrespected my love life.
“Jacob.” She continued as she sat on the sofa and folded her arms around her knees. She looked out at sunset through her wall-sized open window. “Maybe I pulled so hard for Justine because I knew how she felt.”
“So, you sympathized with her more than you did your own son?” I asked.
“Your father loved that woman,” she ignored my question and continued. “I always knew about her and the way he felt about her. Sometimes, he would say her name in his sleep in the most endearing way, he would also smile at the dinner table as he looked through me. I knew he was thinking of her. The story about how they fell in love and ended up being forced to break up by his father was no secret to the locals back in the day. I filled in a time and a space for him, like Justine was filling in a time and place for you, until you met the right one. The one that set your soul on fire, like John said about Clara.”
“What you’re telling me is that you felt sorry for Justine, because you felt that she was a younger version of you?”
“Yeah Son. I know it wasn’t right, but that’s how I felt.”
“Well, Justine did something that I may not be able to repair. To be honest, I don’t even know if I can come back from this.”
“So what if you slept with her. She told me the day after it happened about you guys making love in your home,” Mom said waving her hand dismissively while speaking in a tone that minimized Justine’s actions. “The poor girl came over here crying her eyes out, saying that you choked her after you had sex with her and put her out of your house.”
“That’s because she was an intruder.”
“Oh, Son, you can’t help the feelings you still have for Justine. I know they are there. Justine knows they are there. You are the only one denying it while trying to bolster up Destiny who must not have been satisfying your needs. If she were, then there would have been no way for Justine to seduce you.”
I punched my right fist into my left hand and roared to release the steam growing inside of me and about to bubble over. “You don’t know anything about me and you never have. I had no idea I was ‘making out’ with Justine. It was pitch black in my house and she pretended to be Destiny.”
“That’s not the way she described it to me, but—”
“Come on now. Wouldn’t you agree that all of her credibility is shot right now, since she’s facing hard time for being a soulless criminal?” I asked, not entirely sure why I was still trying to reason with her.
“She’s still our Justie, Jacob.”
“No, she isn’t. She turned into a monster, which apparently is what happens when people meddle in places that they shouldn’t. If I lose Destiny for good after all of this is said and done, I’m going to lose it too, Mom.”
“Don’t say that Jacob. The Turners are not losers,” she said, seeming to mull over everything I just t
old her about Justine. Though she gave face like she was keeping it together, I could see the layers beneath her trembling. I had even more facts for her that would strengthen the wedge between our mother-son bond.
“The heir to the Turner Enterprise will be lost. I’m going to be subjected to being a weekend father, when my father and grandparents didn’t do that to me. I will have muddied the Turner waters.”
“Muddied the waters…you can say that again,” Mom murmured underneath her breath.
“You know,” my heart slammed against my chest as I growled at my egg donor and incubator. “I gave you chance after chance to be decent because you are my mother, and it took me too long to believe that I could come from someone so vile. But I should have known from the beginning that all your reconciling and asking for forgiveness was fake. I should have protected Destiny better from you and Justine.”
“Jacob, you’re the one that needed protection from Destiny. She’s the one that came in here broke and trying to steal a small fortune by becoming your wife with no prenup contract, and now she has a baby. Look at the writing on the wall. Can’t you see that she set herself up for a nice win at your expense?”
“I want her to have every penny she wants to take from me. I’m willing to give it to her freely. No one is forcing me to give Destiny anything. I give to her because I want to. To be able to give the woman I love everything her heart desires is what the money is for.”
“You and your father are so much alike,” she sprang to her feet and stood in my face, barking as spittle flew from her mouth. “Always thinking with your heart, your peckers, and what you think means something to you. You should know that what means something is family and the upkeep of our name and enterprises!”
“Being like Dad is a compliment, because right now what means the most to me is to get you out of my life, so Destiny and I can start over for the final time building on solid ground with no distractions.”
Mom gasped. “Distraction? Jacob, I gave you life, and you stand in my face calling me a distraction? I have never done anything but what was right for you.”
It hurt to say something so damning to my mother, but it was the truth, and the truth hurts. “By disrespecting the very woman who gave me a second shot at true love, you have hurt me more than you know. I love that damn woman, Mom, and I love the baby growing inside of her with all that I am as a man. I wanted to believe that you had changed. When I thought about what got me and Destiny to this point, I realized I can’t let you continue to damage my relationship or our child because you are damaged. I wish you a good life mother, but that’s why I came by today, to let you know to your face that I will never be speaking to you again.”
I wanted to add ‘unless she gets her act together and is genuinely ready to treat Destiny like a human being that I cherish with all my heart.’ But I’d watched my mother play games with people’s feelings all my life. She was about status and appearances. None of that was about to change. I wasn’t willing to give her anymore leverage to sprinkle hate over my marriage that I was determined to keep.
“You can’t mean that,” Mom said as I turned the handle on her front door to leave. “You just need some time to cool down and get over your feelings for her. Then, maybe find someone who can make you happy.”
“No, Mom. I know where my happiness can be found. I just hope that you spend some time finding yours.” And if that be with her upscale lifestyle that she fought so hard over the years to uphold, then so be it.
With Justine being locked up, Mom made two toxic people out of my life. I didn’t care who would be next. I had tunnel vision to get my woman back, no matter what it took.
Chapter Nine
Destiny
Just Me and You
I stepped outside to get the morning paper and the misty morning air greeted me. Fury raged inside my heart at the sight of Jacob sitting on my porch stairs. Yet, my heart still skipped a beat. The apologetic look on his face, when he stood to face me, made it hard to hate him. I could kick my own ass for still loving that man.
“Good morning, Destiny,” he said presenting me with a bouquet of pink roses.
“Thanks, but you shouldn’t have brought those here. I don’t want them,” I said and turned to walk back inside. “You shouldn’t even be here.”
“Wait.”
“What do you want, Jacob?”
“To talk.”
“Too late for that.”
“Can I come in?”
“Again, what do you want, Jacob?”
“You,” he said, while clasping his hand around my arm and gently hauling me to him. He leaned down to capture my lips, but I moved my face and his kiss landed on my cheek.
I reared my hand back to push him away from me.
He took hold of my wrists and held me steady in front of him. "We need to talk, Destiny."
I yanked myself free of his hold and walked inside, leaving the door open.
He shadowed me in a slow stride.
I sat down at the kitchen table. He sat down across from me. I studied every line and contour of the man who sat in my face and lied to me all the way up to the day we married.
“Talk Jacob! You only have a short time to say what you have to say and get out of here.”
“You don’t have to be so mean spirited when talking to me. That’s not you, and this is definitely not who we are to each other.”
"Okay, so you came in here to be the morality police? No thank you,” I stood from my seat. “I won’t sit here and listen to you tell me how I should respond to your actions. If that’s all you have to say, then you can leave now.”
Anxiety ran across his face. Hurt entered his eyes. "Justine has been a problem for us from day one. I understand why you don’t believe me when I say that I didn’t intentionally have sex with her.”
“Ha, it’s such bullshit,” I murmured.
“See, what I don’t get is how, even if I did have sex with her, you would sit here and judge me to be a low-down, dirty cheater. When you stepped out on me with Montie, I fought for you back. I accepted you and your reasoning for giving away what was rightfully mine. I trusted you with him after you slept with him, too. I have full faith in you, because I know you and your heart. You don’t even know who I am.”
I struggled to process his perspective. Only because he had yet to understand mine. “You started off good. Most of our problems do stem from Justine and her deception. However, what has hurt me more than anything you mentioned is that you knew you had sex with her, whether before or afterwards, and you kept it a secret. And, you still would be keeping that secret had Montie not blurted it out, or Justine revealed her baby in the newspaper,” I yelled.
“Point taken. You are right. I didn’t want to see you hurt, but I should have told you. I don’t think you understand that I would rather walk over hot coals barefooted than to see you hurt.”
“Well, I’m hurt and I don’t think I’ll ever get over this. She’s having your baby,” I said in a weeping tone that made me upset. I didn’t want to fucking cry. I wanted to unleash the pint up wrath I felt onto Jacob like a hurricane. Instead, I broke down right in front of him.
He quickly stood and rounded the table. His strong arms encircled me as he peppered kisses all over my head and face.
"Let me go, Jacob! I don’t want you to touch me. Stop kissing me." I thrashed my way out of his arms.
"Destiny, stop it. You’re going to upset the baby.” He held my hands in his.
My heart broke all over again at the mention of our innocent baby. I took deep breaths and attempted to calm down. “My baby will be fine. You just make plans to take care of Justine’s.”
Jacob crooked his head to the side and glared at me as if the thought of her child being his responsibility had never crossed his mind.
“You are my only concern,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"It's over between us, Jacob," I said.
"No. It’s not over between us. We hav
e years to spend together, memories to make, and love to share.” His eyes bored holes into me. “What we have is real. I don’t know about you but I can’t stop being real, Destiny."
I took a long look at him. Too many lies had been told, and my heart was starting to wonder if trying to sort out truth from fiction was worth it.
"I want you to leave my house. We can talk another time.”
"No. There’s an emergency in the Utah that I’m flying out to handle tomorrow. However, I’m not leaving here while you’re this upset.” His head dipped and we were eye to eye. “So, if you want to get rid of me, and I know you do, you’d better get that painful look off your face or talk to me, preferably both.”
“You’re not in control anymore. You’re in my house and I talk to you on my terms!” I said.
His hazel orbs glazed over with aggravation. His lips covered mine. His tongue slid into my mouth and caressed me before I could even think to gripe.
I closed my eyes and melted into his embrace. Unwanted feelings of love and security that exuded from my husband rushed over me as he ran his hands over my back.
Damn, I may be cursed with loving this man forever. This is not fair.
"Make love to me," he muttered against our deep and passionate kiss.
"No,” I whispered back.
He urgently caught my denial between his lips.
"I don’t want to fight. Make love to me, baby. I need you.”
Too weak for a verbal response, I shook my head, which he steadied in between his strong hands. His kiss lulled me deeper into the fiery abyss of our love where nothing mattered but becoming one with Jacob.
“Stop it, Jacob! No.” I found my strength and snapped back away from him. I held my hand up and pushed him away as hard as I could. “I don’t want to make love to you,” I said, while every indicator that I craved my husband was visibly evident by my pouty lips, hardened nipples, and swollen, wet nether region.
Loving Jacob Page 6