by Abby Knox
“You and I need to talk,” he said. Dottie looked up, and Jack saw that she had been crying. “Oh no you don’t. You don’t get to cry about ruining a woman’s wedding day.”
“My daughter. She’s not just some woman,” she choked out.
“She’s not your daughter and you’re not her mother. You may have given birth to her, but you did not give her life. You destroyed her childhood and now you destroyed her future. Some mother.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I am engaged to marry Maggie. I think I do know. You don’t think she’s told me about you?”
“She told you everything that Jane character wanted her to know. You don’t know half of the truth.”
“And why the fuck would I trust you to tell the truth, when you just lied to break up our wedding?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“Come on, you know we’ve never even met before. What is wrong with you? What is your motivation?”
“You don’t remember me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Dottie Jensen. Class of ’93.”
“Nice try, I graduated Mount Pleasant in 1990.”
“Is it so hard to believe I had a college education? Try Iowa State, asshole.”
“Other than the fact that I’m embarrassed to be an alum from the same year as a child abuser? No, I don’t find it hard to believe. It’s a big school.”
“Do you remember the study group?”
Jack stared at her. Then he saw it. In her tear-stained face, behind the face ravaged by drugs and a lifetime of anger, he saw it. She was indeed Maggie’s mother, with her graying red curls. But besides that, there was, somewhere in there, the face of a person he did once study with.
“I have a vague memory of you.”
“That’s a nice thing to say. I guess you didn’t ask my name the night we made love after the bonfire. I’ll forgive that. We both had had a lot to drink.”
This story would have thrown Jack for quite a loop, if he had ever been a drinker at the time. He hadn’t ever gotten drunk until after college, after Wendy picked up and left him. A time he’d rather forget.
It was only recently he’d been hitting the whiskey so hard, thanks to pressure from Easley Farms.
And then the light dawned. Everything became abundantly clear. Jack decided to proceed with a “good cop” strategy. He parked it next to Dottie on the bench and said, “Whatever they paid you to come up with this story, I’ll double it.”
Dottie broke down in tears once more.
“I’m not kidding, Dottie. Spill it.”
“Nobody paid me. This is me paying off my debt.”
“To who?”
“I don’t know who he is, but I pick up my prescription at his lawyer’s office in Des Moines.”
“Prescription?”
“I take Oxy for my sciatica and some other stuff to counteract the drowsiness. This lawyer gets stuff from a farmer with cheap connections in Mexico, because my doctor won’t give it to me anymore. So anyway, I’m behind on my scrip payments. Way behind. They said if I bust up this wedding and drag your name through the mud, then I’m paid in full. They also got a private investigator on you. That’s how they found out I was Maggie’s momma.”
Jack thought back over the last few weeks and realized he should have known about the private investigator all along. Everything made sense now. Chet’s lawyers had been provoking him to build up a case against him all along.
“Well this is a daggum mess you’ve gotten yourself into, my future mother-in-law.”
“Did you just call me mother-in-law?”
“Don’t get your hopes up. I was being ironic. Who’s the lawyer?”
Dottie dug out her wallet from her handbag and pulled out a business card. Sure enough, it was Earl. Attorney for Easley Farms. Chet’s personal lawyer. Who had more interest in ruining Jack’s life than Chet? Which meant Chet was a dealer, or an importer, of illegal prescription pills. Very nice. Jack decided to play it cool.
“Dottie, believe it or not, I’m actually very sorry for everything you’ve been through. Now, it’s going to take a few days for me to come up with whatever money you owe. I have to sell the farm, so that means a little bit of paperwork. But I have a buyer…”
“…They said you were a rich guy. They said you were a big-time farmer who was screwing them over.”
“My dear, it’s the opposite of that. That lawyer works for Easley Farms. Ever hear of them?”
“Yeah, they got that pre-cooked bacon down at the Hy-Vee.”
“Well, Easley has been trying to buy my property since the day I got my hands on the deed. I’m a small goat farmer. About 200 acres, is all.”
“Are you telling me my Maggie got a fancy degree and cut all ties with me just to grow up and marry an old goat farmer?”
“Careful, Dottie. Just promise me one thing. Once I get you the money, use it to get yourself to rehab, counseling, detox. Whatever it is going to take to get you off the pills, OK? If you ever want a relationship with your daughter, this is what you have to do.”
Dottie was quiet for a beat and then said, “You’re going to sell your farm to get Maggie back?”
“She’s a special woman. The only thing I love in this world more than farming is Maggie.”
Dottie sat and thought about it for a moment.
Jack thought for a moment as well. He could sell the farm and the whole lawsuit and criminal charges would go away. There was no point anymore in fighting the good fight against Easley and their big pork operation. He was a big-time drug pusher as well as a commercial farmer. He had more money flowing in than he knew what to do with. At least Dottie would start healing. He and Maggie could start clean, somewhere else. Jack had enough money in savings to put a down payment on a house in town, maybe some other town besides Middleburg. He could get a job as a farmhand again. They could both work. They could save up and buy some land and have a few goats. It would be good for their future children to learn how to care for the land, even if in a small way.
It was not the same dream Jack had envisioned for them this morning, barely an hour ago, but it was enough. It was still a nice future, and he would be damned if Maggie wasn’t a part of it.
Jack waited for Dottie’s answer.
When she gave it, he was satisfied.
And then, he made some phone calls.
Chapter 13
Jackson
Jack pointed his truck in the direction of Iowa City. He did a google search of Lily’s name on his phone and it pulled up her address and directions.
Smartphone or no smartphone, he was going to get to Maggie one way or another. He had the whole story now, and on the seat next to him was an envelope with the test results. Of course he wasn’t her father. That was a given. But they weren’t even close to being related. Thank God Lily had left behind Maggie’s toothbrush; the DNA results were swift and conclusive. Not that he ever doubted it. But whatever it took to convince Lily was the most important, because Lily was now the gatekeeper to Maggie.
In a way, he was glad for that. He was happy Maggie had a fierce sister fighting in her corner. Based on all that Dottie had told him, family was something sorely lacking in Dottie’s life. She herself had been abused, and she had nobody to take out her anger on but her own child. It was a blessing that Maggie had been taken away at a young age, and it had been awful, everything Dottie had done or allowed to be done to young Maggie. But he now was beginning to understand how these things happen. Abuse begets more abuse.
His truck screeched to a halt in front of Lily’s house. He saw Maggie sitting on the front porch of the picturesque Victorian home in this quiet, leafy section of the city. He saw her stand up, but before he could get to her, Lily was on the porch, shuffling Maggie inside. Lily stood guard as Jack approached.
“Do you have it? Let me see it.”
He showed it to her. Lily eyed the document, probably checking for authent
icity. She looked up at Jack and then back down at the paper.
“OK, now what?” Lily said.
“Now I get Maggie back.”
“Not that simple, buster. You have a lot of questions to answer. First of all, did you have a relationship with Dottie? Tell the truth.”
“No. I never met her. We were in the same class at Iowa State, but I barely spoke to her. We were in a study group together, a crazy coincidence that Chet used to help Dottie twist the truth to sully my name. And listen, I got the whole story. Easley and his attorney are behind the whole thing. I gotta tell Maggie, she’ll understand all of it.”
“Not so fast there, cowboy. I heard you’re in some legal hot water and I’m not crazy about my sister getting messed up with another bad egg. What’s up with all of that?”
“The guy who is out to buy my farm, he’s out to make me miserable. He provoked me to fight him and his lawyer. And now he’s pressing charges against me and suing me for personal injury and God knows what else. He’s trying to force me to sell.”
He continued to tell the whole story to Lily, gritting his teeth now and then because the only person who needed to hear all of this was Maggie. He mentally reminded himself that Lily had Maggie’s best interest at heart. But damn, woman.
“…So I made all that go away by agreeing to sell the farm to Chet. Her mother’s debt is paid, Chet wins both ways, big deal. I don’t even care about that. I want Maggie back, if she’ll still have me.”
The voice that came next was Maggie’s, and the sound of it was like a refreshing splash of water to a man lost in the desert. “Of course I will, you big dummy.”
Lily held out the document to Maggie as the screen door slammed shut. Maggie brushed past her. “I don’t need to see anything. I believe you.”
Jack grabbed her and kissed her, lifting her up in the air as he did so.
“That’s my girl.”
“Shut up and kiss me again,” she said.
He did, and he never wanted to stop.
Lily mumbled something about making some phone calls and went back into the house.
“I put the farm up for sale. So Chet is probably going to buy it up. I’m so sorry, Maggie. This is not how I wanted things to start for us. My fists got me into some big trouble and I’m making you pay a heavy price to help me fix it.”
“I don’t care about any of that. Just maybe sell off the goats to some good homes. God knows what Chet will do with them.”
Jack laughed. “Yeah, I don’t wanna know. Hey, let’s go home. I need to get boning.”
“Hey, that’s my word for it.” Maggie kissed him on the neck and he responded by trailing his hands from her waist down to squeeze her ass.
He breathed in the scent of her hair. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. How about we get a motel room and go home in the morning? I want to take your pants off now.”
Jack actually considered it, but he really needed to get her home. He wanted to spend as much time with her on his land as was humanly possible before they had to move away. And he had a romantic night planned especially for Maggie, provided she agreed to come back home.
“That’s tempting, but…I really need to get back to milk the goats tonight. You know. Farm things.” He swallowed back his emotions as he waited for Maggie to gather her things. This woman had gotten him attached to the animals and now he was going to miss them something fierce.
But that was life on the land. You say goodbye to things you raise by hand, whether it’s an animal or an ear of golden sweet corn, and then you start over. Sometimes that starting over takes unexpected twists and turns. Jack did not like twists and turns, though. All he knew anymore was Maggie. He loved her and he liked her. And he knew they could make it work, together.
Chapter 14
Maggie
Jack was driving the speed limit, and this fact was driving Maggie utterly insane. He normally drove like a maniac when he knew he was about to get lucky. But the 90-minute drive had taken a full two hours and Jack had taken a different route. Maggie was getting hornier by the mile, but Jack said he wanted to cruise past the river first. Weird. Something was up.
The sun was just starting to set as they crested the hill on the county road past Brysons’ farm. Maggie’s breath caught at the sight of the purple sky streaked with gold and yellow. It reminded her of the purple dress she’d worn on her would-be wedding day.
She was about to delve into her sadness over that day, over the trauma of having to see Dottie again, over the fact that soon the sun would be setting on land that didn’t belong to her or to her beloved Jackson Clay…until a little strange flicker of light caught her eye.
It wasn’t a firefly; it was staying in one place. As they got closer to the farm, there were more little lights, and they appeared to be lining the road itself.
“What are those, Jack?”
“I don’t have any idea,” he said, but Maggie could see and hear the smirk in his voice.
“What are you up to?”
He didn’t answer.
But there was definitely a row of flickering lights all along the road and up the driveway toward the house. As they got even closer, she saw there were dozens of cars parked in the farm field across the highway from the house, and there were strings of white lights between the house and the barn.
“Jack, it looks like a party is going on. What’s happening?”
“Does it? That’s odd. Everyone knows I don’t much care for parties. I hope they clear out so we can put the animals to bed for the night soon.”
“Jack.”
“What?”
“Will you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Babe, I have even less of a clue than you do about all these woman things.”
“What woman things?”
“I don’t know. I do what I’m told and that’s it.”
“You’re acting super weird.”
“Am I?”
“When you throw the question back at me, it is extremely annoying and also a dead giveaway that you’re hiding something from me. You’re full of beans and you had better spill them, cowboy. Pronto.”
“Oh baby, I like it when you get mad like that.”
She huffed and crossed her arms. She did not like surprises. She would have to make sure he knew that in the future.
They drove up to the first light that had been placed alongside the road, and Maggie could see it was an antique lantern, fitted with an LED light. These little luminaries led all the way up to the house. It finally occurred to her. Mama had sold Jack the farm contingent on letting her use it for her retirement party when she got back from Greece. This must be it.
“Jack, is Mama back in town? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Ugh…I don’t know who to be mad at more. Is Lily coming to the party? Why didn’t we bring her with us?”
But then Jack suddenly stopped the truck, because something was approaching them in the road.
It was Rolo, and he was by himself.
“What in the world?” she said.
“Looks like Rolo got out. Come on and help me.” Jack slid out of the truck and beckoned Maggie to hurry up.
“What do you need help with? Just take him on home and I’ll drive the truck.”
“Will you just come on out here, please?” He slammed the door, evidently losing his temper at her hesitating to play along with any man’s shenanigans. But he wasn’t just any man. This was Jack. And this was their home, for now. Her Jack would have gladly agreed to some hanky-panky in an Iowa City hotel room. There was any number of people he could have called to help milk the goats that night.
“Fine,” she said, huffily exiting the truck. She changed her tone when she got up close to Rolo and petted his dark face. Rolo’s mane had been professionally braided and woven with purple and yellow wildflowers. He had a new, fancy bridle and he’d been meticulously groomed from nose to tail. Jack was digging something out of a white velvet saddlebag.
“
Wow, look at you, boy.” She stroked his nose and he huffed lovingly at her. “You look as proud as a peacock. Who dressed you up like this?”
He looked like he was ready to pull a royal wedding carriage.
Finally, Maggie got a clue.
A lump formed in her throat.
She looked back over at Jack. He was down on one knee, holding a little box.
Maggie burst into tears before Jack spoke.
“Margaret Catherine Jensen, will you marry me?”
She couldn’t speak at all because tears kept getting in the way. All she could do was nod as the tears fell. She covered her mouth to keep her from making any embarrassing sobbing noises.
Up at the house, the light strings and arrays of old glimmering lanterns lit up the path as they rode together on Rolo’s back. The grass had been freshly cut, and there was a small crowd of
people around, sitting on small straw bales, enjoying cocktails out of mason jars, dressed all in their Sunday best. Which, in Middleburg, meant women in pretty knee-length dresses and men in their darkest jeans and best ties. She then saw a tent off to the side, outfitted with picnic tables decorated with mason jars, wildflowers, rocks and tiny fairy lights.
Everyone stood and watched as they rode up. Then Maggie saw Judge Diamond in his robe approaching. “Are you ready to do this now?”
Maggie looked down. “I’m a little underdressed.”
“That’s not going to be a problem.” The voice was one she hadn’t heard in person in over a year. Out from the celebratory crowd appeared the woman responsible for all of this. Jane Blaise, with Lily and three more foster siblings flanking her. Jack got off the horse and lifted Maggie off and set her gently on the ground.
“Mama?”
She about fell to pieces, but Jane had her in a motherly embrace the next second.
Maggie took a step back. “Hold up just a minute. We need to talk about something. When you told me I could come and stay here, why in the hell would you leave out a simple but extremely important detail such as, I don’t know, you selling the farm?”