by Emily Minton
I let go of Bethany and grab Becca’s arms to give her a shake. “What did you do?”
“I told Brittany that Julie’s ex-husband was harassing her at work. She asked me all kinds of questions about him. I didn’t know much, just that he was a doctor and where he was from, but she just kept asking. I never thought she would contact him. I’m sorry, so sorry,” Becca says between sobs.
“Dean said that you gave Brittany Julie’s number the first time.” Bethany’s face is fierce.
“I did. It was the first day she came to work. Brittany asked if I had Julie’s cell number. She said she wanted to call her and tell her about sleeping with Jase. I was so mad that she was working with me that I did it without even thinking, but I only gave it to her the once. She kept asking for it each time Julie changed it, but I said no.”
I’m mad as hell that Becca played a part in this shit, but I don’t doubt for one minute that she didn’t have a clue this fucked up shit would happen. I’m going to make sure Brittany’s life is shit from this moment on. I’m not sure how, but she will pay for what she’s done.
Our conversation slowly dies down, and I make my way to a chair. I sit down and pull out my wallet. I take out a picture of Julie and Jenny on Christmas morning. They both look so happy, so full of life. I sent Jenny home with Shane. Neither one of them wanted to go, but I didn’t want Jenny to be here until we found out if Julie was going to be okay. But hell, I wish she were here so I could hold her. I’m just putting the picture away when I see a doctor walk in. “Is anyone here for Julie Walker?”
Julie
I wake up to the sound of monitors beeping. My whole body aches, especially my stomach. Dean must have kicked me a few times. I look around and see Bethany sitting at the end of my bed. She has her eyes closed, but I don’t think she’s sleeping. The side of her face is black, her mouth is swollen, and she has a handful of stitches above her right eye. Dean must have got her too this time.
“Bethany,” I say as loud as I can.
Her eyes pop open, and she jumps up from her chair. She makes her way to me and grabs my hand. “How are you feeling, hun?”
She always asks the same thing when Dean beats me. Sometimes I want to scream, how do I look like I feel? But I know she’s just trying to be nice. I realize she’s struggling too, so I give her my usual answer. “I’m okay. How long this time?”
She blinks and gives me an odd look. “You’ve only been out a few hours or so.” She looks over to the clock on the wall. “Its five now. We got here a little after eleven this morning. You’ve been out about six hours. You were unconscious when they got you here. You had lost so much blood they thought they might lose you. The baby was lodged in the birth canal, so they ended up doing a C-section. Everything turned out fine. You have a healthy baby boy,” she finishes with a big smile.
That’s when it all comes back; divorcing Dean, returning to Cromwell, getting pregnant, Dean coming for us. I break into sobs. Bethany leans down and holds me. “You’re fine now. Your son is beautiful. Jenny is safe. Everything is perfect.”
“What happened to Dean?” I ask.
She squeezes my hand. “He was arrested.”
I can tell by the way she’s speaking that there’s more. “What else?”
She shakes her head but refuses to tell me.
“Did they let him out again?” He was always out within a few hours of being arrested for beating me. Why should this time be any different?
She looks across the room, avoiding my eyes. “After getting to the police station, they put him in a holding room by himself.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, urging her to continue.
“When they went to check on him a few hours later, they found him hanging from the top bunk with a sheet around his neck.” She moves her eyes to me. “He hung himself.”
Knowing that he is finally gone, that I am finally free, doesn’t make me happy. It does make me feel relieved. For some reason, that makes me break into sobs.
“Jase,” I say between tears. “I need Jase.”
“Right here, baby.” I look up, and Jase is walking through the door. He’s smiling a beautiful smile while holding Jenny’s hand. The rest of the family is following behind them, but I only have eyes for Jase and Jenny.
Bethany steps away, and Jase takes her spot. Jenny starts to climb onto my bed, but Jase grabs her around the waist and pulls her down. “Got to be careful, Sweet Pea. Momma’s sore. We can’t be crawling on her,” he explains.
Jenny nods and looks up to me. “I got to see my baby brother. He’s all red and wrinkly. He’s kinda ugly.” She whispers the last part.
I start to laugh, but it hurts too much, so I settle for a smile. My baby; I feel my heart constrict at the thought of my son.
“You weren’t the prettiest thing either, right after you were born,” Kristen says from the end of my bed. “You had a huge cone head. It was so funny looking that your mom kept you in a hat until you were two months old.”
“Nuh uh! Momma says I was a pretty baby.” Jenny puts her hands on her hips and gives Kristen a bite me look.
“Pretty ugly,” Shane says with a smile.
Jenny retaliates by sticking her tongue out. I smile, but all I can think about is our son. Everyone starts to laugh, but they quiet down when the door opens. A nurse sticks her head in and asks if I’m ready to see my baby. I nod an ecstatic yes, and she shoos everyone but Jase from the room. He grabs my hand, and we both stare at the door until the nurse walks back in rolling a bassinet toward my bed.
I watch Jase as he takes our son from the bassinet and brings him over to me. He places our son gently in my arms. I look down at his perfect face and tears fill my eyes. “He’s perfect.”
Jase smiles at me. “He sure the hell is. So, what are we naming him?”
We’ve had this conversation a million times, but he’s avoided giving me an answer until today. “I told you that I named Jenny without you, so I think you should pick his name, but I do want his middle name to be Andrew after you and Pop.”
He nods with a smile on his face. “That sounds good. I think we should stick with ‘J’ first names,” he says smirking. “Jamison, Jordan, or Justin?”
“Don’t leave that up to me. They all sound great.”
He looks down at our son. “Hello, Jamison Andrew Gibson.”
Epilogue
Jase
It’s been two months since Jamie was born, and things are just now starting to settle down. The doctors said that it was a miracle that he was so healthy. He was almost a month early, but he weighed over six pounds, and his lungs worked just like they should.
Brittany was arrested about a week ago. She was charged with conspiracy to kidnapping. Becca came over to the house to tell Julie and me all about it. She said Brittany did it all because she wanted to be with me. Brittany even went as far as to say Julie destroyed her life. She claimed she was pregnant with my child when Julie came back to town. She said the stress of seeing us back together caused her to have a miscarriage.
I called her story bullshit. She may have been pregnant, but it wasn’t mine. I hadn’t been with the bitch in months. If it had been mine, she would have been as big as a house by the time Julie got home. Plus, I always wore a condom. Julie was, and still is, the only woman that I have ever been bareback with.
Becca knew all this because Brittany had the nerve to come into Mr. Friedman’s law office to ask him to represent her. Mr. Friedman told her there was no way that he would be representing her. Not only was it a conflict of interest with Julie working there, but also, he didn’t want anything to do with a woman that hurt one of his employees and used the other. So Brittany was going to have to find someone out of town.
Shaking off my wayward thoughts, I look in the mirror and try to fix my tie. I haven’t worn one of these things since Mom died. I hope to never have to wear one again. I pull on it a little, and the damn thing looks more like a big knot. I’m just about to tear the thing off
when Pop, Shane, and Matty walk into the room.
Pop shakes his head and laughs. “Let me get that for you, son.” As soon as he’s done, he pats my shoulder. “There you go.”
“Thanks, Pop. I’ve been working on the fucking thing for almost an hour,” I say with a little laugh. I look over to Matty and Shane. “Remember when Mom made us practice with a tie?”
“Yeah, she made us work on it every day,” Shane says with a laugh.
“She said we’d want to impress a woman one day,” Matty adds, then looks right at me. “Guess she was right.”
I nod my head and start to think about Mom. God, I wish she were here today.
“She wanted you to have this,” Pop says, holding out a small blue box.
“What?” Did Julie send me something?
“Chelle packed this up for you right after you were born. She said she was going to give it to you the day you got married.”
I guess Mom is here in a way. Slowly, I open the box. Inside, there’s a flattened penny with Nashville stamped on it. I pull it out and shake my head at Pop.
“When we got married, we didn’t have enough money to have a real honeymoon, so we went to Nashville instead. We spent the night at some cheap hotel. Best night of my whole damn life,” Pop says with a sad chuckle. “There was one of those penny machines in the office. Your mom wanted one as a keepsake. She carried that thing with her every day until you were born. Then, she taped it in your baby book. She said you were created not long after she pressed that penny, so it was yours. She wanted to give it to you on your wedding day. Chelle hoped maybe it would bring you all the love that it did us.”
I think back to growing up, watching Mom and Pop together. Yes, Pop screwed up. He screwed up so fucking bad that Mom is now gone forever, but they did love each other. I look up at Pop and nod my head. I place the penny in my pocket, where it will stay until Jenny or Jamie gets married. “Come on. It’s time for me to get hitched.”
Julie
Kristen has just finished my hair when Uncle Mack walks in. He smiles at me. “You look so beautiful today, my little jewel.” The old nickname brings tears to my eyes.
“Oh no! No tears. We just finished your makeup,” Bethany says, rushing across the room with a handful of tissues.
We still see each other nearly every day, but she moved into Jase’s old apartment nearly a month ago. Jase threw the biggest fit you can imagine when she mentioned moving out. In his mind, she was part of our family and should live in our house until she was old and gray. She begged and pleaded, then finally made him some oatmeal raisin cookies, her version of my bacon wrapped meatloaf, before he finally agreed to let her go. Even then, he throws seven kinds of hell if she misses more than one night at our dinner table.
She dabs my eyes and applies another coat of mascara before dabbing some concealer under my eyes. After she gets done touching up my makeup, she, Kristen, and Aunt Angie leave the room.
Uncle Mack hooks his arm through mine. “I know you wanted your brother to be here to give you away today, but you’ll have to settle for an old man.”
A voice cuts through the room. “Uncle Mack, you know a bride always gets what she wants on her wedding day.”
I jerk my head around and see my brother Brandon standing by the door. Oh my God! He’s home! I run over to him and give him a tight hug. “Brandon,” I whisper, tears running down my face.
“Hey, little bit. You look absolutely beautiful,” he says gruffly, hugging me tightly back.
“I’m so happy you made it.”
He smiles down to me. “I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world.”
“I thought you had two more weeks before you were released from service.”
He shrugs. “My CO heard what all has happened around here, and he figured you needed an Army man to protect you.”
Kristen walks back into the room before I can reply. “I knew you were going to need a touch up as soon as I saw Bran walking in here.”
We’re just finishing up my makeup again when I hear the music start. Kristen rushes out of the room to take her spot in the line. Brandon takes my hand and leads me to the rectory doors. When the wedding march starts, he looks down at me. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
I smile up to him. Am I ready? “I have never been more sure of, or more ready, for anything in my life.”
The wedding is just what I always dreamed of. Jenny is our flower girl, and she spends most of the ceremony picking up the petals that she’d already tossed and tossing them down again. Jamie’s our ring bearer. Our rings are on a ribbon tied around his little ankle. When the preacher asks for the rings, Matty unties the ribbon and gives them to Jase and me. Everything is perfect.
As soon as the ceremony is over, we all head over to Pop’s garage. The garage no longer holds bad memories for me. I refuse to let it. Not only have I forgiven Jase, but Jamie was conceived here. I look around, and I can’t help but smile. Tonight is all about celebrating family. Everyone is here eating, drinking, and dancing. Just having a good time.
Believe it or not, Becca is even here. We aren’t as close as we used to be, but I do consider her my friend again. She helped save mine and Jamie’s life. How could I not forgive her? We may never have the relationship we once had, but I will always be glad to have her in my life.
I look at the people celebrating with us and say a quick prayer of thanks. Not only have I just married the man I’ve always loved, but my brother is home. It may not be the way most women dream of celebrating their wedding day, but it’s perfect for me.
“Are you having a good time, baby?”
I shake my head. “Nope, I’m having a wonderful time.”
As the words of ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss reach my ears, I grab Jase’s hand and pull him onto the dance floor. I think about how much our lives are like this song as he sways me back and forth; Jase’s drinking, both of us being sad and lonely, a love that never fades. I look up at him and smile. “This is our song,” I say to him.
He pulls me closer. “It is?”
“Yep, it’s all about us, but we changed it.”
He tilts his head to the side, smiling a sexy smile. “How’d we do that?”
“We gave it a happy ending.”
Jenny
Me and Jamie are in Poppa’s office. Jamie is in his playpen blowing spit bubbles. He does that all the time. I think it’s kind of gross, but Momma thinks it’s cute. He’s supposed to be asleep, and I’m not supposed to be in here bothering him, but I really needed to talk to him, so I snuck in here anyway.
I lean over the top of his playpen so he can see me. “I’m your big sister. Isn’t that so cool? Now, I can talk to you. I won’t have to bug Aunt Bethy anymore ‘cause just between us, I think she wants to kiss Uncle Bran. I think Uncle Bran wants to kiss her too ‘cause they keep looking at each other just like Momma and Daddy do right before they kiss. Gross, right? You better get used to it though ‘cause Momma and Daddy kiss all the time.” I stop and think about last night.
“I think that kissing might be how they got you and me. See, I heard them talking last night. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I wasn’t. Momma and Daddy were going into their room, but Daddy kept kissing her neck. She told him that he better quit it or they would have three kids, so I ain’t never going to let no boy kiss me. Momma got real fat when you were in her tummy, and if I got real fat, I wouldn’t be able to fit in my pretty flower-girl dress.” I twirl around so Jamie can see how pretty it is.
“But, it might not be so bad if Uncle Bran and Aunt Bethy kiss. Maybe they could have a baby too, and then I would have another baby to play with. Maybe it would even be a girl. I like you, but I want a little girl baby to play with, too.” Jamie grabs my finger and pulls it to his mouth. Daddy said all babies do that, but I think it’s because Jamie loves me so much. “I can’t wait till you get bigger. We’re going to have so much fun. I’m going to teach you how to do everything. You�
�re gonna have a great time growing up with me and Momma and Daddy.”
I reach into his diaper bag to find Lulu. I love this doll. I think of all the times she was my only friend, but now I have Jamie. “I love you, Lulu, but I think you need to get a new best friend.” I kiss her on the head and lay her beside my brother. “Jamie, I want you to have Lulu now. I love her, but I love you most.”
I hear the door open, and Momma and Daddy walk in. “I thought I told you not to be in here?” Momma says, but she smiles so I know she’s happy. I love to see Momma so happy. I don’t even like to think about the times she was sad.
Daddy walks over and picks me up and says, “Guess what?”
“What?”
He looks at Momma, grabs her hand, and says, “This crazy woman is my wife.” I look up at my momma, and she’s still smiling.
I smile at her. “The crazy part is right.”
Momma just kisses my head and looks at Daddy. “You better remember, I know where you sleep.” We all laugh.
“Since your momma is my wife, do you know what that makes us?” Daddy asks
I shake my head.
“That makes us an official family,” Daddy says and kisses my cheek. I am so happy that I feel like my tummy is going to bust.
I look at Jamie and say, “I told you it would be great.”
BONUS EPILOGUE
Brandon
After arriving at Pop’s shop for the wedding reception, I grab a beer and take a seat beside Kristen at one of the picnic tables. “I can’t believe she’s doing this shit at a garage. Shouldn’t this be at some fancy ass hotel or something?”
“Pop mentioned throwing her and Jase a party here. You know your sister. She couldn’t tell him no.”
I look over to where Julie and Jase are dancing. She has a huge ass smile on her face; I’ve never seen her look happier. “She’s happy, isn’t she?”
“Oh yeah,” Kristen replies with a smile of her own.
“She deserves to be happy.”