"Well," she blushed, "I'm in this thing called Accelerated Learning."
"What does that mean?" Jim asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Umm, I think it's supposed to help new kids and kids who've had to miss a lot of school catch up with everybody else."
Ryan fixed her laser-like blue eyes on Jennie and asked, "What is it really, Jen?"
Her blush deepened as she admitted, "It's where they stick the pregnant girls and the kids who've been kicked out of regular classes."
"Why have the others been kicked out of regular classes, dear?" Catherine asked, her concern for the child growing by the moment.
"Um, some of them were kicked out for drugs or fighting. One scary guy got suspended for a whole year for having a gun on campus. And some of them are kinda slow," she said delicately.
"Are these all freshmen?" Catherine cried.
"No, I'm the only freshman. The scary guy is 19. He should have graduated last year and he doesn't want to be there, but he has to show up as part of his probation. He has to wear one of those things on his ankle so they know where he is all the time."
Catherine's eyes had grown wide, but she tried not to let her concern show, knowing that would make Jennie reticent to be honest. "Tell us about what you study. Do you have classes for Math and English?"
"Um…this was my first day, so I'm not really sure…"
Ryan again fixed her with her gaze and said, "What did the other kids tell you that you'll study? I'm certain that they gave you all the dirt."
"Well," she blushed, "they said we don't have to do anything. We don't even get books."
"Jennie," Jamie said, visibly alarmed, "what do you do all day in school if you don't have books or regular classes?"
"The other kids said they just try to keep us quiet." She said this last statement so quietly that it was nearly impossible to hear her. Her head had dropped, and she stared at her plate in shame.
Ryan felt her stomach begin to churn again, and she realized that Jennie's problems were much more complex than she had guessed.
"Were you in regular classes at your previous school?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, but my mom lives in Oakland. When I stay at the house in Berkeley I have to go to school there."
"That doesn't make any sense!" he cried, his frustration getting the better of him. "Why can't you stay at your old school?"
"I don't have any way to get there," she said quietly. "It's in a pretty bad neighborhood and I'm afraid to ride my bike that far. It's inconvenient to get there on the bus, 'cause I'd have to change twice and wait on a really dangerous corner. I can walk to the school in Berkeley."
"Jennie," he asked carefully as he put his spoon down, "did you like your old school?"
"It's okay. But they didn't have any classes in art or music, and that's what I do best in."
He nodded briefly and went back to his dinner without another comment on the topic.
Thankfully the dinner conversation moved on to brighter topics, with Jim showing genuine interest in Rory and his career. They spoke about the wedding and the one phone call the family had received from the newlyweds, telling them that things were fine and they'd see them all on Thursday.
The entire Dutch oven was empty by the time dinner wound down, and Catherine leaned over and speared the last bite of carrot from Jim's plate, giving him an impish grin as she did so.
He regarded her fondly for a moment as he leaned back in his chair. "You know, Catherine, I don't think I've ever seen you clean your plate in the twenty-two years I've known you. Your healthy appetite is quite a surprise."
"I've been working out," she said proudly. "I ride my bike nearly every day, and I use our gym three days a week. It's wonderful to be able to eat real food," she admitted.
"Well, you look marvelous." He smiled at his daughter and said, "Doesn't she look marvelous, Jamie?"
"Indeed she does, Daddy," she agreed, smiling at the faint blush that covered her mother's cheeks.
Jennie had a nine o'clock curfew, so Rory offered to give her a lift on his way home. After all of the goodbyes were said, Jim went into the parlor to make a few business calls while the women cleaned up.
They were nearly finished when Jim came back into the room. "After the fiasco we had the last time I was here, I decided to take care of a little paperwork," he said as he held out an official-looking document to Jamie.
She carefully read the single sheet, then gazed up at him with a delighted smile on her face. "This," she said as she shook the paper, "is so very thoughtful of you, Daddy. Look, honey," she said, extending the sheet to Ryan.
Ryan dried her hands and read the document. "Thank you, Jim," she smiled. At Catherine's raised eyebrow, she explained, "Jim had the title to the Porsche transferred to both of our names." After looking at it carefully, she teased, "You even spelled Siobhan correctly!"
"The keystone of legal work is detail, Ryan. Speaking of legal work, we've got to do something to make sure that Jennie can stay in one place to finish high school. That is just criminal!"
"I agree," Ryan said. "At this rate she'll drop out at sixteen-and that will just consign her to menial work her whole life. What do you think we can do, Jim?"
"I think we have to go to her mother and force her to allow Jennie to remain at the group home until she's out of high school," he said decisively, his normal take-charge attitude in full force.
"Force her?" Ryan repeated weakly as she shot Jamie a look.
"No, not force her," he said rather sharply. "Convince her."
"What tactics were you planning on using, dear?" Catherine asked, her voice wary.
"Just verbal persuasion, Catherine," he scowled, not liking her implication one bit.
Ryan looked at him for a long minute as she gathered her thoughts. "I don't normally agree with strong-arm tactics, but I think Jennie's only chance of survival is to remain out of her mother's house. After what we've learned tonight, we need more of a plan than just keeping her out of the house, though. We need to get her into a decent school," Ryan decided, "and that's not going to be easy."
"We have to do first things first, Ryan," he reminded her. "I'm going to be in town most of tomorrow. I'll have one of my aides call her mother and see if he can make some progress. I'm happy to get involved and go see her if need be," he declared.
Jamie went up to her father, and gave him a hug, saying, "I'm so pleased that you're willing to help, Daddy. That's very generous of you."
"Not at all, dear," he said, patting her back. "She's a lovely young girl who's at a very critical turning point. If we can step in and help her now, it might make the difference in her life. We can't just stand by and do nothing."
"No, we can't," Ryan agreed. "This will go much easier with your involvement, Jim. Thanks for caring."
As the couple cuddled in bed that night, Ryan mused, "You know, that was the most animated I've ever seen your mother around your father. Normally she's pretty flat, but today she was very much like normal."
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Jamie agreed. "I was also pleased that they each only had one glass of wine. I don't remember the last time one bottle lasted an entire evening at my house."
"You know, she doesn't drink much at all when she's around us. Is she consciously trying to cut back?"
"I don't know," Jamie said thoughtfully. "I don't want to interfere or make her think I'm supervising her, so I haven't really ever commented on her drinking. I'm just pleased that I haven't seen her drunk in a couple of months. That's progress!"
"It is," Ryan agreed. "It was quite the shocker to have your father be so passionate about Jennie's problems. That really impressed me, Jamie."
"Yeah, he's acting more like he did when I was younger," she mused. "He used to seem like he really cared about people. I think being in the Senate has been a good thing for him. He seems a little more open-minded."
"I'll take any progress we can get in that area," Ryan grinned, earning a swat to the seat for her impudence.
Jim called Ryan around lunchtime the next day and revealed that his aide had discussed the issue with Mrs. Willis, who had said she needed to pray on the issue before she could discuss it again.
"That sounds like she's going to that minister of hers to see what he says to do," Ryan decided. "She's given her life up to some guy at a church in Oakland. I hope he doesn't make matters worse," she worried.
"I can do a little investigation into his tax-exempt status," Jim mused, but Ryan quickly interrupted.
"Let's just see how it goes before we use the big guns, okay?"
"As usual, I have to be reminded of the moderate path," he conceded. "Thanks, Ryan. I'll let you know if I hear back before I leave. And, Ryan?"
"Yes?"
"I really appreciate the hospitality you showed me last night. I was honored to be with you when you celebrated your mother's birth. I know she meant a lot to you."
"Thank you, Jim," she said, smiling into the phone. "I'm pleased that you recognize that."
"I'm not such a bad guy when you get to know me," he teased.
"Of course you're not," she agreed. "You're Jamie's father-nothing all bad could produce something so good."
The next call came from the plane. Jim hadn't had time to call before he boarded, so the Sky phone was his next best choice. "I know I shouldn't talk about this when people can hear me," he said, his anger obvious, "but I'm so mad I could punch that woman!"
"Uhm…Jim, probably not a good idea to hear a Senator threaten to punch a woman," Ryan reminded him.
He sighed, and let out a deep breath. "Could you travel around with me to kick me in the pants a few times a day, Ryan? I think I could really use an attendant sometimes."
"I take it that you spoke with Mrs. Willis?"
"Yes. What a miserable excuse for a parent! She shouldn't be allowed to have a fish, much less a child!"
"What in the hell happened, Jim?" Ryan asked, hoping that he hadn't made matters worse.
"Well, after my aide spoke to her again, I decided to go over there. I thought that having a Senator visit her could help make up her mind," he admitted.
"Yeah…what happened?"
"That slimy, disgusting minister you speak of was there at the time," he revealed, his voice dripping with disgust. "They were 'praying,' but it sounded like a bunch of hogwash to me. He launched into this diatribe about gay people and how they prey on youth. They think that you've lured Jennie into being gay, Ryan!"
Now Ryan was really worried. Mrs. Willis had always been civil to her, and she was quite sure the woman knew that Ryan had Jennie's best interests at heart. "So where do we stand?" she asked tentatively.
"Well, this idiot thinks that Jennie's too far gone to be saved. He told her mother that having her in the house would be inviting the devil in. Can you believe that!"
"No, but it sounds like that's the outcome we wanted," she decided.
"On one front, it is," he agreed. "But I have a feeling she's going to cut off contact with the child. I know that would break Jennie's heart," he said, his voice quavering with emotion. "How could a parent do that to their little girl, Ryan? How can you stop loving your child?"
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I don't think you really can stop, to be honest. I can only assume that she never loved her."
The silence hung between them for a minute, both of them recalling just a short time earlier when Ryan had asked Jim if he had ever loved Jamie. He finally broke the silence, saying, "Well, for better or worse, she claims that she's willing to allow Jennie to stay in the group home until she's of age. She also doesn't care where she goes to high school-as long as she doesn't have to pay for it."
"What a piece of work," Ryan muttered.
"When I was leaving, that idiot minister hit me up for a contribution!" Jim declared, still irate over the encounter.
"I'm guessing that you didn't give him one," Ryan said.
"No, not hardly. I still would like to have him investigated, but at this point I guess we'd better leave well enough alone."
"This is going to be very, very hard on Jen," Ryan said, already worrying about what she would tell the child.
"I know that, Ryan," he agreed somberly. "It won't be the same, but I know that you and Jamie can provide the kind of support that she could never have received at home."
"True," she admitted, "but nothing can make up for the loss of your mother…no matter what kind of a mother she is."
On Thursday night, Ryan should have been concentrating on warming up for the University of Washington, but her attention was torn between pre-game preparations and repeated glances into the crowd in search of her father and Maeve in the stands. The couple was due home but they hadn't explicitly said they'd be at the game. Rory had brought Caitlin, and they were sitting next to Jamie and Mia, but there was no sign of the honeymooners.
Just before the player introductions, Ryan caught sight of the pair out of the corner of her eye, and she immediately felt her body relax. Both of them were smiling so broadly that they glowed, and she offered them both a hearty wave and a blown kiss. Ryan could hear Caitlin's enthusiastic greeting-a rapid-fire repeat of a hard "g" that she had recently mastered. Her vocabulary had grown, but she was still having trouble getting past the "g", even though they all assumed she would soon have an epiphany and settle on a recognizable word for her grandmother. As Ryan smiled up at them, she assumed that they would urge the baby to refer to Martin as her grandfather, and she had to admit that felt odd. Lots of changes to get used to here, she decided.
Martin sat next to Jamie, giving her a warm hug as the team was introduced. They weren't paying a lot of attention as the announcer began his usual spiel, but they perked up when he called, "Starting at outside hitter, a senior from San Francisco, California, the PAC-10 student athlete for the month of October, Ryan O'Flaaaa-her-ty."
Martin looked at Jamie, and she stared back in open-mouthed shock. As they turned their heads in unison, they locked eyes with the PAC-10 player of the month. She shrugged her shoulders just a tiny bit and gave them an adorable little crooked grin. "She's an enigma," Martin mused.
"Wrapped in a conundrum," Jamie added with a smirk as she blew her secretive lover a kiss.
Catherine arrived very late, traffic not cooperating, but Ryan spotted her as soon as she arrived and gave her a discreet thumbs up sign.
As soon as the last point was scored, Ryan ran up into the stands to kiss her father and Maeve and welcome them home. Jamie informed her partner that the group was coming to the house for a little dessert so the couple could tell them all about their trip.
The dark woman hugged her father and stepmother and ran to get changed, skipping her usual informal autograph session. "Boy, she really missed you two," Jamie smiled to Martin. "For her to rush out of here like this is remarkable!"
Martin winked at Jamie and said, "Don't tell Siobhan, but I don't think we spent a moment missing anyone in the family. Even Caitlin's name wasn't mentioned, and you know she's the focus of most conversations around here!"
The small group sat around the living room, eating ice cream and cake that Jamie had stopped to buy. "So, Da, what did you think of the house?" Ryan asked.
"Oh, my!" he exclaimed. "Can you even call a place like that a house? Shouldn't there be another name for it, like castle or mansion? I've never seen anything like it in my whole life."
"That was one kitchen that Marty and I could share peacefully," Maeve decided. "We made all of our meals together, and we didn't run into each other once!"
"So you didn't go to any of the restaurants Jamie recommended?" Ryan asked. "I didn't think you'd want to cook all week."
"No, we didn't go out for any meals…did we, Marty?"
"No, no, I don't believe we did," he agreed.
"Did you go over to Pebble Beach and walk along the pedestrian paths?" Jamie asked.
Maeve gave Martin a look and said, "No, we didn't get a chance to do that, either, Jamie."
Martin was blushing a little and Rory went to the heart of the issue. "Did you leave the house, Da?"
He gave his youngest son a slightly perturbed look and said, "No, lad, we did not." He added, "It's a very big house, ya know, and we were only there four days. It took a while to explore the entire place."
Jamie shot her partner a look, and they both had to struggle to refrain from laughing, but neither wanted to make the couple uncomfortable, so they behaved themselves. "It is a big house," Jamie agreed. "It could easily take four days to see it all." Turning back to Martin she said, "Did you spend any time in the gym? I know you like to work out."
He pulled on the collar of his shirt and said, "No, no, we didn't get over there, Jamie. Maybe next time."
"How about the pool, Aunt Maeve?" Ryan asked, having a feeling what the answer would be.
"No, we're not much for swimming, dear. We uh…didn't venture very far."
"How was the weather, Da? Or did you not make it to a window?" Ryan asked innocently, ineffectively batting her blue eyes at her father.
He shot her a look and reminded her, "Siobhan, I have a series of embarrassing stories, going back to 1975, that I'm sure everyone would love to hear. Before you go teasing your father, perhaps you'd like to step back and consider that."
"Who wants more cake?" she asked brightly, smiling at her now smirking father and his blushing bride.
"Mmmm…Saturday," Jamie sighed early in the morning, sounding a little like Homer Simpson.
"Yeah, it's nice to be able to lie in bed and not worry about class or golf practice," Ryan agreed.
"Or basketball or volleyball games," the smaller woman added.
There was a brief silence, and then Ryan said, "Well, you're technically correct. I don't have a game today."
"Ry…a…n…" The dark haired woman always knew she was in trouble when her name sounded like it was made up of three syllables.
"Yesssss?"
"What's up? You played volleyball Thursday and Friday evenings, and you don't have your first basketball game until tomorrow."
Journeys - SF10 Page 22