"I'm not getting any better," he announced.
As if on reflex, Jade immediately jumped to refute the dire claim. "That's not-"
Henry held up a hand cutting Jade's immediate defense off.
"This isn't the time to sugar coat anything, sweetheart," looking away from her stricken face, he turned to Gideon. "I need to be real honest about the facts, and I need you both to listen and do as I say. You understand me?"
Despite the fatigue in his eyes and the frailty in his once-powerful body, Henry's tone was firm.
"I know, and the doctors know I am not going to last long, and when that day finally comes, I want you both to be prepared. Sandra…" he paused and turned to his face towards the double sliding doors behind Gideon, which overlooked the sprawling green backyard and the towering pine trees that naturally bordered their property.
It was raining outside, and the light pouring into the room was dismal and seemed somehow too fitting for this moment.
With a pained expression and a labored sigh, Henry forced out the words that seemed bitter on his tongue. "Sandra just isn't strong enough to endure…she never has been if I'm being honest with myself. From the moment I met her, she always felt a little fragile. But I liked that about her,” he let loose a deep breath with a shaky smile. “She made me feel strong when I took care of her, but I can see now I may have indulged that side of her too much and ignored signs of something probably much deeper at hand. I have no pride when I say she won't survive very well without me. I fully recognize that now. But hear me, both of you," he gave Gideon a stern look before placing it on Jade and letting it linger. His next words were for her, and Gideon could feel her flinch as her worried eyes took an almost frightened look. "I do not want either of you taking my place for her, do you hear me. I spent my life taking care of her, it was a burden I happily endured, but I refuse to have you both throw away your lives doing the same."
Jade opened her mouth to speak, but Henry shook his head and leaned forward and grabbed her hand. With his face reddening, he let out a deep, ragged cough into his other hand, but his eyes filled with tears as he looked desperately at Jade.
"Jade darling, please, I know how you are. I know you have been doing everything for Sandra and me out of gratefulness."
As if she had been shot, Jade's eyes filled with tears as she jerked in her seat and clasped their father's hand tighter in her own. Jade shook her head, profusely. "No, that's not it I—"
"Then tell me you love me, Jade," Henry commanded desperately, tears rolling down the man's cheeks.
Gideon could feel his insides turning hot and cold as he watched the two people he loved cry. He had never seen Henry cry, he realized, and it hurt more than words could ever express to watch it happen.
"I love you more than anything," Jade whispered as tears streamed down her plump freckled cheeks.
"Then listen to me. I don't want you taking care of Sandra for the rest of your life. Sandra is a grown woman and though sometimes she seems like she is innocent and childlike, trust me when I tell you there is a part of her that is fully aware of her actions. Promise me," he demanded in a low whispering voice.
Swallowing, Jade wiped her face with the back of her hand while her other hand held his hand tighter. After a few seconds, she nodded. "I promise."
Relief washed over Henry, and Gideon could see the last bit of energy he had practically evaporate into the air as he sat heavily back against the headboard.
"Now," he said in a deep breath. "If I know my son, Ron, and I know I do," Henry said with a tired grimace as he looked back to Gideon. "He will take the opportunity of my death to weasel back into his mother's life. Sandra is weak to him, has always been. That boy…is no good," he said, shaking his head, and Gideon could hear the angry sorrow there. "I hate to say it, but I don't have time to lie to myself or the both of you. Ron will come back, do you hear me? He will come back and try to take over, and while I can't stop it, I can make sure the both of you are taken care of."
The worried call from down the hall sliced through the atmosphere of the room. Calling for Jade, Sandra's voice echoed again down the hall and beneath the door.
"Go," Henry smiled wanly. "The rest is just legal details. Gideon will share them with you later."
Nodding, Jade opened the door and paused at the sound of her name. She looked back at Henry, who spoke once more, his voice encouraging. "It will be all right, sweetheart. As long as you and Gideon stick together, you two will be fine. It will be different, but you have each other, and that is what counts."
*~
Sitting in the limo, Jade stared out as they moved past the tall pine trees lining the road. Henry was gone, and yet she still couldn't seem to believe it. All the signs around her pointed to the irrefutable fact, but her mind and body were numb to it all. Her mother's crying in the seat next to her, the pressure of Gideon's worried stare on her face, the long funeral procession that currently followed their car or the hour-long sermon and testimonials they just listened to about a man that meant the world to her. A man that had fought hard for four more months before finally succumbing to the cancer. A man who she would never see again.
In one afternoon, the Lattimore house had received more guests than it had ever had since she lived there. Nearly every citizen of Stardust Cove came by to pay their respects, some dropping off food, others sharing stories of Henry that made people laugh, and stories that made people cry. Sandra sat in the center of the parade of people coming and going, sitting in her usual spot at the end of the couch right next to her husband's worn empty chair.
Standing in the kitchen, Jade was reaching for a plastic cup when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"I will never understand why people come to someone's house after a funeral only to eat the food that was supposed to be for the family."
Turning with the cup still in her hand, Jade looked up and smiled at Gavin Rosebank. Ebony's stepbrother stood behind her, looking every bit as if he had just stepped off a magazine shoot for the ultimate rocker bad-boy. With his blond hair shaved close to the sides and kept long at the top and combed back, Gavin wore black jeans, a black t-shirt and topped it all off with a black pin-striped blazer in an obvious effort of decorum for the service. Jade could just imagine what Gavin's severe, perfectly polished dad would say if he saw his son now. Thankfully, for Gavin's sake, the man was out of town as per usual, leaving his son and step-daughter to practically raise themselves.
"I'm just making a plate for Mr. Rucker," Jade said, pointing to the fully loaded plate sitting on the counter.
Taking the red plastic cup from her hand, Gavin slid past her and scooped the ice from the cooler Gideon had placed at the end of the counter earlier.
"Yeah, and why that lazy old bastard couldn’t come in here and make it his damn self is a mystery," Gavin mumbled as he filled the cup of ice with warm soda. "I'll take it to him."
Grabbing Mr. Rucker's cup and the plate in each hand, Gavin paused and looked at her, his face growing serious. "If I were to hug you right now, would that shatter the last little defenses you have holding you together?"
Perceptive as always, Gavin's arctic blue eyes always had a way of cutting right through her until he was staring at the very part of her she always tried to hide. Even when they were little, and she had first met the gruff boy, he had openly ignored the mutism she suffered from, fully demanding she engage with him and his sister as they played. Years later and older now, Gavin was still as perceptive and demanding.
Nodding in answer to his question, she gently took the plate and cup from his hand and turned away from him. "I'm afraid to start crying," she admitted as she paused at the kitchen's entryway, not looking at him. "I'm not sure I will be able to stop once I start."
Not turning around to see his reaction, she walked out of the kitchen to go find Mr. Rucker.
Saying goodbye to the last guest, Gideon let out a fatigued sigh he had been holding in for the last three hours. Turning back to
the kitchen where he could hear Gavin and Ebony arguing heatedly as they cleaned and helped put away dishes, Gideon stopped when he heard the master bedroom door open and then close. Walking slowly down the shadowed hallway, Jade's expression was sad and far off.
"How is she?" he asked, taking a step towards her.
Wearing a black pencil skirt and a scoop neck black blouse, she reminded him of a conservatively dressed librarian. Stealing a glance to her black wedg heels, he secretly amended the thought—a sexy librarian.
Snapping out of her reverie, Jade looked at him and gave him a sad smile. "I think when she climbed into the empty bed, it just now really hit her that he is gone."
Like a flower bowing to the pressure of the rain, Gideon could see the same reality take its toll on her. The steady energy she had all day as they thanked guests and shared memories of their sorely missed father dissipated before him, causing her shoulders to droop and the familiar glimmer of tears to shine in her eyes. Gideon was stepping forward when a lanky blur stepped in front of him. Blinking, Gideon watched dumbfounded as Taylor Beans opened his arms, allowing Jade to step within his embrace. With a silent request, he guided her to the couch and sat down with her as Jade turned into his narrow chest and cried.
What in the fuck just happened?
Walking past him as well, Ebony stepped around the sofa and sat on the other side of Jade, and together all three of them held onto each other in silent comfort.
"Damn, in your very own house too," Gavin's voice whispered over his shoulder.
Turning, Gideon fixed the younger boy with a deadly stare.
Gavin grinned. "Hey, don't get mad at me," he said, holding up his hands. "I told you years ago, I thought Beans was gaming us. I see right through that gentle, nerdy guy routine."
Smirking, Gideon walked over to the dining room table and began organizing the mountain of baked goods some of the people brought.
Leaning against the table and crossing his arms, Gavin watched as Gideon consolidated three sets of cinnamon rolls into one dish and stacked two cake containers on top of another in a clear attempt to make some free space on the table.
"So, what's the plan now?" Gavin asked, his voice lowered so that the other three wouldn’t overhear him.
Not looking up from his task, Gideon grabbed the two large bags of pre-made dinner rolls on the other side of the table. "Simple," he said, thinking of the countless afternoons he and Henry planned out every possible detail of his imminent passing. "Plan for the worst and hope for the best."
After an hour, Beans, Ebony, and Gavin gave Gideon a quiet goodbye at the door, all of them promising to come over tomorrow to check on them. Finally, alone, Gideon grabbed the knot of his black tie and pulled it loose. Draping it on the back of Henry's empty chair, Gideon began undoing the buttons to his gray vest as he stared at the sleeping figure on the couch. Having cried herself to sleep, Jade leaned against the arm of the couch, breathing lightly. Quietly, Gideon removed his dress shoes and socks until he was left only in his black slacks and white button-down shirt.
Turning the lights off and checking the locks around the house, he eventually made his way back to the couch, this time standing in front of it. Staring down at his objective, Gideon didn't bother trying to hold back the urge to touch her. For nearly five days, it had felt as if she had been lost to him. Henry's death had seemingly thrown her back into the fortress of her silence, and with each day, he could feel her turning the keys on the impregnable door that she hid behind. Gideon hated it. He hated every minute of her silence. He wanted to grab her, to rage and yell at her not to shut him out. Didn't she know he couldn't do this alone? Didn't she understand that everything he was now was because of her? She couldn't just leave him for her silent abyss, they needed to stay together.
Crouching down onto his haunches, Gideon reached out and let his fingertips brush away the soft brown lock of hair from her face. Tear-streaked and a little swollen around the eyes, even as she slept, he could see the muscles bunch between her delicately arched eyebrows in worry. It killed him to see it. He had sworn to himself years ago when she came back for him that he would never see that expression on her face again.
~
For the second day in a row, he had stood by the front window of their foster home. Twice now, Mrs. Cade told him to come away from the window, but twice he ignored her. Gideon would continue ignoring her, he thought, just like he ignored the snide remarks of the other kids telling him his "girlfriend" wasn't coming back. He ignored them all. They didn't know what they were talking about. Jade wouldn't just leave him without saying goodbye. For months they had stuck together like glue, as Mrs. Cade said, never leaving each other's side for long. They played together, ate meals together, and went to school together, so she wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye. But with each passing hour, as he stood in front of the bay window by the front door and looked out, his hope faded a bit further. Maybe she wasn't allowed to come back? Mrs. Cade said she had been called back for a third interview with the people that wanted to adopt her. Maybe she wasn't allowed to come back. Maybe, she was even adopted. Though she didn't talk much, Jade had nodded when he asked her after her first interview if the people were nice. From everything Gideon could think to ask, the Lattimores seemed like a nice family that really liked Jade. Whenever he asked her if she liked them in return, she would nod, but each time he followed the question with whether she would want to live with them or not, she always shook her head. Gideon was ashamed to say it made him feel good to hear that. Whenever he thought of Jade being adopted, his heart felt like it was being torn in two. He didn't want her to leave, but at the same time, he knew she couldn't stay here forever.
On the third day, when she still hadn't come back, Gideon had woken up with puffy, red eyes and the sniggering laughs of his bunkmates. They pointed and laughed, telling the other kids Gideon had cried in his bed all night. He wanted to turn around and hit them, he wanted to bloody their noses and make them cry, but he didn't. He was still on probation from the last fight, and he knew Jade would not like it if he got in trouble. That thought gave him pause. Still dressed in his pajamas on his way to breakfast, Gideon paused in the living room and stood. Light from the bay window streamed onto the old stained carpet and worn sofa. The last little bit of hope within him died as he turned angrily away and headed to the kitchen with all of the rest of the kids.
Taking his seat at the table, Gideon reached for the box of cereal just as Mrs. Cade put down the corded phone on the receiver with a surprised look. Looking at the front door and back to Gideon, she paused as if trying to make sense of something before finally putting together the sentence in her head.
"Umm, Gideon?" she waited until his tired puffy eyes met hers. And for the first time since meeting the stern foster mother, Mrs. Cade's eyes softened just a bit before immediately snapping back to her firm, no-nonsense stare. "Hurry up and finish eating. Once you are done, I want you to go and pack up all of your things, you hear me?"
Confused, he nodded.
An hour later, Gideon stood on the porch with Mrs. Cade with his backpack on as the other kids played in the yard. Mrs. Cade had told him not to play and to stay on the porch with her so he wouldn't get dirty. It didn't matter to him. He didn't want to play anyways. Sitting down on the wooden porch, Gideon picked at the old paint on the banister when a dark green pick-up stopped in front of the house. Even now, as Gideon recalled that fateful day, time seemed slow as he remembered the truck door opening, revealing a tall bearded man. On the other side, a shorter blonde woman with a kind face stepped out and opened the back door to let out a third person. With speed he had never seen her possess, Gideon watched in stunned momentary silence as a familiar figure raced around the truck and stopped on the sidewalk. Hazel eyes scanned the yard until they landed on him, sitting on the porch. With a piercing scream of his name, Jade ran down the paved path towards him with her arms out. Gideon ignored the shocked stares of the other kids. Maybe they we
re just as surprised to see Jade again, or maybe they were shocked to hear the silent girl's voice for the first time, Gideon didn't care. Launching himself off the porch, he met her halfway and clutched her back just as hard when her arms went around him. At that moment and even now, he could not describe the intensity of his emotions. All he knew was that he needed her, and he would never let go of her again.
And thankfully, he didn't have to. Apparently, for two full days, Jade found her voice just enough to beg and somehow convince the Lattimores to adopt Gideon too. With open arms and warm smiles, the Lattimores had taken both him and Jade into their home, giving them a life Gideon could have never dreamed of.
~
Slipping his arm under her legs and the other behind her back, Gideon lifted Jade from the couch and into his arms. Turning towards her room, he could feel her stir in his grip. Looking down, his heart tightened at the feel of her face nuzzling into his shoulder and her arms wrapping around his neck.
A Love So Wrong: A Forbidden Romance Page 7