Something’s happened.
“Anxious?” he says as he gives me a kiss and walks inside. “It’s okay. Nothing’s going to be more stressful than what just happened, so I’ve decided to just sit back and see how the story unfolds. I highly recommend you do the same.”
“What happened?” I say. “Because clearly something did.”
“My mom and Dee have separated.” He puts up his hand as I start to ask him why. “I’ll fill you in. It’s a bit tricky.”
Jenson and I sit down on the living room floor with Bernie and get comfortable. Jenson tells me that after he talked to her about me, he told her he met Donald. Cindy then scheduled an emergency session with her pastor and said she felt at peace for the first time in years.
And she knew what she had to do. She went home and immediately talked to Dee. She told him about her affair with Donald and how she had Jenson tested when he was a baby to confirm who his father was. She even told him how she hid the amended birth certificate from him. And Dee was angry. Very angry. And hurt. But he said that he was the one who raised Jenson, not Donald, and that Jenson is still his son, biological or not.
“That’s good, right?” I say.
“But then…” Jenson begins. “They decided to separate.”
“Oh, God.”
Jenson shrugs. “They fight all the time although I never thought it meant they’d divorce. But they both want space. They’ve always seemed kind of distant, I guess. But it’s all I’ve known.”
“So where are they living?”
“My mom didn’t want to stay in the house alone, so she’s moving into the same apartment complex her sister’s in, and Dee’s staying in the house for now.”
“This feels like dominoes. One truth comes out, and then another truth comes out, and then another until soon the entire landscape looks different.”
“And speaking of that,” Jenson says. “My mom was supportive of me telling Donald the truth. I’ve set up a meeting with him for next week.”
“And he thinks this meeting’s about real estate?” I say.
“Right.”
“That should be interesting.”
“Yeah,” Jenson says. “Dee and I are…kind of weird. I don’t know. He’s very upset I knew about Donald for years and didn’t say anything. He’s angrier with my mom, and he knows she put me in an impossible spot, but he’s just really upset.”
“Of course. It was unfair to you from the beginning, and Dee should understand that.”
“Donald was his best friend, and the betrayal has rocked him.”
I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes. “I feel like we had a choice to keep things the same or to detonate them completely, and we chose to detonate. And so did your mom.”
“We had a choice to be together or to give up completely, and we chose us,” Jenson says. “This is us. You and me, Olive.”
Cindy calls in the morning and tells Jenson she’s arranged for our family to meet at the banquet hall.
“No more secrets,” she says to Jenson. “I’ll see you and Olivia this Saturday at two o’clock. The hall had a last-minute cancellation, and I took it as a sign, a sign that it’s time to tell the truth. Isn’t that great?”
“Great,” Jenson says as he looks over at me, and I feel the anxiety already building. “We’ll be there.”
I spend the week living in the mall with Hayley as I try to find the perfect outfit to wear on Saturday.
“Isn’t this funny?” Hayley says to me. “It’s like déjà-vu. You and I spent the week at the mall back in July before Auntie Sue’s party. You were so afraid Jenson was going to show up.” She laughs. “Guess he showed, huh?”
I smile. “Guess he did.”
She pulls a pink top off the rack. “This may work. It’s pretty.”
I try on the top and decide it will work. Thank God because this is our fourth shopping trip, and I have to be at the hall in three hours.
“I haven’t talked to my mother since her hypnosis class,” I say to Hayley. “She left me a message, and I didn’t have the strength to call her back. Now I’m regretting it because I’m scared she’s going to scream to me from across the room about all the amazing sexual fantasies she discovered were lurking within her.”
“I thought your Mom could hardly handle your naked sculpture being seen in public. What happened?”
“Apparently, that sculpture class set off fireworks within Mom. She went from that to sex yoga to this.”
“So your mother’s stopped worrying about others?” Hayley suggests. “Inspired by her daughter?”
I make a face. “I don’t know about that. My mother’s always been a bit of a wildflower inside. Kind of like Daphne, actually.”
“You’d better go home and get ready,” Hayley advises. “Let me know how the next big reveal goes. I really wish I could have witnessed the moment you and Jenson kissed in front of your families. Too bad no one videoed it.”
“Just be glad you don’t have to come to this thing,” I say as I hug her good-bye and hurry to my car.
As Jenson and I walk into the banquet hall together, he grabs my hand just as we round the corner to face everybody. The air noticeably goes out of the room when our relatives look up and see us standing there as a couple. Patsy frowns and mutters something under her breath, and Matilda sighs so loudly I hear her even though her table is quite a distance away.
And Glenn is here with a cameraman.
“Reporters?” I murmur to Jenson.
“Mom said it was go big or go home,” he says. “She couldn’t be talked out of it. Your father knows something’s going down. She had the good sense to warn him, but he doesn’t know quite what it is.”
Keeping my hand in his, Jenson walks with determination toward Sheldon and Cara’s table. Daphne and Todd are sitting with Mom and Dad at an adjoining table, and I wave as we pass by. Before we make it to the table, Matilda calls out to my father to make sure his daughter “shows some manners.”
I catch Dad’s eye. He stands up and comes over to give me a kiss. He greets Jenson warmly, who says hi and lets go of my hand to sit down next to Sheldon.
I stop next to my father, knowing he wants to say something.
“I see it now, honey,” he says to me quietly. “I see the love between the two of you. I’m just kicking myself I missed it. I suppose I should have realized…”
“Dad, no you shouldn’t have. It’s not exactly the first thing that would come to your mind.”
I hear Matilda call out to my father again in a rude way, and I turn further away from her.
“Ignorance can hurt,” he whispers in my ear. “But I know you and Jenson are stronger than that.”
I look up at him. “We’re working on it. But your campaign…”
“Means absolutely nothing compared to my daughter’s happiness.” He gives me a kiss and then turns to Matilda. “My daughter has delightful manners. If only everyone in this room had them, too, we may not be having any problems.”
Matilda turns red and slumps back into her seat.
As I take my seat next to Jenson, Sheldon immediately starts talking about a fat ostrich in a zoo, “or maybe a neckless giraffe.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I say to him as I lean across Jenson. “If it were neckless, it wouldn’t be a giraffe.”
“I’m just saying that you guys are being ogled,” he says.
I catch Cybil’s eye. She harrumphs and turns away from me. I frown and try not to make eye contact with anyone outside of our table.
“Okay, I take that back,” Sheldon says now. “I think you two are being ostracized more than ogled.”
“Thank you, Sheldon.” I clench my teeth. “Thanks for the dictionary lesson.”
At the tap on my shoulder, I turn to face Daphne as she kneels next to me. “Hi, Daph,” I say quickly.
“Hi. Look, I’m sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been…”
“I know, busy,” I say.
/> “Well, that’s not really true,” she says. “I just haven’t known what to say because I don’t think I understand the kind of love you and Jenson have for each other.”
I did not expect that to come out of her mouth. “You’ve been married for years. And you love Todd.”
“And yet I don’t understand. You and Jenson are willing to risk being kicked out of the family and to suffer complete humiliation from Liberty Falls in order to be together. That’s really big.”
“Well…thanks, I think.”
She gives me a hug. “I admire you,” she says just as Mom calls across to me from her table.
I gesture that I’ll be right over, but my mother apparently can’t wait. She stands up and hustles over to me, practically knocking Daphne out of the way.
“See you later,” Daphne says as she gives Mom a look and goes to sit down.
“Hi, Jenson.” Mom moves over so that she can kneel in between the two of us.
He says hello to her, and then she turns to me. “Oh, Olivia, HypnoFantasy was fabulous!”
I close my eyes for a second, hoping when I open them, my mother will have instantaneously vaporized back to her table.
But no such luck. Mom’s still talking, and I open my eyes to see Jenson grinning at me.
“Sooo freeing,” she says. “So invigorating. I found myself speaking out loud all these secret fantasies I’ve had for your father and never had the courage to act on!”
I resist the urging to cover her mouth. “That’s great, Mom. Maybe we can talk more later…”
“I just wish you could have joined us,” Mom says. “Bea said the same thing. All night she said, ‘I wish Olivia was here, too. Imagine the years’ worth of fantasies she’s buried for Jenson!’ And I told her I agreed. Honey, you must try some sexual fantasy evocation on your own.” Mom turns to Jenson. “Don’t you think that’s a good idea, Jenson?”
“Absolutely,” he says, and his eyes brighten on mine. “I’m glad you enjoyed the class, Nora.”
“Mom, can this wait?” I say. “Today is awkward enough. Please, let’s talk later.”
Mom shushes herself and creeps back to her table just as Jenson’s mother approaches the front of the hall and takes the microphone.
Cindy asks for our attention, and without any pausing or small talk, she immediately tells the room the truth about Jenson’s conception and birth.
My head immediately turns to my father. His face is ashen.
Cindy’s attention is also focused directly on Dad. “I never wanted to hurt either of them,” she pleads to my father. “Please believe me.”
My father’s kind eyes are warm when he nods at her. “It will be okay, Cindy,” he assures her. “No one’s getting kicked out of this family. You, Dee, and Jenson are all part of the Grahams.”
Not everyone has the same response. Gasps echo through the room, followed by calls for Dee, the “poor man who didn’t know any better.”
A raucous clamoring for Dee ensues with Cybil standing up and shouting as Patsy holds her by the elbow to keep her steady. Cybil cries loudly for Dee, begging somebody to please call him up and get him over here before he dies of loneliness.
Jenson finally holds up his phone to show that he has Dee on the line. “He’s getting a haircut,” Jenson announces to the room. “He’ll stop by afterward.”
Cindy returns to the microphone and says that she would also like to add, for clarity’s sake, that Jenson and I are not related by blood, and therefore any children we have will not come from the same genes.
Patsy breathes a sigh of relief. “So it’s the best of both. Jenson and Olivia are both in the family, but not in a gross way. So they’re keeping it all in the family by being together.”
Another silence before Cindy says, “Thank you for your input, Patsy. Let’s eat, shall we?”
Dad steps to the microphone now. He recommends that everybody enjoy the meal Cindy organized “for all of us, and I suggest everyone take a moment to bow their heads and think about forgiveness and acceptance. Life isn’t perfect, and neither are people,” he adds. “Let’s let Dee and Cindy work this out between the two of them.”
The flash from the cameras is constant, and when I look over at Glenn, he gives me the thumbs-up.
“I think your dad just came up with his re-election theme,” Jenson whispers in my ear.
I take Jenson’s hand in mine. Our love is no longer a secret, and being able to fully live our story at last is the best part of all.
Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
Jenson and I haven’t gotten officially engaged yet, not because we’re delaying but because I keep changing my mind about the details. I tell him I don’t want a fancy wedding or a lot of hoopla. But he thinks we need to do something official. He thinks it’s important for us.
“Jenson’s completely right about that,” Hayley says when she and I meet for lunch at Bernie’s. “Don’t just go to the courthouse like Max and I did and forgo all tradition.” She holds up her left hand, and I smile at the Native American ring on her left finger, a beautiful ring that’s perfect for Hayley but looks nothing like a traditional wedding band. “It’s different for you and Jenson.”
“Why?” I say. “I don’t care about those things, either, like big white, poofy dresses and old traditions people try to drag with them into the present.”
“I know,” she says. “But it’s important for you guys to have a public ceremony to mark you officially becoming husband and wife. After all you’ve been through having to hide your love from your relatives, it makes sense.”
“I guess so,” I say. “I don’t know if Matilda, Patsy, and Cybil would even show up at our wedding. They don’t know what to do with us now that they can’t put us in a box. Some of the townspeople have been so supportive and excited about our romance, but others—well, let’s just say it wasn’t all warm and fuzzy.”
“Oh, you know the naysayers,” Hayley says. “They won’t be able to stay away. Talking about your wedding will keep them busy till they die.”
“That long? Matilda’s only sixty or so.”
“Olive, they could talk for over thirty years about yours and Jenson’s love story,” Hayley says. “That’s part of what makes it great! Embrace it, for God’s sake. Do something good with all the angst you two went through. Gossipers love to talk about forbidden love. It sounds so tantalizing.”
“It does?”
“It’s like the romance they wish they all had,” she continues. “Full of passion and danger. You both risked everything that means anything to you in order to be together. They should be so lucky, and they know it too.” Hayley looks at me confidently. “Deep inside, you know they know it.”
I try to change the subject. “Jenson’s birth father said that whenever we decide to tie the knot, he’s going to come to our wedding. He already told Jenson he’d be there.”
When Jenson told Donald he was his father, I have to say I was impressed by the man’s response. He didn’t miss a beat—sure, his face turned ghostly white, and he looked tempted to dash through the nearest exit, but he didn’t. He stayed. He shook Jenson’s hand and said he wanted to get to know his son.
And he’s held firm to that promise. He and Jenson meet once a week for coffee. Sometimes Donald comes to Liberty Falls, and sometimes Jenson goes to Philadelphia. I’ve met with them a couple of times, and Donald’s been really excited about our relationship.
And Dad? Well, his campaign for re-election, now heavily focused on the themes of forgiveness and family, is taking off. No attention is bad attention, as they say, and my father is a heavy favorite this fall to win. The healing has felt complete.
Hayley takes a sip of her soda. “Now what about Dee?”
Well, the healing has felt almost complete.
“Donald and Dee aren’t on speaking terms yet, and I’m not sure Dee will ever forgive Donald for his betrayal. In terms of Jenson, once Dee and Cindy officially separated, he warmed up tow
ard Jenson, but it’s not all the way back yet.” I shrug. “Maybe it never will be. Jenson wants it to be good between them again, but he’s relieved that at least he doesn’t feel like he’s living a lie with Dee. Cindy says she was trying so hard to keep everything smooth that she never allowed herself to realize she wasn’t happy. She says she was ashamed to admit the truth. She’s happier now, actually. She really is.” I smile at Hayley and stand up. “Anyway, I should get back to work. I’m so excited to be able to use my bonus from the deal I closed in Manhattan toward the down payment on whatever house Jenson and I decide to buy.”
“I think it’s awesome you decided to start fresh,” she says. “A new beginning for both of you to finally have something to call your own.”
Jenson
I grin as Olivia steps out of the bank with a wide smile on her face. It’s the same smile she’s had for the last six weeks. I’m sure it matches the dopey grin I wake up with every morning and go to sleep with at night. After what the two of us went through, working our way back to each other, any obstacle life throws at us right now feels easy to navigate. Because we’re finally able to be a united front and steer through any issues together.
“Hey!” I pick her up off the ground and swing her around.
She buries her face in my neck. “Hi, yourself.”
I don’t put her down like she no doubt assumes I will. Instead, I carry her down the sidewalk and then lift her into my truck.
“Where are we going?” She laughs as I jog around to the driver’s side and turn the key in the ignition.
“Kyle and Connor are with Meghan, and Bernie’s with my mom. So it’s just you and me, babe.”
I turn my gaze on her, and her gorgeous blue eyes light up. Olivia Graham’s beauty still gives me chills. Being alone with her turns me on just as much as it did when we were being illicit. We still find ways to surprise each other, to make out in public places where no one can find us, and to be naughty when nobody has a clue.
Today, I take her to the town lake. “Nobody ever goes to the back side,” she says even though she’s said it a dozen times before.
Jenson (Wild Men Book 4) Page 24