Page 16 of A Love So Wrong
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.
