Page 53 of Laying His Claim
“Doctor Owens,” Justin called. “Do we have to worry about any of our future children inheriting the gene?”
The doctor quickly explained that the gene can only be passed on from a parent. Once that gene is inherited, the carrier automatically has a dominant copy and will be affected by the disease at some point in their life. He further clarified that if someone isn’t a carrier of the gene, it’s unlikely for that person to pass it on to their offspring. Jalissa already knew this, having read about it all as a teenager, but she understood the need for Justin to be reassured.
Justin swept Seb up from her arms and began planting kisses on his startled face. Then he spun Jalissa around before kissing her too, first on her cheeks and forehead and then on her full, soft lips. He lingered there until the crabby doctor behind them cleared his throat.
Eventually, the man got his signatures, handed over the precious pieces of paper, and wandered off to make someone else’s life miserable.
Jalissa didn’t care. Today, no one could rob her of her joy.
Chapter21
This should be my happy ending,Jalissa thought. This is the part in fairy tales when they live happily ever after, without a care in the world.
So why did she feel so empty?
Back home—funny how she’d come to think of Justin’s house as ‘home’—things seemed to return to normal. Gwendolyn welcomed Seb with open arms. And while Jalissa still insisted on doing most of the feeding, story reading and rocking to sleep, she was grateful to the older woman for the time that had been freed up, allowing her to sit for hours in contemplation or what some would call moping.
Jalissa was in the clear. She was free of Huntington’s, and so was Seb. The sense of impending dread that had wrapped around her like a dense gray cloud since her teens had lifted, letting the sun come in once again.
She was finally able to let the anger for her father go, to send a message out into the universe that she forgave him for his recklessness. Finally, she could admit that she loved him still and always would.
Though it hadn’t harmed her physically, the specter of Huntington’s had influenced the person she had become. Or, at least, the woman she’d been before her accident. Reckless. Daring. Racing around on a red motorcycle, partying until dawn, drinking too much, having too many lovers, taking too many chances. She had lived like a woman who was sure she was dying. Only now, she wasn’t.
Now that her memories were back Jalissa recalled the man she’d met at the Fun Zone that day when they were out with the kids, Eric. She understood exactly what had gone on between them, and how badly she had hurt him. Selfish. Cruel.
Jalissa remembered with stark clarity the night of her accident and how she’d behaved toward Justin. She’d rejected his love, rejected his proposal of marriage and sworn to rid herself of their child. With the power of hindsight, she understood that it was the fear of losing them to the devastating disease that had motivated her, but that was no excuse for her harsh, brutal words.
How had Justin found the strength of character to forgive her? To fight for her.
There’d been rumors that she’d deliberately tried to hurt herself that night, since there’d been no evidence of another vehicle involved. It had been an animal, she remembered, a large bull wandering away from a nearby farm, she guessed, trailing its tether behind it. That had been what had caused her to swerve.
That crash had led to a year and a half of muted darkness, sure, but it had also resulted in her rebirth, her return to the land of the living as a new person, a kinder, more selfless human being. The kind of woman who would be a fit mother to a young son, and a good wife to a strong, caring man.
The question was, would he still have her after everything she’d done? After every hurt she’d inflicted on so many people?
And if he didn’t want her, what would she do with the rest of her life?
* * *
“She’s in the kitchen, Mr. Tremblay.” Gwendolyn beamed at Justin as she let him in the front door. She was dressed and ready to go home, handbag poised primly over her arm with all the dignity of Queen Elizabeth. She’d just been waiting on him to relieve her.
He paused to give her a warm smile. Gwendolyn’s support meant a lot to him, especially in the days leading up to and after Jalissa’s tests. Justin had been concerned about Jalissa’s mental state, her long hours of pained self-reflection and worry, and was relieved that Sebastian was being well looked after during such a difficult time.
“How is she?” he asked as the older woman slipped past him and out the door.
“Fine. Just fine. She was a lil’ quiet this morning, but her and Seb in the kitchen now; making dinner.”
He lifted a brow with good humor. “What, both of them?”
“You know he’s a little helper-man.” She laughed at her own joke before disappearing down the driveway.
Justin locked the front door and stood for a moment in the entryway, thinking of everything that had gone on over the past few months, the people who had come in and out of the door, whether with good or evil intent. He remembered that first evening, when Jalissa had walked slowly and painfully in, not knowing what her future would hold. Her own son had been a stranger to her and Justin himself, an enigma.
Now look at them.
He stepped toward the kitchen, as silently as possible, not wanting to disturb the chatter he was hearing coming from inside it. Jalissa’s voice rose and fell, as if she was telling a particularly interesting story, and was punctuated by Sebastian’s gurgles and babbles as he tried to echo her words.
Rounding the kitchen wall, he paused again. Jalissa was wearing floppy sweats and a T-shirt, her hair twisted up on top of her head. She had her back to him with Seb comfortably perched on her cocked hip. The toddler was clinging to her sleeve with one hand and reaching forward with another to meddle with whatever she was preparing on the counter.
