“Yes. Though when you have children of your own, you’ll understand that the pain they feel is much worse than any effect they may have on your own life. It just saddens me that he still feels so much anger towards me.”
“I’m so sorry,” I replied. I wasn’t. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that the hands that were touching me right now – completely appropriately, nothing creepy or weird – were hands that had beaten on his ex-wife until she couldn’t take it anymore and took off in the middle of the night, leaving her only son behind.
I wanted to run away from this man. All those times he had been so nice to me, to find out that he was one of the most horrendous human beings I knew, I wanted to spit in his face. But no, I wasn’t Jack. I’d be nice. I could put up a front. I just had to avoid him from now on. Maybe he’d even give me the money to rent an apartment next semester.
Those thoughts and more ran through my mind, and before I knew it, the song was over. My perfect excuse.
“Thanks for the dance, John. I think I’m going to take a break,” I told him with a smile, and he bowed at me and went to find someone else to dance with.
“I think I’m going to call it an early night,” I told my mom.
“Ok darling, that’s fine. A lot of people have already left anyway. You’re still going to be there for brunch in the morning?”
“Of course, mom. Eleven o’clock, in the dining room?”
“That’s right. Good night, sweetie.”
“Good night mom. Congratulations.”
And with that I went back to the house, took off all my clothes, and had a shower so hot that when I got up the mirror was completely steamed up.
If that was how I felt just knowing what John Alcott had done to Jack’s mother, I couldn’t imagine how Jack felt every time he saw the man.
Chapter Twenty Two
The next day my mom and John left for their honeymoon. Jack decided he’d move out two weeks later, when they got back from their trip to the Maldives.
We had a lot of long talks in his room. Long talks about what was going to happen next. How safe my mom was with him. I thought back to the time when my mom slipped on the ice. Had she really slipped and fallen? Or had she fallen victim to something far more sinister? Was there more to the fact that she started covering up, wearing long sleeves?
We also spoke about us. We had decided to make our relationship public. We’d start with close friends only, but we weren’t going to hide anymore. If people wanted to talk behind our backs, fine, they could talk. Jack and I were in love, and nothing was going to stop that.
When my mother got back from her honeymoon, I was a lot more vigilant about things. I paid far more attention to my mother. How she acted, how she looked. Whether there were any noticeable bruises on her.
One day Tina and Annie had come over, and we decided to have a study session for our June exams in the bright sunlight outside. After all, it was a gorgeous day, so why not.
I had told them both all about the wedding night, of course. They were shocked to hear about Jack’s story. And they had the same worry that I did, that my mom would have the same problem.
We had found a nice little patch of grass, surrounded by rose bushes. Anita brought us out some fresh lemonade and little cookies to munch on, and we started working on our separate courses.
“I swear, Art History is going to be the death of me,” I complained as I tried for the millionth time to understand the difference between Rafael and Michaelangelo’s paintings. “I mean, I know I should be able to tell different artists apart, but the Renaissance stuff just looks so much alike.”
“The key difference is that Michaelangelo is incapable of drawing women,” Tina answered for me. “Rafael is great at it. But if you look at the women Michaelangelo paints, they’re just men with orbs where the boobs go. I’m not even going to refer to them as boobs, they’re just orbs. It’s almost like he’s seen pictures of what women should look like but has never seen one in real life.”
I opened my textbook to his “Garden of Eden” and laughed.
“Oh my God Tina, you’re so right. Thank you!”
“Hey, that’s what I’m here for. Now if only you could help me with the accounting class that my mom really, really wanted me to take as my business elective.”
“Not a chance. There’s a reason I didn’t go into anything that had to do with math. Sorry.”
“Hey,” Annie interrupted. “Is that Jack over there?”
Sure enough, my brother was heading towards us. I wondered what he was doing here, I hadn’t seen him on the property at all since our parents came back from their honeymoon.
“Hey girls,” Jack greeted us as he noticed us.
“Hey Jack, what’s up?” I asked.
“Not much, going to get some stuff from the cabin down by the stables.”
“Oh, cool.” I had almost forgotten about Jack’s secret little cabin. I suspected he might have kept a lot of his pot-related things there, seeing as no one else ever seemed to give the cabin more than a cursory glance, since first impressions made it look abandoned.