Caroline now understood Jill’s haste in pushing the wedding forward. Jill had given them all orders any leader would be proud of. She was precise in what needed to be done, down to what each woman would wear, including their dress sizes, shocking Caroline that Jill had done so much research. A sneaky smile had spread across Jill’s lips before she explained that the women had already been sized for their bridesmaid dresses. Instead of bridesmaid dresses, Caroline was to pick out simple wedding dresses for each.
A dog barking brought Caroline out of her thoughts. A huge black German shepherd stood outside Jax’s window.
“Sable,” Jill said, her voice groggy with sleep.
Another smaller dog joined in, barking excitedly as Jill opened the door. Jax climbed out as did Caroline, hoping to God the huge black dog didn’t attack her. Walking around the car, she knew her fear was unfounded when both dogs excitedly welcomed Jill home.
“Hey!” Jill laughed, giving each dog attention. “I’ve missed you, too.” Jill accepted the licks each dog happily gave.
When the large dog became too excited jumping up on Jill and bumping her into the car, Jax whistled loudly, snapped his fingers, and pointed to the ground. Both dogs stopped immediately. Their eyes traveled to Jax, but their tails still went a hundred miles an hour.
“That was impressive.” Caroline looked up at Jax in surprise. “Would that work with Hunter?”
Jax glanced over at her with a huge grin. “I don’t know.” He chuckled. “I’ll have to try it.”
Caroline laughed. “I want to see that.”
“Jilly!” A young boy slammed open the front door and ran at breakneck speed down the steps. Throwing himself into Jill’s arms, he knocked her on her ass from her kneeling position near the dogs.
The dogs wanted to join, but Jax growled and they remained sitting, panting with their tails wagging in excitement.
“Oh, my God.” Jill held the little boy out from her. “You can’t be Seth.”
“I am,” he said proudly, puffing his little chest out.
“You can’t be,” Jill continued to tease. “You’re too big to be my little Seth.”
“Jilly, it’s me,” Seth said, his tone turning worried.
Jill laughed, hugging her brother tightly. “I know that silly.” She tickled his stomach. “I was just teasing you. Is Mom and Dad here?”
Caroline grinned as she watched Jill and her little brother, but her heart also ached.
“What do you want, Jillian?” A woman’s voice came out of nowhere. Caroline looked around Jax to see a beautiful woman walking their way.
Jill stood, helping Seth up. “I needed to talk to you and Dad,” Jill replied, and then glanced uncomfortably at Jax and Caroline. “These are my friends, Jax and Caroline. This is my mom.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Nichols.” Caroline smiled, feeling uncomfortable when Jill’s mom seemed to study her and found her lacking. Jax didn’t say a word. He remained standing with arms crossed, staring ahead.
Trevor picked that moment to come flying down the driveway breaking the uncomfortable situation.
“Can you give a guy some warning, Jill?” Trevor hopped out of the car. “I had a hot date waiting for me, but you threatening me with bodily harm if I didn’t show up here ruined the mood.”
“I’ve seen some of your dates, Trevor. And believe me their not as hot as you think they are.” Jill shot back with a roll of her eyes, Caroline snorted, Jax grinned, while Seth climbed up on Trevor’s back, and their mom narrowed her eyes in disapproval.
“I have to disagree, sister. Busty Barb is as hot as they come.” Trevor smiled a hello to Jax and Caroline. “Okay, can we get this show on the road so I can get some action going without fear of getting my ass kicked?”
“Trevor!” her mom scolded with a slight shake of her head. Everyone grinned, even Ms. Nichols who seemed to have relaxed a little.
CHAPTER 17
Jill watched her mom trying her best not to smile as Seth continued to say ass, but then she had to become stern to make him stop. Jill just stood there as Trevor headed toward the house, followed by her mom. She hadn’t been in her home since the day she’d been turned. Trevor stopped at the steps looking back at her.
“Well, are you coming?” Trevor frowned. Seth was still on his back, but silent.
Glancing at Jax and Caroline, she saw that they were staring at her, waiting for her cue. Making her feet move, she followed Trevor up the steps. Her mom had already gone inside. At the door, she paused before going inside.
“Are you okay?” Jax leaned down to whisper to her.
Jill nodded. “Just been a long time since I’ve been welcomed here,” she replied honestly.
Even before she stepped inside, the smells of home hit her hard. Her eyes traveled the room. Overwhelmed with memories, her knees weakened. Nothing had changed. The door they went through led into the kitchen, which was still painted in the same pale yellow. Her gaze automatically went to the white lace curtains that she had always loved. Finally, her eyes met her mother’s, and there was something there other than fear and disdain.
“Jelly Bean!” Her dad walked into the kitchen, his hair a little messy indicating he’d been napping, probably in the same old chair he had since she was a child.
“Hey, Dad!” Jill swallowed the large lump stuck in the back of her throat. She walked over, hugged him tightly, and then smoothed his hair down like she used to do. “You taking care of yourself?”
“Well, you just caught me napping in the middle of the day. I’d say that’s taking care of myself pretty darn good.” He chuckled then looked toward Jax and Caroline.
“Dad, this is Jax Wheeler and Caroline Fitzpatrick,” Jill introduced them, glancing at her mother again, but she had since busied herself with Seth.
“Nice meeting you, Mr. Nichols.” Caroline smiled, taking his hand.
“Call me Chuck.” He shook her hand then Jax’s with a large friendly smile. “Where’s Slade?”
“He’s taking care of some things,” Jill replied, having a hard time looking him in the eyes. She was full of nervous energy making her fidget, and she knew how much her mother hated when she fidgeted. “I needed to talk to you and Mom about something.”
“Well, come on in and have a seat.” Chuck ushered them further into the kitchen. Everyone sat but Trevor and Jax. “Anyone want something to drink? We’ve got water, soda...beer.” That last was directed toward Jax.
“No, thank you,” Jax and Caroline both declined.
All attention turned toward her. Clearing her throat, she looked at her mom before beginning. “I’m supposed to get married in three weeks.” She glanced at her dad who was nodding. Of course he knew; he was walking her down the aisle. “We’ve changed the date to Saturday.”
“This Saturday?” Her father’s eyes opened in surprise.
“Yes, and I don’t want to get married in a church,” Jill replied and then took a deep breath. “I want to get married here, in the woods. In the clearing.” In her special place, she thought, but didn’t say that aloud. “You and Mom will have to do nothing except be here. I’m taking care of everything with the help of friends.”
The room was silent and Jill felt the hope of them saying yes slowly dwindle away.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think that’s a awesome idea. And after they say their ‘I dos’ they can run down the dirt aisle, grab the vine and do a double backflip into the lake to seal the deal.” Trevor’s smile was huge. He winked at Jill.
“Before you answer, I need to tell you it won’t just be me and Slade. There will be five other couples. Vampire and human,” Jill added, then held her breath.
“This is your home, Jill.” Her dad’s voice shook slightly. “Of course you can get married here.”
Jill gave her dad a loving smile, trying her best to hold her tears in. “Thank you, Dad.” Her eyes went to her mom. “But I need Mom to agree also.”
Her mom stood as st
ill as stone staring at Jill. “Are you sick?” Her mother’s voice also shook.
“What?” Her dad’s eyes widened. “Sick? Jill isn’t sick.”
“I saw something on the news saying...” Her mother didn’t finish. Her gaze never faltered as she stared at Jill.
Jill reached over and grabbed her dad’s hand before answering. “Yes, I’m sick.”
Her mom said nothing, just turned, and walked out of the room.
Standing, Jill hugged her dad. “I’m going to be okay, dad.” She leaned down and kissed his shocked face. “Slade is working hard to find out what’s wrong, so please don’t worry.”
“I’m your father,” he replied, kissing her cheek. “I’ll always worry, but I know that young man of yours won’t let anything happen to you.”
Jill straightened and went to walk out of the room. “I’ll be right back,” Jill told Caroline and Jax as she passed. Making her way through the house, Jill couldn’t help but look around, not only looking for her mom, but searching for the memories as she passed them by. Stopping in front of her parents’ bedroom, she looked inside. Her mother stood with her back facing the door.
“I don’t hate you, Jillian.” Her mother’s voice sounded tired and worn down. Her shoulders were slumped. Turning, she looked at Jill, her eyes moist with tears before walking to the closet and digging something out from the back. Her mom placed a box on the bed, lifting the lid.
Gazing at the box, Jill’s whole world shifted. Everything from a pair of baby shoes, drawings she had created, to school reports lay perfectly placed inside the box. She was speechless.
Her mom walked around the bed and took her hand, leading her out of the room and up the stairs. She opened the attic door. Even though Jill feared this room with a passion because Trevor, the ass, told her the boogeyman lived in there, Jill followed her mother inside.
“That is all your stuff.” Her mother pointed to boxes stacked in one corner.
“But I thought...” Jill looked at her, confused.
Her mother didn’t let her finish as she pulled her out of the attic and down the hall to her old room. She opened the door and pulled Jill inside. Nothing had changed. Her bed was under the window, her desk still sat in the same place, as did her dresser.
“Trevor said you and Janie threw my things out.”
Her mother swallowed visibly. “Trevor was devastated when you went missing, and then when you came back and left again, he blamed me.”
Jill wanted to say it was her fault that she left home, but she stayed silent.
“And I didn’t correct him.” Her mother actually looked ashamed.
Jill walked over and opened her closet. All her clothes were gone. She turned to look at her mom.
“In the boxes in the attic,” her mother answered Jill’s unspoken question. “That’s what we were doing that night.”
“Why?” Jill shook her head, unsure which question she had for her mother to answer first. Why, seemed like the best place to start.
“I never knew how to help you, Jillian,” her mother replied.
“By being my mother.” Hot blinding anger made her heart beat faster, but she did her best to keep the attitude out of her tone. “That’s all I wanted. I felt like a burden because I had a reading disability.”
“I didn’t know how to help you, so I ignored you and brushed the problem aside.” Her eyes never flickered from Jill’s. “I failed you in every way a mother could fail her child.”
Feeling weak, Jill walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. “And then I came home a monster.”
Her mother wiped the tear that leaked from her eye, but didn’t answer. “I’m sorry.” Those two words her mother spoke rang true.
Looking away from her mother, Jill’s eyes roamed her room, seeing everything that once made her who she was. All her drawings were still taped to the light blue walls of her room. A weird sense of wanting to laugh filled her soul. She was finally getting what she wanted from her mother, yet she was dying. Lowering her head, Jill looked at the floor she had laid upon doing drawing after drawing. Tears spilled from her eyes, some clear, others red. Her chest hurt so badly, she thought that this may be it—she was going to die right there in the room she spent so many hours hoping, dreaming...wanting her mother’s approval, her love. A laugh mixed with a sob escaped her throat.
“You can have your wedding here with your friends, Jillian.” Her mother’s voice broke through her meltdown.
Hearing her mother’s footsteps moving past her, Jill raised her head, stood and pulled her mother into a hug. She couldn’t say anything except cry. And she cried even harder when her mom held her just as tightly, her own body shaking in sobs.
“I know I can never ask you to forgive me, Jillian. I will never be able to forgive myself,” her mother said against her shoulder. “Just know I’m so sorry.”
“I’ve already forgiven you. All I’ve ever wanted was your love, your acceptance.” Jill sobbed right back. Jill pulled back to look at her mom, a sob escaping her throat and ending in a laugh. “We’re a mess.” Her mom did the same, laughing on her own sob.
“Jilly, Shade’s here.” Seth’s small voice broke through their laughing and crying.
“You mean Slade?” Jill corrected him with a grin. Letting go of her mom, she wiped her face.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Seth frowned. “Why are you crying, Momma?”
“Because I’m happy.” Jill’s mom also wiped her face.
Jill hoped her face was clean of blood before turning around. She didn’t want to scare Seth. Her mom actually reached up and wiped her cheek. She then nodded, which made Jill well up again. Fighting back the tears, she turned. Seth stood in the doorway, his little hand in Slade’s big one.
Slade didn’t say a word, but his eyes spoke volumes. All Jill could manage was a nod because if she opened her mouth, she was going to lose it again.
Jill’s mom walked around Jill and stood in front of Slade. “I want to apologize for the way I treated you.”
“It doesn’t matter how you treat me, ma’am.” Slade looked down at the woman. “Jill’s my concern and how she’s treated.”
“Fair enough, but I still apologize.” She grabbed Seth’s hand. “And please, call me Ruth.”
Slade stepped to the side so she and Seth could pass. He then headed directly for Jill.
“Why are you here?” she asked and then grinned at his cocked eyebrow. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, Shade,” she teased with the name Seth gave him.
“I’m here because Jax texted me worried about you.” Slade frowned. He reached up, touching her cheek then forehead. “How are you feeling?”
Jill started to lie, but knew he would know so she sighed. “I’m okay, just really shaky and weak. You know, the usual.” She tried to tease, but fell way short of being funny. “Do you think you can try the transfusion on...?”
“No!” There was absolutely no give in his voice. With that single answer, the subject was closed. “I would change you first.”
“Not if it gets you put in jail, or makes you lose your VC status and medical license you won’t,” Jill replied with a no give tone to her own voice, but Slade didn’t seem impressed. Instead, he glared before looking around her room.
“So, this is Jillian Nichols’ room.” Slade walked over to the wall looking at her drawings. “You are very talented.”
“Thanks.” Jill smiled with pride. “This is probably one of my favorites, other than the one I drew of you.” She pointed to one of Sable and Bebe.
“Are you sorry?” Slade asked without looking at her; he continued to look at the pictures.
“About what?” Jill frowned, hearing the emotion he was trying to hide in his voice. When he didn’t answer, she grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. “Sorry about what?”
“That you were turned.” His eyes searched hers, looking for the truth.
“If you would have asked me that after it happened, then ye
s.” Jill wrapped her arms around his waist. “But the day you showed up and shoved Jeff’s face in the concrete changed that completely. So no, Slade, I’m not sorry because I would have never met you.”
CHAPTER 18
Once again, Jill found herself sitting alone in the kitchen. It had been three days since she had been at her parents’ house and the miracle of all miracles had happened with her mother. They had actually exchanged cell phone numbers and to her surprise her mother was a huge texter. She didn’t know if her sickness had changed her mom’s feelings, but she didn’t care. Life was too short. Even though, ironically for her it was supposed to be long, but that didn’t seem to be the case now.
Some would see her acceptance of her mom’s apology as something she should decline, but Jill loved and had always loved her mother, and this was a new beginning for them. In a weird kind of way, she understood her mother’s fear, and that was all that mattered. No one else’s opinion, other than Slade’s, mattered to her.
So far everything seemed to be going smoothly, and she smiled taking another bite of a cracker, the smile disappearing in a disgusted grimace.
“Taste like shit, don’t they?” Adam sat down across from her at the table. He grabbed a cracker shoving it in his mouth. “Why couldn’t we be able to stomach steak instead of fucking crackers?”
“Or blood.” Jill sighed, taking a sip of warm Pepsi.
“God, I’m so thirsty.” Adam grabbed her Pepsi and took a swig. “But not for this shit. I feel like I’m slowly starving, Jill.”
“I know.” Jill’s heart flipped and not in a good way. What he said was absolutely true. They were slowly starving to death. Without blood, they wouldn’t survive.
“Angelina is so afraid and I don’t know what to do, what to tell her.” Adam’s voice shook with emotion to the point where he cleared his throat. “Has Slade found out anything at all?”
A Warrior Wedding Page 12
