"Hello," he called to her, leaning down near the car so that he could see her better.
She dragged her feet off the dashboard and sat up straighter in the seat.
"Hi."
She was pretty. A real girly-girl type. She had long box braids in her hair and a pink band around it and she was in matching pink accessories.
He grinned. "It must be hot out here."
"Yes it is," she grinned back, "but I decided to follow my dad on his visits today."
"Pastor Ruel's your dad?" Oliver grinned. "Then you must be Jorja."
"Yes." She smiled. "And you are?"
"Oliver." He straightened up and then looked over at Pastor Ruel, who hadn't shifted since he rode up. Aunty Norma was saying something to him in a strident voice, as if she was distressed. Oliver wondered what that was about.
He leaned back down and looked into the car. "Want to hang with me and Jack? We usually play video games."
She nodded eagerly. "Sure."
When she got out of the car and slammed the door, Pastor Ruel still hadn't shifted. He was so engrossed in the conversation that when he neared them, neither adult even acknowledged them.
He slowed down and almost stopped when he heard Aunty Norma whisper hoarsely, "We need to do something about that woman, Ruel. You and I both know that she cannot stay up here. She had me investigated. I should have known that something was wrong when she came here out of the blue and then King followed. I know King; he has become a well-known private investigator..."
"Hey Dad," Jorja said behind the conversing adults. "I am going to hang with Oliver and Jack today."
Pastor Ruel looked around at the both of them a little dazedly. "Yes, sure dear."
Oliver smiled at both of them. "Pastor, Aunty Norma."
He knew something was seriously wrong when his normally chirpy aunty gave him a vague smile and a nod. "Have fun, dears."
Pastor Ruel nodded as if in agreement and they went back to whispering. When Oliver looked behind, Pastor Ruel was cupping the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. And then Oliver remembered Regina saying that she had secrets about him and Aunty Norma.
He didn't want to jump to conclusions but he was almost sure that the person who Aunty Norma said couldn't stay up here would be Regina.
But maybe that was a stretch and he was seeing intrigue where none existed.
*****
Uncle Owen was in the den in his special big chair, his laptop on a table beside him. Jack was sitting before the television with a video game controller already in hand.
The den was a huge cavernous basement room that they used as their recreational area. It was air conditioned and had a fridge which was stocked with several types of drinks but most importantly of all they had WiFi Internet.
"I brought company," Oliver announced when he got downstairs.
"Wow!" Jorja whispered beside him, looking around. There were game tables and sitting areas and two televisions, one of which was dedicated to playing games.
"Come on in," Uncle Owen looked up from his perusal of the computer and smiled when he saw Jorja.
He got up and lumbered toward them. "Mi casa is su casa, especially to pretty ladies."
He shook Jorja's hands and slapped Oliver on his back in his usual jovial manner. "I am working from home today."
Oliver nodded. He liked Uncle Owen. Sometimes when they wanted a third man for their games he would jump in.
He owned a employment placement business in the town. Some days he didn't go into the office because he wasn't needed. It must be nice being rich.
Jack looked up from his place on the floor and grunted and then turned around.
"He likes you," Oliver said, grinning. "Jack only grunts at people he likes."
Jorja grimaced but she sat beside Jack and took up the game controls.
"You are a girl," Jack said abruptly.
"Congrats for stating the obvious but girl or not, I can beat you," Jorja said, a challenge in her voice.
Jack grunted again.
Owen guffawed. "Be careful Jack, she's a fiery one."
Jack smirked and the faintest of smiles crossed his pale lips. Jack had an issue being in social situations. He rarely smiled for anybody and only a privileged few persons heard him speak.
He was extremely close to Aunty Norma, who still treated him like a child, and in some respects he was. Jack was a slow developer and notoriously shy even at twenty-four.
Oliver had no idea how the rumor began that Jack smoked marijuana and it messed up his brain. Though Aunty Norma caught him with a joint a couple of years ago, it hadn't even been lit.
Oliver told his mother this time and time again but she always chose to believe that Jack was a drug junkie or something. Nobody seemed to want to accept that he was just slow or developmentally challenged.
Oliver watched them for a while and saw that Jorja was holding her own against Jack, whose fingers were flying over the game controls like a pro. He went for his laptop and sat across from Uncle Owen and turned on his computer.
He had to do some research on Regina. There must be stuff about her on the Internet; maybe he could find a clue as to who this person was that she just had to take back to Kingston with her.
And he would research his father too. He wanted to know where he was. Maybe get some contact information for him and find out why he had disappeared out of his life.
"So what about summer jobs?" Owen asked before he could click an Internet link. "Are you getting one this summer?"
Oliver grimaced. "Yes, the usual. I am going to work with Josiah at the farm office again. I am going by there today to let him know when I’ll be ready to start."
"Good." Owen nodded. "That's more than some people have, you know."
"I guess," Oliver said, waiting for the Internet browser to open. He typed in: Regina Jamaican Footballer, and saw quite a few pages on her, even a picture.
Her name was Regina Tharwick and they used to call her the pit bull. Most of the articles were old, though, and they only dealt with her career. There was nothing about her life after football or any relationships.
He chuckled at the headline, The Pit bull Strikes Again. It had a picture of a much younger looking Regina in her football outfit, clutching a ball to her chest.
He could understand why Regina was referred to as the pit bull. He spent just a few minutes in her company and had gotten the feeling that she was indeed that kind of person.
He wondered afresh who the woman was that Regina declared was hers and that she was not leaving till she came home with her. He tried to think about who it could be but it totally slipped him. All the people he knew were heterosexual, or he thought they were. One could never tell these days.
"You look to be in deep thought." Owen jerked him out of his reverie.
Oliver smiled. "I have a couple of things on my mind."
He typed in his dad's name, Tony Allen, doctor, and couldn't find anything on him. He tried university hospital, he tried the year that his mother said she met him at the hospital, but he came up with nothing.
"Is there a place where you can check for registered medical doctors?" Oliver asked Owen hesitantly.
He didn't want Uncle Owen asking him what for? He didn't want anybody to know that he was now laboring under some really mammoth doubts about his paternity.
"Yes." Owen nodded without question and told him the web address for a medical licensing website.
He checked for Tony Allen and came up with zilch, nada. Tony Allen didn't exist, or at least was not practicing medicine legally in Jamaica or elsewhere.
"I think you would make a fine doctor," Owen murmured. He was typing something rapidly on his computer too and he said it almost absently.
Oliver grimaced. "My mother wants me to be a doctor. I am not sure I want that. She's obsessed with it because that is what she wanted to do and according to her she missed the boat."
"Mmmm," Owen looked at him briefly, "give it a chance. Maybe
in this case mother knows best."
"We can't afford med school and all of that right now." Oliver shrugged, "I think I should just do something that is easier and will get me earning in a short time span."
Owen nodded. "I get it, you want to be responsible and be a provider but some things should be done when you are young, when your body can stand under the pressure.
"Sometimes I wish that Norma and I had started branching out into other businesses when we were much younger. Besides, you could do so much with a medical degree.
"You could go on those medical missionary trips to Africa that your mother keeps insisting that you are going to do."
"That's her dream." Oliver sighed. "My mother has a one-track mind when it comes to her dreams for me. I can't even get in a word edgewise when she outlines her plans for my life."
Jorja looked around at them; obviously she was half-listening to their conversation. "My dad wants me to be a teacher or something but I am going to be a superstar, like Alicia Keys. I can sing like her and I desperately want to learn to play the piano too."
Owen smiled. "You have that kind of voice, huh? With your face and a killer voice I would say your dad will probably be disappointed when you become a superstar instead of a teacher. If you desperately want to learn to play the piano I can arrange that with the guy who taught Jack."
Jorja grinned shyly. "Thanks Mr. Kincaid."
"No, no, not Mr. Kincaid, Uncle Owen. Everybody calls me that. Besides, your dad and I grew up together right here in Primrose hill. We were like brothers. Though obviously I was a little older."
Jorja spun around, losing the game in the process. "Tell me about my dad. When he was a boy, what was he like?"
Jack grunted in triumph but Jorja ignored him, her eyes fixed on Owen.
"Your dad was really skinny," Owen laughed, "and though he was half the size of the big boys he would always want to hang out with us. He could out-dive any of us in the rivers and he always seemed to catch more fish when we went fishing."
Jorja laughed. "That's nice. Did you know my mom?"
Owen's grin faded. "Unfortunately, no. Ruel left here and went to college and moved on with his life. Norma and I left here too, for a little while. We only recently crossed paths when he came back to the district."
Jorja's grin disappeared as quickly as she had lit up.
Norma walked into the room. She was acting more jittery than normal.
"Owen, come along," she said abruptly, "leave the young people to have fun."
Owen got up promptly. "Coming, dear."
"I should go too." Oliver stood up. Being at the Kincaid's was not proving to be the distraction he had envisioned it to be. He couldn't spend time playing video games now that he had more questions about his father since Regina filled his head with her theories.
"I am coming with you, Oliver!" Jorja jumped up swiftly. "I am hanging with you today."
"Okay." Oliver pushed his laptop into his bag. "I am going to the farm. Are you sure that you don't want to stay and hang with Jack?"
Jorja shook her head vigorously and trailed behind him as he headed out the door.
Jack ignored them and started another game without acknowledging that they told him goodbye.
Chapter Seven
"He's creepy," Jorja said as soon as they exited the Kincaid's house and were heading down the road toward Rose Hill Farm.
"Who?" Oliver glanced at her. He was looking down at the top of her head. She was about five feet flat.
"Jack!" Jorja looked at him and giggled. "Owen is nice though, very cute."
Oliver quirked his brow. "Uncle Owen? I can understand you thinking that Jack is creepy but Uncle Owen is old. Old people are not cute and especially not in that tone of voice."
Jorja laughed. "I like older men."
Oliver shook his head. "Okay then. He's a grandfather; his oldest child has a child."
Jorja flicked her braid over her shoulders. "So?"
"So..." Oliver said in exasperation, "I am not having this conversation with you. It is ridiculous anyway."
"Are you jealous?" Jorja asked slyly.
Oliver paused and looked at her. He wasn't attracted to her. She was pretty and shapely but he just wasn't moved. Besides, her thinking that his Uncle Owen was cute had left a bad taste in his mouth. He found that kind of joke distasteful, even if she was trying to make him jealous.
"No, I am not jealous," Oliver said abruptly. "I just met you. How can I be jealous? Are you sure you want to come with me to the farm?"
"Sure, why not," Jorja said sulkily. "You know you are really cute too, don't you?"
Oliver shrugged. "Thanks, I guess."
"Are we going to be in the same class when I go back to school?"
"No. I skipped a couple of years. This is my last year and then university. I figure you'll be in fifth form or something."
"Yes or they'll have me repeat. I am pretty sure I flunked my exams last term."
"Why?" Oliver asked her.
She scrunched up her face in a moue. "Because my mother died and one week after my father came back with her ashes he had a service and then packed up the house. Two lousy months later he got married to the beauty queen and then left me to live with Grandma Miriam, who was almost as bad as my mom."
"You had an issue with your mom?" Oliver put his laptop bag on the bar of the bicycle and slowed his steps to match Jorja's.
"Oh yes." Jorja looked as if she was contemplating telling him more about her mom and then decided against it. "It was always just me and my dad, even when my mother was there; that's why it hurt so bad when he left me with Grandma."
"Sorry," Oliver said sympathetically. "But look on the bright side, you are back home with him now."
"But the beauty queen is there too," Jorja bemoaned. "And she is not nice. I just met you and you seem nicer than she is."
Oliver glanced at her. "Sis Ashley seems pretty nice to me. She seems like she would be a cool stepmother. Maybe you should give her a chance. She was my business teacher last term. She's really good. Everybody likes her."
"I would give her a chance as you put it but," Jorja sighed as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders, "she doesn't like me. As it is, I am going to have to sleep with one eye open. I heard her telling Dad that there was a lady up here that was creating trouble for her and she wishes that she would disappear off the face of the earth. Apparently they were former friends. Can you believe that? And I heard her calling the lady obsessed and evil. I think that is the way she thinks about me."
Oliver stopped walking. He looked at his watch. It was nearly eleven-thirty and the day was scorchingly hot already. He wheeled his bicycle under a tree and leaned it up on one of the scraggly trunks and then he closed his eyes.
Jorja followed him and stood looking at him curiously. "You okay?"
"No," Oliver croaked. "I might have a little bit more information running around in my head than I can process right now."
Jorja shrugged and sat on the tree trunk a little distance from him.
"Like what?"
"Ah," Oliver rubbed his temples, "just some stuff."
"Is the farm far from here?"
"No. No," Oliver answered, "about five minutes from here."
"What do they have there?"
"Give me a second." Oliver squeezed his eyes shut. Ashley Dennison, the pastor's wife, was the reason Regina was up here.
Ashley Dennison!
His mind allowed that to simmer for a while. Regina said she had dirt on everyone, including Pastor Ruel. She also said that Pastor Ruel had secrets and that Norma Kincaid was naughty, not nice.
He had a total recall memory. Once it was said he could bring it back to mind verbatim. And Regina's conversation was running through his head now, and he didn't like the dots that he was connecting.
He also heard Aunty Norma today with Pastor Ruel, saying that Regina couldn't stay.
So if he had any sense at all, and he liked to think he had
a fair share, he would conclude that Regina was indeed holding secrets and she had Norma Kincaid afraid.
The most shocking info of all was that Ashley Dennison was her ex-lover.
He swallowed when he thought of that. Could that be true?
If Regina had secrets on everybody maybe his mother had secrets too. He couldn't ignore that. Maybe Regina's musings about his paternity were right.
The urge to know more was suddenly stifling.
He inhaled raggedly. He didn't know what to do with all of the information that he had gained today. Who could he talk to about this?
He cracked his eye open and looked at Jorja. She took a pack of gum from her pants pocket and held it out. "Want one?"
"No thanks," Oliver said hoarsely.
Definitely not her. He didn't really know her, did he, and if he shared anything about his speculations, especially if it had to do with Ashley, she would probably blab about it as soon as she reached home.
"It will make you think better," Jorja offered sweetly, wiggling the gum like it was some cure-all for what ailed him.
What he wanted was an adult he could trust. That used to be his mother, but today he was rethinking that. Maybe she had been lying to him for years.
"No." Oliver straightened up from the bicycle. "Sorry about that. I have a lot on my mind."
Jorja giggled. "Don't we all. Ready?"
"Yes." Oliver nodded. "Sure."
****
Oliver visited Rose Hill farms so often that he rarely took stock of his surroundings. Right now was different, though. Because of Regina and her speculations he was seeing everything with new suspicion.
He looked at the sign. It was a freshly painted wooden sign. The logo had a cabbage where the O in Rose should be. It had the word welcome underneath it. For years the welcome had been misspelled and it used to drive his mother crazy.
Conroy would laugh when she mentioned it. He was fine with it. He called it a landmark but when Josiah came back from Kingston, he had changed the sign, updated the buildings, hired more help, and expanded the business to include three more greenhouses.
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