Lining the side of the garden were huge vases, at least three feet tall, filled with a variety of exotic looking flowers, purple and cream or white to continue with the color scheme for the rest of the wedding.
Some wooden walls had been set up here and there, made of light wood, patterned nicely to let the light through but decorated with plants and made to look as though they’d been there for years, when really it had just been for the last week or so that an army of gardeners began their work here to make the setting for the reception perfect.
And it worked. It was absolutely gorgeous. One could not have asked for a more perfect setting for a wedding.
We ate, we drank and we were all fairly merry. Even Amy had a smile on her face. The whole wedding was going swimmingly, and we finally got to the speeches.
First up was Karen, one of the Bridesmaids, who spoke about knowing my mom since they were in their 20s, and how she had never seen my mom as happy as when she was with John.
Then it was Henry’s turn, and he spoke about how John had been alone for a long time now, and how he loved seeing his brother happy, and that he knew my mom would be a great mom to Jack as well.
My mom had asked me if I wanted to make a speech, but I had declined. Public speaking was not my forte, and in front of this many people, I couldn’t guarantee that I wasn’t just going to puke all over everyone with nerves, and nobody wanted to see that at the wedding.
Next up was John himself, who wanted to make a speech with his new wife.
They stood up, and everybody cheered. I looked up at my mom, radiant next to her new husband as he finally motioned for the crowd to be quiet and sit down. Taking the microphone from his brother, he began:
“First of all, I want to thank every single person in this room for coming, for sharing this joyous occasion with Mary and myself. It is absolutely a cause for celebration, and I hope you’re all getting plenty of food and drink into you.”
There was some light clapping from some of the tables before John continued.
“This is a celebration for me, and a sombre occasion at the same time. As you all know, eight years ago I lost my wife, Laura. She was special to me, but I know that without her death I never would have found Mary, I never would have been able to fall in love all over again.”
“LIAR!” The exclamation came from the back of the large garden area, and everyone turned to see who had just interrupted the groom’s speech.
I had already been facing that way, and was watching Jack when he yelled out the words. For an instant I thought I saw anger flicker on John’s face, but in an instant it was gone.
“Ladies and gentlemen I apologize for my son. As you can tell, he still hasn’t recovered from the loss of his mother at a young age, and he -”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Jack bellowed. He didn’t need a microphone to make himself heard, his voice carried past the two dozen tables sitting between himself and his father. “My mother didn’t die. It’s about time you told the truth. You held a funeral for her, you pretended to grieve, but she’s not dead. She left. She left you, and you couldn’t handle the rejection, so you pretended she was dead because that was easier, and because people would be more sympathetic to you that way.”
“As you can see the loss hasn’t been easy for anyone in this family,” John continued, trying to maintain the decorum of the garden reception.
“No, it hasn’t been easy for me. Because you beat my mother until she finally got the guts to leave you.”
With that revelation the over three hundred guests at the wedding gasped audibly, including me. This was what Jack couldn’t tell me. This was what he was hiding.
John Alcott’s face immediately turned a shade of red so dark he could have been mistaken for a beet. For the first time he looked like he was about to lose his composure. His hands were shaking, and every eye in the garden was on him, waiting to see what he would do next.
“Get out,” he uttered. His voice was dark, darker than I’d ever heard. He was obviously angry.
“Fine. I’m leaving. But don’t pretend this is a happy occasion, this monster has just found himself another victim,” Jack continued before turning around and walking back towards the house.
There was total and complete silence in the room for at least a few seconds. I think everyone was shell-shocked, including me.
Then, a few murmurs started up from the tables down below. I looked at my mom, she was completely pale, but I could see her trying to calm John down.
“It’s alright dear, tell them everything’s alright,” she told him.
Before anyone could say anything, I got up from my chair, and as subtlety as I possibly could, went back to the house to find Jack.
I could feel my mom’s eyes on me as I left, but I knew I had to go and see him. I wandered through the empty halls until I found him, sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the couch in one of the living rooms, bouncing a tennis ball rhythmically against the wall.
Sitting down next to him, I watched as he continued to bounce the ball.
Ba-dum-dum, ba-dum-dum, ba-dum-dum.
I don’t know how long we sat there for. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes, with neither one of us talking until finally he broke the silence.
“So now you know,” he told me.
“I do. I hadn’t realized. I’m so sorry,” I said softly.
Jack nodded. “Thanks. You know, I’ve never, ever spoken about it with anyone before. Never. Not when I was fourteen when my mom left, not afterwards. No one knows. Knew, I guess. That my dad faked her death. He didn’t want anyone to know that she had left him.”
He took a few seconds. I didn’t know what to reply, so I just took his hand and held it. He gave mine a squeeze and kept going.
“My first memory of him hitting her was when I was eight. I was supposed to be in bed, asleep, but I decided to sneak down and get a glass of water. They were fighting, and I heard the smack and her cry. I ran back up to bed without the water, I was so scared. In the morning my mom had a giant red mark on her face, which she never mentioned.”
He bowed his head and kept talking.
“Over the years I started to realize just how bad it was. And it got worse. She went to the hospital once, claimed she fell off a horse. I don’t know if the people there knew or not, but what could my mom do? My father is one of the most powerful and richest people in the country. No one was going to believe her.”
“How do you know she ran away?” I asked softly.
“Because I watched her do it. I was fourteen, it was just after an especially bad beating. I know my mom knew, at that point. After dinner, she asked to have a talk. I didn’t know what was coming. But my mom told me that dad would be staying in the city that night, as he often did. That was normal. Then she told me that she loved me, and that I was well off here, where my father had enough money to pay for everything, that it would be better for me. I didn’t know what she meant, so I went up to my room. But something didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t sleep. So when I heard a car pull up, I went over to the window and looked out to see the taxi. That was weird. Cabs never came here, everyone always had their own private drivers.”
A tear welled up in his eye, threatening to drop onto his cheek at any second, but he held it back.
“I watched my mom get into the cab with a single suitcase and I knew she was gone. She looked up at my window and saw me. I think she was shocked at first. She didn’t expect me to still be awake at two in the morning. Then she gave me the saddest look I’ve ever seen, blew me a kiss, and waved goodbye. That was the last time I saw her.”
“And your dad pretended she was dead?”
Jack nodded. “He put a funeral notice in the paper, actually had a funeral for her, grieved, all that sort of thing. I guess he figured my mom wouldn’t care enough to contradict him, and he was right. She was just from a normal family, so it’s not like everyone knew her by sight or anything. All she had to do was move away
from London and no one would have any idea who she was. I guess that was what she wanted. He paid off all the staff, it would have cost him millions, and then replaced them with new people.”
“And you kept quiet about it.”
“I did. My father came to me after, he said that if I ever said anything about it, he would write me out of the inheritance, and I’d be left with nothing. I thought about what my mom said, and how she wanted me to stay with him because of his money, because she thought I would have a better life with him. So I did it. Not for him, for my mom. She knew I’d be fine, he had never hit me. Not once. It was just her. So instead, I did whatever I wanted. I made him buy me the Lambo, and I know he hates it, but it’s basically blackmail. I flaunt it in front of him – though I’m not going to lie it’s also very, very fun to drive on its own. I do what I want, and sometimes that involves breaking the rules. Like dealing. Like getting more speeding tickets than anyone else in the city. The tattoos are legal, but my father hates them. And it makes me like them even more. This last one, the one on my right pec, doesn’t even mean anything. I just liked the design and got it for the hell of it to annoy my father. Is it healthy? Probably not. But nothing about my relationship is, and I figure it’s better to be this way than to beat women myself.”
“So what made you change your mind? Why did you tell everyone today?”
“Because I have something to lose now.”
The look in my eyes must have given away my confusion.
“You, Jules. You. I don’t want to lose you. I want you in my life, and I care about you. Hell, I love you. And because of that, I care about your mom. I don’t want her to ruin her life, I don’t want her to end up beaten and abused, feeling like there’s nothing else she can do except fly the coop in the middle of the night. I want to protect you, and that means protecting her.”
My heart melted at the moment Jack said those words.
“I love you too,” I whispered. I didn’t think about it, didn’t worry about it, I just said it. And it was the truth. I had fallen in love with Jack, fallen in love with my brother.
“It’s funny. When you first came here, I tried to drive you away, as you probably noticed.”
“Is that why you were so mean?”
“Yeah. I knew what he had done to my mom, and so I tried to make you leave on your own, in my own little way.”
“So what changed?”
“You were obviously different. I heard you talking to Oliver. I heard you give him shit for being a creepy douchebag. And I knew you could take care of yourself. And that was what I found sexiest about you. So after that, I stopped. I knew I wouldn’t manage it, and I knew that no matter what, you’d be fine.”
“And that’s why you protected me that day.”
“To be honest, no matter who it was, even if I really did hate you, I still would have stopped him. If there’s one thing in this world I can’t stand, it’s men who hit women.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and asked “so what happens now?”
Jack shrugged underneath me.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll see if my father meant it or not when he said he’d disown me if I said anything. I’ll probably go soon. I’m not going to stay here anymore, even if it means getting kicked out of the University. I’m going to get out of here pretty soon.”
“That’s probably a good idea. I should get back to the wedding, too.”
“Yeah, you should.”
“Do you want me to come by and see you tonight? Where are you going to stay?”
“I have some friends I can stay with. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll text you if I hear anything important.”
“Thanks, Jules.”
Jack leaned over and planted a soft kiss on my mouth. My insides raged at his touch, wanting more, but I knew now wasn’t the time. I leaned into his kiss and let it wash over me.
I couldn’t believe Jack had just told me he loved me. And I’d said it back! I’d meant it, of course. Did that mean we were going to take our relationship to the next level? Go public, no matter what people thought? After all, we couldn’t keep our love secret forever.
Those were questions for the future. Right now, I had to get to the wedding, and see how much trouble I was in for going after Jack.
Chapter Twenty One
By the time I got outside, the sun had already set. Going by the sounds of laughter and chit chat, along with the DJ playing David Guetta’s latest hit, I figured things had gone back to relative normalcy. Lanterns hung along the side of the wooden walls, casting light upon the hundreds of people, now dancing away in the clearing.
The DJ was where the banquet table had been, and as the song ended and Pharell’s “Happy” came on, I looked for my mom.
Finding her among the crowd, mingling with some people I supposed must have been important, she caught my eye and excused herself before coming over to me.
“Where on earth did you go?” she asked me. “I needed you.”
“I’m sorry mom. I really am. I just had a lot of questions, after Jack’s outburst.”
“That’s understandable I guess. You missed the cake cutting.”
“Oh mom, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I saved you some cake. I know how much you like it.”
“Are you ok mom? You’ve never encouraged me to eat cake before in my life!”
This at least elicited a laugh from my mother.
“I’m fine, sweetie. I was just worried about you. Don’t worry about those lies Jack told.”
“That’s the thing mom, I don’t think they’re lies.”
“Well I love John, and he loves me. Don’t think for a second that there’s anything wrong with us. If I felt like I was in danger, I would leave. Ok?”
“Yeah. Thanks mom.”
“Now, get out there on the dance floor, show me those moves you’ve got!”
With that I did the robot awkwardly towards the dance floor, my best Tina-Fey-in-30-Rock impression, making my mom laugh like crazy. John came over a minute later.
“There she is, my new daughter. Would you do the honour of giving me this dance?”
“Oooh, how can I say no to a man with such manners?” I asked, giving him my hand with an exaggerated gesture, like I was in a Jane Austen novel. I was definitely not what one would call a “good dancer”, and John quickly picked up on it, so we just moved slowly, more like stepping in tune to the music than dancing. He had one hand very lightly around my waist and held my left hand with his right.
“I hope you didn’t believe anything Jack said during the speeches,” John told me. “It is true that Laura left me, and I was too ashamed to tell the truth. I shouldn’t have done that, but I never hit her. She left me for another man, one of the men that worked in the house. Jack has always blamed me for his mother abandoning him.”
“That must be so hard,” I replied. I had seen Jack in the house. I knew he was telling the truth. But I wasn’t going to make an enemy out of John if I didn’t need to.
“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.
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