Her perplexed look made Honey laugh. She thought, it feels so good to laugh again but somberly she explained as best she could to Jean how some could be just friends and some could not. She thought about Jacks as just a friend.
Never!
“Maybe not exactly, but…somewhere along those lines. I think what I should say to you, as your friend is that you should leave him alone if you do not care for him in the same way he cares for you. It would not be fair to him. I know you do not intend to have a relationship with him or anyone else, because of what happened to AJ. Am I right or not?”
Jean looked the other way without answering. When she turned back, it was with tear-filled eyes. In a small voice she stated,
“I promised before God to never love anyone else for the rest of my life.”
“And you think God holds a fourteen year old to a vow like that when the other person involved in that vow is already with Him? Jean…dear, sweet, innocent, Jean. Do you not understand that you have mourned AJ long enough? Let him go, he is gone already to be with the Father. You, on the other hand, have an entire life in front of you and a man who loves you, just waiting for you to return that love. You do love him…I know you do! Let go of the past and grab hold of the future!”
“I don’t know…”
“Know what?”
“Honey, I really don’t know how to do that. I mean just to let myself have these feelings. I am not sure I can and what will I do and then it does not work. Oh, I cannot bear open myself to this and then find out it is not even real.”
Honey shook her head. She would not push Jean but let her make up her own mind.
“If you want me to convince you it is real, I will not. I have told you my opinion and with that said, you will have to decide if it is worth the risk or not. I will say this though…no guts, no glory! I think I am a bit tired and will go in and lie down a bit so I will feel like sitting with the rest of you at the table tonight.”
“Do you need help?”
“No, I got this!”
For some reason the dismal conversation cheered Honey and she made her way to her room, she was humming a tune. It was Jacks favorite tune. She had no doubt that if what Jean and Hidey had was true love, it would not be denied.
24
At times Garrett acted in the way Jacks remembered him, but then there were the times he caught him looking at him in a strange, thoughtful way, which made him uneasy. Such as the time they were in the large library, which had a fine billiards table in the center. Garrett had challenged Jacks two hours prior and they were still going.
“Garrett, you got better at billiards since we last played. Lessons? I do not believe they have a cosmetic surgery for that, do they?”
They both laughed at Jacks humor, while Garret eyed his opponent warily.
“That, my boy, comes with practice!”
Jacks felt smug in the fact that Garrett used the phrase, ‘my boy,’ without being reminded that it was a term Asa used with him and Garrett did not. He knew he should not feel overly confident though and needed to continue the game as long as it suited his purposes. So far, in the last couple of days, Garrett had kept him busy. Too busy to think about returning to the states yet but his mind was continually on Honey. He longed just to know how she was. He dared not try to contact her, lest it reveal to Garrett that in truth, he was fully recovered from the attempt to destroy his memory.
“Yeah, right! Practice my foot, I can hardly get you to ever play, so how you figure you got practice? Anyway, you may be better than I remember, but you still have yet to win a game.”
Garrett moved around the table.
“Maybe I just want to let you think you can beat me.”
Jacks hit the ball before he answered.
“I am sure you would want me to think that, but we both know it’s not true. You have never lost a game on purpose as long as I have known you and that is a pretty long time!”
“There is always a first Jacks, always a first time for everything.”
Jacks watched as he expertly took his next shot and those, which followed, to the end of the game, which he won, easily. He wondered if it was Garrett’s way of showing off Asa’s role in his shared body for Jacks knew Asa himself, was smarter than to show his hand like that. It gave Jacks an idea. If Asa only had a percentage of authority over Garrett, it meant that Garrett was still in there somewhere and he could play on what he knew to be Garrett’s shortcomings to force his bragging side to come forward.
He racked his brain to think of something Asa had been opposed to but which Garrett loved. It was the water. Had not Asa declared his intense dislike for water and here he was overlooking the mighty Mediterranean Sea! Garrett had always loved water sports of all sorts, so if he could persuade Garrett to commit to sailing or skiing it would bring out more of Garrett and less of Asa. Maybe.
Then, perhaps he could push buttons he knew Garrett could not resist. Bragging being the desired effect, so that he could get information without even trying. He was desperate to find out where the woman… his mother was and time was running out.
Garrett interrupted his train of thought by asking,
“Another?”
“I think I should leave well enough alone.”
He laughed, adding,
“I remember how you love water sports so how about a little sailing tomorrow. You know I should be leaving soon and I would hate to go before I got a closer look at that beautiful body of water out there.”
Garrett frowned and Jacks pushed.
“Come on now, you promised me a good time, didn’t you?”
“We can take an afternoon sail, if you wish. My morning is tied up or…if you like, you could go on your own first thing in the morning. I will charter you a boat.”
“Naw, would not be as much fun without my buddy! I can wait.”
Jacks thought he saw irritation flash in Garrett’s eyes and hoped he had not given himself away.
At dinner that night, he was quieter than usual and when Jacks questioned it, he said there was a lot on his mind.
He disappeared afterwards, leaving Jacks to entertain himself and Jacks went in search of the woman who seemed to pop up even before Garrett commanded her to. He was hoping to learn something from her through innocent conversation but he was disappointed, for she was nowhere to be found. However, when he decided to go to his room, he stumbled upon a much younger woman, who was turning down his covers in preparation for the night.
“Hello.”
The woman whirled around and before she could hide it, he saw a flicker of fear in her eyes. Ducking her head down, she returned his greeting and proceeded to finish her job. Jacks pretended not to notice and cheerfully asked,
“Are you from here?”
She shook her head no.
“Did you come here from New York?”
She nodded her head for yes. Jacks was thinking he needed more open ended questions if he were going to draw her into a conversation so he asked,
“How long have you worked for Garrett?”
The girl actually looked up for a brief second and replied,
“All of my life, sir.”
She then slid past him and was out the door before he could stop her. If there had been any doubts at all as to who he was dealing with, now there was none. No way had she worked for Garrett very long or he was sure to remember her. He was certain Asa was her employer.
“Strange woman!”
“What woman?”
Jacks turned, not surprised to find Garrett standing just outside his door.
“I thought you had business to deal with.”
“Finished up early. Care for a nightcap?”
“No, but thank you.”
“What is all this turning down drinks about? You used to drink me under the table and now, first no wine with your meals, now no nightcap. What’s up with that?”
“I thought I may have told you, I quit drinking.”
“When?”
> Jacks thought wildly for a second and came up with,
“Right before I saw you that day in my office.”
“How do you know you stayed quit?”
“I don’t, I just think I would remember. I would want the alcohol if I was still indulging.”
“Why would you remember that if you do not even remember your wife?”
He laughed and Jacks gave him a ‘ha-ha,’ sarcastically.
“The loss of my memory is certainly a handicap but not something I find funny. I do not feel as if I want a drink but if it is company you want, I can join you as you have that nightcap.”
“Not necessary, you should get a good night’s sleep. I rearranged my schedule for tomorrow, so we can have a nice long sail around the island in the morning. Did you know that Chios is the only place in the world where the Mastic Gum grows? It is. Sad thing though, a fire came through recently and destroyed half of them. You will see when we get to the other side of the island.”
“I can’t wait. Remember how we used to wrangle invitations to Eddie Smiths because we knew his father would let us sail his boat?”
They were still standing just outside Jacks’ room and Garrett shook his head.
“There was no we to it. You were the slick one.
Eddie only took me because we were a package deal and he liked the girls who always followed you around.”
“What ever happened to him I wonder
“I saw his sister not too long ago and she told me he died with colon cancer. Shame, with him so young. Well, good night Jacks. I will see you first light.”
“Sure. Good night, Garrett.”
Jacks shut the door and turned a lock, which he thought would serve no purpose if someone really wanted to get in, but it made him feel better. The house may be filled with light but there was a feeling of gloom hanging over it, and Jacks was not sure how long he could endure it. He lay awake thinking about what to do next. There had to be another way to find his mother and he went to sleep finally to toss and turn through another night.
25
Honey was feeling so much better, that she started sitting up most all the day. She was way ahead of where the doctors said she would be and Romona made a bet with Jean that the healing time would be less than half of what they said it would be. She still used the crutches but mostly not to put a strain on her insides. She walked a little every day without the crutches with someone always near her, if she needed help.
Up to this point, no one mentioned Jacks for fear of upsetting her. It had been days now, almost a week, since he left her room at the hospital. For some reason she felt at peace with what he was doing but prayed constantly for his safety. While sitting in the kitchen with Jean and Romona one afternoon she mentioned how much she missed him, both were nonresponsive, and she felt annoyance at them and lashed out.
“He is only away and will be back! You all act as if he were dead!”
Romona looked up from her needlepoint.
“Oh no dear, we have kept from bringing his name up so we do not upset you. Of course, he is alive and well.”
“Well, I want to talk about him. I need to talk about him. Can you understand that? I feel like part of me is gone when I am not with him and I need to hear his name spoken at least every once in a while!”
Jean leaned over and touched her hand.
“Now that we know it will not upset you, we can talk of him as much as you want.”
Romona added,
“He sounds like a fine young man Honey and I will be honored to meet him when he does get here.”
Cheered some, Honey exclaimed,
“Oh Romona, he is the best! You will see for yourself, soon he will come!”
“I can see how much you love him.”
Romona smiled. She liked Honey. She admired the spunk she had and the will to work to get where she wanted to be. She slid her eyes over to Jean and sighed. Lord, I am trying so hard not to interfere! Can you at least give me a little hope?
About the time, she was thinking this, Hidey walked through the door. It was unusual to see him in the middle of the day since they had company so Romona asked him if something was wrong. He walked over to the fridge and helped himself to a glass of milk and after drinking half of it, remarked,
“Just thought I needed to take the afternoon off and go fishing.”
Romona liked the idea for he mostly stayed holed up in his room since company had come.
“Good idea. We have not had fried fish for a while. Bring us back a good mess and we will cook them for supper. As a matter of fact if my ole knee was not acting up, I would go with you.”
Jean surprised everyone by speaking up.
“I could go. I mean, I would be happy to help catch enough fish for supper. That is if Hidey does not mind me coming along.”
All eyes went to Hidey, as he frowned and shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t make me any difference as long as you know the fish won’t bite if you make too much noise. I am leaving in the next thirty minutes though so you might want to wear something more appropriate.”
He put his empty glass into the dishwasher and walked out to collect enough fishing gear for two. He was torn about Jean tagging alone and made his mind up to treat her just as he would Nettie or one of his other friends.
Jean blushed, but quickly got up to go change into some jeans, leaving Honey and Romona both grinning at each other waiting for them to be gone so they could talk about them. It was no secret about Romona’s desires, for she had shared her story with Honey also.
The walk up the path to the place where Hidey intended to fish was a quiet one, with neither attempting to be the first to speak. The trail was the same one Hidey had first spotted Jean on, but not quite as far up the mountain.
They left the main path to take a smaller one and soon reached a curve in the river where Hidey sat the gear down and prepared his line for fishing, leaving Jean to do her own. He was thinking that with the river still over full from the rains, they should get their fish in a hurry. He tried not to watch as Jean fumbled with her own line, but finally said in exasperation,
“Here, you better let me fix that for you or we will never catch enough fish to cook.”
He reached for the line but Jean jerked it back, moving several feet from him, muttering,
“I can do it myself. I do not need your help.”
The line unfortunately caught in some bramble and she pulled at it gently trying to get it loose but when that failed, she pulled as hard as she could. It came loose, hitting her in the face, causing her to lose her balance and plunge into the river.
Hidey turned around just in time to see her go in and in a panic he ran to where she was to help but she kept screaming,
“Don’t come in, please stay away!”
“I just intend to help you get out! Give me your hand!”
“No, you will fall in too and it will all be my fault! Stay away! I can get out by myself!”
Seeing that she was holding her own in the water, he stepped back. She started to climb out, but slipped in the mud and went back down under. Coming up, she sputtered and gasped for breath then went under again.
Hidey waited a while determined not to interfere, before he realized she was in trouble and jumped in aiming toward the spot she disappeared at, really panicking when he did not find her. The water was murky so he could not see, he could only feel for her. Finally, he touched something that felt like flesh and grabbing hold, he pulled it up. It was Jean, and he got to the bank with her and half carried and half pulled her up the bank to where she was on the ground. She was not moving and Hidey was scared. More than ever before in his life, he was scared. Remembering everything he could from his CPR class he had to take to be a volunteer firefighter, he started pushing on her abdomen. Water started spewing from her mouth and she began to cough, almost choking on the river water still coming out.
It took a while, but eventually she seemed to be all right and Hidey managed t
o find enough dead wood lying around to make a fire to help dry them. After it was going good and Jean was calmed down enough, he gave her the sandwich he had hurriedly made when she said she was coming with him. He insisted she eat it and drink the bottle of water he had brought. After she was done, she apologized for ruining his afternoon of fishing.
“It is not ruined yet. I figure by the time you dry and rest up to walk back, I can have that fish basket full of fish!”
“But, you are wet too. Don’t you need to dry?”
“I will dry while I fish. You might want to take a nap after that little incident. I would imagine your body was traumatized and could use the rest.”
He turned to go and she said,
“Thank you.”
He stopped and looked back at her and nodded,
“Welcome.”
He started to go again and she said,
“Hidey?”
He stopped but not turning around, took a deep breath and asked,
“Yeah?”
“I thought I was going to die.”
He still did not turn around but said,
“I thought you were going to die, too.”
“When I went under I could only think of one thing.”
Now, he turned around and looked at her with curiosity.
“What was it?”
“I thought I would die and you would never know how much…”
Now he was not breathing, daring not to breathe lest the scene playing out would disappear.
“How much…I have come to love you.”
His breath came out slowly and all he could say was,
“You think? You sure what you are feeling is not gratitude? Because I don’t think I believe you.”
Jeans hair was beginning to dry and its natural curl was showing out and with the sprinkling of freckles across her nose, she looked half her age. Her tendency to be embarrassed at the smallest thing caused her cheeks to burn, but determination won out, and she simply asked,
“What can I do to show you that my feelings have nothing to do with what happened? It just made me admit them.”
Another Deception Page 14
