Simmering Heat

by Leora Gonzales

  “Jasmine Jane, we provided everything you needed as a child.” Victoria sniffed, tilting her nose in the air.

  “No, I needed a mom who asked me if I had any crushes, or a mom who took me shopping for my first bra. Those things are what a girl needs growing up. Instead, I made do with Janet, and she was fantastic but it wasn’t her role. It was yours.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Victoria wrinkled her brow as much as her recent trip to her doctor would allow.

  “It’s not silly. It’s something that bothered me.”

  “You never said anything….”

  “You’re right. I didn’t say anything. You want to know why? Because I understood how important your work was to you. I get it, Mom. You love your job. I just want something different for myself. It’s not less. I just have different goals.”

  “So, I was a bad mother? Is that what you’re saying?” Her mother sounded defensive.

  “No, you were the mother that you were. I never wanted for anything, but there is more to it than providing food and shelter. There wasn’t a connection between us and that is something I will always regret. But, don’t you see? We have the opportunity to change. You can’t go back in time and give me hugs or kiss me at night when you tuck me in. That time is lost and I will always look back on it knowing that maybe if I had said something sooner we would be in a different situation than the one we’re in now. I’m giving you the chance to accept who I am today and tomorrow and next year. I like who I am. I like my life.”

  Jasmine held her breath. Her stomach was tumbling as she waited for some sign that her mother understood what she was saying.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” Victoria whispered, looking unsure of herself for the first time that Jasmine could ever remember.

  “Just say that you love me and you support me.”

  “Of course, I love you. Don’t be ridiculous,” Victoria snapped.

  “Then show it, because honestly, I can’t tell if you even like me half the time,” Jasmine rushed out.

  “How?” The single word was torn from Victoria as if she was floundering with no idea what to say or do.

  Jasmine smiled softly. “Be there for me, that’s all I ask.”

  Victoria squeezed Jasmine’s hands where they were still palm to palm. “I’ll try….”

  “That’s all I ask.” Before she could say more or change her mind, Jasmine reached forward and pulled her mother into a hug. The action was stiff and uncomfortable, but she couldn’t remember the last time they had such intimate contact.

  “Oh, and also give Leo a break okay? He makes me happy,” she whispered into her mother’s shoulder.

  Victoria shrugged, the movement lifting Jasmine’s head up and down. “A firefighter? Really, Jasmine?”

  Stepping back, Jasmine grinned. “Believe me, it wasn’t what I expected either but we fit.”

  “If you say so,” Victoria replied with her lips closed and an expression that looked slightly out of place on her mother’s normally stoic facade.

  “Can we go save Leo now? I hate leaving him alone to face dad on his own,” Jasmine admitted.

  “I have a feeling that he is doing just fine on his own, Jasmine Jane.” Her mom laughed.

  “Oh, and can you please not call me that?” At her mom’s surprised look, Jasmine made a face. “When you say my name like that I always feel like I’m in trouble.”

  Victoria nodded slowly before smiling again. This time, the grin taking over her face was more relaxed than the last. “You know when you were little I used to call you JJ.”

  Jasmine drew back with a shocked expression on her face. “I don’t remember that.”

  “You were maybe five years old when I stopped,” her mother admitted. “Would it bother you if I used that nickname again?”

  “There is nothing I would like more, Mom,” Jasmine answered, her eyes filling with tears at the thought. “There is nothing I would like more.”

  Chapter 21

  “It’s good to see you again, Reginald,” Leo greeted as he walked into the study.

  “Leonard,” Reginald said, clipped. “I would say it was good to see you but I’m unsure right now if I approve of the relationship that you and my daughter have.”

  “Please call me Leo,” he invited as he walked farther into the room.

  “And please call me Dr. Kingsford,” Jasmine’s father replied.

  Leo took a seat in the large leather chair facing Reginald’s imposing wooden desk. The entire room was something off a movie set. The walls were lined with built in mahogany shelving that was filled with old books. Their weathered spines showed their age.

  Everything in this house was formal, almost untouchable. Including the two people living in it.

  “Reginald, let me start by saying that I understand your concerns,” Leo started.

  “Good.” Reginald nodded as if his job had been completed for the day.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I said I understand, not that I agree with it,” Leo said, happy to be able to burst his bubble. “Your daughter is an adult and can make her own choices on who she decides to date.”

  “When you have kids someday you’ll understand—”

  “Reggie, is it okay if I call you Reggie?” Leo hid the smile that he wanted to let loose at the look on poor Reggie’s stiff face. “When I have kids, they will be raised in an environment that is the exact opposite of what you and your wife provided.”

  When Reginald could do nothing but make noises as if he were so insulted he wasn’t able to formulate words, Leo continued, “My mom helped raise Jasmine the entire time she worked here, and you know what? For a long time, I was pissed off that I had to share my mom with a spoiled little rich girl. It wasn’t until I saw how starved she was for love and attention that I realized my mom was loving enough to care for the both of us without me losing in the end. Are you hearing what I’m saying? Even as a kid, I could see how much Jazz wanted your attention and from what I can see it’s something she still has never been able to get from the two most important people in her life.”

  Leo let his words sit for a moment before he spoke again. “Do you realize how fucking lucky you are?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you have a smart, beautiful daughter who, regardless of the pressures she has had heaped on her shoulders over all these years, still wants you to be there for her,” Leo answered plainly. “She has walked on eggshells her entire life trying to please you, and you still keep moving the finish line on her just as she’s about to cross it.”

  “We never intended—”

  “Give me a break and be honest with yourself,” Leo bit out, becoming more frustrated the longer Jasmine’s father denied his lack of parenting.

  “Leo, I’m not sure who the hell you think you are but nobody talks to me this way,” Reginald growled, showing more emotion in that one sentence than Leo had ever seen him display.

  “I’m the man who is lucky enough to be loved by the woman that you always seem to underestimate,” Leo answered calmly. “Your daughter is one of the most amazing souls I have ever met. She’s kind to everyone. She goes out of her way to show the people in her life how much they mean to her. And honestly, you need to be thanking my mom for the way Jasmine turned out. She raised the both of us. My mom loved that little girl and it broke her heart that she was simply an accessory that you two pulled out whenever you needed her. She taught Jasmine what was important in life. Hell, why do you think I became a firefighter? My mom instilled in me that there was more to life than just me. She made sure I knew what the bigger picture was and how helping others made me more. You’ve had her to yourself for years now and I still don’t think you know the person Jasmine has become.”

  “I know how my daughter is.” Reginald began to lecture while Leo shook his head sadly at the man in
front of him. The man who, for all intents and purposes, was more of a sperm donor than father figure.

  “You think you do, but you don’t.” Leo stood up from where he was sitting, unable to stay still any longer. “You’re going to lose your daughter if you don’t start acting like she’s your daughter and not simply something to manage.”

  “Is that a threat?” Reginald blustered, standing up as well.

  “No, it’s the truth.” Leo pointed to the closed door leading to the rest of the house, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible. “Jazz is finally realizing how much she doesn’t need you, and I can tell that it kills you to know that. She’s not a puppet that you can manipulate to do your bidding. She’s become a nurse and not a doctor, so what? Why is that such a bad thing? She’s doing something she loves. She loves working at that doctor’s office. She adores every single one of the children that come in and it fulfills her.”

  “But she could have so much more,” her dad argued, his stance less aggressive than before.

  “She doesn’t want anything more. She’s happy,” Leo pointed out with a grim smile. “Don’t devalue what makes her happy.”

  Reginald snorted, the noise sounding odd coming from a man who was dressed impeccably in a suit. “And you think you can make her happy?”

  “Yes, sir. And if not, I’m going to try my damn best to do so because she means everything to me.” Once the words left his lips, Leo realized how true they were. “She means more than everything to me actually. She’s my forever.”

  Reginald plopped back down into his study chair, the motion causing it to roll a small bit on the carpet.

  Leo ran his hand over his jaw, hoping that he had somehow dented the shell that always seemed to surround him.

  “Jazz loves you, and for some reason she loves me too,” Leo added, wanting to relieve some of the tension. “All she wants is for you to love her back.”

  “I do, her mother and I do,” Reginald said softly, his head dropping down to his chest as if he had come to some great conclusion.

  “You need to start showing her that. You need to have her back. If not for your own sake then at least for hers.”

  Jazz’s dad stood abruptly, moving to the sideboard on one wall. He pulled out a bottle of scotch. “Would you like one as well?” he asked, tipping the bottle toward a second glass.

  “Yeah, I think I might need it,” Leo admitted with a crooked smile.

  “Me too,” Reginald replied with a nod before pouring a second glass and walking back to where Leo sat. Instead of taking his previous seat across the large desk he sank into the chair next to Leo.

  “Tell me about my girl,” Reginald asked, his voice low with emotion. “I have a feeling I don’t know her as well as I thought.”

  “Where should I start?” Leo offered, somewhat stunned at the complete turnaround of the man he expected to be a little harder to crack.

  “How about at the beginning?” Reginald took a large drink of the scotch in his hand, his posture relaxed in the leather chair.

  “It’s too late to start at the beginning, but I can fill you in on what I’ve seen since I came back.” Leo took a sip, the liquid burning his throat in a good way.

  “Is she really happy being a nurse?” Reginald sounded disbelieving, the idea obviously out of his realm of thought.

  “Yes. Every night she tells me funny little stories about her day.” Leo smiled at the memories of their evenings over the last couple months. “Her favorite appointments are newborns when she gets to cuddle them. You know what she said the other day to me?” he asked, not waiting for her dad to reply. “She said that one of the new moms came in crying, convinced she was the worst mom ever to exist and Jazz told her ‘as long as you love that little baby, you can’t go wrong.’ To her, it’s that simple. If you love your kids and show them that, then everything else is just extra.”

  Reginald ran his hands through his hair, mussing what Leo could only assume was a hundred-dollar haircut.

  “She knows we love her, doesn’t she?” The question was spoken as if the thought was a knife to his heart.

  “I think she does, but she also feels like she’s a disappointment to you. Not only with the job but with everything that she is,” Leo answered, not holding back.

  Reginald shook his head sadly. “I never thought she was unhappy. We gave her everything she ever wanted.”

  “Things, Reggie. You gave her things. She didn’t want or need all the trappings that came with being your daughter. She just needed you.”

  Reginald nodded.

  “I admit, when I read some of the texts that Victoria had sent her I wondered if we were being too hard on her. Her mother managed her with the idea that it was what was best for everyone. We thought that was our job as parents.” Standing up again as if he couldn’t help but move, Reginald walked to the office’s large window. “She always did what we asked, and never complained about any of it. The dates, the dinners, the conferences that she attended with us. She showed up with a smile…normally wearing what her mother requested even though it was something that she wouldn’t have chosen for herself. We never considered that it wasn’t something she wanted because she always agreed.”

  “She knows that part of the problem is her going along obediently for so long, but you can’t be upset with her for saying enough is enough. It was a long time coming. You raised a strong daughter, and she finally decided to stand up for herself. Honestly, I don’t know how the hell she turned out so well rounded. I’ve seen kids in her situation that rebel and do the exact opposite. That’s not who Jazz is though. No matter what, she wanted to make you happy.”

  “Even at her own expense?”

  “Even then.” Leo nodded. “This change isn’t because of me either; that’s all Jazz.”

  “I’ll give her credit. Jasmine seemed to speak her mind more in the last few years. Hell, she had no problem saying no to med school no matter how much her mother and I insisted on it.” After a small pause, he asked, “So where do we go from here?”

  “I can’t tell you that. It’s totally up to Jazz.” Leo tilted his glass up to finish it off. “But I do know that she wants you in her life. If not, she would have cut you out years ago.”

  Reginald finished his own drink as silence filled the room.

  Leo reached for his glass. “Do you want me to pour us another?”

  Nodding, he held out his own. “Leo, I hope you never make the same mistakes that I have made.”

  “Sir, I can honestly tell you that even if I fuck it up, Jazz would be more than enough of a parent for both of us,” he said. Truer words had never left his lips. Three months ago, he wouldn’t have ever thought to even hint at being a parent much less someone he would be a parent with. No, three months ago he had been living in his own world. One that revolved around easy woman and working hard.

  Apparently, his priorities had changed and it was all due to the little spitfire who lit a flame within his heart.

  “So, you and Jasmine?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Oh, stop with the ‘sir’ already. Call me Reggie,” he joked, his voice sounding lighter than Leo could ever remember hearing it. Reginald tipped back in his chair and eyed Leo. “Now, I want to hear why you think you are good enough for my daughter.”

  Leo took a deep breath. “Reggie, I can honestly say that nobody will probably ever be good enough for Jazz. Even me.”

  Reggie simply raised his eyebrow and waited for Leo to continue.

  “She’s one of the best people I have ever met and I promise that I will do anything that I can to make her happy.” Leo smiled just thinking about what their future could hold. “I can only imagine what having a daughter is like, and honestly, the thought scares the shit out of me. Jazz is one of the most important people in my life, other than my mom. If you want the truth, I can’t imagine
a life without her. I expect the longer we’re together the stronger we’ll get. I would like to say that if she decided tomorrow that she wanted out I would let her…but I know that would be a lie. My happiness is tied to her and I can’t see that changing. She’s the first thought in my head when I wake up, and I don’t want to go to sleep without holding her.”

  Reggie’s face was stern, but he nodded at Leo. “That sounds like a start.”

  Leo smiled at the man who he might be starting, just a smidge, to like. “That’s just the beginning.”

  And with those words, the men shared a smile as they tipped their glasses in a toast of understanding.

  Chapter 22

  “I cannot believe how tonight turned out,” Jasmine whispered from the passenger seat as they were heading back to Larryville. “I can’t believe you called my dad Reggie!”

  “Did you see your mother’s face?” Leo chuckled, not taking his eyes off the road while he drove on the highway.

  “I thought she was going to have a heart attack! It was hysterical, I can’t wait to tell Janet what you did tonight, your mom is gonna chew your ass out for the way you behaved.” Jasmine giggled, a huge smile taking over her face. “And poor Crystal didn’t know what to do with herself when she heard it. I’m amazed she didn’t drop the salad bowl!”

  Leo laughed, the car filling with his deep chuckles and Jasmine’s tinkling giggles.

  The maid had almost had a stroke when Victoria had decided to move the dinner from the formal dining room to the more intimate kitchen area. Some things just weren’t done in the Kingsford household.