Past Due (10 page)

Jenna scooted to the edge of her seat and leaned toward Lois, “When Dad moved us here I thought it was my chance to be someone else...to grow beyond my childhood. But you know I can’t. I think by trying so hard to pretend I’m normal...to pretend my family was like everyone else’s...it just took all my energy. I’ve totally exhausted myself. I’m tired. Just completely and totally worn out from all the drama that’s been my life. I just want peace.”

Jenna recognized the look of confusion on Lois’s face. She realized she was talking in circles, at least as far as Lois could hear. “You’re confused because I’ve never told you the truth. How kind you’ve been to me over the years, Lois, and yet I’ve never trusted you with honesty. I should have just told you years ago, but I’ve never even been open with Maureen.”

“Jenna, dear, I do know you. I don’t have to know every detail in your life to know who you are. Never think you owe me anything. Come on, child, everyone has their share of secrets.”

“Well, I’m tired of secrets.”

Lois nodded. Jenna continued, “Did you know my father was a Marine?”

“No. Honestly, I never would have guessed that.”

“Yep. That’s what attracted my mother to him. Now, you need to understand, my mom never treated me like a daughter, I was her buddy. She told me things, which looking back on, as a mother myself, I’m shocked. She told me that she dated my dad because he was handsome in his uniform and set to go to Viet Nam. The sum of it all ‘stirred her passions’. So, they dated. Sent letters back and forth while he was at war. Mom was in love with a soldier in danger, but couldn’t help losing the romance when he returned home and became a civilian. She told me he asked her to marry him, but he was suddenly boring, and his plan to enter the seminary? Not at all glamorous. Instead, she decided she’d be a model. She wanted money and excitement, so she broke up with him and headed off to New York. For years they had no contact with each other. Dad met Angel’s mom, Trish, and they were married for about three years when my mom came back to town. Modeling had been a bust, so she came home and was working as a cashier at a grocery store. She told me Trish embarrassed her at work by rubbing it in mom’s face that she failed at modeling. So, my mom set out to teach her a lesson. She knew my father’s marriage was shaky at best. Trish was notoriously a difficult woman to get along with... my father can never be credited with good judgment in choosing women.” Jenna’s laugh was hollow. “Anyhow, my mother went after my father with a vengeance. With the sole intention of breaking up his marriage. She told me she planned to get pregnant and dad would be forced to leave Trish and marry her. Sadly, my mom’s plan, as with most everything in her life, wasn’t too well thought out. Trish got pregnant first. Dad had just gotten out of seminary and was beginning his career as a minister. Then my mom announced she too was pregnant. Angel and I were only three months apart.” Jenna paused, “It’d be almost laughable if I hadn’t had to live through it; had to be the crux of the scandal. If my mother had had a shred of good sense, she would have moved to a different town and just gotten on with her life. But she stayed in Fairplain, West Virginia. Ever been to a town that doesn’t have a single stop light?”

Lois nodded her head.

“Well, we’re talking small…and boring. I mean nothing happens there. So, my scandalous mother? Oh, she was the source of so much conversation. People were kind to me, but I knew. Somehow you always know when people are burning up the phone lines about your business. And my mother didn’t try at all to go under anyone’s radar. She loved being the center of the universe. She boldly gave her new baby girl her father’s name, and shoved me in Trish’s face at every turn. My mother’s only enjoyment in life was believing I was prettier, smarter, and more talented than Angel.”

“So, your father stayed on as minister?”

“Yep. He confessed his sin, accepted his duties to his bastard child, and did his best to live between the women who intentionally made his life hell.”

“So, how did you come to live with your dad?”

“My mother died when I was thirteen. In a plane crash. Her last boyfriend was a banker who had his own ultra-light, which he evidently didn’t know how to fly too well. When she died, I went to live with Dad and let’s just say, I wasn’t a welcome addition in the Privett home. Trish stayed for about a year, then she packed and left. She said she couldn’t live another day with a child who looked just like her husband’s whore. Poor Angel begged her mother not to go. Then she begged her to take her with her, but Trish refused. She told Angel to thank her father and myself for destroying their family.”

“What a bitch.”

Jenna shrugged and frowned. “After she left, and after I kind of broke down, Dad suggested we leave.”

“What happened to you, Jenna? Did you get sick?”

Jenna dropped her gaze and twisted her hands nervously, “No. I. Well, let’s just say in my childish mind, I thought everyone would be happier if I just didn’t exist.”

“You didn’t. Oh, Jenna, darling, that doesn’t solve anything.”

“I was only fourteen. I didn’t exactly have solid thinking yet. I mean a kid can only hear her birth screwed everything up so many times before she gets the hint.”

“Oh, darling.” She gave Jenna a bear hug. “You poor, poor…”

“Please, Lois. I survived.” She assured as she squirmed away from the hug, but Lois couldn’t be shrugged off, so Jenna relaxed, laying her head on her shoulder. Jenna continued, “When I got out of the hospital, my dad announced we were getting a fresh start, just him and his ladies. He chose the beach because he said the salt water had primordial powers of healing, and we all needed to heal. On our first day here, even before the moving trucks arrived, he took us both to the beach. He told us to always remember, whenever we think our problems are too big, just look out over the water and realize just how small we truly are. That was a good day. And it was the start of several good years. I can’t tell you how much I learned to appreciate my father. And I had a new goal in my life…I was going to make my dad proud of me, so he would never regret I was born. Never regret I lost him his wife and put a wedge between him and Angel.”

Jenna looked up at Lois and explained again, “That’s why I couldn’t tell him I was pregnant. I was so humiliated. And Jake made it easy to turn to him. He knew about the baby, so when I needed help, I didn’t even have to explain. He was just there; ready to do whatever needed to be done. He was going to take me to his mother, he was certain Maureen could help me work out everything. She would talk to Dad. I would stay there ‘til things were settled. The day Jake came to get me, Dad was supposed to be in the rectory all day, but he came home early. He got there just as Jake was carrying my bag out of the house. Dad went crazy. I’ve never seen him so irrational, but by then he seethed with hatred for Jake. And Jake wasn’t the least bit fond of my father. He always said if my dad wasn’t so narrow-minded and distrustful of Angel she’d still be alive.” Jenna stopped and took a deep breath. She felt the weight somewhat eased just by telling the tale. She turned her eyes to Lois, “Well, you know how it ended.”

“I remember,” Lois said gravely. Everyone remembered the day Pastor Privett shot two holes into Jake Austin. Jake had lived by the grace of God and twelve hours of surgery.

Jenna covered her face with her hands for a moment then returned her gaze to Lois. “Everyone remembers. I knew they would. That’s why I wanted to leave town, but Jake, he wouldn’t hear of it. How would I take care of a baby with no education or family? Jake asked me to marry him and I said yes because, quite honestly, I was scared. I was scared to be alone without any family, or friends. It all made sense at the time. Well…it made sense to us, but not to Dad. I went to visit him
,
D
ad
,
right before the wedding and he begged me not to marry him. I was his last daughter, I should at least wait until he could walk me down the aisle.”

“Even though it would be to the man he shot?”

“I think he gave up on convincing me Jake was bad; smart enough to try another angle. And I did feel bad about him not being there, but my pregnancy was going on three months and I was running out of time.”

“So, he still didn’t know you were pregnant?”

Jenna shook her head no. “I never told him. He figured it out when I couldn’t hide it anymore. We didn’t talk about the pregnancy at all. He never even asked when I was due. But when Tanner was born, I took him to visit and Dad fell in love. I thought everything would be fine. Dad still didn’t like Jake, but he didn’t rant and holler. And at Dad’s first parole hearing, Jake went and told the board he should be released, he forgave him and understood he was in pain over his loss. Dad was free and moved down to Buxton to be near us. Well, he also got to hear the rumors about Jake. Each week, it was something new. Dad couldn’t take it anymore, he had to put his two cents in. His favorite complaint was: why would he get me pregnant so soon after my sister died? If Jake truly loved Angel, why was he with me?”

“You never told him the truth?”

“No.” Jenna squeezed her eyes closed, “I wanted to, but Jake insisted. If we were going to protect Tanner, we couldn’t tell people what we were doing. And quite honestly, I didn’t want my dad to know my shame. It was hard enough for me to live with it.”

“So, that’s the cause of the rift between you and your dad?”

Jenna stood and paced again, “I could overlook dad’s bitching, until I told him Jake was dying. Dad said Jake was paying the price of a life spent in sin. It was too much. I owed Jake so much and I couldn’t believe my dad, of all people, would stand in judgment. I told Dad, Jake Austin was, by far, one of the best people on this earth. He just shook his finger at me and yelled, ‘knock the sand out of your head, Jenna Privett, and pay attention to what your so-called loving husband has been doing.’ I know he was talking about Jake’s affairs, but I didn’t know how to explain. Our marriage wasn’t exactly traditional and we’d never planned for it to last. It’s just neither one of us ever made the effort to get a divorce. I guess it was comfortable. I had my shield of dignity, and I had Maureen. Poor Jake paid the price. I should have divorced him. Then people wouldn’t have judged him so harshly, but whenever I offered he always grinned and said he was comfortable, that I gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘trophy wife.’” Jenna paused and smiled. “Jake sacrificed his honor for us. Without him, Tanner would have been the accidental bastard of the haughty Coulter line. Because of Jake, Tanner has a real family.”

“I see,” Lois conceded. “So, you think Tres has changed his mind?”

“That’s my problem. I don’t know what he wants. Suddenly he’s just back. Fifteen years of silence, and suddenly he’s in my face at every turn. And I don’t know what to do. I’ve lied to Maureen. I’ve lied to my son.” The thought of losing them turned her pale skin to alabaster.

“Please,” Lois patted the seat next to her, “come sit.”

Jenna shook her head. “I can’t sit. I need advice. Legal advice. That’s why I came to you.”

“If you’ll have a seat, I’ll get Teddy.”

Jenna nodded, moving silently to the seat Lois offered.

“Stay here,” Lois ordered as if speaking to a wayward pup as she hurried from the room. She returned in seconds with her portly husband in tow. Lois gave him a quick rundown of the situation. He thought a few minutes; his thick fingers rubbed his chin. “This wouldn’t happen to be Tres Coulter of the Hampton Roads Coulters?”

Jenna nodded.

Teddy exhaled, planting his hands on his knees as if he would need them to hoist himself up. “I’ll be honest with you, Jenna. If they want your son, you’re in for a battle. They have money and influence, and I know from personal experience, Barbara Coulter, his mother, is a pit bull. Used to be a circuit court judge. Hard-nosed woman without any sense of humor.”

Jenna felt her head spin. She clutched the edges of the couch, her knuckles turning white as her face.

“But on the bright side, Barbara won’t want bad press. She has three sons, all of whom it’s rumored she’d like to see in public office. Should they make a play, the threat of us spreading this story across every news outlet who’ll listen will be enough to make them want to come to an amicable agreement. Or we could take the offensive; he’d owe you a fortune in back child support.”

“I don’t want his money.”

“It’s not charity, Jenna, it’s his obligation,” Lois added.

“No money,” Jenna repeated, her voice rose. “I just don’t want him to take my son from me.”

“Then I suppose we’ll be ready to play defense. We wait. If they contact you, then you direct them to me.”

“So, you’ll help me?” Jenna asked, beaming at the first ray of hope filtering through her dark clouds.

He patted Jenna’s knee, his hand warm as his heart, “Of, course, darlin.” His wife kissed his balding head. “You just relax, steer clear of him, and let him make the first move. A guy like him won’t kidnap the boy or anything. They may or may not be scoundrels, but they do have manners. They won’t want a messy media fight.” His wink brought a slight smile from Jenna.

She thanked them both and headed home. She felt a fragment better until she imagined her own family history splattered across newspapers. Her misdeeds alone gave her defense a big enough hole for their offense to drive a semi through.

Chapter
8