The Truth About Fairy Tales (33 page)

             
This was not something I was expecting from dear sweet sometimes-prudish Gen. “I’m not going to tell you about my sex life,” I announced totally astonished.

             
“Please, Maggie, Serena has been too mad at Jeff to have sex and anyways she’s laughing too hard to say a thing. Please just tell me how good it is.”

             
I thought about refusing flat out. After all, I doubted that my guy back home would be too pleased if he found out I’d been divulging things that were best kept between us. The look on her face changed my mind.

“Okay, but you for one are going to have to slow down on those things. You’re going to be sick.” She nodded and sat down next to Serena at the kitchen table.

I realized then that I had both of their undivided attention. This was something they’d both obviously been curious about for a long time.

             
“What is up with you two? We’ve talked about our love life before.”

             
“Oh, yeah, sure if you mean, ‘oh, I love him,’ or ‘oh, he’s so perfect’. I’ve told you all about Jeff, but you’ve always skirted around giving us any details with Jackson. So, spill it. Is he as good as he looks? He is, isn’t he?”

             
I had their full attention all right. Two sets of eyes watched me in speculation and I couldn’t keep from smiling. I couldn’t disappoint my friends, could I? Jackson would just never have to know about this conversation.

             
“Oh yeah, he’s
that
good alright. Better even and if you two ever tell him I said that about him, I’ll deny it.”

             
They were shaking their heads so fast that I wondered which was going to get whiplash first.

             
“The first time? Well, let me tell you, it was unexpected and nothing at all like I believed. The man is magical. I never told you guys this, but the first time was the night after we met.” I shook my head to the enraptured ‘no’. “He pretty much kidnapped me from work.” I stopped and looked at them, wondering how much of Jackson’s trust I was betraying by telling them that.

             
“Oh, don’t stop now, Mags? Don’t worry, we won’t tell him. What happened? He kidnapped you from work and what?”

             
“He told me later on that he’d been crazy about me even before we met and that he was only using Ben as an excuse to get to meet me. That night, he took me back to his house and we got into an argument. Me, being my usual stubborn self, and Jackson, being well, Jackson Riley. The next thing I know he was kissing me and taking my clothes off. I didn’t even think about stopping him. It was…unbelievable.”

             
“Oh, dammit, Maggie, how do you get so lucky?” This was Serena. “The guy is not only the richest man around, but he’s probably the best looking as well. Now we find out he’s great in bed. Gees, some people have all the luck.”

             
“Okay, shut up, Serena. I want to hear the rest of the story. There’s more isn’t there?”

             
“Unfortunately. Ben came home and put two and two together and figured out what had happened. He was so hurt and I felt so bad because of it. But Jackson came back after they’d argued and Ben left, and made love to me all over again. Then, he told me to leave.”

             
“What?” This had gotten both of their attentions. “He told you to leave? Why?”

             
“Well, you see he had this thing. He said no woman had ever spent the night at his place. I think it was his way of keeping the women in his life in their place. If they didn’t spend the night then it wasn’t anything but sex. Anyway, I was so humiliated that I just walked out. The following night, after Ben confronted me and I’d been sick all day from walking home in the rain, I went to Jackson’s house and confronted him. It didn’t go exactly the way I’d planned.”

             
“What happened?” Genna was on the edge of her seat.

             
“We ended up back in bed. He found out I was sick and I ended up staying with him the rest of the night. I left that morning, but he came over to my place and brought me medicine and chicken soup. We’ve been together ever since that time.”

             
“Well, that just makes me sick.” Serena, who'd had one too many drinks, said. “I hope you appreciate that guy, because you are one lucky broad.”

             
“Okay you, what’s going on inside that head of yours lately? I mean, you know Jeff’s a good guy and you’ve told us both at least a thousand times how good the sex is between you, so what’s up?” I asked her.

             
Serena was up and prowling around the kitchen again, her alcohol buzz all but gone. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong with me! It’s just that I’m so afraid I’m missing out on something—I know that sounds crazy and don’t get me wrong. I love Jeff, but there are times when I just want to go out and have one last fling. If feels like if I don’t do it now then I’m making the biggest mistake of my life. I mean, how can I just settle down into this whole married life thing and not go crazy? Do you ever feel that?”

             
Serena knew better than to ask Gen. She knew the answer to that already. Gen had wanted to be married since she was a kid. She’d been looking forward to having babies almost as long.

             
“No, but I think I can understand a little. For me, it’s more like I keep expecting something to come along to destroy everything. It’s hard for me to be this happy and not expect disaster. Serena, I think what you’re feeling is normal. Lots of women feel that way. You think maybe something wonderful is waiting just around the corner and if you settle, you’ll miss it.”

             
“Exactly. Oh don’t look at me like that, Gen. I know Jeff’s a good guy and I love him, really I do. It’s just that, you know my track record? I’ve always dated the bad guys. Jeff was totally out of character for me. I gravitate to the ones that are dangerous.”             

“Oh, I remember alright. I remember having to talk you through how many broken hearts, when those dangerous ones left you high and
dry. Is that what you think you’re missing? All those losers you used to date that only used you and left you crying. Serena, you may think you’re some carefree girl, but the truth is you’re not. You’re just human and you’re scared. You got yourself a good guy and you don’t know how to deal with that. You and Maggie are a lot alike in that sense. You’re both scared.”

             
Serena and I sat in shocked silence staring at each other and wondering how little Miss Susie Homemaker here had gotten so smart.              

“You do what you think you have to, Serena, but I’m telling you if you lose that guy you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. You’ll never get another chance. Don’t blow it.”

              I don’t know if Serena would ever have actually had that fling, I think she just needed to say it out loud because what she was really afraid of was letting go of her old self.

But the following day, three little girls from
Santa Anna, Texas walked down the aisle of the Baptist church. One of them promised her love forever to a good guy. The nice kind. Whether or not she believed it just yet, it was exactly what she’d been looking for all along.

Chapter Eighteen

              And then there was me. The last holdout of the three little small town girls. With one month left before my wedding, I was looking forward to nothing else. Seeing Serena with all of her doubts had made me realize how much I wanted to marry Jackson. I think I told him that every single day.

             
Everything was set. All the wedding plans were finished. We were all ready for the magical day, but I was fighting that desperate feeling of fate with every single tick of the clock.

Something kept me frightened and holding onto that tiny girl of my past. For some reason, even though all of my childhood issues were settled, I still couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t talk to
Jackson about it, because I didn’t want him to think I was afraid of marrying him.

             
Instead, I talked to my mom. She was fast becoming the one that I went to with my fears. Maybe because we’d both been down together, but she understood how fragile happiness really was and she tried to assure me that the only person who could take my happiness away was me.

             
With no more wedding plans to make, I threw myself into my work.

Jackson and I hadn’t really decided where we were
to spend our honeymoon, but we planned for it to last two weeks. So, in preparation for that time away, I was working long hours, as was he, getting things caught up. It was on one such day over a pile of legal books that my happiness was shaken to its very core.

             
When Jackson’s best friend Sam walked into my office, the look on his face told me something was terribly wrong.

             
“What is it? Is he okay?” I wasn’t aware of moving at all, but there I stood in front of Sam, praying.

             
“He’s okay…he asked me to come get you because he knew you’d panic. Jackson is going to be fine.”

             
“Then why are you here?”

             
“Maggie, just listen, okay? He was having some chest pains, but he’s okay. His doctor did a very thorough exam and concluded it was probably only very minor angina due to stress.”

             
I don’t think I really heard what Sam was saying because I was throwing my things into a desk drawer and searching for my car keys.

             
“I have to go to him.”

             
“Maggie, calm down. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to take you to Jackson. He knew you’d panic and he didn’t want you driving by yourself. The truth is its stress from the job. You know how hard he’s been working on the new contracts—for a long time now. He’s going to be okay, Maggie. He just needs to slow down.”

             
Jessie and Rich had heard the noise and come to find out what was wrong. Sam introduced himself, because I couldn’t and told them everything. “I’m going to take her to Jackson now.”

             
“Of course. Will you call us later?” I nodded, but I didn’t really hear a word of what they’d said.

             
The drive to the hospital seemed to take hours, although it was only a little ways from Jackson’s office.

             
I found him in the emergency room and the sight of him there, even though he was all but dressed when I came in, buttoning his shirt, made me cry.

             
I went to him and held him, but I couldn’t say a word. I was crying too hard.

             
“Maggie, its okay. Didn’t Sam explain what happened?” Poor Sam received one of Jackson’s angry looks that always sent me scurrying and had the poor man searching for words to reassure him.

             
“Tell me what happened, Jackson,” I interrupted, giving the poor old man a break.

             
“It was only a minor angina attack, right, doc? I asked my doctor…Doctor Jennings, here, to stick around until you got here because I knew you wouldn’t believe me. So, tell her, doc…please.”

             
“Maggie—is it?” The good doctor took my hand and shook it. “Zack Jennings. And yes, it was only a mild case of angina, probably triggered from too much stress, but I’ve told Jackson that this is a wakeup call and should not be ignored. He needs to take it seriously and make some changes in his life. Starting with diet and more exercise, but most importantly doing away with as much of the stress that brought the attack on as possible. I’m going to give you a good low fat diet to follow and an exercise regimen that will help, but for the most part, Jackson, it’s going to have to be up to you. You’ve got to work on getting rid of the stress from your life.”

             
I turned back to Jackson and held him tight. I was so afraid that my worst nightmare would become reality and all of my happiness would be taken away. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him.

             
“It’s okay, I’m fine. I’ve already taken steps to alleviate the stress at work. I was going to surprise you with this at our wedding, but I see now that you won’t believe me if I don’t tell you what I’m up to. So, here goes. Ben is back in Austin and has been training to take over the new business contracts. I was going to wait to turn things over officially to him until after I returned from our honeymoon, but I’ll just start now—how’s that? Ben will just have to be ready.”

             
“That sounds like a very good start. And congratulations on your upcoming wedding. Well, I’ll leave you now. I need to finish my rounds. Keep an eye on him, Maggie. Make sure he keeps those promises. I don’t want you to see you back here anytime soon, but I do want you to come to my office next week.”