Jenna didn’t remember the ride home. It seemed like they just left the zoo, but now she was sitting on her couch at home. She always planned to tell Jackson about what happened at some point; just not at this early stage in their relationship. As awful as the whole thing was, there was a sense of relief, too. She’d been living with Tony’s ghost for so long that once she’d been able to move on she hadn’t wanted to think about it for fear of ruining everything.
But it was all out in the open now. Whatever was going to happen, would now happen. It was out of her hands.
Maybe it was never in her hands at all.
Jackson returned from the kitchen after what felt like forever with a cup of hot tea. Jenna accepted it, but didn’t drink. She set it on the coffee table and stared into space for what she imagined to be hours, but knew was probably only a minute or so.
Jackson hovered for a moment before breaking the silence.
“Do you need anything, Jenna?” His voice was soft.
“No.”
“Do you want me to go?”
“No.”
Jackson sat next to her on the couch as though he didn’t know what else to do. He put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her, but remained silent. Jenna let herself slump against him and rested her head against his chest. The fact he was even still there was a comfort in itself.
“I was engaged once,” Jenna began, unsure how she was supposed to begin this kind of conversation.
“You don’t have to talk about this.”
“I know,” Jenna said as she pulled away to face him. “I want…I need to.”
Jackson remained quiet.
“I met Tony at the beginning of my last year at Harvard Law. He was a Homicide Lieutenant with the Boston PD who was asked to speak at one of my classes. After the class, he asked me to have a cup of coffee with him. The connection was instant for the both of us and we were dating before I knew it.
“We kept our relationship a secret, for the most part. When I met him I was an intern at a prestigious firm and it wasn’t a secret that there was no love lost between them. We weren’t doing anything wrong, but we both realized a need to be discreet.
“It was after I graduated that we came down here for Lana’s birthday party. I didn’t know it at the time, but he came with me to ask for Daniel and Elaine’s blessing to marry me. Come to think of it, he was terribly old-fashioned for his age. Anyway, he asked me just before the party that you saw on video earlier.”
Jenna paused to wipe a rogue tear away from her cheek and continued.
“We agreed not to tell our friends in Boston or set a date until I passed the Bar, which I was scheduled to take that December. He didn’t want anything to distract me from it. He didn’t like the fact that I would be defending the people he was trying to put behind bars, but he was still supportive.
“Everything fell apart at the beginning of November. His partner was the only person who knew about us there, so he had to deliver the bad news to me. Tony was in a convenience store when some junkie tried to rob it. He was off-duty, but tried to stop the guy. There was a struggle. He was shot. He was gone before the ambulance arrived.
“I was given time off from the firm to study for the exam, so I didn’t have to tell anyone why I needed time off for the funeral. That was when I found out my firm was defending the guy who killed Tony. They won and I never went back.”
“I guess that’s why you gave up the law,” Jackson said.
“That’s a part of it.”
She hadn’t talked with anyone about Boston in years, not even Trista. She always avoided the subject to avoid dealing with her feelings. The sense of closure washing over her was unexpected. It felt as though a weight was lifted from her shoulders. And her heart. It felt as though she could face her pain and move on.
She finally felt peace.
“My father was a lawyer, a very good one actually, and it was always his dream for his children to follow in his footsteps. He learned Elaine had no intention of fulfilling that wish for him when we were still young. It all fell on me. I went to law school out of a sense of duty, not because I wanted to. I didn’t even pick Harvard Law. He was an alumni. Being a legacy and the daughter of Michael Monroe held a lot weight. It was a done deal before my senior year ever began.”
“How did you end up writing?” Jackson asked.
“It was a dream of mine to write since I was a child. After Tony died, I needed to do something that was for me. Only me. I moved here and shut myself off from the world. Until I met you, that is.”
Jackson was quiet for a long moment. It looked to Jenna as though he was about to say something when his cell phone rang. He looked at the display for a moment and frowned.
“I’m sorry, Jenna, but I have to take this. It’s my sister Sherry. She’s had a rough time with her husband lately.”
“I understand,” Jenna lied. “I need to change anyway.”
© 2009, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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I know.
so sad