Page 67 of The Rebel
“No,” Jade was forced to say. “We...we don’t see eye to eye on this.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Gramma said, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Why can’t you fix it?” Jade said. And in an instant, he cracked. “What happened? She said it’s none of my business, but why can’t you fix it?”
With a heavy breath, Pops leaned forward in his armchair. “We’ve tried to reach out, Jade. We have.”
“Obviously not hard enough,” Jade shot back.
“Jade, we’ve tried,” Gramma cried. “She’s blocked us. She won’t reply to our letters.”
“Letters?” Jade seemed shocked to hear that.
“Yes, we’ve written letters. We’ve had our lawyer send letters,” Gramma said, shaking her head in wretched misery. “She won’t have anything to do with us.”
“Have you apologized?” Jade asked curtly.
“We can’t even contact her,” Pops said.
“Whatever this is about, I distinctly remember hearing her say that you never apologized,” Jade said, and now he was fighting to stay calm. “Have you apologized?”
I now needed to be even braver. Jade needed every ounce of my support. I shifted closer and hooked my arm through his and clasped his hand with mine.
“Mom’s struggling. And I don’t think she can keep going like this.” I squeezed him tighter. “We have to fix this.”
“Jade, we’ve tried...”
“Not hard enough!” Jade shouted, “not nearly hard enough. You know where we live, why haven’t you visited?”
“Dani made it clear she didn’t want us anywhere near her or you and Oliver.” Gramma was trembling, her graceful facade in tatters. “We didn’t want to make things worse.”
“Worse?” Jade queried in sarcasm. “Things couldn’t get worse. Dad is dead and you’re fighting with Mom...it can’t get worse than that.”
Pops exhaled in frustration. “We know we got things wrong.”
”Wrong? What did you do wrong?” Jade demanded.
“Everyone was upset. Alex’s passing was heartbreaking. We said things in anger. In grief.” Pops’ brow knitted tightly as he wrung his hands together. Tears clouded his eyes and he murmured, “We hate that it turned out like this. We want to fix it. But...” He raised his hands as if he was helpless, unable to resolve things.
“Yes,” Gramma concurred, her elegance succumbing to dejection and frailty. “We miss you all so much. We not only lost Alex but you and Ollie and Dani. It breaks our heart every day.”
“Mom’s not happy either,” Jade stated. “I know she isn’t.”
It was like there was a collective sigh, everyone in agreement that the situation needed a solution, but no one coming up with a way forward.
Jade turned to me with piercing eyes, squeezing my hand tighter, like more than ever he needed my support. “Gramma, Pops,” he said, “you need to come home with us now. You need to talk to Mom. This has to be sorted.”
Gramma’s throat bobbed and she stared at Jade. “But, Dani...will she even agree to see us?”
“We need to try,” Jade said in full authoritative mode. “We have to do it.”
Pops looked at his watch, then at Gramma. “Yes,” he said. “We can follow you to Covington. It’s our best chance for a reconciliation.”
“Let’s do it then,” Gramma said shakily.
Gramma and Pops went to pack a bag and lock up the house. Jade and I waited out in his truck. By then, he was second guessing himself, his confidence faltering.
“What if Mom won’t even see them? What if they drive all that way and she refuses to let them in the house?”
