Page 84 of Steel & Jenna
“It was awful for me being separated from you too,” Jack told her. “But it was almost like a drive for me. To make myself better for when we were finally able to be together again.” He pulled on her short hair that was sticking out under her hat. “Your mom came to your dorm on Tuesday. That was the day…”
Jenna nodded, not needing him to finish that sentence. “This is where I need you to stay calm, Jack. I am not condoning a single thing she did. In fact, I’m condemning her for it. But I do need you to hear me all the way out before you jump to conclusions.”
Jack did not like the sound of that, but he promised.
“From what I understand, your dad tracked down my mom in Seattle. For months since his release, he was trying to get the money she owed him for robbing her house. She’d promised him money, but he’d gotten little, if anything, up front. The rest was supposed to be paid after you were arrested. Mom kept going on about how stupid and gullible your dad was that she was actually going to pay him and not have him thrown into jail beside you.
“Anyway, finally your dad was able to corner my mom in Seattle. Rather than give him what was promised, my mom was able to convince him thatyouhad his money. That after he was arrested and went to jail, she gaveyouthe money.” Jenna’s chin trembled as she admitted, “He believed her.”
Jack closed his eyes, his head falling back against the glass of the rear windshield. “‘Bring me what’s owed to me, boy… My money for the bitches…’” He pressed his bent knuckles to his forehead. “That fucker!”
Jenna carefully lowered his hands back down. She waited for him to open his eyes. “Tuesday morning my mom came to my dorm. I don’t know when she talked to your father specifically, but I’m assuming it was that morning or the night before. She told me that she’d had enough. That if ‘that boy’ meant so much to me that I would be willing to ruin my life over him, then I could return to him. To you,” she corrected. “In a sense, she was releasing me from my prison. She did warn me, though, that I wouldn’t like what I found. That you’d likely moved on and I would see for myself that I was making myself miserable for nothing.”
Swallowing hard, she continued, “I bought a car and drove myself as fast as I could to your house. Only…I found police cars and ambulances outside your house. You know what I found when I went inside. After you told me to leave, I spoke with Mr. Zarin. When he went back to talk to you, I found Chief Cunningham looking at me funny. That was when I learned about his suspicions about my mother’s part in Mrs. Zarin’s murder. I don’t know what my mom expected me to find. I do know that murder was never her intent.”
“She didn’t pull the trigger.” His voice was hoarse. “My father still pulled the trigger. We learned from Lilly that Mrs. Zarin tackled my dad. She threw herself on him, even though he had a gun, so Lilly could run free. She… She sacrificed herself for Lilly.”
Jenna’s gloved hands gripped his cheeks. “My mom still put the gun in his hand. Metaphorically, at least. My mom is the reason he went to your house on Tuesday. She set all of this in motion to keep us apart, Jack. To make you look bad in my eyes. To change my perception of you. Your dad pulled the trigger, but my mom loaded the gun.”
Jack shook his head. It was all so…stupid. Mrs. Scanlon’s hatred of him, all because he didn’t live in the same tax bracket as she did, had killed an innocent and good woman. A woman who had taken in two abandoned children who needed a home. “What happens now?”
“Well, that’s up to Chief Cunningham. Unfortunately, it took a bit for him to track down a judge thatisn’tin my parents’ pocket. I borrowed a camcorder from my school’s library and was able to getmy mom to confess on tape. She doesn’t know I have that tape, by the way,” Jenna added. “Or that I did. I gave it to Chief Cunningham at the funeral today. It just all worked out that I was able to get the confession before the funeral and don’t have to go back to get it.”
“Are you staying then? Here, in Port Townsend?” Hope nearly set his chest on fire.
“For a bit at least. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. Once Chief Cunningham gets the judge to sign the warrant, my mom’s going to be arrested. As far as I know, my dad’s not involved but he might be. If he is, I don’t know who gets custody of me until I’m eighteen. I don’t know if I should look into emancipation too. I don’t really know much beyond tonight. Chief Cunningham will have a battle on his hands against my mom’s lawyers and I need to be available as a witness if they can’t use the recording against her.”
“You’ll stay with us,” Jack declared. “We’ll figure it out.”
Jenna leaned down to kiss him. “Thank you, Jack. I am so sorry for my part in this, too.”
“You and I did nothing wrong,” he argued. “Our only crime was falling in love. Your mother’s actions and my father’s actions were their own.” He pulled her back down to his lips. “No more talk of guilt tonight, Jen. No more sadness or pain.” He kissed her again. “Just you and me, making love under the snowy night sky.”
She rested her forehead against him. “I know I said I wanted to make love, and I do, but I feel like I need to remind you that I’ve never done this before and I might bereallybad at it.”
His chuckle was not aimed at her. “Jen, baby, have you forgotten that I’m in the same boat? I’m as much of a virgin as you are. We’ll figure it out and learn what each other likes and dislikestogether. That way, on our wedding night, after I make love to you, I canfuckyou to prove just howmineyou are.”
CHAPTER 19
1 YEAR, 1 MONTH, 27 DAYS - 7 MONTHS, 17 DAYS
Jenna did stay at the Zarin house with Jack for about a week following the funeral, though she stayed in Lilly’s room at night. When no charges were brought against her father, Jenna had no choice but to go back to him. Jack could understand Jenna’s torn relief about this. She didn’t want to leave, but at the same time, she was grateful her father was not involved in her mother’s conspiracies. Unfortunately, Chief Cunningham showed up at Mr. Zarin’s to inform Jenna, per her father, that she needed to return to Seattle or Mr. Scanlon was going to be pressing kidnapping charges against Jack and Mr. Zarin.
Though Jenna did begrudgingly return, it was different than the separation they had suffered over the winter. With the return of her allowance, Jenna was able to purchase a new phone line to her dorm room and she kept the car. Jenna speculated that her dad didn’t notice or was too busy dealing with her mother’s legal battle to realize that she did not remain in Seattle over the weekends.
If Mr. Zarin suspected that Jack and Jenna’s relationship hadturned carnal, he said nothing. He welcomed Jenna into his home as he always had. Just as before, Jack and Jenna were not allowed in his room with the door closed. She was allowed to sleep over, but it was either in Lilly’s room or on the couch—which really meant Jack took the couch and Jenna took his bedroom because he refused to sleep in a large, comfy bed while Jenna slept on the living room couch.
Over summer break, Jack and Jenna had gotten inventive on places they could go to spend time together that was not under the Zarin roof. Neither of them wanted to disrespect Mr. Zarin by disobeying his rules.
They were both patient with the other as they learned the ropes of lovemaking. Jenna had nearly thrown up the first time she tried to give Jack a blowjob. She’d triggered her gag reflex so badly that there had been tears. Yet Jack hadn’t judged. He’d taken her into his arms and rubbed her back as she fought through the reaction to breathe again.
It wasn’t entirely smooth sailing for Jack either. He’d fumbled and faltered too. It had taken a lot of practice to get Jenna to come either on his hand or with his mouth. From magazines and a dirty movie he’d rented on VHS, Jack had gotten the wrong impression of how easy it would be to get her to orgasm and he’d been too rough.
He’d also gotten into the habit of filing his nails regularly.
They both discovered through trial and error what worked forthem.
There was something to be said for the learning process. Knowing that you were discovering things about your partner’s body that they didn’t even know about themselves.
