Just Beginning (19 page)

Like a lie by omission, Jenny protected her family, and she fully intended to continue doing so—marriage would not change that. With that understanding in mind, Jenny regrouped and realigned her holiday expectations, determined to be satisfied and blissfully happy with whomever they had to share them with. As long as she had Gabe by her side, she had everything.

She had everything, but she was happy to use her Christmas gift from Gabe for a spa visit. Not only would she have a massage, but she’d treated herself to a makeup lesson. She needed help to look more sophisticated. Jenny wasn’t really a spa girl, but on Alex’s recommendation, Gabe had gotten it for her for Christmas, and Jenny intended to make full use of it.

After her lesson and a hundred dollars in Estee Lauder products, Jenny felt confident that there would be no more repeats of the Halloween embarrassment.

They settled into the New Year, and as spring moved toward summer, Gabe and Jenny decided to take up a new activity together, so they bought a speedboat and took water skiing lessons. Didn’t take long to find neither of them had much talent at it. Steve did. Surprise. He had been a professional athlete after all. The kids, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of it, and they especially enjoyed tubing.

Secretly, Jenny enjoyed the power of being able to lure her stepchildren and brother over. She wasn’t making them choose her and Gabe’s house over Judith’s, so she couldn’t be accused of creating conflict. Once Jenny stumbled onto this side benefit of living on the lake, she convinced Gabe to buy a couple of jet skis for her birthday.

As Memorial Day weekend approached, Jenny waved Gabe and Steve off on their Saturday marathon ride before running off to the grocery store. She selected some fresh French bread, lemons, and asparagus, Alex’s favorite vegetable, to go with the salmon. Passing the bakery, she grabbed a lemon meringue pie, another Harrison favorite, before hurrying to the checkout counter. At home, she found Alex’s little green Volkswagen Golf blocking the garage. She was early.

Jenny grabbed the paper bags and walked around back to the patio looking for Alex. They should probably give Gabe’s kids keys to the house, or maybe give them their own code to the garage door. She still had a key to her parents’ house. Then again, though Jenny was fond of Alex and Ted, she wasn’t sure she wanted them having free access to her home. At least not yet.

“You’re early. I had to run to the store to get a few things.”

Alex looked up from the paper she was writing on. “I was leaving Dad a note. Is he with you?”

“No, he’s out biking. Is something wrong?” She inclined her head toward the kitchen. “Come on in. I’ve got to get this stuff in the fridge.”

Alex took one of the paper bags and followed Jenny into the house. “I really need to talk to my dad. A bunch of us are going camping up north after graduation and Mom doesn’t want me to go—she hasn’t said no yet, but she’s going to.”

They deposited the bags on the counter, and began unpacking. “Why wouldn’t she let you go? You’re eighteen, you’re a responsible kid, you’re about to start college and could go away every weekend and your mom wouldn’t even know.”

Alex lifted her hips to sit on the countertop, fully engrossed in her cause now. “
That’s
what I told her. But she said I’m not at college yet, and while I’m living under her roof—yada, yada, yada.”

Jenny remembered the rest of the hackneyed speech, wondering if it came from some parenting manual mothers read to pass the time while in labor. “So what’s her objection?”

“Greg.”

“Boyfriend?”

“We’re not exclusive—yet.”

Ahh. Jenny’s motions slowed as she turned away to put the peanut butter in a cupboard. Suddenly it made more sense. “And Mom doesn’t approve?”

“No, she likes Greg.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Alex flashed Jenny an incredulous, how-dumb-can-you-be look. “Sex. She’s afraid we’ll spend the whole weekend having wild sex.”

Valid concern. This is where you shut your mouth and mind your own business, Jenny
. “Will you?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “There’s gonna be a whole bunch of us there.”

Uh huh
. “Well, I don’t know. You could all pair off in your own little tents, for all I know.”

Alex’s eyebrows rose and she smirked, but not before Jenny glimpsed a flash of interest.
Great Jen, like she doesn’t have enough ideas of her own without you giving her more
.

“Yeah, right.”

Warning bells chimed loudly in Jenny’s head.
Boundaries! You should not be the one having this conversation with her
.

In way over her head, Jenny wasn’t prepared to counsel Gabe’s daughter on sex, but this was the right time and opportunity. “Have you talked to your mom, or dad, about boyfriends...or sex?”

Alex’s eyes widened an instant before the familiar derisive grin shaped her face. “Of course. Every night before bed, my mom and I chat about how hot my boyfriend is and how many different ways we did it that day in the gym after school.”

Okay, she’d deserved the sarcastic comeback. Teenagers didn’t let their parents in on anything important. A wealth of unwelcome adolescent memories flooded her. Jenny desperately sought a way to end the conversation without turning the teen against her. Alex should talk to her mother.

The way you talked to your mom
, her inner voice prodded.

“Maybe you should wait and talk to your dad. He’ll be home in an hour.”

“About sex? You’re kidding, right?” Alex gave her a get-real look. “Dad does
not
want to know. Trust me.”

“What about Ted?”

“My
brother
?”

Yeah, dumb suggestion. Gabe was out. Judith was the enemy. That left...shoot—her. Maybe she could pull it off. Maybe Jenny could actually do some good and keep Alex from making an irreversible mistake, without having to bare her soul.

“So...” Jenny said. “Not that it’s any of my business, but...have you done it with Greg yet?”

“Not yet,” Alex declared airily.

“But he wants to.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “What guy doesn’t?”

“Have you ever done it?”

“You think I’m an eighteen-year-old virgin?” Her chin shot up.

Now I do, but I’d like to hear you say it
. “I don’t know. Are you?”

Alex crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “Did you have sex with Dad before you married?”

How could she answer that? If she told Alex it was none of her business, she risked alienating her, and if she told her the truth, risked setting a bad example for Gabe’s daughter. “I was twenty-six—almost twenty-seven, when I married your dad.”

“You’re only ten years older than me.”

Ten critical years
. But she knew Alex wouldn’t agree. “I had a college degree and a job. My parents weren’t supporting me, and I could’ve coped with an unplanned pregnancy if I’d had to.” She arched an eyebrow. “Can you?”

“Well, yeah,” she drawled. “Besides, abortion’s always an option.”

A lot of teens saw that as an easy out—until they truly had to consider it. She glanced out the window at the driveway. Where was Gabe when she needed him? A parent had to be good at this stuff by the time their kid got to these discussions. Heck she hadn’t even had the warm-up talk of where babies come from. But Gabe wasn’t here and Alex wanted to talk now.

“Abortion’s a major decision,” Jenny began tentatively. She blew out a deep breath. “When I was your age, I...”

Alex’s eyes widened, and she leaned forward, resting her arms on the counter. “You what?”

“I had to write a paper about abortion. It’s actually killing a tiny, innocent baby. Could you really do that?”

“Girls do it all the time. Julie did.”

“That doesn’t make it right. Could you?”

“Having a baby now ruins your life. Suzy just had her baby, and they won’t let her walk at graduation with the rest of us. She has to go to summer school to get her diploma, and her boyfriend dumped her.” Alex sank back. “At first, her parents were
really
mad. Now that the baby’s here, they’re cool. But Suz can’t go away to school. She has to go to Wayne State so her mom can babysit. She’s really tied down. I’d have an abortion before letting a baby ruin my life.”

Jenny’s stomach churned at her answer. “It doesn’t have to come to that—if you’re smart. I can’t tell you when you’re ready to have sex—nobody can. You have to be ready mentally as well as physically. But I can tell you to be smart and use some kind of birth control. Get on the pill or use condoms—or both. Do some research, use something, and you won’t have to worry about an unplanned pregnancy.”

Alex stared at the floor while she digested the advice. “My parents are both doctors. They’d find out.”

“Then buy condoms.” Jenny raised her eyebrow, cautioning, “I’m
not
telling you to have sex. But. If you’re going to, at least make sure you’re protected. Especially with all the sexually transmitted diseases, you’d be a fool if you didn’t make a guy use a condom. Always.” Uncomfortable preaching, Jenny quickly put the rest of the groceries away, letting her words sink in.

“So. Do you think Dad will let me go?”

Not a chance
. “I don’t know. But if you promise to call if there’s trouble and give him a list of the other kids going and their folk’s phone numbers, he might.”

“Would you talk to—”

“Nope.”

“Plea—”

“Nope.” No
way
she was getting in the middle of that. Nothing could convince her to champion Alex against her parents. Not for a weekend camping trip.

Alex’s worried frown broke into a huge smile. She jumped off the counter and gave Jenny a quick hug before backing away. “For a step-mom, you’re okay”

Jenny smiled. “You’re a lot better than spit up and smelly diapers, too.”

“See ya. I’ve got to talk to Suz and get to work on that list.”

“What about dinner?”

“What time?”

“Six-thirty.”

“I’ll be back.” Alex headed for the side door.

“Hey, do you want to play Euchre tonight? I can see if Steve’s available to be our fourth.”

“Sure.” Alex hesitated in the doorway. “Thanks, Jenny.”

“You’re welcome.”
Well
, she smiled, feeling pretty proud of herself.
That went fairly well. Maybe this step parenting stuff isn’t so hard after all
.

* * *

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Judith demanded.

Gabe’s ex-wife stormed their kitchen, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the keys on the key rack. Tall and beanpole thin, Judith’s small brown eyes narrowed angrily above thin, pursed lips and a straight, pointy nose. Even the highlighted brown curls cropped close to her head coiled rigid in indignation.

Although she faced both Gabe and Jenny, her glare locked on Jenny, making her long to inch behind Gabe for protection.

“What’s the problem, Judith?” Gabe swiped the knife across his bread and laid one slice atop the ham and cheese. He finished making his sandwich as if his ex-wife’s explosion was nothing unusual.

“The problem is your child bride,” she jabbed a stiff index finger at Jenny.

Gabe rested his hands on the counter and gave Judith his full attention. “Calm down and tell us what happened.”

“I found these in Alex’s bag.” She threw a handful of silver square disks onto the granite countertop.

Staring at the scattered condoms, Jenny’s heart dropped to her stomach.

“Alex said that
your
wife told her to use them.”

“That’s ridiculous. Jenny’d never tell Alex to use condoms.”

“Not exactly.” Jenny tore her gaze away from the incriminating foil packets and turned to Gabe. “Last week, Alex wanted to ask you about that camping trip, and we got to talking. She told me about Suzy having her baby, and how Alex thought she was stupid to let a baby ruin her life instead of aborting it.” She shrugged at Gabe. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“You
should
have sent her home to talk to her mother,” Judith said.

Jenny stiffened and frowned. Though not particularly prepared for that talk, she’d done okay. Judith had no right barging into her home, hurling accusations, and acting like she’d emotionally scarred Alex.

“She didn’t
want
to talk to her mother. She thought her
mother
wouldn’t listen.” Jenny looked at Gabe. “I couldn’t let her think abortion was an acceptable way to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, so I told her that if she was smart, she’d avoid the problem altogether by using birth control.”

“So you gave my daughter a green light to have sex," Judith said, making it seem like Jenny had bought them a hotel room, undressed them, and put them in bed together with a how-to sex manual.

“Like they need my blessing.” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “How do you know she’s not already sexually active?”

“I know,” Judith narrowed her eyes.

“You hope. You don’t know.” Jenny rested her hip against the counter, finally feeling like she had the upper hand. In fact, she almost enjoyed taunting Judith. The almighty Judith was floundering. She
didn’t
know if her kid was sexually active, and it was killing her.

Must be hard to having to face you’re not perfect
.

“I’m her mother; I know.”

“She’s a teenager. You don’t know anything. Her best friend would know, but not you.” Tired of sparing with Judith, she turned to Gabe. “Anyway, we talked about the consequences of sex and how to avoid the pitfalls.”

“You shouldn’t have. You’re not her mother,” Judith said.

Again. Another mother telling her she’d messed up. Another mother, jealous of Jenny’s relationship with her child. Only this time, Jenny felt completely justified in defending herself.

“
You
weren’t there. And she asked
me
—not you.”

“You’ve been a part-time parent for all of what? A year and a half? And suddenly you know it all?”

Gabe moved between the women, facing his ex-wife. “Look, Judith. Maybe that isn’t exactly the tack we would have taken, but Jenny handled it fine. I don’t see that any damage was done.”