Last First Kiss (11 page)

Both girls dissolved into tears, shaking and sobbing loudly into his shirt. For the first time in his life, Jackson knew what it must feel like to be a parent with a child who is suffering. He knew how it felt to be helpless and unable to ease their pain and discomfort. Inadequacy didn’t come close to what he felt. He’d do anything to take the pain from them if he could. He let them cry, Mackenzie with her arms around his neck, and Lexie with hers around his waist.

Their tears finally slowed, and then eventually stopped, leaving in its wake the sniffling and hiccupping that happens after a good cry. Jackson dried their eyes, wiped their noses with paper napkins, and finally kissed them both on the cheeks. He looked into their faces as he cradled their heads gently with his hands.

“
Better now?” he asked quietly, drawing two nods from the girls. “Good, because, I tell you what,” he said comically, “All this crying is hard work isn’t it? It’s made me hungry. How about you two?” They nodded. “Well, then, if you want any pizza or chicken nuggets, you’d better hurry up and eat because I’m hungry enough to eat everything on this table.” He reached over to the food with both arms.

“
No! I want my pizza!” Mackenzie shrieked.

“
I want my chicken nuggets!” Lexie yanked the box out of Jackson’s grip, even as she emitted a high-pitched giggle.

“
Well, I guess I’ll have to make do with one measly, old pizza with jalapeno peppers,” he said dramatically. “But if it even
looks
like you aren’t going to eat enough, I just may decide to eat more than my fair share.”

Mackenzie picked out two slices of pizza, put them on her plate, and pointed her finger at Jackson. “Look, just because I’m starting out with two slices does
not
mean I won’t want one more when I’m done with these. Don’t eat the rest yet, okay?”

“
Okay,” he said in his best Eeyore imitation, causing the girls to break out into fits of giggling.

Lexie held the box out generously to him. “I’ll share my chicken nuggets with you.”

Jackson gazed adoringly at the miracle in miniature of Giselle, and he thought his heart would burst with the love he felt for her and her sister. He brushed her hair away from her forehead and planted a kiss on her nose. “You go ahead and eat first, baby girl. If there’s any left, I’ll take one
if
I still have room.”

Lexie nodded, rewarding him with a big cheesy grin. He started to take a bite of pizza when Lexie stopped him.

“
Wait! We have to say the blessing first!”

“
Lex,” Mac whispered. “Maybe Jackson doesn’t do that. Mom said not everyone does, and if we were around someone who doesn’t, just to say it to ourselves.”

Jackson put the pizza back on his plate. “No, that’s a great idea. Would either of you like to say it?”

“
I will! I learned one from catechism class,” Mackenzie boasted. “We all have to hold hands first.” She and her sister joined hands and each grasped one of Jackson’s. “It goes like this. ‘Bless us, oh Lord, for these, thy gifts which we are about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.’ Was that good, Jackson?”

Jackson beamed proudly at her. “That was perfect, Mac.”

“
Do you know any?” she asked him. “Daddy only knew one.”

“
The only one I ever learned was this.” He put his hands together reverently and spoke in a somber voice. “Rub a dub dub...thanks for the grub.”

Both girls looked at each other in amazement. “That’s
daddy’s
too!” they chorused.

Jackson put his head back and burst into laughter, while the girls doubled over into fits of giggles.

<><><>

Carrie watched the threesome, unseen, from the corner of the house. She’d arrived during the bout of crying and waited to see how Jackson would handle the girls, heartbroken and sobbing. She couldn’t help but be pleased, and knew in her heart that Toby would be also. He couldn’t stand to see his girls...
any
of his girls...suffer.

She remembered the day Toby called her from the local hospital, and begged her to meet him there because Mac needed stitches after falling off her bike. Giselle was out of town for a three-day training class. It tore Toby up to see his daughter getting stitched up. Mac ended up comforting her dad, and telling him it wasn’t
his
fault she’d gone too fast on her bike. Carrie smiled at the memory. She marveled at how perfect this threesome before her looked. Well, almost perfect, anyway. Seeing the patio table all set for a meal like this...She didn’t have to ask where Giselle was. She wiped all traces of tears from her eyes and finally made her presence known.

“
What’s so funny over here?”

The girls looked at her and continued to giggle.

“
Aw it’s just a private joke, Carrie,” Jackson said. “Would you like some pizza?”

“
Nope, Sam and I ate already. I told him if he was going to spend the day sleeping in his recliner, I’d just as soon bring these two munchkins to watch a movie in Lake Coburn.”

“
You think Momma would let us?” Mackenzie asked, the hopeful look on her face hard to miss.

“
Sure, eat your pizza. Here’s a schedule.” Carrie handed a computer printout to Jackson. “See if you can help them agree on a movie please, Jack.” Carrie walked in to check on Giselle.

She opened the bedroom door quietly and sat on the side of the bed. Giselle opened her eyes and gazed vacantly at her. Carrie sighed and brushed her friend’s hair back from her forehead. Gazing into her eyes was like looking into a hope chest that had once been full, but was now completely vacant. “You need to eat something Giselle. I’m not fooling around here, either. I’ll feed you my damn self if I have to.”

“
Where are the girls? With
him
?” Giselle asked, her voice cold and angry

“
Him
? You mean Jackson? Yes,
your
daughters are outside eating with
him.
That’s where
you
should be, spending time with your girls and getting some sunshine.” She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Did he try to get you to eat?”

Giselle nodded silently.

Carrie turned Giselle’s face toward her. “Let me guess, the sight of the table all set for dining like that reminded you of how you all did that with Toby after finishing the yard work.”

Giselle nodded silently and squeezed her eyes shut.

Carrie nodded. “I understand that you’re upset, but he didn’t know. You need to eat, and you
will
eat. He only did what I asked him to do.”

“
He’s not my boss over here-I don’t have to listen to him,” she sneered.

“
You sound like a child...
He’s not the boss of me
!” Carrie stood and put her hands on her hips. “I tell you what, honey. Maybe you don’t have to listen to him, but you will
damn well
listen to me. We’re
all
bending over backwards to help you, and we don’t mind doing it, but it’s time you start helping yourself. Now get up out of that bed.”

“
I don’t feel like it right now.”

“
Look, Giselle, I figure losing a man like Toby merits three months of feeling sorry for yourself, but your children are suffering too, and neither I, nor Jackson, is a good enough substitute for their mother.” She turned and walked back to the door. “As soon as they’re finished eating I’m going to clean them up and take them to a movie in Lake Coburn.”

Giselle threw her hand over her eyes. “Good, as long as you leave me in peace.”

Carrie turned and narrowed her eyes at her friend before leaving the room.

<>

Jackson had just helped the girls settle on a feature when Carrie came out to meet them.

“
Jackson, how would you like to take these girls to a movie?” she asked, as the two girls gasped in delight.

“
Sure, you need some help?”

“
No, I mean
you
bring them while I stay here with Giselle. Would you two like that?”

“
Oh Jackson, please!” Lexie pleaded.

“
Say yes! Please say yes!” Mackenzie exclaimed, bouncing like frisky puppy.

“
I’d love to, but, did you clear it with Giselle?”

“
You leave her to me. Have you all eaten enough?”

Mackenzie looked down at her plate. “Can I put a slice of pizza back? I want to save room for popcorn.”

“
I ate all my chicken nuggets, but I’m still going to want popcorn.”

“
Good, let’s get you cleaned up. What time does it start?” Carrie asked Jackson.

“
In an hour and a half, but I need to go home and shower...I reek.” He pulled his shirt away from his torso and made a face. “Would that be okay?”

She nodded as she herded the girls into the house. “I’ll get them ready. You want to come in and cool off?”

“
I may not be welcome in there right now,” he whispered.

“
Giselle’s in the bedroom. It’s safe for now.”

He nodded then rose from the table as she went inside with the girls. Jackson boxed up the pizza and left it on the kitchen counter then cleaned up outside. As he waited at the door, he noticed a digital picture frame on the countertop. He reached over to turn it on and a slide show began of the Granger family in all kinds of candid moments. He laughed aloud when it got to shots of Toby dressed up in full princess regalia. His daughters had obviously draped every one of his upper extremities with dance costumes from their closets. Toby was grinning out from behind pink and purple feather boas, boasting a pair of pink, plastic, clip on earrings. Lexie was dressed in a lion costume and Mackenzie in her ballerina costume. There were shots of him in dance positions with his two girls, and shots of him tending to the gas grill set up in the back yard. Giselle must have set the timer, because she was in the last shot with her family, smiling and happy.
Would she ever be that happy again?

Lexie ran to up him. “Jackson, can you buckle my shoes?”

“
Sure, put your foot up here.” She did, and he buckled her sandals for her. Then he took the hairbrush and brushed her hair for her. When he’d finished, Mackenzie walked up and turned her back to him, expecting the same. He brushed her hair until it resembled black, glossy, layers of silk.

<>

Carrie watched the interaction between the three, in amazement. It looked as though they had been around each other for years instead of a few months. She stepped up and cleared her throat. “It looks like you’re ready to go. You girls be good. Don’t fill them with too much candy, Jack.”

He got them both buckled into the back seat and climbed back in to the driver’s side. “We’re going to the two o’clock feature at the mall.” He leaned over to Carrie. “You sure she’s alright with this?”

“
She’ll be fine.” Carrie leaned in and gave him a hug through the door of his truck. She started to release him then hugged him tighter. “You’re a God send, Jackson Jamison Broussard,” she whispered, before kissing his cheek.

She watched them drive off then went to Giselle’s room.

“
Okay, Giselle, I hope you’re hungry. There’s plenty of pizza left.”

Giselle rolled away from her. “I’m not hungry.”

“
That’s too damn bad, because I outweigh you by a good sixty pounds, and I say you’re going to eat anyway.”

“
Leave me alone, Carrie. I just...I just want to die.”

“
Do you really?” she asked, not bothering to hide her anger. “Think about what you’re saying, Giselle. I understand your grief, but those girls are part of Toby. Do you really think he would want you to lie here and waste away while you force his daughters to watch?” She pulled Giselle’s shoulder so that she partially faced her. “Do you
really
want them to be left alone in this world?”

“
They wouldn’t be alone, they’d have each other,” Giselle told her, without meeting her gaze.

Carrie let go of Giselle’s shoulder and sat up straight. “I cannot believe you just said that! That falls a hell of a lot short of also having a mother who loves you, don’t you think?”

Giselle met Carrie’s gaze. “They’d have you and Sam.”