Chapter Twenty-Seven
Willow
Jenny stands at the counter, unmoving. I wait several minutes, and when she remains frozen in place, I slowly approach her.
“Hey.” I touch her arm lightly, and she jumps.
She begins to back away from me. “You’re not real.” Her gaze goes to Aspen. “None of this is real.”
I calmly walk over to my daughter. “Go outside and tell Daddy that Mommy needs him to come inside.”
“Okay, Mommy.” She jumps out of her chair and hurries out the door. Thank God she’s a smart little girl.
Jenny continues to slide around the room, her back against the wall. “I’m losing my mind. Raffe is not here. He’ll never be here.”
“Jenny, you’re not crazy. Raffe is really here.”
She begins to shake her head. “No. No, you can’t be real.”
Raffe rushes in with Jackson right behind him. He makes a motion for his son to let him handle this.
Jenny begins to shake her head as she plasters herself against the wall. “No. No, you can’t be real.” She grabs her head. “I’ve made this mistake before. I’m just making all of you up in my mind.”
Brody peeks his head in the backdoor, letting me know he’s watching Aspen outside. Jenny drops her hands, holding them out in front of her as Raffe slowly inches closer.
“I want this to be real, but I know it’s not,” she tries to reason with herself, like none of us are in the room with her.
Raffe wraps his hands around hers. She tries to pull away, but he doesn’t release her. It reminds me of the day he found me hiding under Miss Maggie’s front porch. He didn’t let go of me either. And I’m so glad he didn’t.
“Look at me, Jenny.”
Her gaze frantically bounces around the kitchen, looking everywhere but at him.
“Is this because I touched your butt?” he asks.
Jackson makes a disgusted noise. “Eww, why would you do that?”
Jenny finally looks at Raffe.
“Because it’s the cutest darn butt I’ve ever seen,” Raffe answers his son honestly.
Again, Jackson makes a gagging noise. It makes me smile, because the two of them play so well off of each other. It seems to be working because the color is slowly coming back to Jenny’s face.
Jackson places his hands on his hips. “Well, I don’t know if you should be talking about my mom that way.”
“Get used to it, Son, because I’m never going to stop.”
Jenny blinks at Raffe, and her lips slowly part. A tiny puff of air escapes her.
For a second I worry about how Jackson might react to his dad’s bold admission, but a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.
“Ugh, can you at least keep it to a minimum around me? No one wants to hear or see their parents’ love life.”
“I’ll try,” Raffe tells him, his gaze still locked on Jenny’s.
Jackson waves for me to follow him outside. “Well, I guess I’ll go finish up. Just … no more butt touching.”
When we get outside, we both turn to creep on them through the window.
“What’s going on?” Brody asks from behind us. He’s sitting on the ground, letting my daughter stuff little flowers into his beard.
“Dad is making his move,” Jackson says excitedly.
“What? I thought she was freaking out?”
“She was, but Raffe isn’t having it,” I tell him. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for her. She’s been alone for so long. I really think she thought we weren’t real.”
Brody stands and hurries to the window to see for himself what’s going on. He brings Aspen with him. They both press their noses against the glass.
Raffe pulls Jenny close, keeping one of her hands in his while he releases the other to wrap his arm around her torso. He begins to slowly dance her across the floor. His lips are moving close to her ear, and I wonder what he might be whispering to her.
It’s strange seeing him so close to someone other than Rachel, but they’re moving as if they’re one. I pull my gaze away to look at Jackson. His eyes meet mine.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I ask him.
He brushes his thumb over my cheek. “I guess my dad and I are more alike than I thought. We’re both suckers for beautiful women who hide in the woods.”
Brody chuckles at that.
“So, you’re good?” I ask.
He leans down and kisses me softly. “I’m more than good with it. Mom has been gone for a long time. I don’t like seeing him alone. He deserves happiness.”
Aspen gasps. “Papa is kissing Nana!” she squeals.
We all turn to look at the same time. Holy shit, she’s right.
When the kiss doesn’t end and it deepens, the three of us all turn around abruptly.
Brody covers Aspen’s eyes as he spins them around, making her laugh. “I think we’ve seen enough,” he tells her.
“Well, shit. What do we do now?” Jackson asks.
“I don’t know, but I’m starving,” Brody whines.
“You’re always starving,” I say.
The door opens behind us. “Get your asses in here, and let’s get supper on the table,” Raffe orders.
Brody immediately heads inside. “Say no more, boss.” He salutes Raffe on his way past him.
Raffe steps in front of us before we follow. He places his hand on Jackson’s chest. “Are you good with this?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. Is she good with it?” He points inside.
His dad looks away. “I don’t know, but I can’t let her go again.”
Jackson grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him lightly. “Me either, Dad.”
They stare at each other with tears in their eyes.
“I can’t explain what I’m feeling,” Raffe says.
“Good thing you don’t have to.” Jackson grins and places his arm over his shoulders. “Come on, old man. I’m getting hungry.”
When we get inside, Jenny is sitting at the table with Aspen on her lap. Brody is at the stove. I lower myself down beside her.
“I’m sorry,” she says without looking at me. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t,” I assure her.
Raffe and Jackson join Brody, helping finish what Jenny and I had started for supper.
“This was just a dream a few weeks ago, and now to have you all here in my home …” She pauses, her gaze going to Raffe. “I don’t know if I’ll ever truly believe it’s really happening.”
“I felt the same way when I met your son and his family. After what I’d been through, I was sure it was too good to be true.”
Her gaze bounces over my face, and I see her hesitation. “I … I don’t want to lose Jackson.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“I hope he knows that if he’s uncomfortable with his dad and I being friends ...”
I stop her there. “Jackson loves you both. He wants you two to be happy. However that might look, that’s between you and Raffe.”
Aspen joins our conversation. “We saw Papa kiss you,” she says sweetly.
Jenny’s cheeks turn bright red. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
My daughter giggles. “Nana and Papa sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g …” she begins to sing.
I reach over and cover her mouth with my hand before she gets another word out. I laugh nervously. “Lily’s daughter has been teaching her the darndest things.”
The guys begin setting the table, and I remove my hand, hoping Aspen is distracted enough to forget about her song.
“Cookies!” she squeals instead.
“Not until after you eat,” Jackson tells her.
She pouts and looks at me, hoping for a different outcome. “Daddy’s right. You need to eat some real food first.”
When she turns to Brody, he holds his hands up in the air. “Please don’t make me tell that sweet little face no.”
Everyone laughs, and Jenny finally relaxes a little.