She smiled now. “I’d love for you to come back later, and maybe you can tell me more about the massage?” She still didn’t know if she wanted a stranger to rub all over her body, but she could at least hear her out.
Rebecca looked visibly relieved. “Thank goodness. I thought for a minute there you really didn’t want it, and I haven’t had anyone refuse a massage since I was a student. And if it helps, this is a chair massage. You stay dressed. It isn’t weird or anything.” She waved and left.
Jennifer turned her eyes to Mark. “And you couldn’t have told me earlier she was your sister?” She speared him in a deadly gaze.
He smiled as he sat in the chair next to her. “I thought I’d just let it play out. You didn’t tell me about the baby because of Beck, so I thought I’d let you get to know her before I said anything.”
“Not nice.”
Reaching down, he kissed her on the cheek. “But fair.”
“Fair,” Jennifer agreed. “Tell me about your family.”
He looked somewhat unsure. Then he relaxed as he said, “My mother gave me up when I was four years old because she was a drug addict, and couldn’t take care of me. I never knew my father. I bounced from home to home waiting for her to come back until I was fourteen and the Stantons took me in as a foster son. They adopted me a year later.”
“In a nutshell.” She didn’t think explaining her own family history would be as easy. She asked, “So Ruth is your real grandmother?”
“Ruth was a woman living in the same building as the Stantons. One day I’d been playing ball in the hallway and it hit her door. She came out of her apartment angry and threatening to tell my parents. I started crying.” Mark cringed at the memory. “At fourteen, I stood in front of this woman I’d never met before, crying my eyes out. I begged her not to tell. The Stantons were the first family I really liked, the first who really treated me like theirs. I remember being so afraid they would send me away, too. Instead of telling, she invited me in to listen to music and have a cookie. She’s been my grandmother ever since.”
“You don’t seem like someone who grew up in this building.”
“I didn’t, exactly. Besides, this building wasn’t the same back then. This town wasn’t the same.” He paused, then said, “Right after I was adopted, Eric—that’s my father—his business took off. He’d patented some designs and made a fortune. He moved the family to the Northside, and none of us have worried about money ever since. I miss him. He and my mother died in a car crash right after I graduated from medical school. I loved them very much.”
“I’m so sorry. Your name... wouldn’t you have a different last name?”
“Legally changed, at my request. I wanted to be theirs. The name is part of that.”
She tried to take in everything he told her. “I’m sorry,” she said again. She didn’t know what else to say.
“Don’t be. I’ve had a great life. Things were rough before Beck and my family, but I’ve had an amazing life since then. It’s been a long time. We still miss them, but at least she and I have each other.”
A few moments passed. “So when you said you didn’t have any siblings growing up—”
“I didn’t, not the way most people think of it. I didn’t know you at the time, and I didn’t want to get into my whole family situation with someone I didn’t know.”
That made sense. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the baby.”
“You had your reasons. You’re forgiven,” Mark said simply. “I know you were trying to do the right thing. It’s just been hard becoming a daddy so quickly. I needed some time to think about things. Honestly, I’m not sure if I still really understand.”
He pulled the chair in the corner closer to the bed and sat in it. Reaching down he rubbed Jennifer’s belly. “But I want to.”
Forgiven. Just like that. Jennifer wanted to believe that life could be that simple, but despite his words she couldn’t help but wonder what the price of his forgiveness would be.
****
The miracle of massage was something she had never experienced before. Always strapped for her pennies, wasting them on something as frivolous as massage never seemed like a priority. Now, she wished she’d made it one. She couldn’t help but wonder what else she’d missed out on with all her thrift.
“There you go. I’m going to turn down the music, and you can just take a few moments for deep breathing.”
“You are amazing,” Jennifer sighed. She felt relaxed in a way she’d never felt before.