Suddenly her eyes were no longer fixated on me. Instead she was staring behind me, her mouth agape as tears began to well up in her eyes. I knew instantly that the guys were behind us. I turned around and caught the stares of Julian and Jonathan. Jonathan was angry, so angry he shook his head at Brea, clinched his fist and walked away. Brea went screaming after him. Julian just watched me as if he were looking right through me.
“Julian?”
“Your Brandon? You still think of him as yours? What about me Jemma? Am I yours too? Because you can’t have both of us. I will not share you with anyone.”
“Julian you misunderstood.” Taking a few steps towards him I reached for the hands hanging lifelessly at his side.
“I did NOT misunderstand anything, and don’t play me like I am an idiot. We heard it all, every last fucking word. Did you know that Jonathan is in love with her? What the fuck does Brandon have, I don’t get it. Just tell me, is it true, did you try to fuck him too?”
I tried to open up my mouth to speak, I knew what it looked like but all I could manage was a mumble.
“You forgave me for Axel.”
“You aren’t in love with Axel, Jemma.” he stated matter of factually and pulled something out of his pocket placing it in my hand.
“This was for later; take a good look at it sweetheart and then make up your fucking mind. I will fight for you with everything I have but I won’t tear my own heart out to do it.”
After giving me a cold hard look, he too turned and walked away leaving me standing on a deserted beach with my raging hormones, haunting thoughts and a little red box.
I looked down at the box that lay in my hands and opened the lid with my thumb. Inside lay the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. In the middle sat one large pink diamond, surrounding it were ten smaller white diamonds, along the side of the thick white band were the words “I believe in fairies” and on the underside “for my Skipper”.
I pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto my ring finger whispering to myself the word “yes”. I then threw the box deep into the ocean. The ring would never again be locked away inside. I knew one hundred percent without a single doubt that I was going to spend the rest of my life with Julian. Only I had one thing that I needed to do first and I needed to do it alone.
Chapter Sixteen
I left a note at the hotel letting everyone know that I was leaving and took a taxi to the hospital a few miles outside of Galveston. My father had originally been sentenced to a state funded hospital but my aunt persuaded the lawyer into fighting so that he could be remanded to a privately funded facility with a better reputation for rehabilitation. Given the circumstances and my father’s state of mind when he spiraled out of control the courts agreed.
I know Julian had wanted to see my father as well but I needed to get it over with, as much as I loved Julian this was not for him, it was for me. I needed to hear what my father had to say before the suspense crushed me. The morning had already taken a big hit on my emotions and I figured, what time better than the present when my heart was already tied up in knots. There was nothing my father could say that could cause me to feel any more pain than I was feeling right now.
When I arrived at the facility I was asked to hand over my ID, led to a small office space and told that someone would be in shortly. The room was very utilitarian, a large desk with a pair of chairs in front sat in one corner of the room, in the middle was a large conference table surrounded by smaller swivel chairs and the room was decorated in dull paintings of horses and plastic plants. After 45 tedious minutes of waiting, a tall slender man with white hair walked into the room.
“You must be Jemma? I’m sorry about the wait but we were not expecting you until tomorrow.”
The unidentified man held his hand out for me. I gave it a small shake in return and he continued.
“My name is Dr. Scott. I thought it would be a good idea to talk for a few minutes before your father joined us. He is in group right now so it is a perfect time to get to know one another. He will be along shortly.”
I do not know why I thought this would be an easy in and out visit. I expected to walk in, find my dad sitting behind a panel of glass while he tells me he screwed up over an equally impersonal telephone.
“So your father tells me you started college recently. How is that working out for you?”
He sat down at the desk and gestured for me join him at one of the chairs situated in front. I followed his lead and took a seat.
“I was supposed to but I ended up postponing things for semester while I figured things out.”
“Ah, I see. Does it have anything to do with the fact that you started seeing Dr. Schneider again?”