One Wild Night

“So, Sara is your twin sister?” Aaron asked Janet in the middle of the random conversations they were all having in the living room, and everyone suddenly went silent.

“Why don’t we go and play some games in my bedroom?” Harry asked as he rose to leave the adults to that conversation, and Jamal followed him.

“Yes, she is. I’m sorry for all the pain and anguish she caused you,” Janet said apologetically.

“I heard from Lucy that you received your fair share from her too,” Aaron said, and Janet nodded.

“Everyone who is unfortunate to encounter her gets their share. I’m surprised she still hasn’t changed,” Janet said with a sigh.

“Lucy mentioned that she paid you a visit recently,” Aaron said, and Janet gave him a nod.

“She did. I don’t know what she hoped to accomplish by doing that, though. She showed up with a cheque wanting to pay back in multiple folds the money she stole from our father that cost him his life. The same money my mother and I worked our fingers to the bone to pay back until she died too. Can you believe that?” Janet asked, her voice rising as tears filled her eyes at the memory.

Aaron looked at her sadly, “I’m sorry….”

“I am too. What I am still trying to figure out is whether I’m more pissed at the fact that she still thinks money is everything even after all these years or the fact that she didn’t have the decency to act remorseful….” Janet paused to take a deep breath when Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

“Remorse? I don’t think she is capable of it. She didn’t show any either when we met after twenty-eight years,” Aaron said with a shake of his head.

Desmond and Evelyn listened without contributing to the conversation since they knew they would never understand the sort of pain Aaron and Janet experienced in Sara’s hand. They were both victims of Sara.

“How did she ever get to be that way? So selfish, deceptive, and manipulative? Did something happen to her? Maybe a trauma?” Aaron asked, unable to understand how a person could just be that way.

“No. Nothing happened. She always was that sort of person. She didn’t want to see anyone happy if she wasn’t happy. She wanted everything to revolve around her. She knew too well how to play the victim card, and sometimes I think I contributed to that,” Janet said sadly.

“Why would you think that?” Aaron asked with concern.

“I enabled her. I encouraged her actions. There were times when we were kids that she would do something wrong and convince me to take the blame for it. She would claim because I was our parent’s favorite, they would let it slide if I took the blame but would punish her severely for it if they found out she did it. I let myself be a pushover for her. I made excuses for her, thinking she would eventually change, but she never did, and that cost my parents their joy and eventually their life. And it cost you so much too,” Janet said as tears dropped from her eyes.

“You did nothing wrong, Jane. You only did what siblings do naturally. You can’t blame yourself for that,” Evelyn said softly.

“I can never understand why people love to take responsibility for the actions of others regardless of their relationship. As long as you’re not directly involved, it’s not on you. It’s on her. You didn’t ask her to do any of those things she did,” Desmond added, and both his wife, Andrew, and Aaron nodded.

“They are right. It’s not your fault. Sara did all of that on her own, so you shouldn’t feel responsible,” Aaron assured her.

“I’m still surprised at the coincidence of it all. I mean, it’s strange that the family she sold Candace to is related to the family of your son’s ex-fiancée,” Aaron said, and the others nodded in agreement.

“I’m just as surprised. I’m glad Candace is fine, and we can all be together like this,” Janet said with a sigh, and they all looked up when Jade and the others walked into the living room with plates containing cookies and other snacks.

“The snacks are ready,” Jade announced.

“Where is Harry?” She asked when she noticed he and Jamal were absent.

“In his bedroom with Jamal,” Aaron said, and Jade excused herself to go get him.

Once she got to his bedroom, she knocked on the door once before opening it and poking her head through, “What are you doing?” She asked when she saw Harry and Jamal on the bed playing a game of chess.

“What does it look like? Frisbee?” Harry asked sarcastically as he corrected Jamal’s wrong move, teaching him what to move and in what direction.

“Jamal, go to the living room. We made cookies,” Jade suggested as she walked into the bedroom, and immediately Jamal got off the bed and shot out the door.

Seeing that they were alone in the room, Harry rose from the bed, “I suppose you came to get me. Let’s go,” he said as he dipped both hands in his pocket while Jade observed and admired him with a smile.

“Why are you smiling?” Harry asked, eyeing her with suspicious eyes.

“Can’t I smile while admiring my man?” Jade asked, and Harry chuckled.

“Sure, you can do that when I become your man,” Harry said as he headed for the door while Jade went to the bed and lifted the pillows.

“Didn’t you say….”

“It’s no longer there. You didn’t expect me to leave it there with Jamal on my bed and visitors in the house, did you?” Harry asked with a slightly raised brow.

“I was just curious, that’s all. Where did you keep it?”

“Somewhere safe. By the way, you are leaving with your parents, right? The nurse will be staying in the guest room,” Harry said, and Jade smiled.

“But there is another guest room….”

“For as long as you occupy the other room, Candace would not want to move in with Jamal, and my dad wants them to. So you can’t move in there. That room is solely for her now,” Harry said, and Jade smiled.

“That’s fine. I will move into your bedroo….”

“No! You can’t do that!” Harry cut in before she could finish.

“Why not? There’s enough room in here for both of us,” Jade pointed out.

“There is enough room in here because this is how much space I need….”

​ “What do you mean by that? Are we going to have separate rooms when we get married?” Jade cut in with a frown, and Harry paused, not sure whether to be amused or not.

He would never have thought Jade would become this way. So possessive and expressive of her feelings. He guessed this was what they meant when they said the patient dogs eat the fattest bone. She was doing most of the chasing now.

“If we get married….”

“When not if. We are getting married,” Jade corrected.

“Okay,” Harry said patiently, and Jade raised a brow.

“Okay what?”

“I just okayed what you said. What did you say?” Harry asked, and Jade sighed.

“You were saying something, and I corrected you. You can’t just say okay and not finish what you were saying,” Jade said impatiently, and Harry chuckled.

He was in for the ride of his life with this one. “I can no longer remember what I was saying because you interrupted me,” Harry said, and Jade narrowed her eyes.

“I remember. I can remind you of it since you can’t remember. I said I’m moving into this bedroom with you. And then after our usual back and forth, you said okay, I could stay here since we would share this room after we get married.”

“No, I didn’t say that. When we get married, we are not going to live here,” Harry said, and Jade grinned.

“See? You remembered what you were going to say. And it wasn’t so hard using when instead of if, was it?” Jade asked with a triumphant smile.

“Since you’ve gotten that out of me, I hope you understand now and don’t mind going to Tom’s house where you have a room to yourself,” Harry said, and Jade scowled.

“If I go over there, I will be lonely. Lucy will be with Tom, Sonia will be with Bryan, Candace will be with Jamal, and our parents have each other, but I will be all alone,” Jade said with a pout.

“You’ve been alone for a long time. I’m sure you’ve mastered the art by now….”𝓞𝗏𝑳xt.𝗇𝓔t

“But I will miss you. Won’t you miss me?” Jade asked, and Harry shook his head.

“No, I won’t,” Harry assured her, and Jade eyed him with disapproval.

“You don’t mean that, do you? Why are you telling lies?” She asked, and Harry chuckled.

Wasn’t he just used to this by now? He wondered if they were aware of their distinctive family behavior and how they all came to have this in common–always wanting to have their way and wanting everyone to do and say what they wanted. Was it their upbringing?

Unfortunately for Jade, he had no intention of being a pushover for her or letting her have her way. He knew just how easy it would be for him to give in to her, and as much as he loved having these exchanges with her, he needed to also draw the lines so she wouldn’t overdo it.

“You must be so full of yourself to assume that saying I won’t miss you is a lie. Tell me, esquire, why am I not surprised?”

“How can you tell your girlfriend that you won’t miss her?” Jade asked angrily, and Harry smiled.

“First, you’re not my girlfriend yet. Secondly, you’ve bothered me so much in the short while since you arrived that I need time to recuperate. You said you came here to be with me and cheer me up, right? That means your being here is not about you. And it’s not because you’re lonely. Thanks for coming. I feel better now, so you can go be with your family,” Harry said, and Jade frowned.

“Are you chasing me away?”

Harry took some steps towards her and pulled her to himself, “Not at all, sugar. Why would I do that?” he asked as he placed a finger under her chin and raised her head, so she was looking up at him into his eyes.

“I’m not chasing you away. I’m only putting you in your place. If and when we decide to be in a relationship together. I want you to know that you won’t always have your way,” Harry said as he lowered his head to hers and took her lips in a slow, teasing kiss.

Jade felt butterflies flutter in her belly, and she grabbed the front of his shirt when she swayed on her feet.

“So take your time to think whether or not you can stand not having your way all the time, alright? My girlfriend won’t be the Hank Princess. If we are going to do this, you have to leave all that spoilt brat behavior behind. I won’t condone it. Maybe I will sometimes, but not all the time. And just so we are clear you’reg going home with your parents, okay?” Harry asked as he nibbled on her lower lip, pulling away each time she tried to capture his lips.

“Okay,” Jade whispered against his lips, and Harry deepened the kiss before pulling away, but his hand remained on her lower back.

“Okay what?” Harry asked, a knowing smile dancing on the corners of his lips.

Jade blinked in confusion, “Okay, to what you said.”

“What did I say?” Harry asked, knowing that if she had heard him rightly, she would have been glaring at him for calling her a spoilt brat, and she wouldn’t say okay to going home so easily.

Jade stepped away from his arms as she tried to think about what he had said, and Harry chuckled and made for the door when she suddenly let out a long string of curses as she picked up one of the pillows on the bed and threw it at him.

“Good. You heard me,” Harry said, laughing loudly as he ducked when she threw another pillow, and he quickly left the room and shut the door behind him.

His laughter died on his lips when he came face to face with Desmond, and he cleared his throat, “Uhm, I was coming to…”

“I need to find the restroom,” Desmond cut in, stopping him from explaining himself.

“The last door down the hallway,” Harry said, feeling awkward at running into the father of the girl he had just kissed. How long has he been standing there? Did he hear anything? How much did he hear?

As Desmond turned to leave, the bedroom door opened, and his gaze moved to Jade when she stepped out of the room.

His eyes moved over her flushed face and her glistening lips, and she flashed him a smile, “What are you doing here, dad?” Jade asked, and Desmond scoffed.

“Your mother thought you lost your way or were kidnapped by aliens, so she wanted me to come to find you,” Desmond said dryly and returned his gaze to Harry.

“There is no reason to look like a guilty thief in your own house. Maybe now you will keep her busy enough to stop disturbing her mother and me in the middle of the night. Man can’t have fun with his wife in peace because they have kids that won’t stop getting into trouble,” Desmond muttered as he walked down the hallway in search of the restroom.