Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
I wish I could tell her I would carry this part for her. That I would take the judgment, the shame, and the fury. All of it. But love isn’t about taking her voice away. Love is standing next to her while she finds it.
“I don’t know.”
Eleanor goes utterly still. Janey’s father closes his eyes.
“I don’t know which one of them is the father,” Janey says. “And I know what that sounds like to you. I know exactly what you’re thinking because I’ve heard your voice in my head every day of my life.”
“Janey,” Eleanor whispers, horrified.
“No. Let me finish.” Janey’s tears spill over, but she doesn’t wipe them away. “Please. For once, let me finish.”
Her mother stares, mouth agape.
“I've spent so long trying to be the daughter you wanted. The careful one. The polished one. The one who made the right choices and smiled at the right people and never embarrassed you. I tried so hard that I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore. I only knew what would disappoint you.”
Her father’s expression crumples. “We never wanted you to feel that way.”
Janey looks at him, and her voice softens. “Maybe you didn’t. But I did feel that way.”
Eleanor’s face tightens again, anger rushing in to cover whatever else might have been there. “And this is what you want? Two men? A child with no certainty? A life people will whisper about?”
Janey inhales unsteadily. “Yes.” One small word. One absolute choice.
Eleanor stares at her.
Janey touches her belly with both hands now. “I want this baby. I want Mason. I want Brookes. I want the home we’re building here, even if it doesn’t look the way you think a home should look.”
My heart slams against my ribs. Mason turns to me, his eyes wide with hope and pride.
She’s making the choice herself, putting aside her fear and any consideration of what we want because, at last, she knows what she wants and she’s prepared to fight for it.
Eleanor’s eyes flash. “You can’t possibly love two men.”
Janey gives a broken little laugh. “I used to think that, too.”
Her mother’s mouth twists. “This isn’t love. This is recklessness. This is foolishness and selfishness. It’s lust dressed up.”
“No,” Mason says, his voice rough from holding himself back.
He removes his hat slowly, holding it in both hands. “Reckless would be letting her stand here alone. Reckless would be pretending we don’t love her because it makes other people more comfortable. I love your daughter, Ma’am. I know my brother does, too. And whatever happens, our baby will be loved. By all of us. And frankly, we don’t give a damn what other people think about it. So long as Janey goes to sleep at night with a smile on her face, my job is done.”
Eleanor’s eyes narrow. “You expect me to find that comforting? That innuendo.”
“I don’t expect anything from you,” Mason says. “But Janey deserves to hear it said out loud.”
I turn to her parents, though the words are also for Janey.
“I love your daughter. I love her when she’s laughing in the kitchen. I love her stubbornness, her selflessness, even when it costs her too much. I already love the baby she’s carrying, whether blood says I have a right to or not.”
Janey makes a soft sound, half sob, half breath.
“And I'm not going anywhere.”
Mason steps closer to her other side. “Neither am I.”
For a moment, everything falls away. Her mother’s anger. Her father’s shock. The dust and scent of home. Our old lives pressing at the edges of this new one.
Janey looks between us, her tears shining, and the openness of her expression nearly undoes me.
Then Eleanor makes a choked sound. “You’re all delusional.” She points toward the sedan. “Get your things, Janey.”
“No.”
Her mother blinks. “Excuse me?”
“No,” Janey says again, stronger this time. “I’m staying.”
“You're coming home.”
“This is my home, now.”
Eleanor’s face flushes. “This isn’t a home. This is some fantasy you’ve built because you're scared and hormonal and surrounded by men who are taking advantage of your confusion. You saw your friend living in sin and wanted to join her.”
Janey steps down to stand in the yard, directly in front of her mother.
“Joelle isn’t living in sin. She’s in a polyamorous relationship that’s filled with love and commitment. And I’m not confused,” she says. “I won’t pretend I’m not scared. But being scared doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
Eleanor’s lips tremble with fury. “You’ll regret this.”
“Maybe I’ll regret parts of it,” Janey says softly. “Maybe it’ll be hard. Maybe people will talk. Maybe I’ll cry more than I want to. But I would rather live a hard life that’s mine than an easy one that belongs to you.”
Her father wipes a hand over his face. “Janey…”
She turns to him, and her voice gentles. “I love you, Dad. So please leave it.”
“I love you too.” His voice breaks. “I don’t know how to protect you from this.”