Heartless (Random Updates)

Chapter 23

Jennifer walked through the store and softly sighed as she eyeballed the clothes. Rolling her eyes when nothing caught her eye, she left the store and headed to another in the mall. It had been a couple of days and they finally managed to get her to leave her room by convincing her to redecorate her room anyway she wanted. They tried to stay with her once they reached the mall, but she convinced them that she was feeling overwhelmed and needed to find stuff for her that wasn't influenced by their decisions or opinions. She also promised to text the group when she would go somewhere so that they knew where she was at all times. A small part of her had to admit that she liked the fact that they were so demanding about it, but she wouldn't admit it to them.

Spotting a furniture store, she entered it and started walking around to see if they had anything she would like. As she walked toward the back, she frowned, not really seeing anything that caught her eye but as she neared the very back, she froze.

"Mrs. Blackbourne, hi," a very pleased voice came up to her from the side.

"Hello," Jennifer put on her mask and smiled. "You're the reporter that spoke to us right after we got married." She shook the lady's hand briefly.

"Yes Ma'am, I'm Judith Mays," she smiled. She looked over at what Jennifer was looking at when she arrived. "Are you adopting, Mrs. Blackbourne?" she asked eagerly while eyeing the white crib and changing table. "I mean with you being—"

"That's enough, Mrs. Mays," Jennifer said tensely.

"I apologize," Mrs. Mays instantly winced.

"No," Jennifer smirked as she turned to face the reporter. "In fact, you know what? How about I give you an exclusive, do you have a moment?"

"For you, always," the reporter beamed as she reached for her purse, "May I?"

"Please do," Jennifer smirked, "I don't want you to miss anything I'm about to tell you."

She watched as the reporter quickly pulled her phone out of her purse and hit a few things on it before saying, "This is Judith Mays speaking with Mrs. Jennifer Blackbourne." Jennifer listened as she stated the day and where they were. "She has an exclusive. Mrs. Blackbourne?"

"Yes," Jennifer smiled as she motioned to a bench right across from the set up nursery furniture. "Thank you for letting me speak with you."

"No, thank you," Miss Mays beamed.

"I just remember how polite and kind you were speaking to me after the wedding," Jennifer admitted. "You were the only one to speak to me with respect and I felt your wishes were genuine, so I felt you were the right person to speak with about this."

"They are," Miss Mays admitted, "and I'm appreciate you thinking of me with whatever you would like to tell me."

"I want to tell you everything that I have just found out, I..." she sighed and cleared her throat, "you have to understand Miss Mays, this will blow the cover on a lot of things."

"Excuse me?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Jennifer nodded, "and it is very important that you understand I just recently found out about this. It has completely changed my world and my beliefs. I don't want people to fall for the façade of my family anymore. I can no longer let this continue to happen. It's not morally right. I have to right this wrong. I need the truth to be told."

Miss Mays eyes widened as she nodded, "And I promise I will tell it," She swore.

"Thank you," Jennifer smiled as she turned to look back at the nursery. She cleared her throat, "I honestly don't even know where to begin, I apologize."

"Don't be," Miss Mays smiled gently. "May I ask you some questions? Maybe that will help." Jennifer nodded. "Are you and your nine husbands thinking about adopting since you are barren?"

"Fourteen," Jennifer corrected.

"I'm sorry?" Miss Mays asked.

"Fourteen," Jennifer repeated. "I have fourteen husbands, not nine. My parents did not approve of some of my loves, so they tried to forbid me marrying them. At the time, I still wanted to make them happy, so I agreed to it, but you have to understand, it never felt right to only marry some of them. It felt like I was picking favorites or that I love some of them more than the others. It felt wrong in my soul. After I found out the truth about my parents, I could no longer go along with the partial marriage. I had a secret marriage and binding ceremony where I rebound myself to all fourteen of my loves. I am the wife of all fourteen Blackbourne Toma family."

"Amazing," Miss Mays smiled, "I wish you much happiness with that. You said you found out the truth about your parents? Can you clarify what you mean?"

Jennifer took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "My parents have...my parents have made choices about my body without my consent. Unbeknownst to me I have been on two different birth controls for the past few years and told me that I was barren in order to prevent me from having children with my husbands. I was not aware of this because from a very young age they had me trained to believe that they made the best decisions for me, so I never felt like I needed to question their decisions. This ultimately led to them having my doctor giving me two birth controls at the same time to prevent me from being able to get pregnant then lie and tell me that I am barren."

Miss Mays gasped, "but why?"

Jennifer scoffed and wiped at a tear that slipped past her watery eyes. "Because my father has multiple mistresses and needed my inheritance to spend on his other families. He also didn't want the lands and properties that I am to inherit going to my husbands. He wanted to keep everything that was meant to be mine to himself. He didn't want me to give my husbands children because then he would lose what is mine. He also wanted to be able to continue controlling me without actually having to provide for me. He made the mistake of thinking that my husbands do not actually love me though."

"What do you mean?"

Jennifer wiped her eyes and smiled softly, "I had an allergic reaction that they did not know about because my parents told them that I am perfectly healthy and that I do not have any allergies. The fact that they were not informed infuriated them and well Dr. Sean being the sweet doctor he is, decided to give me a proper checkup. He found the two birth controls and is now helping me take the proper steps to heal my body. Since I have found out the truth about my parents lying to me about so many things, I have completely severed ties with them. You may also want to know that my father's company is declining, and I will NOT be taking over it. In fact, I have quit school for the moment because I do not have any interest in learning about business like it was forced upon me. I have the full support of my husbands to find what I am passionate about and then I will be learning more about whatever that may be. I have learned that the love that I thought my parents had is what I wanted, but the truth is, I have learned that true love is what my husbands are giving me. They are showing me the way I should be treated and I am forever grateful for listening to my heart when it comes to them. I stand by what I said before, our love may be unconventional but it is real."

Miss Mays looked back at the nursery set, "and you are really okay with me looking into and releasing this information about your parents, Mrs. Blackbourne? This will cause a huge shitstorm."

Jennifer turned away from the nursery and tensed for a split second, seeing her husbands standing a few feet away from them with mixed reactions on their faces. The one that they all shared though was curiosity so something told her that no matter what she decided right then they would support her in it. She knew what she was going to do. She tore her gaze away from them and back at the reporter before smiled, "Definitely."