©JRF2016
It's been a month since that first time with Norman and Jade still can't believe how amazing it is being with him that way. He's been great all around but now it is so much better. She wakes up every morning in his arms and all the doubt she ever felt about herself is melting away with each new day. Norman tells her every day how beautiful she is, how special she is, how lucky he is to have her and how much he loves her. She's never felt loved or special until now.
Her dreams tonight are confusing to say the least. She keeps dreaming about her mother. She keeps dreaming about that night her brother died, it's been a while since she has had that dream or memory rather, of JoJo. She hasn't thought about her mother in weeks, either, and tonight her dreams are filled with her. She sits up in the bed, sweat rolling off her face and staring into the dark of the bedroom. Her mother's voice echoing in her ears as the sleep fades. "I hate you!" She looks to her left as her eyes begin to adjust to the dark and sees the silhouette of a still sleeping Norman. She lays back down on the bed staring at the ceiling as she tries desperately to find sleep again. Eventually, she does start to feel her eyes growing heavy again.
She's lying there with her head on his chest and blood pooling around his head. "JoJo don't leave me. I love you." He doesn't speak or move. Jade knows it is too late as she hears the sirens screaming down the road. They're coming for him, they're going to take her big brother away. Her father pulls her to her feet as her mother stares blankly at the scene. She has no emotion on her face at all and Jade's eyes are filled with tears. "You don't say a word or I'll beat you like I did your damn brother." Father whispers in her ear as he walks over to talk to the cops. Jade can't hear what it is that he is telling them but right now she doesn't care. She runs over to the stretcher they've now placed her brother on and falls on top of him. "Please JoJo, please wake up. I love you, please don't leave me." One of the EMTs pulls her off the body, she still sees the lady's haunting hazel eyes as she looks sympathetically at Jade, almost as if she knows what she is feeling and why.
Jade sits back up in the bed. The sun is starting to peek through the blinds and she decides it is better if she just gets up. She isn't going to have any peaceful sleep anyway. She walks into the kitchen and starts going through the cabinets and refrigerator. Since she has been staying here he stays pretty well stocked up, well she keeps him stocked up. He was a total bachelor before, a few beers stocked in the fridge, some cereal, Raman noodles, that was pretty much the extent of his pantry. Jade smiles remembering that first night she stayed here, looking for something to eat.
"I'm hungry, why don't you have any food here?" Norman puts his arms around her waist and kisses her neck.
"There's plenty of food here, look." He picks up a pack of Raman noodles and waves it at her. "That is not real food."
"Yeah it is," he argues with her with a big grin on his face.
She finally makes herself a sandwich and sits down at the table. She keeps thinking about Norman now. She has never had anyone treat her with the level of kindness he has. Now her thoughts drift to the day it will all end. He'll get tired of her and he'll leave her in a crumpled mess on the floor. She knows it will happen eventually. She doesn't get two bites out of that sandwich when she is dozing again. "Jade," she hears a distant voice, it's soothing, kind, caring but she doesn't recognize it at first. "Jade," he says again and this time she startles and looks up toward that sweet voice and into Norman's piercing blue eyes, "You fell asleep. Let's get you back to bed." She slowly nods her head and lets him lead her back to the bedroom. She is not asleep long when her phone goes off. She picks it up to see the number on the screen. It's her aunt and she quickly answers it and walks into the living room so she doesn't wake Norman. "Hey, what's going on? Why are you calling so late? Why are you calling, I haven't spoken to either of you in so long?"
"It's your mom, she's..."
"Oh," Jade replies without emotion.
"She's asking for you. She wants to see you before she goes."
"I, I don't know." Jade says and her aunt continues.
"Do you really want to leave things the way you guys left them knowing after she is gone you'll never get the chance to fix it? You'll regret it the rest of your life." She made sense and her mother had never asked for her before. This is serious. Maybe, now that the end is near for her she really wants to make it up to Jade. Finally tell her what Jade has always wanted to hear from her mother. "Who was that?" Jade jumps and turns to Norman.
"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you."
"Well a phone going off in the middle of the night tends to do that. Who was it? You look like you got some bad news." Jade nods as Norman slides up and hugs her.
"My aunt, she says my mom, she's dying. She doesn't have any time left and she was asking for me."
"That's a good thing right? Her asking for you, maybe she wants to make up for her behavior toward you."
"Maybe."
"You going over there? You want me to come with?" Jade shakes her head.
"I'll be okay. I'll go a little later this morning." Norman pulls back and looks down at her with a crooked grin. "In the meantime, since we're both up," he gives her a wink and then kisses her. He pulls her body flush against his and she can feel the stiffness of his usual morning erection making itself known. He lifts up the shirt she is wearing and caresses her ass. His hand slide down and grab her by her thighs lifting her off the floor and setting her on the counter before sliding his pants down. Her legs fall apart letting him slide in even closer as the tip of his dick brushes against her. "Norman," she whispers against his neck and he starts to pull away. "I get it if you don't want to this morning." She smiles and clutches her fingers tighter on the back of his neck pulling him back. "Just the opposite, I really, really need you this morning." He smiles wider as he pushes into her.
Jade leaves a sleeping Norman to head over to her mother's house. She is shaking so bad. She wonders what her mother is going to say, she is scared of what her mother wants to tell her. How will she react? Should she forgive her? Should they bury all the hurt that she has slung at her most, we'll all of her life? Can she let go of all that? She stops at the end of the walkway leading up that porch and stares at the seemingly quiet house. "You made it." Her aunt steps out greeting her, "Your mom's upstairs in her bed." Jade nods and walks inside. It seems like ages since she has stepped foot in this house and it seems so different. She walks upstairs and to her mother's door. She looks in to see the small mass under her covers. She's lost so much weight since the last time she saw her. Jade makes her way over to the edge of the bed and stands a over her. "Mother, I'm here." Her mother opens her eyes and looks up at her daughter. Her eyes are empty. No emotion, nothing. Just empty shells of what used to be her mother. "Come closer," she croaks dryly in a whisper Jade can barely hear but she leans down to her anyway. "You're a no good whore and I'm sorry I ever gave birth to you. You're the undoing of your father. If it weren't for you strutting around tempting him, we would have been fine. Perfectly fine. You're a home wrecking slut. I've heard how you've shacked up with some stranger and left me here to fend for myself. You're a no good tramp and I hope you die alone for what you did to me, and to your father. What will you eventually do to this man you're loving up right now." Jade swallowed the lump in her throat hard. So much for an apology. So much for mending their relationship before she dies. Jade turns to walk away but stops. She faces her mother again. "I am not a no good tramp. I didn't wreck your marriage to my no good father. He raped me! I am not responsible for that, I did nothing to deserve that and I did nothing to deserve the hate from you for that! You were supposed to be my mother! You were supposed to protect me, you knew what he did and you let him do it, over and over again! JoJo was the only person in this family that loved me and he died trying to stop that son of a bitch from hurting me." Jade had tears streaming down her cheeks now as she sobbed. She looks up at her mother again after a minute to see her body lying there, still. She hasn't moved at all since Jade started in on her. "Mother?" She asks but the woman is deathly still. Jade walks over to her and lays her hand on the woman's chest. There is no movement. She feels for a breath from her lips and gets nothing. She's dead, she's finally dead. Did she hear any of what Jade told her it was she gone before that? Jade will never know the answer to that but still she felt so much better being able to get that off her chest. She had finally stood up to her mother and it felt great. Jade stood there staring at her cold, dead body and on the outside she was stoic but on the inside she was jumping up and down with excitement. Her aunt comes running through the door screaming, "What is going on up here?" Jade stares straight ahead and her aunt follows her sight line. "Oh my god. We have to call someone. We'll have to get started on the arrangements." Jade's eyes burned with fury now.
"You handle the arrangements. If it was up to me she'd rot right where she is. I hate her, she was never a mother to me and I am not going to be a daughter to her anymore, I wasted enough of my life trying to win her love and I won't do it in her death." Her aunt's mouth flops open and Jade walks out of that horrible house for the last time, she hopes. If she ever has to see this place again it will be too soon.