By the time I got outside, the sun had already set. Going by the sounds of laughter and chit chat, along with the DJ playing David Guetta’s latest hit, I figured things had gone back to relative normalcy. Lanterns hung along the side of the wooden walls, casting light upon the hundreds of people, now dancing away in the clearing.
The DJ was where the banquet table had been, and as the song ended and Pharell’s “Happy” came on, I looked for my mom.
Finding her among the crowd, mingling with some people I supposed must have been important, she caught my eye and excused herself before coming over to me.
“Where on earth did you go?” she asked me. “I needed you.”
“I’m sorry mom. I really am. I just had a lot of questions, after Jack’s outburst.”
“That’s understandable I guess. You missed the cake cutting.”
“Oh mom, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I saved you some cake. I know how much you like it.”
“Are you ok mom? You’ve never encouraged me to eat cake before in my life!”
This at least elicited a laugh from my mother.
“I’m fine, sweetie. I was just worried about you. Don’t worry about those lies Jack told.”
“That’s the thing mom, I don’t think they’re lies.”
“Well I love John, and he loves me. Don’t think for a second that there’s anything wrong with us. If I felt like I was in danger, I would leave. Ok?”
“Yeah. Thanks mom.”
“Now, get out there on the dance floor, show me those moves you’ve got!”
With that I did the robot awkwardly towards the dance floor, my best Tina-Fey-in-30-Rock impression, making my mom laugh like crazy. John came over a minute later.
“There she is, my new daughter. Would you do the honour of giving me this dance?”
“Oooh, how can I say no to a man with such manners?” I asked, giving him my hand with an exaggerated gesture, like I was in a Jane Austen novel. I was definitely not what one would call a “good dancer”, and John quickly picked up on it, so we just moved slowly, more like stepping in tune to the music than dancing. He had one hand very lightly around my waist and held my left hand with his right.
“I hope you didn’t believe anything Jack said during the speeches,” John told me. “It is true that Laura left me, and I was too ashamed to tell the truth. I shouldn’t have done that, but I never hit her. She left me for another man, one of the men that worked in the house. Jack has always blamed me for his mother abandoning him.”
“That must be so hard,” I replied. I had seen Jack in the house. I knew he was telling the truth. But I wasn’t going to make an enemy out of John if I didn’t need to.
“Yes. Though when you have children of your own, you’ll understand that the pain they feel is much worse than any effect they may have on your own life. It just saddens me that he still feels so much anger towards me.”
“I’m so sorry,” I replied. I wasn’t. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that the hands that were touching me right now – completely appropriately, nothing creepy or weird – were hands that had beaten on his ex-wife until she couldn’t take it anymore and took off in the middle of the night, leaving her only son behind.
I wanted to run away from this man. All those times he had been so nice to me, to find out that he was one of the most horrendous human beings I knew, I wanted to spit in his face. But no, I wasn’t Jack. I’d be nice. I could put up a front. I just had to avoid him from now on. Maybe he’d even give me the money to rent an apartment next semester.
Those thoughts and more ran through my mind, and before I knew it, the song was over. My perfect excuse.
“Thanks for the dance, John. I think I’m going to take a break,” I told him with a smile, and he bowed at me and went to find someone else to dance with.
“I think I’m going to call it an early night,” I told my mom.
“Ok darling, that’s fine. A lot of people have already left anyway. You’re still going to be there for brunch in the morning?”
“Of course, mom. Eleven o’clock, in the dining room?”
“That’s right. Good night, sweetie.”
“Good night mom. Congratulations.”
And with that I went back to the house, took off all my clothes, and had a shower so hot that when I got up the mirror was completely steamed up.
If that was how I felt just knowing what John Alcott had done to Jack’s mother, I couldn’t imagine how Jack felt every time he saw the man.