2000
Kevin. Blue and Jan’s youngest son. Ginny swallowed hard. She used to babysit him and his older brother, Timmy, whenever Blue and Jan were in a pinch.
Ginny bit her lip and pressed on. “Is it true? Were there any tests done to prove paternity or anything like that? And I guess what’s more important: Do you believe Kevin is yours?”
“Yes. I do now. Jan tried to tell me he was mine, but I never believed it. Never wanted to, I guess. But Grizz showed me the pictures when I went to see him. He’s mine, Ginny. I don’t need a paternity test to prove it.”
They were both quiet a long moment.
“Leslie alluded to the secret, you being Grizz’s son, being put in the article Sunday morning when she called us on the phone. Grizz died two days before that. Whatever he was going to do to stop it, didn’t work.”
“Grizz died thinking it was handled. And it has been.” He put up his hand to stop her next question. “I know Leslie needed more convincing, Gin. I know it’s been taken care of, and I know nobody was hurt. He just never counted on her saying something to you before it was stopped.”
She nodded her head in understanding. She could see the relief on her husband’s face. They were making some headway with the secrets. The betrayals. The things that now seemed so easily explained away by Tommy.
Too easily?
Ginny knew there was still a lot more to tell. She could read her husband’s expression, knew what he was thinking. He thought she would be going back home with him tonight. But she knew she wouldn’t be. She still wasn’t ready. She still hadn’t decided what she believed and what she didn’t.
And whether she could live with any of it.
She gave him a level look. “Tommy, this hasn’t changed anything. All these secrets coming out. I still need time. You know that, right?”
He didn’t know what to say. He thought by sharing so much and being truthful, she’d come home. She’d realize it wasn’t all as horrible as she’d thought. But none of it was working.
He’d wanted to have this discussion in their home, needed to have this discussion in their home. Grizz had given explicit instructions about that. He hadn’t even gotten to the part where Jan blamed Grizz’s arrest on him. It was just too much information at once. He’d have to put that on the back burner until he could convince her to come home.
“No, Ginny, I don’t know that.” Tommy took her hands gently, but she pulled away. ”I know you’re taking in a lot of information, honey. But I don’t understand why you can’t come home to hear it. Why do you need to stay away from me? From our children?”
“Tommy, do not play the children card with me. Don’t even try it. This has nothing to do with our children, so don’t even attempt to go there. This is about our marriage. Maybe I can explain how I’m feeling in a way that you’ll understand. A way you can relate to.” She rushed on. The analogy had come to her this morning, and she liked it, “Let’s say you’ve been living in the same house for years. It’s not a perfect house, but it’s the only one you’ve known, and—and you love it and accept it because it’s yours. But many years later, you get a knock on the door. It’s some city official, and they’ve just realized your house was built on ground that is not stable. Something is wrong with the land it’s built on. You go and you pull out your original blueprint and you don’t see anything wrong. You have a legitimate design with an architectural seal of approval. You look back over it and see some things you could’ve changed to make it better, but it’s still a good house and you don’t want to believe it could’ve been sitting on some massive sinkhole this whole entire time that could swallow it up whole!”
“Gin, this doesn’t—”
“Let me finish! I know it’s not the same thing, but bear with me. A city official has just told you that the foundation you built your house on isn’t safe. You could be swallowed up in a second. So you start walking around your house and looking closer at all of the things you loved about it. And now that you’re looking at it, really looking at it up close, you see the walls were built using substandard products. They could crumble at any moment. Your roof and windows wouldn’t survive ten minutes in a bad storm. Maybe the paint on your walls contains harmful lead.”
Tears began to fill her eyes, and he did what she asked. He listened. “Your contractor betrayed you, Tommy. He cut corners at every cost, cheated you out of knowing what you were really living in. Every step of the way. Aren’t you angry? Aren’t you just furious? He tried to explain it away by telling you it was okay that you didn’t know. It was for your ‘own good.’” She laughed derisively, one tear spilling onto her cheek, and then another. “You could never have afforded to have the house of your dreams, the house he’d built, if he’d used superior building products. And he wouldn’t think of telling you he’d used low-quality materials to construct it. He reminds you that you would’ve never been happy in a house if you were worried it could collapse on you without warning. He did the right thing by not telling you what you were living in. He should be thanked and applauded for saving you from such distress. But you know what, Tommy? He never once considered how you would feel when that sinkhole, or should I say stinkhole, started to swallow you up.”
Silence filled the air. He didn’t know what to say. She was right. Both he and Grizz were guilty of letting her live a life based on secrets. How much better would it have been if they had told her certain things as they’d happened instead of letting them all swallow her up now? He wasn’t being fair and he knew it. He tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.
“I’m only asking you for time, Tommy, and I think it stinks you aren’t even willing to give it to me. After all this.” Her tears were gone now, replaced by the cold anger. “You are being selfish, and I’ll be honest, Tommy. At this moment, I find that, that selfishness, a million times more repulsive than the fact that you slept with Jan.”
He didn’t get a chance to respond. Just then, she broke into a huge lopsided grin, staring at the sliding glass door that led into the house. “I didn’t hear a car pull up!”
Tommy turned to see what she was looking at.
“Surprise! Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!” Jason walked out on to the deck, and Ginny enveloped him in a big hug. “Aunt Carter and Aunt Casey said I could help take care of the animals tonight. Why is your nose red, Dad? It looks like it was bleeding. Why was your nose bleeding?”
“Bumped it on the barn door, Jason. Nothing to worry about,” Tommy quickly said, forcing an over-bright smile of his own.
Carter and Casey had followed Jason onto the back deck. Quietly closing the sliding door behind them, Casey mouthed, “Sorry—he missed his parents.”
Ginny and Tommy knew she was right. Poor kid had spent a couple of days at the Reynolds’ while they were at the prison, and no sooner had Ginny picked him up to come home than she left for Carter’s. Then Tommy had left after one night, replaced by Carter and Casey. He would start suspecting something soon. And God only knew what was going on inside Mimi’s head. Ginny wrung her hands; she couldn’t help but worry about her oldest child.
As if reading her mind, Carter chimed in, “Mimi’s at someone named Courtney’s house. Hope that’s okay. Casey talked to her parents and they said it was fine.”
“No, that’s good. She’s okay with them.”
Carter answered the unspoken question. “She hasn’t even asked.”
Ginny nodded. She supposed she should be grateful.
Carter took Jason by the hand. “C’mon, I need help with the horses.” Ginny could see Jason was only too happy to help. Carter called back over her shoulder as they walked down the deck steps and headed for the stalls, “If I had one ounce of his energy I could finish my chores in ten minutes.”
Tommy hadn’t said anything since the girls brought Jason home. He looked at Casey. “I know you just got here with him, but I really need another hour with Gin to talk. Do you think he’ll notice if we sneak out to have dinner somewhere?”
Ginny started to object, but Casey wouldn’t hear it. “He’ll be fine. He’ll be out there with Carter for at least an hour. We’ll keep him busy. Go.”
Tommy looked at his wife. “You up for dinner out somewhere?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t showered, but I am getting hungry.”
“You’re fine, honey. Just thrown on some jeans.” He didn’t want to have to deal with other men staring at his wife’s long legs. They looked sexy in shorts with her cowboy boots. He never wanted to admit it, but he had inherited Grizz’s tendency to be jealous.
After Tommy cleaned up, he talked quietly with Casey while Ginny changed into her jeans.
“Bumped it on the barn door?” Casey smirked. Tommy didn’t answer her.
Ginny came out of the bedroom then. “All ready.”
He followed her to the front door.
“So, where are you going?” Casey asked casually.
Ginny knew in her heart it was wrong, but she couldn’t help herself.
“Tommy is taking me to meet his boyfriend, Allen.”