"American Family"

Chapter Seven

Danny watched Jolene as his story came to a final climax. She could not believe what she had just heard. She decided to let him tell the full story and ask questions later, but it seemed that wasn’t such a good idea. Right now she had a million angry questions running through her mind and she had no idea where to start. Suddenly one question slipped out of her mouth “How could you lie to me? You told me you were a virgin!” she said. The topic really made her angry.

Jolene had always adored the fact that her husband had been her first and she had been his. Hearing it was all a lie made her wonder what else she didn’t know about the man. Further more, the big deal was not that a lie had occurred and lasted for years but, that a child had come from this lie. Some where there was a girl who was Danny’s daughter and Jolene hadn’t known about it this entire time.

“I thought I was… I’m sorry Jolene, you don’t now how sorry I am. I wish it never happened and I wish that she never became pregnant, but I can’t undo it. Please, don’t leave me for a mistake I made a long time ago.” He pleaded.

“I’m not going to leave you... At lest I don’t think I will. We have kids to think about before we can just end this. I’m just seriously angry at you. I’m dying here. My world is crashing, Danny,” Jolene said. She meant it too. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare and return to her almost picture perfect family.

Jolene remembered Lydia’s word a long time ago. Lydia had told her that she was waiting for the bad side of Danny. Lydia believed there was a bad in every one. Maybe Lydia was right. Jolene tried not to think like that. She didn’t want to meet people and always expect the bad in them. She thought she’d never discover the bad in Danny but she guessed she just had.

Danny sighed and said, “There’s more Jolene.” Jolene’s eyes went wide and she held onto her heart. She didn’t know if she could handle more. She guessed she was going to have to.

“Danielle is dying. She had lung cancer a while back and they thought it had cure only it came back in one lung. The lung is in bad condition and doctors are worried it will quickly spread to the other lung. They want to remove one lung, but Brianna doesn’t have the money for it,” Danny said. Jolene looked at her husband and saw the pain in his eyes.

“Is that why she came? To get money from you?” Jolene found herself asking.

“No… I don’t think. She hasn’t asked me for money and I think if I offered it she might say she couldn’t take it. I don’t know really,” He said.

“How much?” Jolene realized she was feeling for the girl. She suddenly wanted to help her and see her live. She worried for the girl she had never met. The daughter her husband had never told her about. If he was telling the truth then he had never been told himself.

This was all sad. A girl should not grow up without a father and nor should a man have a child he does not know about. Jolene considered it and she realized that, in truth, Danny was just as much of victim in all of this, as every one else. Maybe he was the one to create the problem with his mindless acts, but in all, this was happening to him also.

Jolene was angry at her husband but she would not break up her family for something that happened years ago. She was determined to get through this the only way she knew how to get through anything. Together.

Jolene stood up from the bed and stood before her husband. She tenderly grabbed his face and held it in her hands. Finally she hugged him close to her. “Danny, you are my husband, the father of my children and I love you. I will not loose you or leave you. I’ll be here, for better or for worse. That’s what marriage is.”

Danny jumped up and wrapped his arm around her quickly. He held her tight and moved his lips to kiss hers. Finally she felt the passion that had been missing this entire time. It had left that day he received the call and hadn’t returned till now. Jolene sighed and pulled away. She rested her head against his and closed her eyes.

It seemed that so many obstacles were thrown her way. Not just now, but through out her entire life. She’d face so many challenges and could recall so many times she wanted to give up. In the end, she never gave up and she came to move on and get through it. She knew that’s how it would go now. It just had to.

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Danny sat in the car alone outside of Chrissy’s place. He sat in the driver’s seat of Lydia’s car waiting for Jolene to come out. His wife had surprised him and said that she would like to meet his daughter. She said she’d have Chrissy baby-sit and she would go up with him. His wife was always surprising him.

Finally she emerged from the house and jogged to the car. She opened the car door and quickly settled in. She waved to Chrissy and signaled for him to go. Danny’s nerves tingled as they grew closer to the hospital. He didn’t know what would happen. He was definitely proud of the strong young girl that lie in that bed, but he wasn’t so proud of his actions. He wasn’t sure how any of this would affect his present life.

Danny drove cautiously towards the hospital. He hated the silence in the car not knowing what Jolene was thinking. At this point he couldn’t even guess what she was thinking. He wondered if she would ever trust him again. He thought about how she would now feel unsure about everything he’s ever told her. Never, in his life, did he think he’d make such a mistake like this one.

It seemed too soon they were at the hospital and conveniently there was a parking spot available very close to the main entrance. Danny parked the car and opened his door. Jolene repeated his actions and they were standing side by side facing the large hospital. Danny’s heart beat faster and faster. This was harder then he thought.

Jolene tugged at his shirt and they began to walk. They walked into the entrance and straight to the elevators. Once inside Danny hit the button to the floor that Danielle’s room was on. The elevator doors closed and Danny was alone with his wife. He moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. His wife made no move to return the affection but Danny did not pull away. He simply moved closer and held her tighter. In his arms was his world.

The doors opened and they stepped out. No words spoken and nor had they even made a move to look at each other. There was only the feeling of knowing they were getting closer to that room, where everything would become beyond the truth, but in fact reality. Danny cleared his throat and said “You’re going to be ok right?”

Jolene nodded and said, “Yes, let’s just do this.”

Danny nodded and grabbed a hold of Jolene’s hand. He tugged her toward the direction of the room and before he knew it they were heading straight to it. Danny noticed his senses working away. He noticed the hallway’s strong smell of medicine. He noticed the ruckus of patients coughing and oxygen tasks on. The news reporters on TV, no doubt not a single person watching it, were announcing even more terrorism. Swallowing every bit of fear he had he lead his wife to Danielle.

Finally, they were in front of her. She lie in bed with tubes attached to her in multiple areas of her body. She looked at Danny and smiled, then looked at Jolene and raised an eyebrow.

“Danielle,” Danny said, “This is my wife, Jolene”

Without hesitation Jolene stepped up to her bed and grabbed onto her hand. “Hi, Danielle,” Jolene said.

“Hi,” Danielle said. Danny imagined that Danielle wasn’t feeling comfortable, but he knew after a while she would come to like Jolene. Everyone came to love Jolene’s tender ways and grew to appreciate her presence. It was a gift she had.

“How are you feeling?” Jolene asked her. She let go of Danielle’s hand and grabbed a seat. She moved the seat closer to Danielle’s bed and waited for her response.

Danielle swallowed and licked her lips, then said, “Not too great. I don’t like being in the hospital.”

“Aw, I’m sorry to hear you have to be here. I hate being in the hospital too,” Jolene told her.

Danny took a step back and watched as his wife and daughter carried on a conversation. Jolene spoke to her as if she wasn’t a reason to hate Danny. They talked to each other and joked around. It was a magnificent sight. For once, Danny felt a weight lifted from his shoulder and he felt it was ok to breath at ease. Maybe everything would be ok.


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The following day Chrissy and Jai-li showed up at Lydia’s doorstep. Chrissy rang the bell and Kiral answered the door in his boxers. He smiled at Chrissy and pointed toward the steps. Chrissy handed Jai-li off to Kiral and ran up the steps. She knew Kiral would be just fine with Jai. Chrissy found Lydia in her room lying on her bed. She wore shorts and a T-shirt with socks. She had her eyes focused in a book. Chrissy cleared her throat and Lydia looked up at her and smiled.

“That is the second time someone has seen me and smiled. I love it,” Chrissy said with a smile. She walked over to Lydia’s bed and sat on the side. Lydia slowly moved over to give her more room.

“Well, you make us happy,” Lydia said. “Where’s Jai?” she asked.

“Down stairs with Kiral, who is still in his boxers,” Chrissy said.

“Yeah, he seems to have trouble sleeping at night. He woke up about a half hour ago,” Lydia told Chrissy.

“Trouble sleeping?” Chrissy asked confused.

“Yeah, you know, over what happened, loosing the baby,” Lydia tried to explain without talking about it much.

“Oh,” Chrissy said. Her eyes went wide and she was shocked at how stupid she had been. She hadn’t even remembered that he had just lost his baby. She had only just walked in and thrown her daughter at him. “Oh my, I feel so stupid. I left him with Jai! Oh man, I feel horrible,” She said.

“Yeah, don’t worry, maybe time with Jai will be good for him,” Lydia said. Her eyes seemed to roam away from Chrissy. She was likely in a deep thought process as Lydia usually was when chaos struck. Finally, she returned her focus on Chrissy and asked, “So, how can I help you?”

“Well, you can start by telling me what’s up with Jo and Danny and you,” She said.

Lydia nodded and told her everything. She told her everything she knew. Lydia told her about the bar and how the crash truly happened. She told her about the conversation she had in the car with Jolene and what Jolene had told her she was going to do. Then, Lydia told her about Kiral and her. She told her how at first she had told him they wouldn’t be having another baby and then finally they decided they would try. She told Chrissy that she had also told Kiral that if the third time had proven to be a failure that that would be it. Chrissy was shocked. She hadn’t realized just how much she had been in the dark about all of this.

“I’m sorry if you feel at all that we’ve been ignoring you. We haven’t been meaning to,” Lydia said.

Chrissy shook her head and said, “No, don’t worry about it Lyd. I’m just glad I know now.”

“You might want to go visit Jo next because there is probably more that I have yet to be told about,” Lydia said.

Chrissy agreed and said she’d be on her way. She said her goodbyes to Lydia and headed down the steps. In the kitchen she found Kiral eating with Jai on his lap. Not noticing her presence he continued talking to the baby. She listened as he told Jai that she would have a cousin from Lydia. That he believed God, whether that is Allah or Jesus or whomever, would come through and everything would be alright. Chrissy took a step forward and Kiral looked up. Chrissy smiled at him and he smiled back.

“Kiral, I meant to tell you how sorry I am. You know, about the baby and all,” Chrissy said.

Kiral nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.” He looked down at Jai-li and said, “You’ve got a beautiful little girl here.”

Chrissy felt compassion for Kiral. He was a good man and would have been a good father. He handed Jai off to her and walked her to the door. He watched her settle into her car and waved to her until, finally, he closed the door.