The Exception (16 page)

Jillian

I took in a deep breath as Drew placed his hand on the small of my back and we climbed into the Bentley.

“The Plaza Hotel, Roland,” he spoke.

“I don’t think I can do this sober. I need a drink. Don’t you keep any liquor in here?” I asked as I looked around.

“Jillian, you’ll be fine.” He took hold of my hand. “Trust me. You can do this and I’ll be there right by your side.”

“I still need alcohol.” I laid my head on his shoulder.

“I can guarantee there’s a fully stocked fridge in their suite. Just grab something when you get in there.”

Roland pulled up behind my parents’ limo and the four of us got out at the same time. My mother glared at me the whole way up to their suite. Once the door shut, the shit was about to hit the fan. My nerves were spastic and I needed to calm down. Walking over to the refrigerator, I opened it and pulled out a bottle of beer.

“What on earth are you doing?” my mother asked in disgust as I took the cap off the bottle and took a large sip.

“I’m drinking a beer. Do you have a problem with that?”

“You better watch your attitude, young lady.” My father pointed at me. “Now sit down!”

“No thank you. I’d rather stand. So, who’s going to go first? Mother? Father?”

“Why did you do it?” my father asked. “After everything your mother and I have done for you, this is how you repay us?”

“And how dare you say those things about Grant,” my mother chimed in. “He’s heartbroken.”

“I’m sure he is,” I spoke in a sarcastic tone. “And to answer your question, Daddy, I did it because I wanted out.”

“What do you mean by that?” he growled.

“I wanted out from the grips of both of you. You ran my entire life. You never once asked me what I wanted.”

“It didn’t matter what you wanted. We’re your parents and we knew what was best for you,” my mother said.

“No! You didn’t know what was best for me,” I shouted. “You never let me explore life and do the things I wanted to do. You were so busy trying to make sure I was the perfect daughter that made you look good that you didn’t give a damn about how I felt.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic.” My mother waved her hand in front of her face. “We gave you everything you wanted.”

“You gave me everything you thought I wanted!” I pointed at her. “You chose my friends, what I ate, what I could and couldn’t wear, what school I had to attend, college, my career, and my future husband! You didn’t give me a choice, and like a fool, I put up with it for far too long. Grant didn’t want to marry me any more than I wanted to marry him. He cheated on me! Did you know that on the night of his bachelor party, he slept with not one, but two strippers at the same time?!”

My mother looked away with a nasty look on her face. “Grant loves you. He would never do that and what you did to him and to us is unforgivable.” She folded her arms.

“Well, at least we agree on something because what you did to me is unforgivable.”

The room became silent for a few moments, and when I looked over at Drew, there was a deep sadness in his eyes. This wasn’t fair to him. He shouldn’t have had to hear this.

“You’ve embarrassed this family, Jillian,” my father spoke. “And you threw away a million-dollar wedding.”

“Is that all that matters to you? The money? I didn’t ask for a fucking million-dollar wedding. That was all her,” I pointed to my mother, “doing.”

“Why did you come to New York?” he asked. “And how did you slip away so quietly without a trace? You haven’t used your credit cards and your bank account hasn’t been touched. What have you been doing for money?”

“Oh, I’m sure this one over here has been supporting her.” My mother pointed at Drew. “Is that why you left Grant? For him?”

Narrowing my eyes at her, I couldn’t believe she dragged Drew into this.

“How dare you! You want the truth?” I strutted over to her and my father. “Because you aren’t going to like it. When I turned twenty-one, my grandmother left me a trust fund with four million dollars in it.”

The shock on their faces was priceless and it gave me great satisfaction to finally tell them.

“What?” my father asked in anger.

“That’s right, Daddy. Your mother made sure that I would be taken care of when I finally decided to break free from this so-called family and prison I was living in. She knew everything.”

“That wretched woman!” he yelled. “How dare she hide that from me!”

“She did it because she loved me and knew I needed an out. As long as I stayed in Seattle around the two of you and Grant, I would never know who I truly was.”

Seeing them sitting there weak and their defenses down gave me the strength to continue. Drew sat back in his chair, staring at me and waiting for what was to come next.

“What do you mean you would never know who you truly were?” my father asked.

“You made me into someone I don’t even know! You molded me into what you wanted me to be. You didn’t let me decide what I wanted to be or let me discover myself. You shoved your life down my throat and every time I look in the mirror, I see a complete stranger!”

“Oh for God’s sake, Jillian. You are such a drama queen,” my mother snarled. “The fact of the matter is that you have embarrassed this family and you need to do some serious apologizing. Not only to us and the community that supported you, but also to Grant.”

I could feel the fire rise inside my body and the anger I felt grew more intense.

“An embarrassment? Me?” I calmly spoke. “If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s you, Daddy.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Do you know why I came to New York?”

My mother rolled her eyes. “I’m sure it was for him.”

“LEAVE DREW OUT OF THIS!” I shouted. “I came here because of my sister! You know, the child you created with another woman?” I glared at my father.

My mother looked at him and swallowed hard while my father sat there and blankly stared at me. Finally, they were speechless.

“How did you find out about her?” my mother asked.

Cocking my head, I narrowed my eye at her. “You knew about her?”

“Of course I did. Now answer the question.”

“She contacted me two years ago after her mother passed away. She told her everything. We bonded and became close like sisters should be. I can’t believe I had a sister and you never told me!”

“You were never supposed to find out about her,” my father softly spoke as he looked down.

“Well, too fucking bad. I did. What kind of father just ignores the fact that he has another child?”

“I’m not rehashing the past, Jillian. Drop it and you are never to speak of her to anyone.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that because she’ll be dead in six to nine months.” A tear formed in my eye.

My father looked up at me. “What do you mean?”

“She has brain cancer and there’s nothing more the doctors can do for her. So I hope you feel like shit, but I’m sure you don’t. Neither one of you has a compassionate bone in your body.”

My mother raised her brow and looked away.

“I’m sorry,” my father spoke.

“Sorry?” I leaned my ear towards him. “You’re sorry for what? That I found out, that she’s dying, or that you never got the chance to know your own daughter?”

“Maybe all of it.” He looked down.

I stood there and slowly shook my head.

“I thank God every day that I’m nothing like the both of you. How I’m not is a miracle.”

They both sat there in silence and Drew looked at me with a small grin. He knew I had won.

“I want to meet her,” my father spoke.

“What?” my mother lashed out. “No! You are not meeting that woman.”

“Will you shut the hell up for once in your life, Patricia!” he commanded at her. “I never should have listened to you in the first place. Now I’ve lost two daughters.”

“Jillian will be coming home. We’ll work this out. She’ll apologize and we can all move on.”

“The fuck I will!”

“Don’t you dare use that language in my presence,” she spoke in anger.

“Oh, I will use that language in your presence. You cannot and will not tell me what to do. I am a grown woman who makes her own decisions. If I want to say ‘fuck,’ I will and I’ll say it as many times as I want to.”

“What happened to you?” My mother narrowed her eyes in disgust at me. “What happened to my daughter?”

“The daughter you created is gone and she’s never coming back. She’s dead and buried deep down in the depths of the Earth. By the way, that man sitting over there that you keep referring to, his name is Drew Westbrook and you will respect him.”

I grabbed my purse from the table and Drew followed me to the door.

“Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Bell. Oh, and by the way, Patricia, Kellan helped me plan my little escape. He knew where I was the whole time. You are to stay away from him. If I even catch a hint of you going anywhere near him again, I will leak to the press about Daddy’s illegitimate child and how the two of you went to great lengths to keep her a secret.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” She glared at me.

“And you never thought I’d skip out on my wedding day either.” I smiled. “Don’t underestimate me. I learned from the best.”

Walking out the door, I let out a deep breath and fell into Drew’s arms.

Drew

I held her as tightly as I could and ran my hand up and down her back. I expected her to break down and start crying, but she didn’t.

“I’m so proud of you for holding it together in there and standing up to them.” I kissed the top of her head. “Are you okay?”

She broke our embrace and looked up at me.

“I’m fine. Actually, I feel great. Is that fucked up?”

I let out a light chuckle. “I’m not sure.”

“Let’s get out of here before one of them opens the door,” she spoke.

As we climbed into the back of the Bentley, Jillian laid her head on my shoulder.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked.

“Of course I will. I wasn’t planning on leaving you anyway. Where do you want to stay? My place or yours?”

“How about your place? But can we stop by mine really quick so I can grab some clothes for tomorrow? I really don’t feel like putting this dress back on in the morning.”

“To Jillian’s apartment, Roland,” I spoke.

After stopping by Jillian’s apartment, we headed to my townhouse. Jillian went upstairs while I grabbed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. When I walked into the bedroom, she was in the bathroom washing her face and letting her hair down. I poured us some wine, climbed under the covers, and waited for her.

“I brought some wine. I figured you’d want some.”

“Thank you.” She softly smiled as she climbed in next to me.

Taking the glass from my hand, she brought it to her lips.

“So now what?” I asked. “What are you going to do about your parents?”

“Nothing. I said what I had to and it’s done. I’m never going back to Seattle. I’m sorry you had to witness all that and I’m sorry for ruining your night.”

“You didn’t ruin my night and don’t be sorry. Your parents. Wow.” I shook my head.

“I told you. They’re something else. I lived my whole life like that.” She finished off her wine and held her glass to me.

Grabbing the bottle from the nightstand, I refilled her glass.

“Are you still up for going to my parents’ house tomorrow?”

“Of course I am. Do you think I’m going to let this ruin anything? I’m done letting my parents ruin and run my life.”

I reached over and softly stroked her cheek. “You are a brave woman, Jillian Bell.”

“Thanks. I’m trying to be. Tonight was the last thing I needed with everything else going on.”

“I know.” I pulled her into me and kissed her head.

****

The next morning, I opened my eyes as Jillian stirred in my arms. Kissing her back, I softly spoke, “Good morning.”

She turned and faced me, placing her hand and her head on my chest.

“Good morning. What time is it?”

“Eight o’clock.”

She yawned.

“You were restless last night,” I spoke.

“I kept having bad dreams about my parents. Ugh. I don’t want to think or talk about them. What’s for breakfast?” she asked with a smile.

“What do you want?” My arm tightened around her as my hand softly stroked her arm.

“I don’t know. Let’s go see what we can whip up. Do you know how to cook?” She glanced up at me.

“Yes.” I grinned.

“Really? I’m surprised.”

“Why?” I chuckled.

“I don’t know. I just am.”

“I used to help my mom cook all the time. Come on, let’s go make some coffee and get breakfast started.”

“Can I just say one thing?”

“What?” I smiled.

“I’m happy you can cook because I can’t. I can’t even boil water.” She laughed. “If you said you couldn’t cook, we’d be screwed.”

“Then I will teach you.” I winked as I kissed her soft lips. “And after breakfast, I promise you will be screwed.”

As she lifted herself up from me, she grabbed the pillow and hit me with it.

“You’re dirty.” She grinned.

“You have no idea how dirty I can be, Miss Bell.”

After breakfast and a long lovemaking session in the shower, I got dressed and ran to the office to grab some files I wanted to look over before Monday. When I entered the building, I saw Jillian’s father in the lobby.

“Mr. Bell? What are you doing here?”

“Please, call me Donald.” He held out his hand.

“How did you know that I’d be here today?”

“This is your company, right?”

“Yes.”

“People like us are always in the office on Saturdays. I need to talk to you for a moment.”

“Sure. Come up to my office. We can talk there.”

Taking the elevator up to the twelfth floor, we entered my office and I told him to take a seat.

“What’s this about? I’m not really sure I should be talking to you.”

“I understand, but you’re the only connection I have to Jillian right now. I need you to get her to see me. I need to talk to her alone.”

“What about your wife?” I asked as I leaned back in my chair.

“Screw her. She’s to blame for all of this and I won’t let her stand in the way of me and my daughters anymore. I need to apologize to Jillian and I need to meet Kristen.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do. I’m pretty positive Jillian won’t see you.”

“Then it’s up to you to make sure she does. Here’s my number. Please, Drew. I need your help.”

“You don’t even know me. How could you trust me?”

“I know enough. I know you’re in love with her. I saw it last night and I see it now. People deserve a second chance. Even when they’ve screwed up so badly, they deserve the chance to make it right. Please, Drew.”

I sighed. “I’ll talk to her, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

“I know. I just ask that you please try to convince her.”

“We’re going to my parents’ house for dinner later, so I’ll talk to her after. Maybe the two of you can meet up tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Drew.” He stood up and held out his hand. “You’re a good man with a good heart. I can tell that much and Jillian is lucky to have you in her life.”

After he walked out of my office, I grabbed the files I needed and headed back to the townhouse. Jillian was going to be upset when I told her that her father paid me a visit, but that conversation would have to wait until tonight.