Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Jamie chuckled again.
Judge kept speaking. “Though, she says she’s going to give me a shot…eventually.”
“That’s good, buddy. Feeding your child is a bonding experience.”
“I totally get that. In fact, sharing that is how I got her to give in and let me feed my boy…eventually.”
Jamie shared more auditory amusement.
“She goes down to her shop in town a few hours a day while Genny watches JT,” Judge told him. “Or she drops him at my office, and then I have to fight everyone off because they want a piece of him. Alex has fallen in love. Rix has fallen in love with her falling in love. He told me he’s gonna knock her up on their honeymoon.”
“I hope he does,” Jamie said, looking forward to the trip to go out for their wedding, one that was happening that coming autumn, and he was looking forward to it for a bevy of reasons.
On that thought, Jamie picked up his earlier thought and made a mental note to set up some house viewings while they were out there.
“I do too,” Judge said into Jamie’s thoughts. “He also shared, when he lost his legs, he gave up on the idea of having kids. Didn’t think he could protect them if something really bad happened. It’s fucking awesome he doesn’t feel that way anymore.”
It absolutely was.
Predictably, it had been a rough road Rix had to travel after he lost both legs in an accident when he was a firefighter, first the physical journey, then the emotional one.
But Rix was a tough nut, and he fought to the other side. Now, it was all about getting on with life, love, and making babies.
“You hear from Chet again?” Judge asked.
“Not a word. No whisper out there he’s causing any trouble. Doesn’t mean we won’t be blindsided by it.”
“Do you have any idea what his deal is now?” Judge asked. “I mean, Dru’s of age. Why doesn’t he just piss off?”
At his son’s question, Jamie made a decision.
And it was a big decision.
He then set about initiating that decision by explaining all that had been happening.
Everything.
Roland. Paloma. Chet.
AJ.
And finally, he said, “I haven’t spoken to your sister about this, but I need…” he trailed off.
Was he going to do this?
“What, Dad? You need what?” Judge prompted when Jamie left it too long. Then he suggested, “A posse to go to Texas and kick Granddad’s ass?”
Jamie wanted to smile at that.
He just couldn’t.
“No, because, Judge.” Fuck. “Because AJ Oakley is not your granddad.”
Judge was silent.
Jamie was in it now, so he had to give it all.
“I found your grandmother’s journals. She had an affair. I’m the product of that.”
“Holy fuck,” Judge pushed out.
“I know it’s a lot to lay on you over the phone—”
“It’d be a lot to lay on me in person,” Judge said. “You’ve known about this for a while?”
“It took some time for me to get over losing your grandma before I could read her journals. It then took more to convince myself I had a right to her privacy. I missed her and wanted to be closer to her. So I read them, and I’m glad I did, for more than this reason. But yes. I’ve known it for years. I didn’t tell you because, well, frankly, son, I wasn’t ready.”
“It’s yours to share when you want to, Dad. I’m just…is it bad that I’m really freaking happy Grandma cheated on Granddad?”
Miraculously, considering their subject, Jamie felt his lips twitch. “No. But it wasn’t like that. It was a love affair, buddy. They loved each other. Deeply. He wanted to take her away from him. Give her a good life. But she had three kids, and they both knew how AJ could be, particularly Mom. If she humiliated him like that, he’d bury her, and my birth father.”
“Christ, the tentacles of his bullshit stretch forever,” Judge groused.
They were about to come to an end.
“What he did to you, how he used Belinda,” Jamie began, “and learning what was in those journals was what prompted me to deal with him in a final way, Judge. Mom felt trapped. Well before the final years of her marriage, she felt trapped, and he purposefully made her feel that way. It was a relief to her when he replaced her. So, part of why I made that decision has always been the fact that I plan, once that ranch is in my hands, to give it to my real father…and your two uncles.”
“Holy shit, I have uncles too?”
“Yes.”
“Please tell me these ones aren’t fuckwads,” Judge begged.
Jamie felt a lightness in his chest at Judge’s reaction to all of this. He’d been avoiding it for a long time, not wanting to besmirch his mother’s memory, not wanting any drama, but definitely wanting AJ firmly over the barrel before he pulled the final plug.