Chapter 65

"Oh no!" I said, with panic in my voice.

Both Tim and Jackie came running.

"Good! Now that you're here," I said, confusing both of them, "you can behave. Jackie, that means you, too."

She gave me the evil eye.

"I mean it. Keep a civil tongue or leave."

"You know Theresa would never forgive me if I did that," Jackie said.

"Yep, I know," I said smiling.

She didn't think it was funny.

"Jackie, you have only heard one side of the story between Theresa and Tim. There are always two sides. If you want to see just how much that can screw things up, pay attention."

There was a knock on the door.

"Jackie, the circus is about to begin."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Stay in the kitchen with Tim. This is why he's here, by the way."

Her eyebrows rose, as she said, "To hear a conversation?"

"Yep."

Tim brought Brandon into the living room.

"Brandon," Jackie said, "I haven't seen you in a while..." Then turning to me, she asked, "John, what's going on?"

"Go on," I said motioning her away, "and you'll hear soon enough."

Then I used a tone of voice that my father had taught me. He used it to make a point, when one needed to be made.

"The one thing you are not going to do is interfere."

It was a good five minutes before Jessica and Fiona showed up. Jessica, of course, came in the door with Fiona, still talking.

"Hi, John," Jessica said as they walked in.

"Yeah, Hi..." Fiona started, but as soon as she saw Brandon, her voice stopped.

"Hi," I replied. "Fiona, come on in and have a seat. There are a few things we need to talk about."

"I don't need to talk. I think maybe I should go," she replied.

"You do that," I said, looking right at her, "and you can kiss goodbye to having any meaningful boyfriends again."

"You don't know what he did."

"Yes, actually, I do."

Fiona turned to Jessica. "Did you know about this?"

"Fiona," I said before Jessica could answer. "Stop right there. You owe me. Now sit down and listen."

She sat, but obviously wasn't very happy. I could tell she had her mother's stubborn streak in her, but I was also smart enough not to say anything like that. Well, this time.

Jessica looked at me, her eyes pleading for me to take over and not have her do this. I nodded to her, so she would continue. I think she was paralyzed. So I started things off for her.

"Fiona, you were right. Jessica did know something. I talked with her last night, after Brandon came here during lunchtime."

Fiona was looking at Jessica, but shot a glance at Brandon when I said he'd been here yesterday.

"Fiona," Jessica said to her friend, "please listen! Ok?"

"Fine! What?"

"Did you ever tell Brandon what happened to you? Well ... to us?"

"No, we talked about that, remember? No one would believe us anyway."

"I was talking about the fire," Jessica said.

I could see Fiona shiver before she said, "Oh."

"Brandon said he was doing some stupid stuff that he and his friends did when they were kids. Do you think he would have been doing that, if he knew what you'd gone through?"

Fiona didn't answer.

"Do you?" Jessica pressed her.

"I don't like to talk about it. I don't want to even think about it. If I do, I'll have to see Ken, again, I just know it."

"Who's Ken?" Brandon asked.

I waved my hand, trying to stop him from asking anything more.

Fiona looked up at Brandon, who was standing close to me, and said, "He's a shrink, ok?"

"Fiona," I said, "you can stop the bitch attitude. Yesterday, when I told Brandon that you had been trapped in Jeanie's house, when it was on fire, he just about passed out."

Brandon took two steps and dropped to his knees.

"Please forgive me," he said. "I had no idea. I'd never try and hurt you. Don't you believe that? Fiona..."

Normally, Jessica and I would have left the two to work out the rest, as well as to cry about it all without having an audience. I was kind of stuck, though, so Jessica did what she could. She sat next to me and kissed me. Then kissed me again.

The third time I heard Tim clearing his throat.

I whispered, "Your dad's here and I think he wants to talk to you."

"He is? He does?" Jessica said, suddenly sitting up.

"Yes," I said, "Tim, why don't you take your daughter in her room and have that talk about sex with her."

Fiona and Brandon gasped. Jessica looked mortified.

I smiled and whispered to her, "He wants to understand what you think. Just be your own wonderful self."

Fiona said to Jessica, "I don't know how you stand it."

Jessica shook her head, "I don't either. You should see how he torments me. He already put a package under the tree. Worst thing is, it's wrapped with one of those foil papers. I can't even undo the tape and peek! It also has something like rocks in it. He's just plain mean."