Page 129 of My Fiancé's Brother
“Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“I know you're stressing about walking up the aisle by yourself and then I had the most brilliant idea. I asked Jackson, and he agreed.”
I gave Matt a double take. “He agreed to what?”
“Jackson agreed to walk you down the aisle.”
I stared dumbly at the group. My first instinct was to flee. I physically had to restrain myself from backing out of the room. “He did?”
“I, for one, think it’s a brilliant idea. Nothing would thrill me more,” Irene jumped in.
I turned my stupid expression to her. “You do?”
“Look at her face, look how much I surprised her,” Matt laughed. “This is priceless.”
My numb lips barely moved. “How did this come about?”
“I texted Jackson and asked him. He immediately wrote back and said yes. And the rest is history. Did you know that he was in Virginia this week?”
My throat worked convulsively to swallow. “You don’t say.”
I looked at Jackson, and he stared back at me, his expression blank.
“Come on. We’ve been waiting for you to show up. We want to go down to the cafeteria to grab dinner.”
Irene rushed to get the wheelchair while Matt unsteadily got to his feet. Jackson stood up, and Matt reached out to grab his arm. With his recent weight loss, Matt looked diminutive next to Jackson’s huge frame.
I watchedas Jackson wheeled Matt down to the cafeteria. It was a weird de ja vu moment. Matt talked a mile a minute, and Jackson listened silently. Matt laughed as Jackson dipped the wheelchair back and tilted it, so he was riding on only one wheel.
“Want to tell me what happened?” I asked Irene, who walked beside me.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
We finished dinner. Irene returned to the hotel and Jackson, Matt and I watched a rerun of Law and Order. My mind spun in a hundred different directions.
Irene had kicked Jackson out of the hospital and said that he wasn’t part of their family. Matt had demanded that I kick Jackson out of the penthouse and told me that he was not welcome in our lives. Now they both rolled out the red carpet for him. What baffled me, even more, was that Jackson was open to such overtures. Why would he let them treat him so poorly? It made no sense. Jackson didn't tolerate bullshit. Yet, he willingly participated in this insincere family drama. The more I thought about it, the more pissed I got.
Irene and Matt acted so selfishly. And Jackson just took it. Is this how they treated him when he was a kid? Had he been on the receiving end of such hot and cold treatment his entire life? I almost couldn’t contain my rage. I wanted to hurt Matt, but I wanted to hurt Irene more. My heart ached for Jackson who Matt privately referred to as “the charity case.” No wonder Jackson didn’t want a family. He had the worst luck of any person when it came to families. Even the family who supposedly rescued him abused him on some level. It took all my emotional control to sit there and not lose my shit.
The nurse came in and told us that visiting hours were over.
“Jack, can you make sure my girl here gets to her car safe? I would do it myself, but I'm pretty sure if something happened she would need to protect me, not the other way around,” Matt joked.
The joke fell flat in light of what had happened only a week earlier, but Jackson took the request seriously. “You bet.”
I walked to the door without looking back at Matt.
“Hey,” he called after me, probably wondering why I wasn’t saying a proper good night.
I ignored his call and started to walk rapidly down the wide hospital corridor.
Jackson caughtup with me and walked easily beside me. We rode the elevator in silence, and when the door slid open I took off towards the big sliding glass doors, not caring if he kept up with me or not. Why would he let Irene and Matt treat him like a second-class citizen? He acted like everything was normal, but that was the farthest thing from the truth. I needed to get away from him. Clear my head. I couldn’t speak to him about it right now. I knew whatever would come out would be all wrong.
“Are you parked in the parking lot?”
“The overflow lot, but I can walk there myself.”
“Show me.”
