CHATROOM LOVE
Chapter Thirty-Six

November 24, 2001

Jack looked up as the doorbell rang, then hurried to answer it, hoping it was Rose. She had agreed to be there at 4:30 so she could talk to everyone before dinner, but it was 4:45 and there was no sign of her.

He broke into a grin when he opened the door and saw her standing there, hunched against the cold. "Rose! It’s about time you got here!"

She didn’t return his smile. "Sorry I’m late. I got another one of those crank letters and Mom saw it. She wanted to call the police and have them go over it for fingerprints, even though I’ve already done that and they wouldn’t do anything. She’s sure it’s Cal, too."

Jack looked out into the twilight, half-expecting someone to be standing there watching them, but he saw no one. Nevertheless, he hurried Rose inside, shutting the door firmly behind them.

"What did the letter say?" he asked quietly, taking her coat and hanging it on the coat rack near the door.

"Pretty much the same thing as the note and the e-mail I got Monday said. It was postmarked Monday, too."

"He’s being thorough, making sure you get his message."

"I got another hang-up call yesterday, too." Rose shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. "Jack, I’m sick of this. It scares me, and I have to be on guard all the time. Maybe if I confronted Cal about it myself—"

"If you confronted him in a public place, he’d just deny it and try to make you look crazy. If you confronted him in private, he might…do something to you." He looked at her seriously. "Rose, please don’t. I don’t want you getting hurt."

"Jack, I don’t know what else to do."

"Has he actually approached you?"

"No. Not yet."

"Then try to stay away from him and be around other people all the time. He probably won’t do anything if he thinks someone else is going to see it."

Margaret walked out of the kitchen just then. "Jack, Rose, go get washed up. Dinner’s ready."

"Sure, Aunt Margaret." Jack turned back to Rose. "Rose, I don’t know what else to say…"

"It’s just so frustrating, Jack! And scary. What if he decides that stupid notes and hang-up calls aren’t enough?"

"That’s what worries me. You told me what he tried to do right before you two broke up…what if he tries it again?"

"I wasn’t going to tell you this, but Mom got me some mace. If he threatens me, I can spray him with it."

"Be careful, Rose. That stuff’s illegal here without a bunch of paperwork."

"I know, but sometimes you need a little extra protection."

"I know. Just don’t use it on me, okay?"

"I wouldn’t dream of it."

*****

It was nearly 5:30 before dinner was served. Although the food had been ready half an hour earlier, the twins had been crying and Margaret had waited dinner until Trudy and Kenneth were done taking care of them.

Now the twins lay in their carriers on chairs, Emma sound asleep and Julie sucking happily at a pacifier laced with honey. Everyone else sat around the table, Johnny staring admiringly at Rose and Sandy turning around continuously to look at the babies.

When everyone had been served, Jack looked at his sister. "You said you were going to tell us how you met Kenneth and everything. Are you?"

"Jack, don’t be rude," John told him sternly.

"Sorry," Jack mumbled, looking down at his plate. He was still a little resentful of the fact that his sister had so rarely been around in the past few years. He knew that she’d had a falling out with their parents and had gotten herself into some trouble, but she still could have contacted him more often, could have told him that she had gotten married and had twins. In fact, had the tragic events of 9/11 not occurred, he would still probably not know about her husband and children.

Trudy looked at Kenneth, then at Jack and his guest. "Yes, I’m going to tell you," she answered, "but it is a long story. Maybe I should just start from the beginning."

As Kenneth put a comforting hand on her back, she went on. "I guess you remember, Jack, that my teenage years were rather…wild ones."

Jack nodded, taking a drink of water and looking at her. Wild was an understatement. He remembered her being gone for days, coming home late at night and fighting loudly with their parents, and finally moving out just before she turned eighteen. His parents had always been tense when they talked about her, and tenser when she was there with them.

"I…um…really got into the whole rebellious teenager thing…hanging out with a bad crowd, smoking, drinking, experimenting with…uh…well…a lot of things. I didn’t want to listen, didn’t want to go to school…though somehow I managed to finish high school anyway. Mom and Dad kept after me, nagged me, wouldn’t let me do what I wanted…and I really resented that. Looking back now, I can see that they were right…most of the time, anyway…but I didn’t see it then.

"Anyway, I met Kenneth when I was a junior in high school and he was busy trying to balance partying and college. Mom and Dad didn’t like him, especially since he was four years older than me and I was always trying to hang out at his apartment and go to college parties. They thought he was immature and irresponsible, which kind of described us both, really. Things came to a head when I took off for the weekend with him without telling anyone and Mom and Dad reported me missing."

Jack nodded, remembering his parents’ frantic phone calls to anyone they thought Trudy might be with. "I know you came home that weekend, but nobody ever told me exactly what happened."

"Well, the cops found Kenneth and me in a bar in Riverside. No one had checked my ID, so I had no trouble getting in. They were actually checking to see if anyone under twenty-one was getting drinks there, so I got caught, and when they got my name, they found out that I was a missing person. I wasn’t very happy about that—I thought Mom and Dad should have trusted me. Anyway, they wanted to take me to the station and get my parents to pick me up, but I didn’t want to go and made that clear when I threw my drink in a cop’s face. I got arrested, Kenneth had to call Mom and Dad because I wouldn’t, and they bailed me out and took me home the next day.

"I was mad at Kenneth for calling them—I would rather have sat in jail than let them know I needed help. Mom and Dad grounded me for the rest of the school year when they got me home—not only had I run off and gotten caught in a bar, but a drug test revealed that I’d been smoking pot. I blamed Kenneth for giving it to me."

Rose looked at her incredulously. "How did you ever end up married to each other after all that?"

"Well, I didn’t see him for a couple of years. My parents watched me like a hawk and I couldn’t get away with anything—though I did try. We finally had this big blow-up three days before my eighteenth birthday and I walked out. They didn’t go after me that time.

"I still thought I knew everything, but I was in for a rude awakening. There was no one to buy my food or clothes or put a roof over my head, and none of my friends would help me—either they’d grown up a little and were sick of me, or they were as bad as I was and got into just as much trouble. I got a job but got fired when I decided I didn’t need to show up, and then I wound up on the streets for a while. I might have been there longer if I hadn’t run across Kenneth again.

"He’d flunked out of college and had gone downhill from there—too much alcohol and pot. His parents, unlike mine, kept bailing him out, but finally they got tired of that and told him that if he didn’t shape up they wouldn’t have anything to do with him anymore. The night we met again, he was coming out of an AA meeting and I was looking for a handout.

"We kind of stared at each other for a while, not knowing what to do. I made a rude remark, but he just shrugged it off and headed for his car. That made me mad, so I followed him, yelling at him all the while. He finally asked if I was done yet, and since I wasn’t, he just sat there and stared at me until I quit yelling. Finally, he offered me a ride home, and when I admitted I didn’t have anywhere to go, he invited me home with him—he was living in a rundown apartment in Hollywood. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I went with him.

"He introduced me to some of his new friends and convinced me to go to a couple of meetings with him. I hadn’t really been drinking much for a while, but I went anyway. After a while, I tried getting another job and finally succeeded in getting hired at a Burger King. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and I did my best at it.

"Then Kenneth’s boss decided to transfer him to New York, and I went with him. I got a job as a receptionist with the company I worked for at the World Trade Center, and then got promoted to a good secretarial position not long after Kenneth and I got married. I never told Mom and Dad that I’d married him—I knew they wouldn’t like it—and I didn’t tell you, either, Jack—it just felt too awkward, and I was afraid you would tell them. Emma and Julie were born eight months after we were married. I thought about telling Mom and Dad about it then—but then the fire happened not long after the twins were born, and I went to the funeral—and it didn’t feel right to announce it then. Now you know, but—I’m sorry I made you wait so long to find out. And you moved to Canada, and I stayed in New York, and—well, it’s only luck that we’re all here together now. I guess Kenneth would have contacted you if I had died in the terrorist attacks, but I’m glad I didn’t, and I’m glad that we’re all here now."

Emma stirred, whimpering, and Trudy turned to check on her, giving her a honey-laced pacifier to match her sister’s. When she turned back, her cousins, Jack, and Rose were staring at her, none sure what to say. Jack had been well-aware of his sister’s penchant for wild behavior when she was growing up, but he’d never imagined that she’d known her husband that long, or that he had helped get her off the streets and out of her downward spiral. For that matter, he’d never realized she’d been on the streets—he’d always assumed she was living somewhere and didn’t want to contact her family.

In spite of everything, though, she was still his sister, and they’d been closer when they were younger. He’d been hurt when she’d drifted away from him as she grew older, but he’d loved her anyway. He’d been terrified that something had happened to her when the terrorist attacks had occurred, and had been relieved to learn that she was alive and well.

Slowly, he put his fork down and got up, walking over to her. Surprised, Trudy got up, too, gasping when he enveloped her in a bear hug, squeezing her tight.

"I missed you, Trudy," he told her. "I’m glad you’re going to be living around here."

"I missed you, too, little brother." Trudy reached up and ruffled his hair. "Thanks for not giving up on me." She hugged him back.

"Oh…" Rose was looking at them, her hands clasped. "That is so sweet…"

Jack moved away from his sister, a little embarrassed. He sat down next to Rose again as she flashed him an apologetic look. She really had thought it was sweet, but she hadn’t realized how saying so would embarrass Jack.

Trudy laughed a little, sitting back down next to Kenneth. "Well, enough about me. Jack, tell me about Edmonton and school and everything. If I’m going to be living here, I want to know what’s going on."

Jack chuckled, reaching under the table and squeezing Rose’s hand to let her know he wasn’t mad at her. He looked over at Trudy.

"Well, I think Rose could tell you more about Edmonton than I can, but…" He started telling her about everything that had been happening since he had moved there, from meeting Rose in a chatroom to their trip to Las Vegas.

Everyone was laughing by the time dinner was over, and Trudy smiled at Jack warmly, knowing that he had forgiven her for not being there for him in their younger years.

Chapter Thirty-Seven
Stories