JACK AND ROSE PRESENT TIME 2: JUNIOR YEAR
Chapter Fourteen
"Ring the doorbell again," Rose
said.
Tommy leaned over and rang the doorbell one
more time. "I think she's coming." He tucked his cigarettes deep into
his coat pocket.
"Rose, Tommy, I was hoping that you'd
drop by lately," Mrs. Devereaux, Tonya's mom, said, letting them in the
house. Mrs. Devereaux lived with her husband, Jeff, who was also Tonya's stepfather.
Tonya had never spoken of her real dad, and didn't remember him at all. He had
left before she turned a year old.
"How are you, Mrs. Devereaux?"
Tommy asked, hugging her. He was suspicious of the woman, but since she was
Tonya's mother, there wasn't much he could do.
"I'm doing okay." She shut the
front door and had them follow her into the living room. Rose and Tommy smiled
at the familiar pictures of Tonya all around the room. "Would you kids
like some lemonade? I just made some."
"Sure. That would be great," Rose
said, taking a seat next to Tommy on the sofa.
Mrs. Devereaux came back with a pitcher of
lemonade and three glasses. "I do love it when you come over." She
poured them each a glass. "It gets lonely around here." She took a
long sip of her cold drink.
Tommy and Rose just nodded. They came over as
often as they could. But they never liked it. They simply did it out of respect
and love for Tonya. Tonya's mother...well...was a nut. She had been since Tonya
died. Rose remembered growing up...she had been the kindest woman. But when
Tonya died...she went crazy.
"Tommy, Rose...there is a reason why I
have been wanting you to come over lately." She put her hands over her
face. Something was terribly wrong. "I don't know quite how to tell you
this."
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Tonya's alive."
Tommy went into a state of shock, and Rose
continued to stare blankly at Tonya's mom. "Tonya's alive?" Rose
asked, confused. "What are you talking about? Why are you saying
this?"
She sighed. "Because it's true."
"We saw her dead body in that
casket," Tommy said firmly. "Don't go messing with our minds...we
know she's dead."
"No, Tommy, she's not!" Mrs.
Devereaux then sat up straighter in her chair and took another drink of her
lemonade. "Let me explain. Tonya told me that she was pregnant the night
of the accident." Tommy looked nervously at Rose. He had no idea she knew
about that. "I, of course, was outraged. My fifteen-year-old
daughter...pregnant? I couldn't let that get out. So, that night I sent her to
live with her father. Her real father. In Australia."
"But...this isn't making any
sense..." Rose had tears in her eyes.
"I'm not finished yet," Tonya's
mother said. "Tonya had a sister that she never knew about. A twin sister,
actually." Tommy ran his fingers through his hair, not believing a word
that was being said. Rose still listened carefully. "So, Tori, Tonya's
sister, came here. The night Tommy came to get Tonya, I told Tori to be her for
one night and break up with him and tell him she was pregnant and going to get
an abortion and leave town." She looked sadly at Tommy and Rose.
"And...because of me...Tori was killed that night."
"This is unbelievable," Rose
muttered. "I'm sorry...but I don't believe you."
"Me, either," Tommy agreed.
"Then see for yourself."
Then...Tonya walked down the steps.
Rose fainted, and Tommy looked like he was
about to die from shock. Tonya ran to Rose. "Rose...oh, my gosh...are you
okay?" She took Rose's head in her lap. "Rose...wake up...it's
okay...I'm not dead!"
*****
About an hour after Rose recovered, she got
out her cell phone and called home.
"Hello?"
"Jack...you've gotta get over
here..."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Just get over here."
Jack knew it was serious. "You're at
Tonya's, right?"
"Yeah...and get Fabrizio and Dominique
over here, too."
Rose then hung up the phone and went back
over to Tonya's bed, where Tonya and Tommy were sitting. She sat down next to
Tonya, held her hand, and leaned her head on her shoulder. "I still can't
believe this is happening. It's like we're living in a constant soap opera
around here."
Tonya laughed slightly. "You're telling
me..."
Tommy's heart had been racing a mile a
minute. One thought still stayed in his mind. Where was his child? Tommy stared
sadly at Tonya, and she noticed this right away. She laid a free hand on his
thigh and said, "We've got to talk."
Tommy nodded, realizing she could still read
his mind.
The last hour Tonya had told them the whole
story. How her mom had lost her mind. Why she could never get in contact with
them. Her father wouldn't allow it. He had sided with her mother. It wasn't an
easy thing to do from Australia, anyway.
They then heard the doorbell ring, and Rose
said she would go get it. Tommy and Tonya needed some time alone. Tonya's mom
had gone to work, so all of the downstairs was quiet. Rose opened the door to
find three worried teenagers.
"Come on in," Rose said. "And
get ready for the shock of a lifetime."
"Oh, my gosh...did Freddie die?"
Fabrizio asked, tears forming in his eyes.
Rose had no idea what Fabrizio was talking
about. "Freddie?"
"Tonya's dog," Dominique said.
"Oh," Rose replied.
"No..." She went closer to Jack and held his hand. "I don't know
how to tell you this."
They continued staring at Rose in wonder.
"Tonya's upstairs."
Dominique started laughing, Fabrizio starting
crying, and Jack started wondering...wondering why Rose would say something
like that. The idea was impossible.
"She's talking to Tommy right now,"
Rose said, running her fingers through her red hair. "You can see her when
they're done."
Dominique stopped laughing.
*****
They all remained downstairs...waiting for
Tommy and Tonya to be done talking. In this time, Rose told them the whole
story...all that she knew of it, anyway.
"I just can't believe..." Dominique
said quietly, trying to hold in her tears.
"I know. I know." Rose hugged her
best friend to comfort her.
They all looked up as Tonya and Tommy walked
slowly down the stairs. They both looked like they had been crying, and Rose
was the only one to know it was probably about the baby. She herself wondered
what had happened.
Before anyone could say a word, Tonya went
forward and hugged them, Dominique being first. "I'm so sorry you guys
thought I was dead." She wiped a tear from Dominique's cheek. "I
never wanted that to happen."
"I understand," Dominique replied.
"I'm just so shocked...so happy...I don't know how to express my
feelings." She shrugged her shoulders, her body shaking. "Except I
love you." She started crying again and held Tonya closer.
"Don't you have a baby?" Fabrizio
asked. Jack and Dominique looked at him, and it came back to them. Was there
even a baby?
Tonya looked at Tommy and he squeezed her hand.
"I had a miscarriage."
"What?" they all asked, except
Tommy.
"My father told me to get an
abortion...and I couldn't do it." Tonya began crying. "So...he took
care of it himself. He hit my stomach with a baseball bat when I was three
months pregnant."
"I'm so sorry," Rose said, hugging
Tonya and Tommy until all of them were around, having a group hug, crying.
"It's all right...we don't have to talk
about that now." Tonya tried to look like she wasn't upset.
"I'm just so happy you're alive,"
Jack said, kissing Tonya on the cheek. "I'm still in shock."
"From what I've head so far, you guys
have had a lot of weird things happening lately," Tonya said.
Jack nodded. Of course, she was right. Rose
had been kidnapped by his brother, who Tommy later shot, they had thought that
Rose had AIDS, John had abused Rose, etc. He knew their lives were anything but
normal.
"But you guys, you know what?"
Tonya smiled. "I'm here now...with all of you. That's all that
matters."
They couldn't agree more.