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A smile graced Jo’s lips as she listened to her daughter talk about her fiancé with such love and admiration. She knew how much Josh loved her daughter and was happy that the two had each other to lean on. “Josh is a wonderful young man,” she praised.
“Yeah, he is,” Tracy agreed.
Jo could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke, which caused the corners of her mouth to quirk up. “I love you, Tracy,” she said passionately to the speaker.
“I love you too, Mom,” her daughter returned.
Jo’s heart swelled with joy. “The thought of anything hurting you breaks my heart, but just know that I would never do anything intentionally to hurt you. You are my world. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you…” she couldn’t finish the statement, her mind blocking out the possibility of her daughter ever getting hurt.
“Mom, nothing’s going to happen. You have me always,” Tracy soothed her mother.
“All right,” Jo resolved. “I want to know you’re okay at all times, so please call me as often as you can, and I’ll do the same,” she implored.
“I promise. I will.”
A couple of minutes later, the two hung up, and a permanent smile that wasn’t there before her daughter called was now etched on her face. Knowing that her daughter forgave her and that they were back to how their relationship always was, gave her a boost of courage to dial the number of the man that had been blackmailing her. She wanted to let him know what she thought about his threats.
“It’s about time you came to your senses,” came the smug voice of Jared Hindle the second he answered.
Like him, Jo skipped the formalities and got straight into why she called. “How could you make such a move to approach my daughter like that, Jared?” she questioned furiously.
“It was a necessary means to an end,” the man replied insouciantly. “It got you to take this seriously and realize that you need to give back the money, didn’t it?”
Jo laughed. “You know I was actually considering handing over the insurance money to you, but now, tough luck trying to get it because I am not willingly giving you one red cent,” she informed him.
“You’re making a big mistake, Josephine,” Jared warned. “If you choose to take this road, I will be forced to—”
“To what?” Jo interrupted, “tell my daughter? Well, surprise! She already knows, and we’ve become stronger because of it. So, I will repeat myself… You. Are. Not. Getting. A. Dime.” She hung up, not waiting for his response. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, she pushed away from the rock and turned toward the path that would take her back home.
When Jo finally entered the house, she was sweaty and tired. It didn’t seem as though anyone was downstairs, but just as she made it to the steps, she heard talking coming from the family room.
“That is not a word.”
“It is so, Grandma.”
Jo found her mother and niece seated before a partially populated Scrabble board on the coffee table. They were partially turned away from her and were too engrossed in the game to notice her presence.
“Dudevorce?” she heard her mother ask skeptically while giving Jules a pointed look.
“Yes, Grandma,” the young woman laughed. “It’s one of the newly added words.”
Becky pulled down the spectacles she had perched on top of her head until they covered her eyes. She took the iPad her granddaughter held out to her.
“Hmm.” The woman scrunched her face, narrowing her eyes at what she read. She looked from the iPad to Jules and then back at it as if reluctant to accept the fact that the word actually existed.
Jo smiled at their interaction. She was happy that her mother was getting the time to interact with her grandchildren in a way she had not been able to for so long.
“It seems everything is being turned into sensible words nowadays,” Becky spoke begrudgingly, earning a chuckle from Jules.
Jo stifled her laugh as she watched her mother being a sore loser. Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she came in contact with her sister’s blue-gray eyes that stared at her apprehensively.
“Hey,” Cora greeted simply.
“Hey,” Jo responded. Her lips were slightly upturned.
“Umm…can we talk?” Cora asked sheepishly.
“Yeah, sure,” Jo agreed.
