Andrew’s Dilemma

Part 21

By, Cain129

Special Thanks to Wren Phoenix for the editing.

Synopsis: Jessica had her first visit to see Dr. Beth Humphrey. It had been an emotional session, but that was only the beginning. Following her doctor’s advice, Jessica agreed to attend a support group for abused woman. To her complete surprise, she discovered that her mother was attending the same meeting. This had been the first time that Jessica had seen her since the suicide attempt. The meeting had turned out to be very emotional for both Jessica and her mother, Sarah. In the end, they both developed a new found understanding of what they had gone through. Still, only time would tell if Jessica and her birth mother would reconcile.

 
 

Chapter 49

 

It had been a hard day for me, and to be honest I was not in any mood to attend the game. I was just emotionally exhausted and all I wanted to do was just go home, go to bed and sleep the rest of the day away. I looked at my watch and decided to send Scotty a text. I just hoped he would understand.

“Hi Hun, can’t m8k the game. Call U L8R” I then hit the send button and placed my phone back in my purse.

I made my way downstairs to the hospital entrance and used the phone to call a taxi. It took about ten minutes but I was soon on my way home.

After arrive home I paid the taxi fare and headed inside, There was no sign of mom, so I had the place to myself, at least until everyone else came home. I headed off to bed and before I knew it, I passed out.

[-][+][-]

Jessica was not the only one physically exhausted. Sarah Roberts was experiencing the exact same symptoms. Like her daughter, she had expected the session to be easier, but these were not normal conditions. Sarah understood the reasons why her daughter had so much anger towards her. Everything that Jessica had said was true.

It did help to tell Jessica the truth. She hoped that in time she would be able to have a relationship with her daughter, if not as a mother, then as a friend. At the moment, even that seemed to be a long shot.

Sarah was also a bit worried about Jessica, she knew that she was in real danger. Jake would stop at nothing once he made his mind up, that was just the way he was. Eventually he would make his move. There was nothing more that Sarah could do for Jessica. Sarah doubted that Jake would listen anyway.

There may have been a time when he would have, but she felt he had completely surrendered to the insanity.

If Jake contacted her, maybe she’d have a chance to help, but he didn’t even know where she was. The odds of Jake contacting her were very slim, and if he did contact her, she would immediately contact the police.

There was only one thing on Sarah’s mind now. She was exhausted, and found herself slowly drifting as she climbed into her bed. Finally, she fell asleep after what had been one of the hardest days in her life.

[-][+][-]

Jake Roberts was not a happy man, and was ready to take matters into his own hands. Even after accepting Vincent’s help he was no closer to finding his son, and having to deal with Rocco everyday was seriously becoming a pain in his backside. It couldn’t be that hard to find his stupid son! It’s not like Andrew was a secret agent or something. He was just a kid; surely, they should have found him by now. Jake decided that he’d had enough of the bullshit. He grabbed his jacket, and headed outside to his car. He wanted answers and was going to find Vincent and get some answers.

[-][+][-]

The drive to Vincent’s home was a long one from the cabin and took Jake almost an hour but eventually, he was pulling into the driveway that lead to Vincent’s private estate part way down Jake came to the guard post and met at the gate by one of the goons that worked for Vincent.  

“I am Jake Roberts and I want to take to Vincent.” Jake said impatiently.

“Is he expecting you?” asked the guard

“No, just get on the phone and tell him I’m here.” Jake said in anger

The guard walked over to the phone and called the main house, “I have a Jake Roberts here to see you, should I let him though?”

“Yeah, send him though.” Vincent said ending the call

The guard hit the button that opened the gate and turned towards Jake. “Go on through, Vincent will see you.”

Jake never said another word to the guard, he just drove through and parked his car. He made his way to the front door of Vincent’s home and was met by Vincent’s butler who showed him to Vincent’s study.

“What can I do for you Jake?” Vincent said

“I want answers, Vincent, we had a deal and I have lived up to my part of the deal but I still don’t have my son.” Jake said shaking his fist

Vincent looked at Jake, “I suggest you calm down Jake, I am not someone that you can push around, and most people who have tried are no longer alive.” Vincent said calmly

“Rocco is working on finding your son, and believe me he will find him and when he does you will be the first to know.”

Jake looked at Vincent, “I’m not sure that Rocco wants to find my son.”

“That doesn’t matter; Rocco’s family and he’ll do what I tell him.” Vincent said

“If you are so worried, I’ll assign someone else to find him. I’m telling you though that Rocco is the best when it comes to tracking down people.” Vincent said, trying to keep the peace.

“I think that would be best, Vincent. I know he’s your family, but this is something he doesn’t want to do and because of that, I really don’t think he is going to do as good a job.” Jake said calmly.

“Alright Jake, next time call. The last thing you need right now is to be seen by the police. It would just complicate things for both of us.” Vincent said calmly

After Jake left, Vincent picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Adrian, I have a job for you. I need you to find someone for me, his name is Andrew Roberts, he’s 16 years old and he seems to have dropped off the face to the earth. I will fax you all the information I have, do whatever you need to do. I want this kid found fast.”

  [-][+][-]

 

Chapter 50

 

I was fast asleep when I head a knocking at my door, which slowly brought me back to reality.   I pulled myself together and said come in, and when the door opened I saw Mom standing outside.

  “Jessica, are you all right? Megan called saying that something must have happened, because you didn’t go to the game.” Mom looked worried. She came in and took a seat next to me on the bed.

“The whole day went straight to hell, Mom. The appointment with Dr. Humphrey was hard enough, but then she wanted me to go to a support group for abused women. I went, only to find my mother there.” I said sadly.

“What happened”, Mom said worried

“At first I was shocked to see her, and then I was really angry and kind of lost my temper. I was just so angry with her that I called her a bitch and the one that was running the meeting told me that I had to leave and I just lost it completely and told them that she was one of my abusers, the funny thing was, Mom admitted that she did all of it.”

“I asked her how she could just sit there while I was being abused by my father. She told me about her childhood, my grandfather sexually abused her for years. She held it all inside and never went for help, and she gave up.. She is getting help now and I think she really wants to change but I cannot forget what happened. She might have giving birth to me, but she was never really a mother. I never really knew what I was missing until I became part of your family.

“I love my birth mother, but I can never be close to her like I am with you. Someday I might have a relationship with her but as far as I am concerned, you are my mother.”

“We can always ask Dr. Humphrey if there is another group that you can attend Jessica.”

“No Mom, I think that the worst of it is over as far as my mother is concerned. She’s getting help now, and maybe if I’m around, she’ll continue.”

“Are you sure she isn’t going to start trouble Jessica?” Mom said frowning

“I really don’t think, so Mom. I told her that I was being adopted and she seemed to understand and accept that I was moving on.”

“Alright honey, but if she causes you any problems I want to know.” Mom said, looking worried. “Have you had anything to eat, baby?”

“Not since lunch time”, I said yawning. “To be honest, I’m not that hungry.”

“Still Jessica, you should eat something. You’re still recovering from your operation.”

“Alright Mom, give me a few minutes to pull myself together and I’ll join you.”

“Good girl.” She said, reaching over and gave me a hug.

After Mom left, I climbed out of bed and made my way into the bathroom. My eyes still looked bloodshot from all the crying I had done today. I tried rinsing them with cold water, which seemed to help some, but the redness was still there. I guessed that I’d have to wait for them to clear on there own.

I made my way into the kitchen. Mom was sitting at the table peeling potatoes, so I grabbed a knife and joined her. Grabbing a potato, I started peeling too.

“You really don’t have to do that honey, I am doing fine on my own.”

“It’s alright Mommy, I don’t mind.” I said as I continued.

“Will Jennifer be joining us Mom?”

“Yeah, her mother is working the late shift tonight.”

“Does it bother you that she is always eating here?” I asked.

“Not really honey, Caroline gives me so much a week to cover feeding her.”

“That’s good,” I said smiling.

“It hasn’t been easy for Caroline since her husband ran off. She had to go back to work and Jennifer’s father doesn’t want to pay child support.” Mom said sadly.

“He sounds like a real winner.” I said sarcastically.

“I’m afraid there are lots of men just like him out there, honey. The scary part is they all seem perfectly normal until the relationship ends.”

“If they seem so normal, how do you really know if you can trust them, Mom?”

“That’s a good question honey. All I can say is take your time and get to know the guy.”

“Your father and I dated for over a year before the two of us started talking about marriage and it was another year after that before the two of us were married.” Mom said smiling.

“Did the two of you have sex before you were married?”

“Well that’s a little personal. The two of us were pretty intimate, but I wanted to wait ‘til I was married before we had intercourse.”

“It was harder on your father than what it was on me, because I was still a virgin and he was in a band back then and traveled around a lot. He dated quiet a few women before the two of us got together.” Mom said.

I smiled “Dad had groupies?”

“Yes, your father had groupies.” Mom said, giggling, “I was one of them.”

I laughed, finding it hard to believe that Dad was that popular.

“So he must have tried, you know?” I said with a smile.

“Yes, he tried numerous times and I came close to giving in, but I stood my ground.   I’ll let you in on a little secret Jessica, A woman has more power then a man does. Eventually you’ll figure this out on your own, but I’ll save you some time. When a man sees something he wants, he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”

“Your father was no different than any other man. He saw something he wanted and I made it clear to him from the beginning that I was not going to have sex with anyone until I was married.”

“Being a typical guy, though, he kept coming back looking for something that I wasn’t willing to give him. Because I refused to give into him, the two of us ended up spending a lot of time dating and really got to know one another.”

“When Anthony asked me to marry him, I knew that he really loved me because he could have moved on anytime he chose. It would have hurt, but at least I would have known how he really was.” Mom said with a smile.

I thought about what mom had just said, it made perfect sense I was already beginning to see that kind of behavior in the short time that I had known Scotty.

Scotty and I seemed to have good chemistry and definitely seemed like the kind of guy I wanted to be with, but maybe it was best if the two of us didn’t get too serious, and just spent time getting to know each other like Mom and Dad had done.

“I can tell you are deep in thought Jessica, what are you thinking?” asked Mom.

“Just thinking about Scotty, I’ve wanted to be with him for so long and now I have a chance, but I really don’t want to mess things up with him.” I said frowning

Mom smiled at me, “I know you like him, and even a blind man can see he really likes you. Trust me though, Jessica,   be yourself, but be firm with him. Remember, you are the one taking all the risks if things go too far. He can’t get pregnant, but you can. Believe me, motherhood is a great thing but not at your age.”

I smiled. “The last thing I am thinking about right now is motherhood. I want to experience life before I even think about that.”

“Just don’t be in too much of a hurry, honey. Enjoy being a kid. It all goes by way too fast, then you are my age wondering where the time went.” Mom said with a smile.

It was about that time that I heard Megan and Jennifer coming in the front door, because of the noise the two of them were making as they came inside.

  “Mom?” Megan said from the living room.

“In the kitchen, honey.” Mom replied

A few seconds later Megan came into the kitchen with Jennifer in tow.

“Need any help?” Jennifer said as she took a seat next to me.

“No Jennifer, we’re pretty much finished. How was the game?” I said with a smile

“It was alright, our team won but just barely. Scotty asked me to tell you to give him a call. God, I’ve never seen a guy moping over a girl as much as he does when it comes to you Jessica.” Jennifer said with a smile.

Megan turned to me. “So what happened with you today, Jessica? We were expecting you at the game and you never showed.”

“Let’s just say it was a nasty day, I really wanted to be at the game but I was just way to emotional after seeing Dr. Humphrey. I also had to go to a support group for abused woman, and unfortunately, I ran into my Mom there. I really wasn’t in a very good mood.” I said, frowning.

“What was your mom doing there?” asked Megan.

“I think she had some kind of nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized”

“It couldn’t have been easy for you, being there. If it was me, I would have just left.” Jennifer said, amazed that I stayed.

“I wanted to leave but I was so angry and I wanted answers.”

Megan looked at me. “Did you get the answers that you were looking for Jessica?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t what I had expected. She’s not the monster that I thought she was. I just hope that she can pull her life together, now that she’s getting help.”

“You’re more forgiving then I would be in your place.” Jennifer said frowning.

“I never said that I’ve forgiven her Jennifer, but I understand now why she is so screwed up. It’s easy to place blame when you have none of the facts, but until you walk in the other person’s shoes, you’ll never know what its like to be them. My mom was sexually and mentally abused, and she just buried what happened. She pretended it never happened, and it eventually drove her nearly insane.” I said sadly.

Jennifer shook her head. “I guess you’re right, Jessica, but it doesn’t change how she treated you.”

“No, it doesn’t, but if she truly is trying to change and get better then it’s possible the two of us might be able to find some common ground. It will never really be as mother and daughter.” I said, regretfully.

[-][+][-]

 

Chapter 51

 

After supper, Megan, Jennifer and I did up the dishes.   After we finished, I went back to my room and gave Scotty a call. The phone rang through a few times before I heard him say,” Hello?”

“Hi Scotty, it’s me, sorry about not making the game, I had a really hard day today.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not really, I wish that we could have got together though. I’m afraid that I wouldn’t have been very good company.”

“I’m free now, Jessica, I could always pick you up and we could grab a coffee and maybe go for a ride.”

“I guess that would be alright, Scotty.” I still felt pretty down.

“Give me about 15 minutes, honey, and I will meet you out front.”

“Alright, I will see you then Scotty,” I said hanging up the phone.

[-][+][-]

After I touched up my makeup, I joined Mom in the living room. I looked around for Megan and Jennifer and figured they were upstairs in her room working on their homework. Mom looked at me.

“Are you going out, honey?”

“Yeah, Scotty wants to grab a coffee and maybe go for a drive.”

“Do you have your phone?”

“Yes Mom, it’s in my purse.”

“Alright honey, give me a call if you need me.”

“Sure Mom, but I’ll be alright.” I said with a smile.

[-][+][-]

As I waited outside, I thought about what I was going to do. Things were not as cut and dry as I had once thought especially when it came to my mother. I always knew where I stood with my dad but with Mom, it was different. Was this some kind of twisted plan for me to feel sorry for her or was she being honest with me and wanted to change? A part of me said walk away, but another voice said, “No, She’s being honest and wanted to make amends.” The question was, which voice was the correct one?”

As I watched for Scotty, I noticed this black car. I had seen it a few times before in the area and as I looked over at it, I noticed the driver seemed to be looking over at me and when he saw me looking over his way, he fidgeted like he was trying to look at a map or something, and then drove off. I thought to myself that something wasn’t right and was about to go inside when I saw Scotty pulling up in his dad’s car. I ran over and jumped inside next to him. He smiled. “It’s nice to see you Jessica, I’m glad you decided to come out.”

[-][+][-]

Rocco pulled the car into a parking lot. He had made a mistake, and Jessica had seen him. He was going to need another car now if he was to continue following her. He was about to make a call when his phone started ringing. He looked at his caller display and saw that it was his friend Wayne calling.

“Yeah Wayne, what’s up?” asked Rocco

“I just had a visitor, it was Adrian. We have a problem, Vincent has hired him to find Andrew and we both know it won’t take him long to figure out the truth. If we’re going to do something, we need to do it fast.” Wayne said sounding worried.

“Shit of all the people Vincent could bring in, why does it have to be Adrian?” Rocco said frustrated.

“What did you tell him?” asked Rocco

“I told him that it would take me some time, and I needed the school’s hard drives. That should keep him busy for a while, but he will eventually get them and bring them here for me to get the information. I’ll stall him as long as I can, but we both know that it will look suspicious if it takes me too long to break the security on those drives, considering I’ve broken into major corporations in a matter of a few hours.” Wayne said in frustration.

“Keep Adrian busy for as long as you can Wayne, I need you to make a call for me use the secure phone, call the district attorney’s office and setup a meeting.”

“Where do you want me to tell him to meet you, Rocco?” asked Wayne.

Rocco thought he needed a place that was outside of Vincent territory, where he could talk without word getting back to Vincent. “The only place I can think of is St. Michael’s Church.”

“What do you want to me to tell him?” asked Wayne

“Tell him that I have information that I’m willing to share that can bring down the family, that should be enough to get him there.” Rocco said

“Alright, I’m on it.   Be careful, Adrian is dangerous.” Wayne said, worrying about his friend’s safety.

“I know Wayne; I taught him everything he knows.” Rocco said, frustrated.

[-][+][-]

It took Scotty awhile to find a place to park at Gallagher’s but eventually we found one. We made our way inside and found a free table.

“Why don’t you grab a seat Jessica, while I get the coffee? How do you like yours?”

“Cream and Sugar please.” I said with a smile.

Scotty and I were lucky to find a table. As I looked around, there were people still coming in and looking for a place to sit. While I waited for Scotty to return, I couldn’t help but think about everything that had happened today.

Everything that happened made me think of Murphy’s Law. "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

That was the kind of day that I was having, at least until now.

I smiled as I saw Scotty coming my way, and thought that I was lucky to have a guy like him in my life.

After Scotty joined me at the table, he turned to me, “So Jessica, do you want to talk about what happened today?”

“There are a lot of things going on right now Scotty, and to be honest with you, I really don’t know where to start.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning Jessica, we have plenty of time and I promise whatever you tell me it’s not going to scare me away.” Scotty said with a smile.

“Alright, Scotty.” I frowned. “I didn’t really have a good relationship with my parents; my dad was an abusive drunk that used to take out his anger on me, mentally and physically.

My mother was not much better; she just sat there and allowed it to happen. This went on for most of my childhood. I felt so alone back then, and I had no one that I could talk to. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and tried to kill myself.

When the Tanners took me in I was pretty messed up.   This is before I found out that I was completely female. At that point, I knew that I was a girl deep down but I thought that I was transgendered.

Janice and Anthony accepted me, even though I had all this baggage. They helped me become the person that I am today, but with everything that has happened, I’ve been seeing a doctor, mostly to help me learn to deal with the abuse. I went for my first group session, my doctor felt that it would be good for me to be around other women that have been through the same things that I have.

I followed my doctor’s advice, went to the support group and listened to the woman talk. I actually felt like I was connecting with her.   That is until my mom showed up and let’s just say it wasn’t a happy reunion for either of us.”

“Shit, Jessica, what in the hell was she doing there?” Scotty said.

“She had some kind of nervous breakdown, that’s really all I know Scotty”

“Having her there couldn’t have been easy for you Jessica!”

“Believe me, it wasn’t. I was so angry at her and for the first time in my life I was actually able to tell her exactly how I felt about her.”

“It must have felt good on some level, finally being able to talk face to face and tell her how you felt about her.” Scotty said.

“I guess on some level I enjoyed it, but I don’t really know how I am supposed to feel towards her anymore.”’

“What do you mean Jessica?”

“Well for starters, she knew who I was and had seen me at the hospital after my operation. She could have told everyone at the meeting that I was her son. She also admitted everything that I said was the truth. I was sure she would have lied to cover her own ass, but she took responsibility for what she did.”

Scotty looked at me, and I could tell that he was deep in thought.   He turned to me. “I would be careful with that one, Jessica. Maybe she is trying to change, but the relationship that the two of you have is unhealthy. I’m afraid that you’ll only end up getting hurt. “

“I know, that’s what I’m afraid of, but part of me wants to believe that she can change. Does that make any sense to you at all Scotty?”

“Yes it does, Jessica. Just try not to get your hopes up. If your mother is serious, then you’ll know in time. Remember, you have people that care about you. Whatever the future holds, you don’t have to face it alone. ”

“Thanks Scotty. It really helps knowing that I can count on you.”

Scotty reached over and took my hand, “You know I care about you. I know we haven’t really known each other very long, but I want you to know that anytime you need me, all you have to do is call and I will be there, no matter what.”

“Thanks Scotty, and if you ever need me, you can always call.” I said with a smile.

“Let’s get out of here, Scotty.”

“Do you want me to take you home?” Scotty asked, looking sad.

  “No, Scotty. The last place I want to go right now is home. Let’s go for a drive, I don’t really care where.”

[-][+][-]

Scotty and I eventually ended up at Rockcliff Park, where he parked his car. The two of us just sat there, listening to music and talking.   Scotty put his arm around me, and I soon found myself moving closer. The two of us just enjoyed each other’s company.

“This is nice,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, it is.” Scotty said as he leaned over and kissed me.

I found myself responding in kind and as the two of us kissed, I felt him caressing me. The last thing I was thinking about was the conversation that I had earlier with mom about sex.”

I wasn’t the only one that was getting excited, because as Scotty pulled me closer to him, I felt how excited he really was. I was somewhat flattered in a way but I also knew that I was not ready for that kind of relationship.

”Scotty, we have to stop.” I said, as I tried to catch my breath.

At first, he didn’t seem to hear me, because he kept on kissing me and I felt his hand slip under my shirt.

“Scotty Stop”, I said firmly

Scotty froze. “I’m sorry Jessica; I kind of got carried away.”

I smiled. “It’s alright Scotty, we both got carried away.” I said, blushing.

“Scotty, I am not ready to have sex, I hope you can understand that.”

“It’s alright Jessica, there is no hurry. I am not going anywhere.”

“You could be waiting a long time, Scotty.” I said with a smile.

Scotty smiled. “I love a good challenge.”

“Me too, Scotty, and I can see that I am going to have my hands full with you.”

“I was thinking the same thing about you Jessica.” Scotty said laughing.

“Well, I think you better get me home before Mom comes looking for us.”

“Yeah, I have to finish up my homework before bed anyway.” Scotty said frowning.

[-][+][-]

After arriving home, Scotty walked me to the door. “I had a good time tonight Jessica. Maybe we can do something on the weekend?”

“I will let you know Scotty, I have plans to meet up with a friend but I am sure that we can figure something out.   I had a great time tonight too, Scotty and thanks for being there for me.” I said with a smile.

“Anytime, Jessica.” Scotty said, then took me into his arms and kissed me goodnight.

 

 

End of part 21

To be continued 22