* * *
“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Judith demanded.
Gabe’s ex-wife stormed their kitchen, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the keys on the key rack. Tall and beanpole thin, Judith’s small brown eyes narrowed angrily above thin, pursed lips and a straight, pointy nose. Even the highlighted brown curls cropped close to her head coiled rigid in indignation.
Although she faced both Gabe and Jenny, her glare locked on Jenny, making her long to inch behind Gabe for protection.
“What’s the problem, Judith?” Gabe swiped the knife across his bread and laid one slice atop the ham and cheese. He finished making his sandwich as if his ex-wife’s explosion was nothing unusual.
“The problem is your child bride,” she jabbed a stiff index finger at Jenny.
Gabe rested his hands on the counter and gave Judith his full attention. “Calm down and tell us what happened.”
“I found these in Alex’s bag.” She threw a handful of silver square disks onto the granite countertop.
Staring at the scattered condoms, Jenny’s heart dropped to her stomach.
“Alex said that your wife told her to use them.”
“That’s ridiculous. Jenny’d never tell Alex to use condoms.”
“Not exactly.” Jenny tore her gaze away from the incriminating foil packets and turned to Gabe. “Last week, Alex wanted to ask you about that camping trip, and we got to talking. She told me about Suzy having her baby, and how Alex thought she was stupid to let a baby ruin her life instead of aborting it.” She shrugged at Gabe. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“You should have sent her home to talk to her mother,” Judith said.
Jenny stiffened and frowned. Though not particularly prepared for that talk, she’d done okay. Judith had no right barging into her home, hurling accusations, and acting like she’d emotionally scarred Alex.
“She didn’t want to talk to her mother. She thought her mother wouldn’t listen.” Jenny looked at Gabe. “I couldn’t let her think abortion was an acceptable way to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, so I told her that if she was smart, she’d avoid the problem altogether by using birth control.”
“So you gave my daughter a green light to have sex," Judith said, making it seem like Jenny had bought them a hotel room, undressed them, and put them in bed together with a how-to sex manual.
“Like they need my blessing.” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “How do you know she’s not already sexually active?”
“I know,” Judith narrowed her eyes.
“You hope. You don’t know.” Jenny rested her hip against the counter, finally feeling like she had the upper hand. In fact, she almost enjoyed taunting Judith. The almighty Judith was floundering. She didn’t know if her kid was sexually active, and it was killing her.
Must be hard to having to face you’re not perfect.
“I’m her mother; I know.”
“She’s a teenager. You don’t know anything. Her best friend would know, but not you.” Tired of sparing with Judith, she turned to Gabe. “Anyway, we talked about the consequences of sex and how to avoid the pitfalls.”
“You shouldn’t have. You’re not her mother,” Judith said.
Again. Another mother telling her she’d messed up. Another mother, jealous of Jenny’s relationship with her child. Only this time, Jenny felt completely justified in defending herself.
“You weren’t there. And she asked me—not you.”
“You’ve been a part-time parent for all of what? A year and a half? And suddenly you know it all?”
Gabe moved between the women, facing his ex-wife. “Look, Judith. Maybe that isn’t exactly the tack we would have taken, but Jenny handled it fine. I don’t see that any damage was done.”
Wasn’t the tack they would have taken? Was Gabe actually siding with his ex?
“You don’t?” Judith sputtered. “Your little wife stuck her nose in where it didn’t belong and gave our daughter permission to have sex.” She turned to Jenny. “Did you explain the different positions? Encourage her to try oral sex? She wouldn’t get pregnant giving a blow job, either.”
Jenny’s eyes widened at Judith’s crudity.
“That’s enough,” Gabe snapped. “Look, we knew this was coming. Teenagers are preoccupied by sex. Jenny did the right thing. Instead of finding condoms you could’ve found a home pregnancy test. Would you rather that? I wouldn’t.”
Judith glared, resentment pinching her nostrils. “She should have sent her to me. Or you. You’re her father.”
“She didn’t want to talk to us.” He put a supportive hand on Jenny’s shoulder. “I realize your feelings are hurt, but Jenny’s my wife. She’s a part of this family now, and you’d better accept it and work with her, like I accepted Dave,” Gabe reminded.
Judith’s jaw remained rigid, but her malicious tongue quieted. The two maintained eye contact in a silent battle of wills. The standoff lasted one long minute before Judith looked away, muttering between tight lips, “Next time, send her to me.”
Jenny would have liked to leave it at that, but heartened by Gabe’s support, she wasn’t willing to lose the ground she’d gained with her stepdaughter. “I can’t promise that. Mothers and daughters often disagree. I’m beginning to think it’s the nature of things.”
“Don’t judge us all by your own troubled relationship with your mother.”
Jenny ignored the stab of pain at the truth. “You didn’t argue with your mom as a teenager?”
Judith raised her eyebrows. “No.”
Liar. All girls clash with their moms at some point. She paused, searching for a compromise. “As long as you don’t tell Alex, I’ll let you in on all pertinent conversations.”
Judith crossed her arms over her chest. “Conversations, you deem pertinent.”
Well, duh. Jenny tried to marshal some sympathy for the older woman. “Look, you’ll just have to trust me. I would never do anything to hurt Alex or Ted.”
She turned to Gabe. “What about this camping trip?”
Gabe let out a deep breath. “I think we have to let her go—with strict guidelines, of course. Why don’t you call a few of the parents and check the stories out? That might make you feel better.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either. But she’s eighteen. She’s a good kid. We’ve got to trust her.”
Judith nodded. “Okay. I’m going to call Greg’s parents first. They should know about the condoms.”
“You can’t do that,” Jenny jumped in. “It’ll make Alex look like a slut seducing their little boy.” Geeze. Did Judith have an ounce of heart or common sense?
“They should know.”
“Before they leave, we’ll talk to Greg and Alex,” Gabe said. “Greg might feel differently about the whole thing if he knows we know. We’ll tell them that we think they’re not ready—”
“Then talk about the consequences,” Judith interrupted. “Abortion is not an option.”
“We’ll talk about the consequences and leave the decision-making up to them,” Gabe finished calmly.
“I don’t like it,” Judith scowled.
“Me either, but we don’t have a lot of good choices.”
“It’ll have to do.” She sighed, then looked at Gabe. “What time do you want us here to help set up for Alex’s party?”
Their hosting Alex’s graduation party had to be upsetting to Judith, though she’d never said so. When Alex had asked them if she could have her graduation party at their house so she and her friends could water ski and play in the lake, Jenny’d silently cheered.
Gabe frowned at Jenny. “Don’t we have something going that morning... Michael’s piano recital?”
She shook her head. “That’s Sunday. Tennis with Steve. He reserved a court for eight-thirty, but we should be home by ten.” She turned to Judith. “Is eleven good for you?”
“Fine. We’ll bring the jello, potato salad, and chips
. Call if you need anything else.”
Yes, ma’am. Jenny resisted the quip and the urge to salute.
“Judith? Try not to worry so much,” Jenny offered, then smothered a smile at Judith’s tight lips and brief nod.
Judith was dying to tell her to drop dead, but choked back the bitter retort in a supreme effort to get along. Alex’s choice had made Judith a guest in Jenny’s house so she had to be polite to her.
Jenny bit her bottom lip to cover a triumphant grin.
Chapter 13