Chapter 6
Jackie was going into her 4th month, things had calmed down for her as she adjusted into living with WB and Angie. Angie was becoming more of a sister than anyone before, WB doted on her and was there in a drop of hat for any craving she might have. For the first time she was feeling loved. She would work with Angie during the day and she was keeping up with letters to Eric who had become a confidant. Phone calls to the Formans was scheduled when the others were out of the house. WB's maid had even stepped in to continue her cooking lessons, even if she had a maid for now, she wanted to know that she could take care of herself and the baby. She knew that she could never be too far from her baby's family, that was becoming her family.
Back in Point Place Hyde and Sam was sitting with Red and Kitty for dinner, conversation was tense and everyone was aware of it but Sam. "So Hyde our 2 month anniversary is tomorrow, since we didn't do anything for our 1 month we should do something special" Hyde was floored, this was something he would have expected from Jackie, not from Sam. He took her for a simple non demanding girl. He was at a loss of what to say, but Kelso barging in with his uniform on saved him.
"Guys do you know where Jackie is? I just heard that the government is foreclosing on the mansion for back taxes or something and when I went over to see Jackie and Pam no one was there"
'So Jackie was right, she couldn't stay at that house much longer, she probably without Pam was doing good to keep the utilities paid much less the taxes' Hyde thought to himself.
Sam chimed in before anyone else could say anything, "I haven't seen her since she snuck out of the slumber party at Donna's, probably couldn't handle the shame of not being able to keep a job or a boyfriend and went to somewhere where no one knows her and her loser life"
Before Hyde to respond, Red who looked madder than he had ever seen him before stood up, "Sam I suggest you get your crap together and get out of this house now, you have over stayed your welcome, and Steven you can go with her if you want"
Hyde took a second to think and realized that he may never get Jackie back but he did want out of this marriage. "Go Sam, I'll get with WB and see about getting a lawyer to draw up the papers needed, go back to Vegas, I'll send them to you." He stood up and pulled Sam up and took her down to the basement.
Kelso took Hyde's vacated chair, with a serious look on his face, "Do you know where Jackie is? I sort of snuck into her house, her room is about empty of all her stuff, and it looked like Pam hasn't been there in even longer"
Kitty looked at Red who was still fuming and couldn't say anything at the moment, she saw the true concern in Kelso's eyes, she took his hand and looked at him, "Jackie moved out of Point Place a month ago, she couldn't stay here it was too much. But she is doing fine and we have made a promise not to tell anyone where she is"
Kelso looked up and realized that he went too far that night in Chicago, "This is all my fault isn't it, if I hadn't done what I did in Chicago, this wouldn't have happened?"
"Michael, Jackie knew she was going to lose the house before Chicago, there was nothing she could do, so that wasn't your fault, but making Steven so angry as you did, that was your fault, but then Steven has to own up to his own mistakes as well."
Kelso got up and walked down the stairs, it was time that he gave a true apology. He found Hyde sitting in his chair, the screeching of tires signaling that Sam had left. Donna came in from the outside door not knowing anything of what just happened, "Hey where is Sam going we was supposed to hang out?" Donna took a seat on the couch while Kelso sat in the lawn chair. "I really need a girl to talk to, Eric sent me a letter and broke up with me"
"Wow, not hearing from you for months and he breaks up with you, I figured you broke up with him the way you have been hanging around the store with Randy, and Sam is gone. Red finally did what I didn't have the balls to do and kicked her out."
"What?! Why did he do that?"
This time it was Kelso to answer, "Well I came in to ask about where Jackie is since the government is taking the house, her room is cleaned out. But Sam got bitchy, I guess no one bothered to let her know that Jackie is Red's favorite, and well he kicked her out, Hyde decided to stay."
"Wow how could you just let him kick her out like that?" Donna exclaimed
"Simple, his house his rules, I didn't fight him when he was kicking me out, why should I fight him on someone else" He thought back to the night that they found Jackie in his room, he was ready to fight them then, but they didn't kick her out and they worked on trying to find her somewhere to stay and find her mom.
"Well where is she going, you can't just let her go on the street?"
Hyde couldn't believe the questions coming out of Donna's mouth, she was showing more concern for this stranger than the girl that was supposed to be her best friend. "Well she has her own car, and her own money, WB is supposed to be in town tomorrow, I'll see if he can help me with a lawyer to draw up divorce papers"
Donna stared at her friend, "So you are just going to throw you marriage away just like that," she stood up and started walking to the door "I thought I knew you better than this"
Kelso stood up and confronted Donna, "Really? Sam is who you are worried about? How about the girl that was supposed to be your best friend, the girl you took into your home when her dad went to prison and her mom ditched her?"
Donna looked for Hyde for help, "Donna he has a point, we know nothing of Sam," thinking back to his letter from Forman he read yesterday, "She was another Laurie, nothing but a slut I should have kicked out as soon as she arrived. I still don't remember getting married. I wish Jackie would have kicked her ass when she first showed up instead of running off like she did"
"Well I am going to go home in case Sam shows up needing a place to stay" and with that Donna was out the door
"Wow no wonder Forman broke up with her, that is not the same Donna we grew up with, she felt more guilt when we were in California over leaving Jackie and riding with me instead of making me talk to Jackie and not run off like I did" Kelso said as he sat back down.
"Is there something you want Kelso or can you leave me in alone for a while? Aren't you still on duty?"
"I just got off duty, I was getting off when I saw the eviction notice for the Burkhart mansion, had went over there and found it empty. I do need to talk to you though, something I should have done months ago"
"Well if you can talk fast, Sam trashed my room and I need to get to sleep, tomorrow was already going to be a long day with WB coming to check on everything now adding to working on this divorce on top of it"
"First I want to say I am sorry, I am sorry for getting between you and Jackie for all these years, like I said when I picked you two for Betsy's godparents I had faith in you two, and yet I still messed things up for you. I was trying to cheer Jackie up that night, she had been so sick that morning before we left, I was worried about her, I had joked about us doing it, she laughed and told me been there done that, and not going there again with you. It was the first real laugh she had in a long time. We had soft drinks that had gotten warm and I went to get ice" Kelso stopped he knew as he continued Hyde would possibly kill him with the rest of the story. Hyde has his glasses off and he had never seen a more deadly glare, taking a big gulp he knew he needed to hear the truth, "I saw you pull in and it was meant to be a joke, I figured you would hit me in the eye and I would go ahead and head over to see Brook and Betsy, I never thought you would react like you did. I didn't even know what happened till a week later when Jackie found me down here and beat the crap out of me"
"You realize you ruined my life that night and Jackie's as well? All I could think of since I knew she left a month ago was all that time she was alone in that house and if something could have happened to her, or when she was alone in Chicago if something happened to her then, or even now wherever she is.. I use to protect her, I watched out for her, I tried to keep her safe and I screwed it up. I should have never let her go to Chicago in the first place. I should have told her I saw a future with no one but her when she asked me earlier this year. I should have let her know that she was loved, I have failed her more than ever before and from what Red says, I broke her. And now she's gone and I may never see her again."
"Hyde I am going to do everything I can to find her, I just don't know where to start."
"I think the Formans know, but I am not sure if they will ever tell us, like you said Jackie is Red's favorite and he will keep her secret"
"Well we can only hope that we can find her, I stopped by the station after Jackie's, they think Pam has left the country, it looks like she could be facing charges on tax evasion, they doubt she will ever come back. Jack has not been behaving and so parole is not looking like something coming his way" and Kelso left.
The next morning Hyde was working on the accounts for Grooves in the office when WB came in. He had gotten an update from Red when he stopped by the shop before coming to Grooves. He had his own information on Sam that he had found out yesterday. He had given Red an update on Jackie to give to Kitty, she was starting to feel movement and Angie was just itching for being able to feel the baby herself. He was excited as well, her health had greatly improved now she was away from the stress of Point Place. But he was worried about how she would react to the information of her mom and finally losing the house, along with the drama of Steven and Sam from the night before. "Hey son how are things going?"
"A lot better than they were a month ago, sales are up and I think I have the books figured out if you want to take a look"
"Well this is a lot better, I'll take these back to the accounting clerks in the office to double check them."
Before WB could say anymore Kelso and his great timing came in the office, "Sorry to disrupt you two, but Hyde just got word you are going to be served divorce papers later today, Sam is asking for butt load of money in alimony"
WB couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Alimony for a 2 month marriage?"
"Well something about moving expenses and I don't know what else" Kelso added
"I guess this means I don't have to file, since she did, but really pay money?" Hyde looked at his father
"So another reason I came up here today was I had some investigation done on Sam, Steven did you ever see your marriage certificate?"
Scared at where he was going with this, "No, why?"
"There is no marriage certificate ever filed under your name, we even ran it under Steven Barnett since you used my credit card. But I was able to find that Samantha Lawrence married to a Larry Lawrence and from what my PI found out, she saw dollar signs when she saw your credit card. And once you get these papers served, we can file charges against her for fraud"
Hyde never felt more like a dumbass in his life than he did at that moment. He had been conned, not only had he been conned, he let it destroy Jackie. He wanted to hit something. WB noticed the anger building up in his son, "Hey let's get out of here that new guy can watch things for a while."
"Randy we are stepping out for a bit, watch the store" Hyde said as he stomped out.
He started to head to the El Camino, when WB stopped him, "how abut we take my car, not sure you should be driving right now." He guided him to his car, "How about lunch and we will talk if you want to."
Hyde sat across from WB, and was brought back to the first time they sat there, that first lunch when Jackie showed up taking pictures, they wasn't the greatest pictures of them but they were the first pictures of the father/son together. Then he thought of the PI that WB talked about, "So could your PI find someone for me?"
WB knew who is was probably wanting to find, and knew he wasn't prepared for seeing Jackie, and he wasn't going to give him any information, he needed to distract him from Jackie, "You want to find your mom, I think I could help you if you want"
Edna? That was the last person Hyde wanted to ever see again. "No Jackie took off and I am worried about her" he took his glasses off and looked WB in the eye.
WB was taken back, he could see the look of concern in his eyes, and caught himself telling him right then where Jackie was, "Steven, I saw Jackie not long before she took off, I didn't get to talk to her long, but I have never seen a girl so broken before. If you think that now that you have gotten rid of Sam you can get Jackie back, I don't think so. Now if you maned up 2 months ago when that girl first showed up," he had to stop himself before he said too much.
"I know I screwed up, I should have never let her feel the way I did, I should have told her I love her, I should have never let her go to Chicago in the first place, I should have never taken off out of the motel room like I did, and I should have thrown Sam out the moment she walked in that door"
WB could see the regret in his son's eyes, but he knew he was going to have to have more than regret. But his gut twisted as he thought of the regret he had once he learned of his son's existence and the way he had grown up. But he knew he was not ready to be there for Jackie the way she needed, not yet. It was going to take a lot more than regret and even if he loved the girl, he needed to make changes to prove himself to her. "Son why don't you focus on yourself and get your life in order before you try to find Jackie?" He could only hope this would buy time, and maybe a wakeup call for him to get his life together. The stoner living in a basement on a cot was not father material, he wanted more for his grandchild, he wanted more for his son as well.