Chapter 27

Josephine sat in the living room, getting ready to go back to her farm. Jessica approached her quietly and sat down next to her. Josephine looked at her and smiled slightly. She had been living with her sister for a few months now, and they had grown slightly closer, but not enough.

"I wanted to talk to you before you left," Jessica said.

"I hear you," Josephine answered, not looking at her sister.

"I want us to act like sisters again, Phine. I miss you," the pregnant twin said. Her sister looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"How is that supposed to happen, Sica? After all these years?"

"I've been sulking, all wrapped up in my side of the story, Phine. The side of the story I was told, the one mother and father wanted me to know, but I want to change that now. I want to hear your side," Jessica asked.

Josephine looked at her for a few seconds. "You actually want to hear what I've got to say?" she asked in disbelief.

"You never told me anything about you and Kevin, I never knew until you ran away. I want you to tell me everything, how you two met, how you fell in love, you know, everything," Jessica assured her.

"Okay," Phine agreed. "This might take some time."

"I have plenty."

Phine nodded. "You remember my friend Andrew? That blue eyed boy who had a crush on me, but I never actually liked?"

"Yes, he drooled over you like a puppy, but you never looked at him as anything but a friend," Jessica said, remembering the boy clearly. He had been a classmate of both of them, but he had had a crush on Josephine, and had befriended her, not Jessica.

"He's my stepson. And he's actually older than me by a couple of months," Josephine commented with a face that stated clearly just how weird she knew that had sounded. "Man, my relationship with my husband is certainly a strange one, isn't it? No wonder no one ever approved of it."

"Yeah, well, you DO have a slight age difference between you," Jessica commented with a slight laugh which Josephine echoed.

"Anyway, Andrew told me his parents were divorced, we were sixteen back then, almost seventeen. So, Andrew told me to meet him at his father's house one weekend because we had to work on a report for science. That was the day I met Kevin." Josephine's eyes had been invaded by a glow at the memory of the first time she had seen the man who now was her husband.

"It was like a bolt of electricity running through my body when I saw him. His eyes, so bright and warm, and his smile, I felt like every single thing that had ever scared me or hurt me had just vanished from existence when I saw his smile." Her voice had grown passionate as well, and Jessica was amazed at how much her sister loved her husband. She had doubted their love for years, she had always doubted they had loved each other truly until she had gotten pregnant, but now the businesswoman had to admit her sister had always loved Kevin Simmons, truly and deeply. And not just that, he had loved her back with the same intensity.

"Andrew had no idea of what he had just done, but he had introduced me to the man of my dreams. Kevin is so incredibly handsome for a man his age, in such good shape, and those green eyes, and that light brown hair, he's the man of my dreams." Josephine smiled foolishly at her sister. "Well, Kevin and I discovered we had so much in common, we talked for hours, which made Andrew incredibly uncomfortable, and when I left their house that day I felt like I was flying, I was excited, my heart was racing, my head too. I just wanted to see Kevin again, and back then, I was far from knowing he couldn't wait to see me again either, but he couldn't."

"When did you begin a romantic relationship?" Jessica asked, interested.

"About six months after we met. We had been 'friends', if you care to call it that, for that long. Our relationship, and the romantic tension between us, grew exponentially during those months. Again, Andrew asked me to go to his father's house one Saturday. I went, but Andrew wasn't there, so Kevin said I could go in and wait for him, after all, we had been alone together several times. By alone I mean without Andrew, we usually met in public places, and talked about horses, or interesting books or anything. That Saturday, however, we were truly alone, him and me. And we sat down on his couch and talked about everything we could think of, but we soon ran out of topics, and began staring into each other's eyes. All I wanted was to tell him that I loved him, that I did nothing but think about him, that he was my ground and my skies, but I feared making things awkward between us and losing him completely. But a miracle happened!" Josephine's face was showing a pleased, happy smile.

"We just looked into each other's eyes, not really noticing we were getting closer and closer, and then, next thing we knew, we were kissing, deeply and lovingly. When we broke apart, he whispered, 'Jossie, I can't hide this anymore. I love you,' and I was breathless, unable to believe what was happening to me. I distinctly remember saying, 'I love you too, Kevin, I have for a long time,' and then it was just more kisses and a tight hug and then more kisses and more sweet words. Now that I knew I had him, now he knew I loved him and now I knew he loved me back, I just had the certainty of being unable to live without my Kevin anymore. I didn't care about his age, I didn't care his son was my classmate, all I cared about was kissing him, holding his hand, listening to his voice and feeling his gaze on me. Against everything everyone seemed to think, Kevin and I did love each other back then."

"When did your relationship become sexually active? Josephine, why did you run away? What happened?" Jessica asked.

"Kevin and I dated for months, but we weren't sexually active, I was underage, and I didn't want to get him in trouble, in case someone knew about us making love. I have to admit we did get to second base a couple of times, we were so addicted to each other it was hard for us to hold back, but we did. The day after our eighteenth birthday I visited Kevin, desperate to be with him and feeling so free to be his, to be with him. I was of age now, and he knew it, because Andrew, who still didn't know about us, had been at our party. That was the day I became Kevin's woman. And he became my man, and that was it.

"We were through with people saying our relationship was unethical, that we shouldn't be together. I was a woman and he was a man, and we were in love. So what if he's twenty years older than me? I don't care, all I care about is how much he loves me and cares about me."

Josephine's voice let out a trace of bitter anger Jessica didn't miss. She put a hand on her sister's shoulder and smiled at her, letting her know she understood the ways of love now, and understood how she had felt. "Like I said, Kev and I were addicted to each other, and our relationship grew tighter and better in the months that followed the sexual awakening of our love. Andrew found out about us, and he made a fuss, shouting that I was a slut and that his father was a girl-stealer. We couldn't make him understand that we loved each other."

"How did he find out?" Sica asked, interested.

"He had seen the engagement ring his father had, and had asked him who the girl he was going to propose to was, and why he had kept her a secret. Kevin refused to answer, but when he proposed and I said yes, I was decided not to take the ring off my finger ever again. Andrew saw me wearing it, and it wasn't hard for him to do the math."

"Wait a sec," Jessica interrupted bluntly. "He proposed to you before you got pregnant?"

"Yes," Josephine answered, smiling. "Nobody knows this, because nobody ever bothered to ask, but Kevin and I were going to get married even before I got pregnant. When I found out I was expecting, I thought I had blown it, but he hugged me tightly and said that now we could start our own family, together. We ran away because we knew that if we got married and went out into the open near Father, he was bound to take legal action against Kev, and he was also bound to bribe his way into winning a trial, and sending my beloved man to jail. So we ran, Kev already had the farm on the North side, we had been there before, and so we moved there, we got married in Turtle Cove and moved to our farm, where we had and raised our children."

Josephine finished her story and gave her sister an apologetic look. "Jess, I'm sorry for everything Mother and Father made you go through after I left, but I couldn't risk losing Kevin or my children, I would have died!" Her eyes were suddenly filled with tears her twin sister wasted no time in wiping away.

"I understand now, Phine," Jessica said, smiling. "You loved each other so much, I understand you ran away to stay together. I think you would have died if Kevin had been taken from you. Besides, everything turned out the way it was supposed to, you have Kevin, and if you hadn't run, I wouldn't have been the vice-president of Bio-Lab and I wouldn't have met Wesley. Everything is the way it's supposed to be, and, in the end, it's a happy ending."

"It is," Josephine agreed, smiling. "Kevin tends to overprotect me, he sometimes goes all paternal on me, and that just drives me crazy. I want us to have a girl, so he can have an actual daughter and leave me alone in that way."

"How do you deal with the age difference?"

"What age difference? We don't pay attention to that. Age is just numbers, and numbers aren't real. Our love is the only thing we care about, being together, loving each other, raising our twin menaces. Age has never been a conflict between us, and I'm sure it never will be," Josephine concluded just in time. Entering through the living room door were both Wes and Kevin. Josephine turned to her sister and whispered secretly "I don't think I could be half as happy with someone my own age as I am with Kevin."

"I know," Jessica whispered back and they both giggled.

"What's with the giggling?" Kevin asked. "No wife of mine giggles like a silly bimbo," he complained mockingly, pulling his wife to her feet by her hands and drawing her close to him, kissing her and holding her in his big, strong arms. Josephine buried her face in his neck, feeling nothing but complete in her husband's arms.

Wes helped Jessica to her feet and she kissed him softly on the cheek. "There are two more people I need to talk to," she said.

"Who?" he asked.

"Jen, and Mother," she answered. "I want to set everything straight with her."

"You forgot someone very important," he mentioned. She looked at him puzzled and he whispered. "Your father. You should both go and visit his grave before Josephine goes back to the farm."

The green-eyed women looked at each other, and nodded. They needed to tell their father a lot of things, some good, some bad, but all of them needed to be said.

"You don't mind, do you?" Josephine asked her husband, who shook his head.

"Anything that helps you sleep better at night is okay for me, Jossie," he said and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you," she whispered, her eyes closed, her face showing a pleased expression.

"I'll go and change," Jessica said. "It will only take me a few minutes." She left the room, walking rather fast for a woman her size.

"I'll tell Eric to get ready to escort you," Wes announced and Josephine nodded, still taking refuge from the real world in her husband's thick arms and big, muscular chest.

After Wes left, Kevin kissed his wife's head. "Josephine," he began. She groaned softly to let him know she was listening. "I thank the Lord every day for you and the twins. I can't imagine my life without you. I love you all so much, I love you in a way I never loved Andrew's mother." she looked up at him and they kissed, just like the first time.

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The grave wasn't very different from the ones surrounding it. It was made of marble and had golden letters spelling the name of their father and the dates of his birth and death.

When she approached it, Josephine broke into tears. "Daddy," she whispered, kneeling next to the grave, crying. She hadn't been there for his burial, after the day he had slapped her and called her traitor she had never seen him again. She felt the golden letters that spelled his name with her shaking fingers, and cried as she said a prayer quietly.

Jessica stood near the grave, but without any of the emotional reaction Josephine was having. She stood by Eric and lowered her gaze, the bouquet she was holding capturing all of her attention. Eric moved to her and took the flowers from her hand and put them in the vase by the grave. "Thanks," Jessica whispered, knowing she would have been unable to do it herself.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry for everything," Josephine whispered to the cold stone that represented her father now. "I didn't mean to let you down, but you wouldn't have understood, and we love each other so much. I'm sorry you had to die angry with me, and that you never got to meet your grandchildren. They are so cute and smart, your kind of children, you know? And Kevin would amaze you, so nice and caring, and a good businessman too. I want you to know that I'm happy, and that I'm sorry if I made you mad or sad with my actions, and I hope you can forgive, Daddy, so we can both be happy."

She sniffed and dried her tears. "Well, Daddy, Jessica has something to tell you too, I'm going back to my farm tomorrow morning, so I'll be praying for you, okay? I'm sorry I missed your burial, and I'm sorry for all those things I always wanted to tell you but didn't get to." With that Josephine got to her feet and walked away from the grave, towards Eric and Jessica.

Jessica walked forward and stared at the grave taking deep breaths. "I honestly thought I would never have anything good to tell you, Father," she began. "But I was wrong. I have plenty of good things to tell you, Bio-Lab is doing great, we're recovering fast. I married Wesley Collins, Albert's son, and I've bought two percent of his shares, so now we own the company equally."

She sniffed, as she felt the first tears stinging the back of her eyes. "I think you'd be proud of me. I'm pregnant too, I'm expecting a girl, but since Phine had two boys, I guess it's okay. Father, there's something important I want to tell you," she began and sniffed again, two mischievous tears escaping her eyes. "I want to say thank you, Father. I want to thank you for all that work you put me through. I want to thank you for everything you did for me, because now I understand that was your way to show your love and your pain. I know now you were just scared of losing both of your little girls, and you tightened your grip on me because you were afraid to lose me. But you have to know you never lost either of us, not me, or Phine. We have always been your little girls, and we will always be. So, thank you for making me work so hard, thank you for everything you taught me and thank you for sending me face first into the arms of the love of my life. Thank you, Daddy."

She broke finally, tears running freely down her cheeks. "Thank you for everything, and I want you to know that no matter what I might have said, I miss you, I've been missing you for years, ever since I stopped seeing you as my daddy and began seeing you as my jailer. That's it, Daddy. The trouble between us is gone, and I'm your little Jessica again. I love you, Daddy, rest in peace," she concluded and turned. Both sisters hugged and cried for a few minutes. Eric looked away, taking a deep breath, wishing they would just be done with it.

"Let's go home, Eric," Jessica ordered.

"No," Josephine said. "We have to visit Mom first," she demanded. Jessica nodded.

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"Mommy!" Josephine yelled as she ran to her mother and hugged her. The old woman didn't react to her daughter's emotion and just looked at her other daughter over the shoulder of the one holding her.

"What is this, Jessica?" she asked sharply.

"Josephine was in town and she wanted to pay you a visit. We have already been to see Dad," Jessica answered.

"You went to disturb your father's eternal sleep? Don't you both get tired of making trouble for us?!" the woman asked sternly.

"Oh, Mommy," Josephine said sweetly and kissed her mother's cheek again. "I missed you so much, you have to meet the twins; they are so smart and handsome--"

"I have no desire to get to know the results of the almost incestuous relationship you have with a man who could be your father, Josephine. I don't understand what you are doing here."

"I'm here to say hi, and to say I'm sorry for everything, and to let you know I'm happy and that I've missed you, and Daddy. I just wanted to hug you one more time, that's all," Josephine said, unaffected by her mother's coldness.

Jessica stepped closer to her mother and kissed her cheek too. "I thank you for everything you tried to teach me, Mom, but I have no use for it. I love you and I respect you, but I can't be you, I can't be a wife like you or a mother like you. You do understand that, don't you? You do understand that I want to do things differently?" she asked hopefully.

"Do things however you want, Jessica. But don't you dare to come here and talk to me about whatever aberration you commit while raising your child," she said coldly, turned on her heel and climbed the stairs, out of their sight. Jessica looked hurt by her words, but Josephine still looked unaffected.

"She's just impossible, isn't she?" Phine asked.

"Yes, she's unbearable," Jessica answered and turned on her heel and left the house. That was the last time they both saw their mother alive.

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"Jen?" Wes called. The officer looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Has Jess talked to you yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet," she answered.

"Kevin told me about him and Josephine. It's amazing how nothing can keep two people who are meant to be together apart," he said. "When I think of the thousand years that separate us, and the two pairs of wedding bands, I can't help but wonder--"

"What the hell were we thinking about on that beach?" Jen completed jokingly.

"Are you reading my mind?" he asked rhetorically.

"As a matter of fact, I am," she answered.

"You never really loved me, did you?" he asked musingly.

"You never really loved me either, Wes. To me you were just the closest thing to home, the closest thing to Alex I had. For you I was just a challenge, I was the one girl that was beyond your reach, the girl you wanted to have but had to fight for."

"I guess the effect wore off when I got you, didn't it?" he asked her, with a playful expression.

"It did, but I loved you as a friend, you know? I always appreciated you."

"And I appreciated you, Jen. But I have to say I'm glad we couldn't be together," he said. "It wouldn't have worked between us."

"No, it wouldn't have. I would have eventually found out I was looking for Alex in you," she admitted.

"I guess you would have. We never loved each other as a couple, did we?"

"No, Wes. Even if we thought we did, we never loved each other as a couple," she assured him. He didn't seem convinced so she asked, "Do you trust me?"

He looked at her, smiled and said, "That's my line, but I do trust you."

They fell silent for a few seconds.

Then they heard footsteps behind them and saw Jessica, who had just gotten back home, enter the terrace behind them. "You wanted to talk to me?" Jen asked her.

"Not anymore," Jessica said. "Everything I wanted you to tell me, I just heard. That's all I needed."

"So, are we friends?" Jen asked, offering her hand.

"Of course, you saved my life, rescued my husband and saved my sister. Of course we're friends," the redhead answered, shaking Jen's hand.

Wes looked at them, smiling, and then his gaze slid past the two women, and he saw his own futuristic counterpart standing by the door, also smiling.

Miracles happen, Wes thought.

Every day, Jen whispered in his mind, as she walked to her husband, and sought peace in his grasp. Wes moved forward to hold Jessica, and she looked into his eyes.

Then both couples kissed at once, and the sun set in the background, reflecting the feelings of their hearts.

To be continued.