Authors note

If you haven't read the previous chapter 26 because no notification was sent, then please read it before this one as I edited the message I wrote on that page last week to become the new chapter. As always, thank you for reading.

About a month before the trial (previous chapter) and about a week after the funeral.


I see you hiding

"Jackson, I really don't think we have anything to worry about. It's been three days since you found out she requested Matthews, medical files. I had a chat with her, and I don't think she can find anything to use against you. We will be fine."

"I also had a chat with her, and she said she spoke to my mother; she didn't seem eager to drop this then."

"Even if that's the case, the 7-day deadline has come and gone, and she has done nothing, so please, stop pacing and eat something!"

"What are you doing here anyway, and where are the kids? Why did you bring me food?" Jackson turns to look at her, feeling uneasy about her being with him. Matthews, mother's silence, putting him on edge. He feels needles under his skin that he knows will only go away once he knows her next move. The way he sees it, it's not April she's after, but him, and she doesn't mind bringing his entire family down with him to do it. She made that clear when he went to talk to her.

"Because I doubt you have had anything to eat these last two days, you have been avoiding my calls ever since you talked to Matthew's mother and came back convinced you were the problem. What exactly did she say to you?"

"I had to find out from Richard yesterday that she asked for records." Jackson paces again, wondering why Richard told her, worrying her in the process.

"Keeping my distance in the meantime is a good idea. If she sees this, that could help change her mind about trying to take Ruby from you at least."

"Did you listen to Matthew's voice notes?"

"I haven't had the chance to," Jackson says, slowing down his pace, thinking about the voice notes. Every time he tries to listen to them, he finds himself getting distracted by thoughts of not being able to fulfill his end of the promise to take care of Ruby.

"I don't think facing this alone will make her stop. What will make her stop is her knowing we have nothing to hide and her seeing the kind of person you are. The one that took care of Matthew and the one who takes care of Ruby. She has nothing but pain to hold on to, which I get. She is trying to throw mud on your wall, which I also get, but it won't stick. Besides, if you had given me the chance to explain, then you would know that maybe the way to win her over is in Matthew's voice notes."

Seeing that Jackson has come to a complete stop and is now paying attention to her, she answers his other question. "The kids are with your mom, I asked her to come see you herself, but she thought it would be best if I came."

Jackson finally sits down, takes the food from her, and starts eating, even though he has no appetite. Knowing she won't leave until he does. He wonders if anything Matthew said in the voice notes could help.

He thought a couple of days would buy them time. Now he worries that time is quickly running out. What can he find in the voice notes to derail all of this?

"How are the girls doing?" He asks, putting down his food.

"They miss you." April answers trying to peer at his eyes.

Lost in thought, he thinks about being at home with them. Then he thinks of the things Matthew's mother could use on April if she investigated her too. Ruby could end up losing both him and her if they take that risk. He pushes the food away, feeling his chest hurt, worried about what April is risking by coming here.

Seeing how much talking about the kids upsets him and stores that talk for later, they have time. She asks about something else that's been on her mind. "Since we already started talking about your mom, is there something you would like to tell me?"

"What do you mean?" He looks up at her.

"I mean… What's going on with you two? There has been tension between you for a while now. I was hoping you would open up to me about it, but you haven't, and you are doing it again."

"Doing what?" He asks, hoping the conversation will go that way as opposed to him and his mom.

"Shutting me off." Jackson brings his food closer to him for comfort, deciding that the conversation about his mother would have been easier than this one.

"I know it's been hard, and I may not be the best person for advice right now, but I'm here to listen. I want to listen. You know everything that has been going on with me. Yet I know nothing about what's been happening to you. All I know is what I see."

"Like when we were in your mom's house before the funeral, you didn't want to be anywhere near her, she was tense, and as soon as she saw you, she practically ran out of the room."

"Running away is not something your mother does, so something has to be really, really wrong if she is."

Jackson sinks on his chair, folding his arms and sighing at her uncanny sight.

"And I don't think you have spoken to anyone about it, except to maybe Richard. Even with him around, you have been so wrapped up in helping me that, and now you won't tell me what Matthew's mother said that has you running. No matter what you do, she won't stop..."

"Look, I don't want to push, but I think I have to because knowing you. You will avoid what's going on with you until it cripples you."

"So please, tell me. No, I demand to know as my right as your family, and your best friend, whom you have been helping for the past couple of months. I demand the right for you to let me help you too."

April frowns at him and, when her face relaxes again, adds in a helpless voice. "Please, aren't we family? Are you the only one allowed to help? Won't you give me the chance to pull you out of whatever it is that you are sinking in?"

Jackson looks at her, amazed at how much she still knows him. He had forgotten all of this and now thinks back to all the times she did help him. Like in Montana...

Just thinking about that time, he knows that if he opens up to her. If he acknowledges her help or lets her in, he...

He thinks about when he sought her because he wanted to know more about God.

He realized then that he, cannot let her in. He cannot let her be his friend and not want more. He looks away, wanting to open up but not knowing how to do that and remain just her friend or her family.

The grief he felt when he started seeing the life they could have had. The misunderstandings they could have worked out, the life he sees when she looks at him and knows what to say to make everything okay with him again.

April takes his hand in hers and continues to speak. "Do you realize that you are directly looking at me more and more these days? I'm still your friend Jackson, why won't you let me help you? Why won't you look at me?"

"Do you?"

"Is maybe a part of you still mad at me for leaving you for Jordan?

Do you think I'm going to abandon you, even as your friend?"

"No, no, no, no, no, I-"

"Well, the last time you looked at me like this and refused to talk to me was at the divorce signing."

Jackson tries to remove his hand, but she doesn't let him, refusing to let go. He looks down at their joined hands and looks back at her face, scared of where her words are taking him.

"Jackson, please, say something this time. I'm not letting you go until you tell me something, anything."

Jackson looks at her for longer, reminded of the divorce that never went through, and his throat goes dry. Not knowing how he will tell his newly widowed wife, she was never married to her dead husband.

A loud tapping, followed by a thud, comes from knocking on the door, interrupting them.

"Police!"

Jackson and April look at each other, and Jackson tries to remove his hands from hers again, but Aprils' hands that are holding on to his don't budge.

"April." After a second, she comes to herself, and lets go.

Jackson gets up to open the door. April watches him the whole time, worried about him.

"We are looking for Jackson Avery." The policeman at the door says when Jackson opens it.

"I am... he." The man takes out his cuffs and reads him his rights.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Matthew Taylor. You have the right to..."

Jackson doesn't fight the man, as he handcuffs him. He wouldn't be able to anyway with his partner watching for any sign of resistance.

Jackson knows it was Matthew's mothers' doing. He knows from being raised by his own mother that underestimating her was never an option. The agitation he felt dissipates because she has finally made her move.

In the background, he hears April asking, "On what grounds, do you even have a warrant?" He wishes she wasn't here to see this. He tries to speak, tell her it's okay as he has been expecting this, but no words come out as he realizes that she is right. It isn't fair to want to comfort her, come to her rescue, but not allow her to do the same and not tell her why.

Grateful to not have the kids here at least, he turns to her, "go to Richard and my mother. They can help me!" He says, knowing they will bring a Calvary of Avery lawyers with them, but mostly needing her not to be alone or follow him on her own. When she nods her head in agreement, he lets the police lead him away.