A beat passes before Jackie takes a slow, calming breath. "I understand that he loved your mom first, and I don't blame him for that. But when your mom left him after she found out she was pregnant, he tried to rebuild his life. He met my mom and had me and then your mom showed up again…
She tails off, but miraculously, Julie doesn't interrupt. It makes her wonder how much she knows. How much she figured out. Or if maybe her half-sister is just a little more mature now. Jackie tries to control her anger, but it returns with a vengeance as she continues.
"He could've told my mom what happened, that he had another family and he wanted to be in both of his daughter's lives, but he didn't. He hid both our mothers from each other like they were his dirty little secrets, lying to both their faces and saying garbage like they were the only one for him while he shared his bed with both of them.
"When my mom found out she confronted him, told him that he could be a father to more than one daughter, but he couldn't be a husband to more than one wife, she wouldn't let herself or anyone be treated like the other woman. And do you know what he said?"
Mom still doesn't know that Jackie had been listening, that she'd been on her way to find a snack even though she'd been told to stay in her room. At 5-years-old she hadn't fully understood, but that didn't stop her from feeling like her world was shattering. "He said he only needed one of each, and that it wasn't us."
Jackie watches as Julie clenches her teeth in an attempt not to cry. Watches as her half-sister loses the battle and the tears start falling. "I don't want him to come back. I don't want us to be some big, happy family, because my mom and I moved on without him. I like my life just the way it is."
"Then why do you want him to apologize." Julie asks after a moment, when it seems like Jackie won't continue.
"Because he wanted to hurt her. He wanted her to feel like she wasn't enough, like the daughter she bore him wasn't enough." She clenches her fist. "He wanted my mom to feel like she was less, like she wasn't worth the time or effort. He owes my mother an apology for that, and I will never forgive him until he does."
The night before Jazlee decides to drop her concealment spell, she dreams of something that leaves her bitter and angry and more vicious than she's ever felt before.
She tries to push the feelings aside, focus on the peace her Viking (Gunther) brings once he arrives to their little corner of the sea, but a female with vibrant red hair appears as well.
Jazlee's blood drains then rushes back with such vengeance that it takes all that she is to keep her voice contained. This female had tried to take her Gunther from her once, and she's trying to do it once more. Even though she knows he doesn't like her, this female wants him all the same.
Perhaps Jazlee should take something from her too.