Chapter 5

Julianna returned and was surprised to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of tea.

"You should be resting in bed," she gently admonished.

"I have been. I got up a few minutes ago. After you put the groceries away, we need to have a serious talk."

Julianna recognized her mother’s set jaw and grim expression and swallowed her contradictory words. She knew, as fragile as her mother seemed lately, a fierce determination still remained. She feared "the talk" had something to do with A.J. Quartermaine and her behavior towards him, but she didn’t voice those concerns. She simply acknowledged her mother’s request with a nod.

Julianna willed herself to remain calm as she told Keesha she was ready. Taking a seat next to her mother, she waited anxiously for her to begin. Keesha took a moment to brush her daughter’s ebony locks away from her attractive face and gave her a wan smile.

"I know this isn’t going to be easy for you to hear, baby girl, but the time has come, and we must talk about it. You know I’ve contacted your father. He’s been here, hasn’t he? He’s tried to call, too. Isn’t that the truth, Julianna?"

Julianna felt the heat rising to her cheeks as her lies were so methodically exposed by her mother. She did not dare continue in her deception.

"Yes, Mama," she admitted ruefully. Then she rushed on. "But we don’t need him. We don’t!"

"*I* need him," Keesha stated. "Don’t you see, sweetheart. I need to explain everything to him, and I need to see you and your father together. I’ve put this off for far too long. It has to happen, Julianna. It will happen."

"What if I don’t want to meet him?" she asked, tears of frustration and a sense of loss filling her eyes. "He never cared about us. He never tried to contact you! Why, Mama? Why do we have to let him into our lives? Cousin Justus and Dara will take care of me if it comes to that. You told me that! And they confirmed it!"

"I know we all talked about that situation, but you need more than Justus and Dara. You need your father, baby. And he needs you, too."

She squeezed her daughter’s hands, her heart breaking at the anguish she saw on her lovely face.

"Honey, you know why I need to do this. I’m not doing this to hurt you. I’m not. Cousin Justus talked to you about this not so very long ago. I’m not getting any better. We both know what’s going to happen. A.J. is your father. It’s time, way past time, that the two of you got to know one another. This has to be done, Julianna."

"But Mama..."

Keesha shook her head.

"This is happening, Julianna. No more slamming doors in his face or hanging up on him when he calls."

The fifteen year old, who looked so much younger at that moment, turned her head away. Her mother knew everything.

"Yes, I know what you did, and I know why you did it, but it won’t happen again. A.J. is coming here tonight after supper. I expect you to be on your best behavior."

She whipped her head around to stare at her mother. "Tonight?! But that’s too soon!!" she cried.

"No, Julianna," Keesha said, her voice filled with sadness and regret. "This meeting is happening fourteen years too late. I won’t put it off another day."

*~*

After helping her mother get ready for A.J.’s visit, Julianna withdrew into the privacy of her room while Keesha rested.

With fear and anxiety gripping her from every side, she couldn’t sit still long enough to write in her journal, even though she had a million thoughts swimming through her mind that she wanted to get down on paper. Instead of writing, she turned on her computer and Web cam.

"Please be there," she hoped out loud.

She heard his voice through her speakers and despite how badly she felt, a small smile managed to ease some of the tension from her face.

"Hello, Michael."

"Hey, Jule. How’s it goin’?"

He was the only one she allowed to call her Jule. She didn’t know why, except that she liked the way he said the name. It sounded, to her, as though he were calling her a "jewel."

"Lousy," she admitted.

He could see her scowl and told her to talk to him.

"He’s coming here," she said, without preamble. "Tonight. I hate this, Michael. I really hate this!"

She never identified her father by name, but whenever she said "he," Michael knew she was talking about her father. They’d had an agreement from the very beginning that they wouldn’t share their last names, places of residence or phone numbers. They wanted to keep things as simple as possible. Somehow, it worked for them.

The teen-ager, with the reddish-brown hair and pale complexion, saw Julianna jump up from her chair and begin to pace the room as though she were looking for a way out. Which, he concluded, she probably was.

"No escaping out the window," he teased, trying to lighten the mood.

His efforts were rewarded with her sticking her tongue out at him.

"O-kay. Talk to me, Jule," he encouraged.

"He’s coming, Michael. My father is coming here. Mere hours from now he will be in this house. How can I be civil to him? How?!"

"Remember when I told you about my situation? Look how many fathers I’ve had. At least your mom didn’t subject you to a bunch of different guys and tell you to call them ‘uncle’ or ‘daddy.’ Your mom wants you to know your true father, Jule. Is that *so* bad?"

"I don’t know," she answered and sniffled, hating it when her friend made sense. "I’m scared about what this means. I’m looking at the big picture, and I don’t like what it’s showing me."

"You mean about your mom’s declining health?"

"Yeah. I won’t go with him, and he can’t make me!"

"Whoa, Jule. You are getting way ahead of yourself. I think your mom just wants the two of you to meet. Get to know one another. I highly doubt your mom is ready to give you up or to give up on herself. Didn’t you tell me she’s a fighter? And a brave one at that?"

"Yes, but you should see her, Michael. She’s so frail. I know her liver is getting worse. I can see it."

"Then you know what, Jule? You need to help make this meeting go well. I’m sure your mother is agonizing over this. Help her. Okay?"

"For being sixteen and male, how did you get to be so wise?"

Michael laughed. She loved hearing it.

"First of all, I’m almost seventeen."

"Not until December 29th. Don’t forget we share the same birth date. You’re just a year older."

"I’d never forget that. Isn’t that one of the reasons we decided to chat?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice softening. "It was. Along with the fact that we have only one parent."

"That’s right. You know my story, Jule. I lost my mom and every dad or uncle I thought I had. I live with my grandmother, but I’ve gotten to know my dad, my *real* dad, and he’s an okay guy. If you give your father a chance, I bet you’ll find out he’s okay, too."

"Promise me one thing?" she asked, knowing she had to sign off to prepare dinner.

He gave her a crooked grin. "What?"

"Be here late tonight. I have a feeling I’m going to need you."

"I’ll be here," he assured her. "I wish I could give you a hug. Know I’ll be thinking of you, Jule."

"Thank you," she said, and pressed two fingers against the camera to give him a cyber kiss.