CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: TRUTH UNFOLDED
July 27th, 2020
Gemma awoke the next morning with a smile on her face. As soon as she opened her eyes, she brought her fingers to her lips, where Rowan had been kissing her only twelve hours before. After awhile of kissing and cuddling on the couch, Gemma brought Rowan upstairs to her bedroom where they continued what they started in the living room. The entire time, Gemma remained cognizant of when her family would come home, considering they all went to see a movie. After awhile of making out with Rowan in her bedroom, Gemma knew their movie had ended, or was close to ending. Marcie, who was working, ended her shift at eight o'clock, which was roughly around the same time the family would be back.
Gemma did not want Rowan to leave, but she knew he had to. So after a long kiss goodbye and multiple I love you's, Rowan was out the door and into the Uber he ordered.
Gemma could not push last night from her mind. As she sat up in bed, noticing Marcie who was still asleep on the mattress on the floor, Gemma checked her phone. It was nearing 9AM, and to her disappointment, Gemma did not see any texts from Rowan. She tiredly walked to the bathroom, immediately noticing a deep, purple mark on her neck. Gemma gasped at the sight of it, and although it did not help much, she applied a thick layer of foundation over the spot. The purple was still visible through the makeup; the only thing able to cover it was her hair. Gemma never wore her hair in a side braid, though this hairstyle was the only one that was going to completely cover the hickey that Rowan had left on her neck.
Somewhat paranoid that she was not going to be able to hide the mark, Gemma decided to stay in her room for most of the day. Though when she heard yelling coming from downstairs, her curiosity grew. She walked towards the steps, where she could hear Gayle and Jax arguing from downstairs.
"Marissa broke up with me," Jax sounded as if he was crying. "She fucking told her - "
"Jackson," Gayle angrily interrupted her son. "If you did not cheat on Marissa in the first place, we would have never ended up in this situation."
"You think I don't know that?" Jax yelled. "I fucked up, mom! I know that! But why are you complaining? You're the one who needed money! You agreed to do this!"
"Only because you were being blackmailed, Jax. I'm your mother. I had to help you."
Gemma was beyond confused. She had absolutely no idea what her mom and brother could have been talking about. Marissa broke up with Jax, which was news to Gemma, and Jax cheated? This was shocking, because Gemma could see how much his brother loved Marissa. She would have never suspected that he would cheat on her.
Gemma could not figure out what her mother meant by this situation, because how would Gayle be involved in Jax's breakup with Marissa? That was something Jax needed to figure out for himself, and it was not something for their mom to intervene in. It simply did not seem like her place.
The part that confused Gemma the most was blackmail. Jax, being blackmailed, just did not make sense. He was not the kind of person to get mixed up in things like that. And money? What did money have to do with any of this? Gemma could not decipher the context of their conversation, because so much was being said at once.
Jax stayed silent. Gemma could hear him crying from where she stood at the top of the steps.
"Well," Gayle sighed. She no longer sounded angry. "You don't have to worry anymore. She lost the baby, and now I'm out a few thousand dollars of what I was going to be paid for planning this wedding, that likely isn't going to happen anymore."
Gemma's eyes widened as an overwhelming sensation of confusion, shock, and betrayal hit her all at once. She did not hesitate before running down the stairs, almost tripping over her feet in the process. Jax and Gayle eyed Gemma's expression as she entered the kitchen, instantly knowing that she had heard their conversation, and that she was slowly piecing all the confusion of their conversation together.
"What the fuck are you guys talking about?" Gemma looked straight ahead at her brother -- whom she now knew was the father of Avery's baby. When Rowan told her only twelve hours previous that he was not the father, Gemma wondered who else Avery could have slept with. Never in a million years, did Gemma expect it to be her brother.
Though as she started to piece the puzzle together, it all made sense. On that first day at Clementine's, when Gemma first ran into Rowan again, Jax did not seem phased to be sitting at the same table as Avery. Her memory brought her back to one of the many nights out with the wedding party, and despite being drunk that night, Gemma recalled seeing Jax and Avery arguing. She recalled him completely disregarding any questions she had about why he was acting so weird -- but now it was clear as day why he was acting so standoffish.
Gayle gulped. "How much did you hear?"
"All of it." Gemma felt her eyes well with tears.
"Gemma - "
"You slept with Avery and got her pregnant? You know what she did to me, how she dropped me like I was nothing. How could you do that to me?"
"This isn't about you, Gemma - " Jax spoke through frustrated tears.
"What else are you hiding?" Gemma screamed, knowing damn well that she was likely going to wake up the rest of the house, but in that moment, waking up her sleeping family members was the furthest thing from her mind. "Money, blackmail? What the fuck is going on!"
"Sweetheart, sit down." Gayle sighed.
"No," Gemma shook her head. "Tell me everything. Now."
Jax was still crying, but even harder this time. Gayle knew that she was going to have to do the talking, and tell the story of this mess she never wanted to be in in the first place.
"A few months ago, I was at a party," Jax surprisingly spoke up, despite the tears streaming down his cheeks. "I was blacked out, drunk. I couldn't find Marissa, and somehow I ran into Avery. We were both intoxicated and one thing led to another. We slept together, but I didn't think anything of it. I wore a condom, or at least I thought I did - "
"Jax," Gayle covered her face with her right hand. She did not need, nor want to hear the gritty details.
"But then she tested positive on a pregnancy test," Jax continued. "She came to me, but she was convinced it was Rowan's baby because she had slept with him the day before that. So she told Rowan it was his, and then all of a sudden he proposed to her - "
"And then she called me, out of the blue, asking if I could plan her wedding, because she remembered some of my work in wedding planning in the past," Gayle chimed in. "But when I said no, she threatened to tell Marissa that Jax cheated on her."
"I'm in love with Marissa," Jax cried even harder at the thought of his now ex, girlfriend. "I was going to propose to her. But then all this shit with Avery happened - "
"And I didn't know what to do," Gayle sighed. "I wanted to help Jax, because I did not want him to lose Marissa. And Avery offered me an amount of money that I couldn't refuse - "
"Why?" Gemma spoke for the first time since this downward spiral of a story began. She did not realize until she spoke, but she was crying now, too. "Dad works. You could have picked up some odd jobs. Why the hell could you not refuse it?"
Gayle shook her head, looking down at the ground in embarrassment. "Your dad is losing the store, Gemma. That's why he has been working every day. That's why you barely see him anymore. He's trying to keep the store from closing."
Gemma's eyes widened. She knew her dad's small business did not bring in a ton of revenue, though it was enough to keep the family afloat, along with Gayle's occasional jobs. It had always been that way, and it was never a problem. Or maybe it was -- and Gemma just never realized it throughout her childhood and teenage years.
"What the fuck," Gemma sobbed as all this newfound information hit her like a ton of bricks. It was a lot to comprehend, given there was much her family had been hiding. Gemma couldn't believe she never saw the signs before.
"I was going to stop," Gayle sighed. "I was going to tell Avery no, but when she took a test and found out that the baby was Jax's, I knew I was stuck."
"And then she changed the deal," Jax mumbled, his tears slowing down, though it was clear that he was still distressed about this entire ordeal. "She said she wanted you, Gemma, in the wedding."
"Wait," the pieces, once again, were falling more into place in Gemma's already scrambled brain. "Is that why you were so persistent on having me come back? Is that why you convinced Marcie to bring me back here?"
Gayle slowly nodded, her heart breaking at the truth unfolded before her. "Avery admitted that she regretted dropping you all those years ago, and that she wanted to rekindle her friendship with you. So, she said if you did not agree to be apart of her wedding, she was going to call the whole deal off and tell Marissa about Jax cheating."
Gemma felt as if her head was going to explode. Never in her entire life, had she ever had this much shocking information dropped on her all at once. Ultimately, it was Gemma's choice to be apart of the wedding -- because she believed she was over Rowan and that maybe, she could be apart of his life again as friends. Though if Gemma knew all this, she would have never agreed. And as for her mother, Gemma finally understood why Gayle was not surprised to see Avery walk into their home on that first day Gemma saw her former friend again. She never did ask her mother why she became involved in the wedding in the first place like she had been meaning to, though as truths were being unfolded, Gemma now understood why Gayle agreed to help plan the wedding.
"Did it ever occur to you that after what Avery did to me, I wouldn't want to be around her? And what about Rowan? Did it even concern you that I wasn't ready to see him again and bring up all those old feelings?"
"Honey," Gayle sighed, knowing how bad this all looked. "I had no idea who Avery's fiancé was at the time. When I realized it was Rowan, just before you came back home, we were already too deep in this. I had no idea what to do."
"You could've been a fucking adult!" Gemma screamed, her tears flowing much faster this time. "You could've shut this whole thing down!"
"But Jax - "
"Jax fucking cheated," Gemma stated the obvious, confused about why Gayle did not see the issue in her son's infidelity. Letting Marissa break up with Jax seemed like the better solution, instead of becoming involved in this entire shitshow. "You should've fucking let Avery tell Marissa."
"I was going to ask her to marry me!" Jax said again. "I didn't want to lose her!"
"You were really gonna propose to her, knowing you got another girl pregnant? What were you gonna do, Jax? Let Avery have the baby and let Rowan believe it was his child?"
"Fuck, I guess. Yeah - "
"Do you even realize how fucked up that sounds?" Gemma could feel her vocal cords weakening as she sobbed and screamed at her mom and brother. As she looked frantically between the two of them, Gemma started to realize she did not even know who they were, anymore. This entire situation was built on lies, which could have easily been avoided if Gayle did not feel the need to protect her son.
"Gemma," Gayle walked towards Gemma, who in return, backed away. She was standing in the living room now, with her hands up so her mother would not continue to walk near her. "I know this all sounds terrible. I wish I did not even get involved in the first place, but the money - "
"That's no excuse," Gemma's broken voice was barely above a whisper, now. "You could've gotten a fucking job."
"You're right," Gayle sighed. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that Gemma was just going to keep backing up with each step she took. "I'm sorry - "
"No, you're not," Gemma whispered. "You're only sorry because you got caught. I don't even fucking know who you two are, anymore."
"Gems - "
"No," Gemma sobbed. "I can't look at you right now."
Without thinking, Gemma ignored her mom who was calling behind her as she grabbed the car keys and ran out the front door, without putting any shoes on. She entered the car, turning the key in the ignition. Gayle ran outside, rushing towards the car, though Gemma was reversed into the street before her mother had the chance to catch up to her.
Gemma was not sure what to do, or how to feel -- but she knew where she needed to go. The familiar drive to the Taylor household was short, given Gemma had the way memorized.
As soon as she put the car in park, Gemma made her way to the front porch she and Rowan shared many memories on. She did not hesitate before knocking on the door.
Gemma was relieved to see Rowan who answered the door, though her relief immediately vanished as she noticed Avery standing there right behind him.
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a/n: this chapter. was a lot. to write.
oh my god.
well. the truth is out LMAO i've had this planned since the very beginning. gemma's family kinda sucks now knowing all that lol :/