Justice For Juniper (Tatienne Richard) novel Chapter 141

Justice For Juniper

Welcome Mama Part I

Lucky Draw

Juniper watched as her mother disembarked from the plane and her eyes searched the area. The sigh of relief when she saw Juniper was nearly audible from where Juniper stood.

Her mother ran at her and hugged her tight. “Juni, honey, are you okay?” Her mother cupped her cheeks and looked her over worriedly. “You’re alright?”

“I’m fine, Mama. Really I am.”

She could tell her mother was staring at her and avoiding looking at anyone else, specifically Fermín. “Are you sure?”

“Mama, I really am.” She rubbed her mother’s biceps reassuringly. “How was your first flight?”

“I didn’t like it at all.” Maeve made a face of frustration. “There was some guy who called himself a butler who was moving me so fast I barely had time to think. Also, how the fuck did they get a passport for me with a photo that fast?”

“You’ll need to ask Fermín.”

“I’d rather not.” Maeve huffed angrily.

“Maeve,” the quiet voice from behind Juniper made the woman stiffen.

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12:48

Welcome Mama Part I

Lucky Draw

Juniper watched her mother’s face carefully, noting the trembling of her bottom lip and the way her nostrils flared as if struggling not to cry. “Mama,” Juniper whispered softly. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

Fermín swallowed loudly as he stepped closer to Maeve and let his hand reach out to cover Juniper’s on Maeve’s arm. “Hello.”

Maeve turned furious eyes on him, “you forgot me!”

Juniper blinked in shock at the fury in her mother’s tone and the way a single tear slid seeped from the corner of her eye.

“I did not.” He shook his head. “I did not forget you. You,” he slowly pulled her away from Juniper, “were the only thing I remembered. I didn’t remember my own name, Maeve, but I remembered you.” He gave a sad smile and tentatively reached out to wipe the tear off her cheek. “How could I forget you?”

“It’s not fair.” Maeve whispered.

“No. It’s not. It’s not even remotely close to fair. I would very much like to hug you. Can I hug you?”

Juniper watched her mother stumble towards Fermín and then fall into his arms sobbing.

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12:48

Welcome Mama Part I

Lucky Draw

She found herself for the umpteenth time wondering what kind of spell these two found themselves under thirty years ago to even after all this time be so connected emotionally. Juniper blinked back her own tears as Fermín lifted Maeve right off the ground, turned his back to everyone and held her in his arms his own shoulders shaking.

She stepped back to give them privacy and found herself wrapped up from behind in Phineas‘ arms while Beni and Adil stood on either side of them. She whispered over her shoulder, “does anyone else find it incredibly weird they are like this,” she waved her hand at the emotional couple, “after one night thirty years ago?”

“It’s definitely weird.” Phineas agreed.

“No. It’s not.” Beni said with a shake of his head. “Juniper I was pretty much stalking you on your lunch hours and I hadn’t even been introduced. Sometimes a man knows.”

“I knew but this seems excessive to me.” Phineas disagreed with Beni. “Especially when Maeve herself said it was gin–infused, back of a truck kind of antics.”

“What he said,” Juniper agreed nodding seriously. “Mama made it seem like it was nothing more than a fling, a one–night stand to us.”

“Maybe it was how she was coping with it,” Adil offered quietly.

Juniper turned her attention back to the couple who were now standing, forehead–to–forehead, wordlessly holding one another. She looked at her Inigo and Anna and saw they were both crying

She wiggled out of Phineas‘ grasp to move to Anna and take her hand, “are you okay?”

“It’s been so long. We held such guilt for so long for forcing him to come to Spain to say goodbye to my mother,” Inigo said quietly. “Racing to say goodbye to a woman who was already brain dead and didn’t even know if we were there. He argued the entire time he wanted a chance to call her first and let her know where he was going and when he’d be back. We gave him hell for thinking with his,” Inigo waved at his crotch, “and then everything was gone. We told him it was impossible to love a woman after one night. I believe we stand corrected.”

Anna nodded, “I believe that, is as real a love as any, even after all this time.”

“How?” Juniper was in awe. “I don’t get it. That,” she motioned to her mother, “is not anything I’ve ever seen from her. I’ve never seen her like this.”

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Welcome Mama Part 1

Lucky Draw

“You’ve never seen her like this because they were never together in front of you before,” Anna said simply rubbing Juniper’s back comfortingly. “I think, if they’d been together all along, you would have grown up in a house full of love, Juniper.”

“I did grow up in a house full of love,” she corrected Anna’s words. “My mother loved me deeply and completely and it’s why I never wanted or asked for a dad once in my life. She was all I ever needed because she loved me.”

“Are you feeling jealous perhaps to share that love now?”

She shot Anna an annoyed glance, “not in the least. Look, know we just met yesterday, and you’re bound to make

guesses and formulate opinions before you know anything about me, but before you say something you’ll regret later, I’m not upset here. I’m confused. This is not a side of my mother I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I’m happy for her. I’m thrilled for her. I’m simply absolutely and completely in shock over this facet of her personality. Don’t judge me for questioning my mother’s reactions. You don’t know me, but I know her.”

“I’m sorry, Juniper.”

“Whatever,” she felt a smidgeon of regret for being snappy with her grandmother, but she was overtired, overstimulated and overwhelmed.

Justice For Juniper