Ginny recognized
Kit in an instant, and had to sit down from the
shock. Jess helped her into the "caddy corner" seat across
the aisle from
him, who was standing out of respect for Ginny, all of
them stooping
over because of the low ceiling, after Felecia had a
hug with Gin, then a
hug with Craig, who took the seat facing Ginny. Then
Jess sat down
across from Kit as he sat back down, and Flece took the
co-pilot's seat
behind the bulkhead, giving she and Jessy private eye
contact if they
needed it.
"What the
hell is going on here," Ginny started, barely containing
her rage.
"Now Momma...please,"
Jessica came back. She had a long talk
prepared to give them time to calm down, so started right
in, not
allowing any interruptions, beginning kind of around
the beginning, with
Kit finding her at school and her deciding to go with
him to D.C. and the
meeting and dinner with the President, showing them Bill's
card. Then
she told of their adventures, leaving out the sex, duh,
and their being the
WPO, our three having decided to risk telling them that.
She got off that
horse at, "Kit was doing it all until we joined
up, despite his objections.
But this is top top secret. You can't tell a soul...."
"His OBJECTIONS!
Give me a break. Hell, I'll give him a dam
break. Jeezuz, Jessy!...are you telling
us everything?!" Craig let loose.
"Now Daddy..."
Jess gave him a determined look and retold them
to hear her all out first, then continued with the rest
of their adventures
and finished up, stressing how good it all was
for she and Flee. Finally,
she told them the size of their fortune and dovetailed
that into telling
about all their gifts.
Gin and Craig
sat there in awe, anger and shock, not sure if they
believed any of it. Then Jessy handed Ginny their check
for a million
dollars. One million dollars. The old standard. And still
pretty darn
impressive. Her folks looked at it, then Gin tried handing
it back. Jess
finally got her to hold onto it, at least, and believe
it. And it began to
sink in.
"You are
in the Peace Government?!" Ginny said incredulously.
"You expect us to believe that? O, Jessica."
Jess looked
at Kit with just a faint smile. He just raised his brow
back at her and she looked back at her folks. "That's
the truth, Mother
...Dad...But you have to keep it secret. You're
the only ones we've told
..." (figuring no need to tell them how much Ri, Jul
or the others knew
or figured) "...because you're my folks....Promise
me you won't tell a
soul...." They did, even though they still didn't believe
it all.
Jessy told
them that she really hadn't meant to have to tell them in
the middle of the night inside an airplane, but explained
some of the
agents' surveil and all. That got Ginny worried and Craig
mad again, but
both girls reassured them. Kit was staying quiet, even
though the folks
were impugning his moral values and judgement and asking
him if there
was sex involved, which they were feeling there - AW
god - was, from
the looks.
"Going for
our kids, for Chris'sakes!" Craig gave him, clenching
his hands as he shuffled in his seat.
Kit let them
have their anger. God knows. Jess, though, would
have no more and, after all, she was whom it was
all about. And she
knew her parents wouldn't want to feel bought off, so
told them again
that she couldn't bear not being able to share her fortune
with them,
especially Ginny, who had sacrificed so much for her
over the years,
she related, adding again how much fortune they had.
"You mean
how much he has," Gin came back, her shock
evolving from anger to acute upset.
"No. This
is our money, Momma," telling her about all the hours
in the mine and the rest, fully selling Kit's old argument.
"Even Flee's.
We're a corporation."
"All right,
all right....I just don't know when you're lyin' to me any
more....But don't you even think of coming back
from wherever you're
goin' now to tell me Kit's my son-in-law, Jessica Virginia....You
will
NOT do that to me...."
Jessy looked
at Kit again and he gave her the same look back as
before. And Ginny pleaded, "don't tell me you already
did..." looking
ready to cry.
Jess got up
and went over to hug Gin saying, "no, Mommy, you
know I wouldn't do that to you."
"Well, thank
you Lord," Craig let out in a heavy sigh and rubbed
Ginny's leg as Jess and Gin continued to hug.
"But how long
are you going to...be gone?" Ginny put it, pulling
back her face so her tear-red happy, sad, sweet eyes
looked straight
into her daughter's celestial blues.
"As long as
it takes, Mom. This is our chance to really change
...everything....We've got to stay with it..." knowing
she wasn't
answering Ginny's real question. "I don't know, Momma..."
Gin's heart
was dropping with the way Jess had said that, but
Jessy added, "but we won't make it too long between visits,"
and
looked at Kit, whose face was telling her that everything
was up to
her - he had loved her forever since his first look at
her ten years
before, and those feelings had only grown stronger over
their months
together. It was all up to Jess. And he looked
at Ginny, whom he had
loved so much.
Ginny had
surely been resigned to Jessica splitting sometime in
the future and marrying whom she chose, obviously. But
she wasn't
ready to be thinking about it. And absolutely without-a-doubt
NOT
with Kit, for Jeezuz God Christ's sake, let alone an
older man. But she
couldn't get her mind to say any of that.
"We'll be
back soon, Mom," Jessy tried reassuring her, everyone
looking in each other's faces, though Craig's and Kit's
eyes didn't meet.
"Aw Jess..."
Ginny was still fighting back more tears, "just don't
do anything crazy...or crazier...without checking
with me first...OK?"
"OK, Mom,"
Jess smiled, some tears in her own eyes dropping out
with that, and hugged her Mom some more, then Craig.
"If anything
happens to her...or Felecia..." Craig said in Kit's
direction, giving a hard look.
"Nothin's
going to happen, Daddy..." Jessy assured her stepfather
while wiping her Mother's cheek.
"Honey...you
don't know that...you shouldn't BE in this spot
you're in...the government is serious stuff Jessy...you
too, Felecia..."
Craig added, looking at Jess, then Flee, then returning
his look to Kit.
"If anything
becomes too much a threat to them, I'm bringing
them right home," Kit said quietly and somberly.
"Did he..."
Craig fumed, and looked at Ginny, "did the child
abuser say something...to you...."
Jessy stopped
them all saying, "Daddy, stop! I don't want to hear
any more talk like that from anybody...." And
that was about the
whole enchilada. It was what they had expected,
and what had to be
known and the best job they could have done. She added,
"jeezall now
...can't we all be happy about something?!"
directing that toward her
folks.
"I'll be happy
when you come back home," Ginny answered, and
Craig nodded.
"Well, Mom,
that's not going to happen right now. I'm sorry. And
I'm sorrier you can't be happy for me," showing her perturbation.
"I know, Jess,
I know....I guess I just raised you too wild..."
Ginny came back and reached across the aisle for another
hug. "I know
you're...happy and, from what you say, doing something
really...
unbelievable...just call me a little more
often, OK?"
"I will, Momma.
I will. I promise. And I'm telling you the truth."
"Well, my
God, will you be careful?..." Gin added, "...Felecia?..."
she wistfully pleaded for help in changing Jess's mind.
Flee gave her a
shrug and nods.
"We'll be
careful, Mom," Jess said.
There was
some silence before Ginny asked, looking at the check
in her hand, then into her baby's eyes, "and you really
want us to deposit
this...check?...."
"Yup, we really
do!...and I brought you something else...for your
birthday," and reached over and pulled the Golden Diamond
from her
pack.
"O my Lord!...where
in Heaven did you get this?!"
"Our mine,
Mom. Isn't it just mystical!?"
"Come on,
Jessica. Tell me the truth."
"Virginia!"
Jess answered in exasperation.
Gin and Craig
added some other thoughts on the whole situation
and Jessy explained her feelings back until everything
seemed said. Then
they all decided that that was it for then. It was time
to go.
Craig's and
Kit's farewell, though wordless, was, well, civil. Kind
of. Ginny gave Cody a strained look and at least said
his name, though
in connection with her own father's and brothers'. Jess
and Flece
walked them back to their pickup, Felecia finally getting
some words in,
while Kit stayed in the Eagle and worked with Pute, inadvertently
giving
the Chippys psychoanalytical responsibility to download
his emotions.
Then Puter
reported that they had just reached enough signatures!
Over half of the world's adults had signed the Declaration!
Kit says it
was one hell of a feeling, though by Goddam had wished
Jess and Flee
had seen it with him.
Jessy returned
first, Flece going over to the jet to get Juli, and Jess
wanted kisses and hugs, wildly cheering the news. Flee
and Juli joined
the celebration, then Julio ran back to the jet to tell
all the rest of them
in 1-4-all.
"Well, Mom
was a little more on our side by the time we said
adios," Jessica mentioned, showing Kit the new
supply of birth control
pills.
"She just
said, 'don't get pregnant,'" Flece confided, mimicking
Ginny's anger to a T.
"Well, that
was thoughtful," Kit chuckled, adding, "you wanta
take the right seat, Hooli?" as Juli came back up into
the cabin.
"Why, Waldo,
they going to be gunnin' for ya?" Julio sassed as
he joyfully headed for the front seat.
Flee took
the captain's seat at Jessy's behest and Fleesh and Juli
took instructions from our guys in back, though barely
needed, as they
started up and taxied out, the Citation following behind
them.
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