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“I know how you feel. It’ll be okay,” she said, hoping it wouldn’t make everything implode, especially not when things were so up in the air everywhere else.
Chapter 14
Justine smiled as she spotted Olivia at a table already. She was more than a little surprised when her sister-in-law called her up, inviting her out to lunch with her, adding that she wouldn’t invite her mom and sister unless she agreed to it. It was the first time someone in the family had reached out to her, wanting to interact with her other than over the phone and there was no way she could say no to that.
“You look gorgeous,” Olivia said, kissing her cheek, giving her a hug as well that caused tears to well up in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she said, settling into a seat at the end of the double table. She figured it was used for a larger group before them and most likely, they’d split the tables if they got busy. “Are Mom and Madison joining us?”
“They are,” Olivia said, and Justine’s heart skipped a bit faster as hope flared through her. “How have you been? We haven’t seen you and Tyler at church since your announcement.”
“It was just too much. The looks, the glares, the muttered comments we got if we were in town…it didn’t feel welcoming and with everything I was dealing with physically, emotionally outside of all of that, we just needed some peace since we got home.”
“I get it, how are you…hi Mom, Madison,” Olivia broke off as a slight shadow fell over the table, and Justine held her breath until her mom reached over, pulling her up into a hug that lasted several moments longer than normal.
“I’ve missed you, sweetheart,” her mom said cupping her face with a smile her way before Madison gave her a hug of her own.
“You look like the sister I remembered now,” Madison said confusing her. “When you got home…there was something wrong, but it looks like whatever that was is now gone, yeah?”
“Maybe not gone but getting better every day. Tyler’s helped with that more than anything,” she added, waiting for the reactions at the mention of him but they were so subtle it was almost impossible to even clock them. If she hadn’t trained to be able to spot the tiniest facial change she wouldn’t have, which made her hope that just maybe they would eventually smile whenever she said his name.
“Are they going to separate the tables?” Madison asked Olivia as they started to move towards chairs and Olivia’s smile tightened a hint putting her back up instantly with worry.
“We actually have a few others coming,” Olivia said and the surprise on her mom and sister’s faces said they didn’t have a clue as to who it might be. “Here they are now,” she added, and Justine turned, her jaw dropping a hint finding the twins, Grace, and Barb moving through the space their way.
“Hey Sis,” Hailey said, hugging her as she and Isabelle reached them first.
The expression on her mother’s face was almost comical but the shock that spread across Barb’s said she didn’t have a clue that the twins had been coming over to hang out with them. It’d been just over a week since they learnt the truth about the transplant, and while they might not have seen Tyler quite as much, the twins had come over to spend time with her pretty much every other day since then.
“Justine,” Barb said giving her a tight smile while Grace gave her a hug that settled her nerves more. “Valerie…”
“Barb,” her mom said, giving her a nod of acknowledgement as the group stood staring at each other. The air stilted with all the tension flowing around them.
“Why don’t we all take a seat?” Olivia suggested calmly and Justine let out a slow breath as the twins settled into the seats on her left while her mom and Madison slid into ones on her right. “I know this likely seems a little off the wall but we…Grace and I,” she added as everyone glanced her way, “thought it was time to clear the air a bit. Hailey and Isabelle were easy to get onboard with it as well when Grace reached out to them to see about us all getting together to talk this out.”
“Just give it a chance Mom,” Hailey said when it seemed like she was about to get back up. “If for no other reason than because she brought Isabelle back to us, okay?”
“Alright,” Barb said, and Olivia smiled a bit further while Madison’s eyes widened a hint in surprise.
“Caroline, you made it,” Grace said slipping to the seat opposite of Justine, letting Caroline sit in the spot next to her mother. “I didn’t think you were going to when I didn’t hear back from you.”
“I wasn’t going to but then someone else sent me the video, so I finally watched it,” Caroline said pulling both of their mom’s and Madison’s attention towards her.
“What video?” Madison asked and she was curious as well as to what this was all about.
“One of your brother’s friends was at the grill a week and a half ago,” Olivia told them, and Justine’s eyes widened in surprise. “He wasn’t aware that Justine and Tyler had gotten married and sent a video of them asking when the Andersons and Crawfords started kissing each other. He wouldn’t watch it, let out a bunch of curses seeing the first image of it, but I wascurious and forwarded it to my phone and when I watched it, I didn’t see an Anderson and a Crawford. I saw my sister-in-law being treated like a queen that was completely in love with her king. It made me realize that I’d been caught up in this feud I married into—that the three of us married into,” Olivia added towards Mom and Barb, “and for what? Why? Why are we letting this go on, to the point that we’d ostracize family members that won’t participate in it, that had the nerve to fall in love with someone on other side? There are no winners in any of this. None of us get anything out of it. Your kids haven’t, and I don’t know about Grace, but I really don’t want my kids to think this is normal because honestly, if they do, they’re going to lose just as much as everyone else has.”
“I feel the same. This whole thing is pointless. It makes my job a million times harder when I’m on clinic duty and a Crawford comes in needing medical attention and refuses to let me see to them because I was born an Anderson,” Grace said shaking her head. “Aunt Barb, you’ve seen Tyler. He’s happy. Blissfully so. Why would you want him to not have that just because it’s with Justine?”
“I want him to be happy, it was just so sudden coming on top of the split with Angela…I wasn’t prepared for it, and Grant…he’s stubborn,” Barb stated.
“So is Richard,” her mom added giving her daughter’s hand a squeeze and Justine gave her a soft smile. “We were all just so shocked. Trying to wrap our head around you and Tyler even being friends would be difficult enough, let alone to learn that the two of you not only eloped, but also had hidden an entire relationship from us while you were in high school…it was too much to try and comprehend all at once. Add in your father’s adamant stance that he wouldn’t allow his daughter to be with an Anderson and we haven’t had the chance to see what you have in him. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to, don’t want to knowthat he makes you happy, the way your father makes me happy, sweetheart.”
“Which is why I think you should watch this,” Olivia said, passing her phone over to Valerie with a smile at Justine. “I didn’t want to send it to you and risk Richard acting like Noah over it and I knew if I sent it to Madison she’d forward it to you and risk it.”
“It’s absolutely adorable, Mom,” Isabelle added, giving her phone to Barb. “Just don’t unmute the sound, it was taken in the bar while they were dancing so it’s really loud.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Barb said, and Justine peeked at Olivia’s phone, not needing to watch the entire thing to know what it was liable to show.
