The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

a hundred,” he gushed and Jake smiled down at him and felt a twinge of guilt.
“I know, babe, time sure flies doesn’t it,” he said. Harry giggled.
“Is that the best you can do, Jake Talbert?” he teased and Jake flushed.
“I do love you, Harry,” he said and Harry smiled.
“That’s better,” he told him and they kissed.
“He doesn’t suspect a thing does he?” Gloria said to Violet who shook her head.
“He’s a clueless fool, Jake’s been cheating on him for two years now and old Harry still thinks he’s having dinner with his folks and playing golf with his dad,” she sneered and David giggled.
“And he has an I.Q. of 217, my ass,” he sneered and they laughed.
“Do you think we should tell him about seeing Jake and Violet at the Bird Cage?” Kathleen asked her husband. Steve shook his head.
“I don’t think we should be the ones who tell Harry, Jake’s been cheating on him,” he said and she sighed.
“Poor Harry, he looks so happy, man, this really sucks,” she snapped and he shrugged.
“Maybe he knows and he approves,” he suggested but she shook her head.
“If it were anyone else maybe but Harry would never approve of Violet, he hates her, I knew this would happen, I always warned him about her,” she said and Steve sighed.
“Well, then, he only has himself to blame then hasn’t he?” he said and they kept on dancing.
Winter came and the Alterian weather shield kept off most of the snow from the city of Medford and town of Edenville. It was cold though and colder in Harry and Jake’s house. Harry couldn’t explain why Jake was spending so much time with his parents until Jake told him that they were having some marital troubles and he was trying to mediate and that made some sense to him.
“Jake, honey, you can’t get in the middle of their marriage like this, they’re going to blame you if it falls apart,” he warned him. Jake shrugged.
“I’m just spending some extra time with them, babe, that’s not getting in the middle,” he declared and Harry kissed him.
“You have a kind heart and I love you and I promise not to say I told you so,” he said and Jake laughed and kissed him.
“I’ll remember that,” he told him.
New Year’s Eve came and the Center threw their big party and Harry and Jake went and of course the Liquor Mart supplied the champagne as they always did and Harry and Jake danced with all of their kids and Emma noticed that Harry looked tired.
“You look tired, Harry, why don’t you close the stores and take some time off,” she suggested and he sighed.
“I would if I knew what I wanted to do but I’m clueless and bored with myself, Jake is happy at the Clinic despite being stuck with your granddad’s paperwork, you know how he complains about that, but I don’t know what to do, sometimes I just want to hop in the ship and go some place and I can’t, I’m stuck here and its so frustrating,” he said and she smiled.
“Well, all of the stores are almost empty again, so as soon as you sell everything, tell Jake you need some time off and make him take a vacation, God knows the two of you haven’t had one in years, even he knows that,” she suggested and he grinned.
“That sounds like a plan, Stan,” he said and they laughed. Jake saw them laughing together and felt a twinge of guilt for what he was doing, he shouldn’t be forced to cheat on Harry like this, everyone else had an open marriage and Harry always said they could too, why did it have to be so hard? He saw Violet winking at him from the doorway and followed her into one of the small rooms where they made love with him sitting on a chair and her in his lap and it was so hot, her soft breasts in his face. It took him back to the days when he and Harry used to sneak away at parties to do the same thing.
“Oh, Jake, your mighty sword is so powerful, it fills me up,” Violet gasped and moaned loudly when she came. Jake grinned, he liked her calling his dick a mighty sword, he liked that a lot. They sneaked back to the party and he stopped off at the bathroom to wipe some of her scent off of him.
On the way home Harry made a face.
“God, honey, you stink like perfume who was hugging you?” he asked wrinkling his nose. Jake laughed.
“All my sisters hugged me and they were all wearing a different perfume too so it’s a wonder I don’t stink worse than I do,” he teased and Harry giggled.
“When we get home I’m putting that tux right in the dry cleaners,” he said and Jake nodded.
“Okay, babe,” he agreed. When they got home they both stripped in the laundry room and Jake rushed in to the shower to wash Violet off of him and left Harry to do the laundry. Harry smelled the jacket and it did indeed smell like six or seven different perfumes and that was bad. Then he smelled the pants and they smelled like something he had never smelled before and curious he smelled them again. It was a musky odor that was definitely sexual but not a smell that he was familiar with. Puzzled he put the pants in the machine and put the dry cleaning cloth in with them and turned it on. He walked into the bathroom.
“Honey, did you lend your tux to one of the boys?” he asked and Jake thought quickly.
“Yeah, I loaned it to Adam, why?” he told him and Harry smiled and jumped in the shower with him. Jake smiled at him and started to wash his back and Harry sighed with pleasure. Jake always knew what he liked.
“Nothing,” he murmured. “Oh, that feels nice,” he said and Jake nuzzled his neck and Harry forgot all about the strange smell.
The rest of the winter passed and soon it was time for spring planting once again and the farm was back in the fields and Violet planted in the Lindsey oil plant field for a change and surprised everyone. Harry was surprised and thought, thank God, maybe she’s over her crush on Jake and moved on with her life and actually smiled at her and she smiled back. Jake took this as a good sign and hoped that maybe he could have an open marriage after all and the three of them could be friends.
“Thank God that little bitch is way over there, I thought she’d never give up on staring at you, maybe she’d leave us the hell alone now, honey,” Harry said and Jake smiled and nodded and felt his hopes die. He climbed on his tractor and gazed at Violet with longing.
After spring planting all the stores celebrated with a St. Patrick Day’s sale. All of them were almost empty once again and Harry was glad. He was sick and tired of running back and forth and this time he was going to take some time off and get Jake to take some time off and take a long vacation. They were drifting apart, he could feel it and they needed the time to regroup and discover the joy that had brought them together in the first place. He talked to Dr. Jackson about running the clinic without Jake and the man agreed he could do without him for a couple of weeks. Then he called Violet and told her to reschedule all of Jake’s appointments to clear his schedule for after the sale. When Jake heard about this he got angry, how dare Harry interfere with his professional career. Violet smiled as he ranted.
For the holiday Reverend Milo had a picnic and invited the Jacksons and several Alterians he knew who had small children. He wanted Jake to see his daughter with small children and see what a wonderful mother she would be and these Alterians were dark skinned people and so they appeared to be black like them. And Violet played her role convincingly. She smiled and read to the little ones and laughed and Jake was entranced with the picture of young motherhood. And Dr. Jackson didn’t once refer to his and Harry’s children as those ‘fishy freaks’ and spoil the day.
“Violet, I have something I want to ask you,” Jake said as they sat in the car in front of her house. She smiled and held her breath. “Would you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife and having my children?” he asked and she beamed.
“Oh, yes, Jake, I love you so much,” she gushed and threw herself into his arms. “Let’s go pick out a ring right now,” she insisted and laughing he agreed. He drove to his house and ran in to grab a stack of money from the drawer where they kept in and they drove to Gloria’s jewelry store and he bought her the biggest ring she had, a three caret round diamond in platinum. She made him get a matching one and he swore he loved it and he did, it was nice and shiny.
“Here’s to the happy couple,” David said and they sipped from crystal glasses that Gloria had brought from the back room. Jake sipped the Alterian wine and smiled. This was a happy day. He only regretted that he had to go home and tell Harry, this was going to hurt him he knew, but he had to live his life now like Reverend Milo had just told him this afternoon and not cling to the past. He drove Violet home and said he’d probably be seeing her soon because as soon as he told Harry about them, he’d probably throw him out.
“That’s your house too, Jake Jackson, maybe Harry should be the one to leave,” Violet said firmly but he shook his head.
“Harry picked out that house, I could never take it from him,” he said just as firm and she smiled and hugged him.
“That’s what I love about you, darling, you have the kindest heart,” she said and he kissed her. When she was in the house she threw a big hissy fit and kicked a pillow across the room until it was in shreds and then she cleaned up the mess so he wouldn’t see it.
Harry was in the kitchen washing the little bit he had used when Jake walked in the room. He didn’t turn around but smiled.
“Hi, honey, how was the picnic, did Reverend Milo bore you with one of his sermons?” he teased and when Jake didn’t answer, he turned around and the smile left his face at the expression on his husband’s face.
“Jake, honey what’s wrong?” Harry asked. Jake shook his head.
“Please remember, Harry, that I love you, I truly do and I always will, I just can’t live with you anymore, I’m leaving you, Harry,” he said and Harry gasped with shock and his hands came up to clutch his stomach.
“What’s wrong Jake, what did I do? Is this about clearing your schedule so we can take a vacation?” he asked and Jake shook his head.
“No it isn’t, though I’m angry with you for doing that, but this isn’t about that,” he said.