InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 6: Shameless ❯ Cody's Girls ( Chapter 16 )

~~Chapter 16~~

~Cody's Girls~

 

 

 

“Thanks a lot for letting me bring Sherry and the girls out,” Cody said for the tenth time in the hour that Gavin had been in the garage to check on the progress he was making on the truck. “Minnie wouldn't stop talking about it last night . . . she was all excited to see the horses.”

 

Gavin grinned and shrugged. “It's fine. Jilli's been looking forward to it, too.”

 

Cody groped around for the socket wrench beside him. Gavin bent down and handed it to him. “Even Karis said she wanted to see the horses, and she don't talk too much.”

 

“I've got a very nice little horse that'll do well with the girls,” he assured Cody. “Figured I'd let Jillian take some pictures first, though.”

 

“Sherry was really excited, too. She's a big fan of Jillian's, I guess.”

 

Gavin's smile tightened just a bit. He hated being reminded that Jillian was `famous'. With those reminders always came the inevitable feelings of inadequacy; the deep-seeded knowledge that no matter what he tried to do, he'd never be quite good enough for Jillian Zelig . . .

 

And he'd started to forget that, hadn't he? Out here where they were so far removed from the insanity that was her life back in New York City, it had been easier to forget. Simpler just to think of her as Jilli, the girl he'd known since childhood. Outside the scope of the flashing lights of a million photographers vying for the next big story, she'd become a bit more approachable to him; never mind that things would be the same as always when they returned to the city. It had struck him once as he carried her on his back over the rooftops of the New York skyline in an effort to elude the paparazzi who had tracked her down at a small café that she liked to frequent. They sneaked out the back doors of the restaurant with the owner's blessing, and he dragged her onto his back for the jaunt home, and all the while, he thought about how unnatural it was to do that just to escape the press . . .

 

`Don't forget that,' he reminded himself as he held her close in the night. `My job—my only job—is to protect Jillian. Don't be stupid . . . she'd never be happy with a fool like me . . .'

 

Yet he'd still stroked her hair, touched her cheek, smiled when she sighed happily, snuggling closer against him in her sleep. Running the pad of his thumb ever-so-gently over her lips, only to catch his breath when she smiled . . . The moonlight tumbled through the glass doors, illuminating the bedroom in a mellow sort of way, and it seemed to him that Jillian glowed in the darkness: his light, his salvation, and ultimately, his demise.

 

The fiercest ache welled up inside him—a million stabbing pains in the center of his chest as the faintest whisper in his head showed him images of what should have been. He'd wanted to bring her back here, hadn't he? Those first years of their separation while he was attending the University of Montana, he'd thought—he'd hoped . . . “I want to see the ranch someday, Gavvie . . . you'll take me there, won't you?”

 

And he'd wanted to. God, he'd wanted to. He wanted her to love the ranch as much as he did. She paused for a moment, long enough to smile at him. She was tiptoeing across a shallow creek atop a fallen tree. Arms stretched out on either side, she carefully turned around, feet bent down over the rough tree bark, toes curled under to keep herself from falling, and she crooked a finger at him as her smile turned a little wicked. “Will you catch me if I fall?”

 

Blinking away the dazed feeling that always assailed him when she shot him one of those smiles, Gavin nodded. “Y-yeah.”

 

She laughed. “We belong together, you know, like red beans and rice . . . like peanut butter and marshmallow fluff . . .”

 

“I'd have said `jelly',” he mused quietly.

 

She shook her head staunchly. “Like mashed potatoes and gravy . . . like summertime and thunderstorms . . .” Trailing off, she giggled softly, hopping off the log and straight into Gavin's arms. “Me and you.”

 

“You and I,” he corrected automatically, stepping back to brace himself against the exuberance in Jillian's silly display. “If you say so . . .”

 

She wrinkled her nose. He always thought she was adorable when she did that . . . “Stuff, stuff, stuff, Gavin Jamison. One day you'll make me your wife, won't you?”

 

He'd laughed despite himself, cheeks pinking as the autumn leaves fell around them. “W-we'll see, Jilli,” he mumbled. “You'll be bored with me long before then.”

 

“I'll never be bored with you,” she promised.

 

Gavin grimaced. But she had, hadn't she? Abruptly, unexpectedly, she had . . . What else could he think when she up and disappeared in the middle of his senior year of college? Maybe he'd waited too long . . . maybe he should have told her sooner. Would that have changed anything? No, it probably wouldn't have. She would have realized sooner or later that he was nothing but a big old geek; about as socially backward as he could possibly be. Sure, he could deal with people in the confines of his office. That was different. Discussing someone's stocks and money wasn't nearly the same as having a personal relationship with them, and in that, he was comfortable enough.

 

Jillian's defection was hard on him. All too often, he sat around, staring at the textbooks he was supposed to be studying without seeing a thing—staring at the solitaire diamond ring he'd bought earlier that year. Nothing big or fancy, it was just a quarter carat, but the cut and clarity made up for the lack of size, or so he was told. He'd been saving his money ever since he could remember—money he'd earned doing odd jobs for his father or mother . . . allowances . . . mowing yards in the spring and fall . . . an afterschool job at the local McDonald's in Hidekea . . . He'd even participated in a couple junior races at the county fair, and the prize money . . . He'd saved all of it until he'd earned enough to buy the ring for her, and all he had to do was bide his time until she turned eighteen—a promise he'd made to Cain. She'd gotten tired of him six months too soon.

 

Still he had the ring box in the pocket of his inexpensive suit jacket as he'd been presented with his degree. As he stood there, scanning the assembly of proud families, he'd spotted the silvery hair of Gin Zelig right away. She sat between Cain and Evan. Bas and Sydnie sat behind them. Jillian was nowhere to be seen, though, and the understanding that she hadn't come . . . it tore him up inside. He'd hoped—really hoped—that she'd at least come to his graduation. Sure, it was still almost two months until her eighteenth birthday, and he didn't doubt for a second that Cain would be more than a little irked with him, but he hadn't seen her in nearly six months, and one thing was certain: he couldn't let her slip away, even if it meant displeasing her father, the tai-youkai. It wasn't until that day that Gavin really understood that she already had . . . and then . . .

 

And then he'd slowly come to realize that the girl he adored would never be his. The first images of her in the magazines . . . they'd solidified the knowledge in his mind. He'd never be able to give her that sort of life, and how could he possibly compete with the glitz and glamour that she'd grown accustomed to? He couldn't, and it wouldn't be fair of him to ask that of her, would it? Even then, it was just a matter of time, wasn't it, until she found herself bored with him as she had before, and if she disappeared out of his life again?

 

This time, he wasn't so sure he'd be able to get over it . . .

 

“Gavin? You okay?”

 

Blinking rapidly to clear his addled mind, Gavin was slow to focus on Cody's face. He'd emerged from under the truck and was sitting on the creeper with his arms locked draped around his raised knees, staring at Gavin as though he'd sprouted an extra head or something. Gavin shrugged. “Sorry . . . I was thinking about calling someone to start on the roof,” he lied, fighting the color that rose in his cheeks.

 

Cody nodded though he didn't look like he was buying Gavin's reasons. “I was just saying that this truck could do with a good oil change and all that, too. You know; might as well do all that stuff, right?”

 

“Yeah, sure . . . I made arrangements with Denton's Auto . . . just tell them who you are, and I'll pay for all of it later.”

 

Cody looked like he wanted to say something. In the end, he nodded again. “Will do.”

 

Gavin tried to smile. It felt more like a grimace. “Yeah . . . I need to get some stuff done before I take your girls out on the horse.”

 

He didn't wait for an answer. Striding out of the garage, he lifted his head, unconsciously seeking out Jillian. She was sitting under the spread branches of a black cottonwood tree in the front yard beside Sherry Mitchell. Minnie was standing on the bottom rung of the fence, staring at the horses in the paddock nearby while the youngest, Karis, peeked out from behind her mother. Jillian was fussing with her camera—a Narcsis 3000 Platinum series—the best on the market, or so the man at Jade Electronics had insisted when they'd stopped there after arriving in Helena. She'd purchased a couple extra lenses, too, and she was thrilled to get a chance to play with her new `toy'. He'd rolled his eyes when she'd grabbed ten rolls of special film for the camera, and he'd spent the better portion of the evening hunting down the supplies she'd need to create her own darkroom in the basement of the house. Most of the chemicals would be delivered in a couple days, but there were a few things that they could likely find locally, which saved him on the ungodly cost of shipping . . .

 

Heaving a sigh, he turned on his heel and headed for the barn. He'd yet to check the northern border of the ranch, and he had time to do it before lunch. He trusted Hank's judgment, of course, and Hank had said that they'd just redone the fences along the northern perimeter in the spring. Still, the time away would do him some good, he was certain. Maybe he'd be able to clear his mind so that he didn't feel as though he were falling apart at the seams . . . Besides, he wasn't exactly in the mood for company. A nice, long ride . . . that was exactly what he needed . . .

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

“Gavin Jamison . . .”

 

The name meant absolutely nothing to him; one of the straight-laced types that he wouldn't have given a second glance if he passed him by on the streets. Somehow, this man—this Gavin Jamison—had managed to thwart him but good.

 

Glancing down at the folder in his lap, lips curling up in an unpleasant little grin, he scowled at the first page. `Age: twenty-nine . . . Profession: stock broker . . .' he read. “Geez, what a stiff . . .”

 

Of course, that `stiff' had given him the slip, hadn't he? “Damn it . . .”

 

`Address: 203 Rivington, Apartment 10A . . . graduated from the University of Maine School of Finance in June of 2058 . . .' His lip curled up in an angry sneer. “A regular fucking boy scout . . .”

 

The file contained everything he'd ever wanted to know about Gavin Jamison's connection to Jillian Zelig. The only thing it didn't contain was their current whereabouts. As loathe as he was to try it, he was tempted to venture out to the family's stronghold in Maine to see if she'd gone there. It was a long shot, and something told him that she hadn't done any such thing . . .

 

Pushing out of the chair, he stomped across the room to glower at the city laid out before him. He'd procured a cheap room down near the docks—good enough for what he needed in a neighborhood that asked no questions and noticed nothing. Close enough to Rivington to get into and out of Gavin Jamison's apartment, anyway.

 

Good enough . . .

 

There had to be something in the man's home, didn't there? A clue as to where they'd absconded to . . .

 

He'd already scoped out the apartment; the neighborhood. A quiet building that looked completely unassuming on the outside, he'd read enough of the names arranged on the brass plate beside the door to know that Gavin Jamison's apartment was on the tenth floor of the historic building.

 

Grinding out his cigarette in the battered tin ashtray, he gritted his teeth and glowered at the sun setting behind the harsh lines of New York City. He'd get his answers, damned if he wouldn't, or he'd die trying . . .

 

“The game's on, Jillian Zelig,” he murmured into the stilted silence as he reached for the Gila-monster skin gloves lying on the window sill. “The game's on . . .”

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

“I can't believe how darling your daughters are!” Jillian exclaimed. Minnie ducked behind a tree to hide from Karis, who had finally emerged out from behind her mother. At nearly fourteen months old, Karis still walked on the balls of her feet with her hands held up at her sides.

 

It had taken the better part of the morning to get the child to come out of hiding though Jillian had caught her peering at her a few times. Whenever she saw Jillian looking at her, she ducked behind the safety of her mother's back . . . but she had heard the child's soft giggles.

 

She'd taken nearly three rolls of film, pictures of Minnie, who had announced that she was a model, too. True enough, she'd delighted in posing with wildflowers she'd picked in the spotless pink sun dress, in her white nylon socks with the crisp white lace trimming the cuffs and shiny white patent leather shoes that didn't look new but did look as though Sherry Mitchell had taken a lot of care in cleaning them up for her daughter to wear for the occasion.

 

“They've not had this much fun in a long while,” Sherry commented as she sipped her ice water.

 

Jillian smiled. “Are you feeling all right? I can get a more comfortable chair if that one's bothering you . . .”

 

Sherry waved off Jillian's concern with a gentle smile and a flick of her delicate wrist. “No, this is fine. I'm just glad to have one day that I do not have to tell the girls that they're too close to the road and stuff.”

 

“I have to tell you: Cody brags on you and the girls all the time.”

 

“Really?”

 

She nodded. “Yes . . . he's a really nice guy.”

 

“He is.”

 

“Jillian! Take another picture of me!” Minnie hollered. Sitting on the edge of an old brick retaining wall, she smiled brightly as Jillian lifted her camera. After adjusting the lens and snapping a couple shots, Jillian laughed as Minnie hopped down and sped off once more. She'd tried unsuccessfully to get a couple of pictures of Karis. Whenever the girl saw the camera, though, she ran to duck behind her sister or her mother: whoever was closest at the time.

 

“Mama, fower,” Karis said as she toddled over with a half-crushed star lily in her hand.

 

“Oh, how pretty!” Sherry gushed, taking the flower from her daughter and kissing her cheek. Karis giggled and leaned against Sherry's arm.

 

Jillian knelt down before the girl. “Do you think I can take your picture, Karis? You can stand there with your mama.”

 

For a moment, Jillian thought that the girl was going to run to hide again, but she glanced at her mother then back at Jillian once more before slowly nodding.

 

Jillian snapped a few pictures of Karis huddled against her mother's side. Sherry said she hadn't dressed to have her picture taken, but she looked really cute in the light blue maternity dress. It hung like a sack from her otherwise small frame, but her rounded baby-belly was too inviting not to photograph. Her pale blonde hair had been caught up in a ponytail, but the strands were so fine that they didn't want to stay back. With her hair blowing in the soft summer breeze, she looked so sweet that Jillian could see exactly why Cody adored his wife so much.

 

“I'm pwetty, too?” Karis asked, tugging on Jillian's skirt as she changed the roll of film in her camera.

 

Jillian stopped what she was doing long enough to smile at the little girl. “Absolutely, sweetie . . . you and your sister are gorgeous!”

 

“I look like my mama,” she ventured.

 

Jillian couldn't help the tender little smile that quirked her lips. “Yes, you do! Your mama and daddy are lucky to have such cute little girls, you know.”

 

Karis giggled. “You can take my picture,” she offered at length.

 

Jillian snapped the camera closed. “I'd love to.”

 

“I heard there were a couple girls who wanted to ride a horse?”

 

Minnie squealed and Karis took off as Gavin rode around the side of the house on a pretty little white horse that Jillian hadn't seen before. “Me, me!” Karis yelled.

 

“I'm bigger, so I should get to go first,” Minnie argued.

 

“Minnie, why don't you let Karis go first?” Sherry said as she wandered over. Hands bracing the small of her back, she was smiling as she approached.

 

“Aww,” Minnie complained but stepped back to take her mother's hand. “I get to go when she's done?”

 

Gavin chuckled. “Absolutely.”

 

Jillian lifted Karis and handed her up to Gavin, who settled her securely in front of himself. “I'll just take her around the yard,” he told Jillian. “I won't go far.”

 

“Okay,” she agreed with a smile.

 

Gavin let Karis hold onto the reins just below his hands. “You ready?”

 

“Yeah,” Karis giggled.

 

Nodding at Jillian, he nudged the horse with his knees, and they started away.

 

Turning around in time to see Minnie's face contort in a pout, Jillian smiled. “You know, I think I have some popsicles in the freezer . . . would you like one while you're waiting?”

 

Minnie's expression lifted just a little. “Popsicle?”

 

Jillian nodded. “Why don't you come inside and help me with them? I think it's time for an afternoon snack, anyway.”

 

“I like snacks,” she agreed, slipping her hand into Jillian's. “We'll be back, Mama. You sit down, okay?”

 

“I can help you,” Sherry insisted.

 

Jillian waved her away with a smile. “Don't you worry about it. Just relax. You're our guest.”

 

Sherry nodded though she looked like she wanted to argue it. Jillian had a feeling that she wasn't used to just sitting around doing nothing, but that was just too bad. Cody hadn't been kidding when he said that she was due any time. As tiny as she was, she had to be uncomfortable with her distended belly. Still Jillian had to smile. To have another life growing inside her . . . How would that feel?

 

After handing Minnie three popsicles, Jillian retrieved the platter of fruit that she'd prepared earlier out of the refrigerator and followed Minnie back outside.

 

“Here, Mama . . . want one?” Minnie asked, holding out the popsicle to her mother.

 

“Thank you,” Sherry replied with a laugh as Jillian set the platter in the center of the small glass table.

 

“One for you?” she said, offering one to Jillian.

 

She took the popsicle and tore off the paper. “Thank you, Minnie.”

 

Minnie nodded once as she carefully pulled back the paper on her frozen treat.

 

“Why don't you see if your daddy is ready to take a break?” Jillian suggested.

 

“Okay!” Minnie exclaimed, carting around on her heel and taking off at break-neck speed for the garage.

 

Sherry giggled. “Thanks again for inviting us over.”

 

Jillian shook her head as she bit the end of her bomb pop. “Don't thank me . . . I just hope the pictures come out all right. If they do, and if you like them, I'd be happy to print them up for you.”

 

“That'd be nice,” she replied with a happy smile. “We haven't gotten the girls' pictures taken lately. Cody feels bad, and I hate that . . . He's a good man, you know?

 

“Of course he is,” Jillian agreed.

 

Sherry's smile faltered slightly, but she uttered an almost embarrassed little chuckle. “Everyone said he'd leave me when he found out . . .”

 

Jillian shook her head in confusion. “Leave you? Because he lost his job at Chrysalis?”

 

“Chry—Oh, no!” She shook her head and waved her hand. “Sorry . . . They say your mind goes when you're pregnant, and they're not far wrong. I was just remembering . . . I was seventeen when I got pregnant with Minnie . . . still in school and everything. It was March of my junior year of high school . . . Cody was nineteen and was working for his father. Didn't make much money, and we were both really young . . . All my friends said that he'd take off when I told him. I was scared to death.”

 

“But he didn't.”

 

Sherry smiled. “No, he didn't. He . . .” She drew a deep breath as her eyes took on a suspect brightness, and she dashed her hand over her eyes before she went on. “He hugged me; told me that everything would be all right. His parents paid for a small church wedding. My dad died when I was small, and Mom was working three jobs. She didn't have enough money to pay for one. I'd have been happy with a civil ceremony, but Cody's mom and dad insisted . . . We spent our honeymoon weekend at his uncle's cabin up on Canyon Ferry Lake. I think I slept most of it away. Cody never complained.”

 

Jillian giggled softly. “I don't suppose he did.”

 

Sherry sighed as she glanced at her youngest daughter. “It makes me so mad that we had to use our entire savings just to keep our chins above water. He was so good about taking care of Minnie so I could study and finish high school, and all he's ever wanted was to get his mechanic's certification . . . and he's been so worried about . . . well, everything . . .”

 

“But that's not your fault.”

 

“Maybe not . . . Still . . . Cody's so happy about this job and stuff . . . He's so excited to go to work, and he talks so highly about you and Gavin. I haven't seen him this happy since before the factory closed down—”

 

“The last thing you both need to worry about is a job,” Jillian cut in. “You've got a baby on the way, and . . . wow . . . I envy you.”

 

Sherry blinked, her brown eyes opening wide in genuine surprise at Jillian's quiet admission. “Why?”

 

Jillian shrugged. “That's all I ever really wanted . . . to get married and have a family.”

 

“Yeah, but I'm sure your life is a lot more glamorous than mine.”

 

Jillian's smile faltered, and she looked at her hands for a long moment before shrugging in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner and forcing her smile to brighten once more. “Glamorous? Maybe . . . I mean, I'm not complaining. It's just kind of lonely sometimes.”

 

Sherry fell quiet as she thought that over, and when she looked at Jillian again, she smiled. “I guess it isn't so bad. One thing about having kids: I don't have time to be lonely.”

 

“Do you know if this one's a girl or a boy?”

 

Shaking her head, she smiled as Minnie dragged her father by the hand out of the garage. “No . . . we sort of wanted to be surprised this time.”

 

“You know . . . if you need anything—anything at all—you can call me,” Jillian offered. “I mean . . . I'd be happy to watch the girls for you when you're having the baby . . . but I guess you probably already have someone lined up . . .”

 

“Really?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Sherry smiled a little shyly. “Well, it's just . . . we sort of do . . . one of my neighbors offered to watch them, but . . . but Karis doesn't really like her, but she's talked to you. Karis never talks to strangers. I don't know why . . .” Shaking her head, her smile widened. “She really took to Gavin. It's surprising. She even gets shy with her daddy sometimes. Must be the horse. She loves horses. Drives me crazy. She was beside herself when Cody told her that Gavin has horses out here. I didn't think we were ever going to get her to bed last night. She kept asking if it was morning yet . . .”

 

Jillian laughed, recalling her own excitement when her parents had taken her to Disney World for spring break when she was six. She supposed it was something rather like that. “Doesn't every little girl want a pony?” she quipped.

 

Sherry nodded. “Yeah, I guess we did,” she admitted. Her gaze shifted away, across the open lawn to light on the man on the horse holding onto the child, and even at that distance, she could discern Karis' happy laughter. “He's good with children,” she remarked.

 

“Yeah . . . Gavin's got a way with creatures,” Jillian said with a laugh. “He's been my hero since I was a little girl, too, but I digress: I'd love to have them . . . I'm sure Gavin wouldn't mind, either.”

 

“Yeah, except Sherry has a bad habit of having babies in the middle of the night,” Cody remarked as he kissed his wife's cheek. Minnie tugged her father's hand and giggled happily.

 

“You make it sound like I do that on purpose,” Sherry grumbled.

 

Jillian stuck the used popsicle stick in the discarded wrapper and giggled as Cody nabbed a small bunch of grapes and fed one to his wife. “She does. Waits till after I'm sleeping to tell me she's been in labor for a couple hours.”

 

Sherry blushed but giggled. “If you're sure you wouldn't mind . . .”

 

“I wouldn't mind,” Jillian reiterated.

 

“Would you like that, Minnie? Would you like to come stay with Gavin and Jillian while I'm at the hospital?”

 

Minnie hopped up and down. “Can I ride a horsie?”

 

Jillian laughed. “If it's during the day, you can.”

 

The soft whinny of a horse announced Gavin's return. Cody scooped up his daughter and planted a huge kiss on her cheek before setting her on her feet. Minnie held up her arms, and Gavin laughed as Cody handed her up. “I'll be back,” he called over his shoulder as Minnie fired off questions about the horse.

 

“Did you have fun?” Jillian asked Karis.

 

The little girl nodded. “Gavin said he would take me `gain,” she said.

 

“I think they'll keep Gavin busy all afternoon,” Cody remarked with an exaggerated grimace.

 

“As long as the girls are enjoying themselves,” Jillian stated.

 

Judging from the brightness in Karis' gaze, she'd say the girls were having the time of their lives. Gavin's laughter drifted back to her, and she smiled. Maybe—just maybe—Gavin was, too . . .

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~ =~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

 

Special thanks to Inuyoukaimama for helping me figure out Gavin's physical address … lol!

 

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Final Thought fromGavin:

We're going to watch them …?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Shameless): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~