Chapter Fifty Five

Dorothea regarded Jenn coolly for several long moments, her arms still folded firmly across her chest.

“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that much.” Her dark eyes held no humour in them as she stared Jenn down. Her lips formed a thin line as she let her last comment hang in the air before letting a fake smile flit across them, “There’s not many people in this world who would dare cross me in my own home.”

“Likewise!” Jenn fired back from her stance a few metres away, her tongue ready to throw back whatever barbs she was sure were headed her way.

With a small menacing laugh, Dorothea cocked her head to one side, “You just don’t get it sweetheart do you? You think you’ve been swept off your feet by Prince Charming and now it’s time for you to live the fairy tale.” A sneer formed at the corners of her mouth, “That’s all it is honey – a fairy tale, only in this case without Prince Charming but you’ll find that out soon enough.”

“Don’t you dare patronise me Dorothea! I may not have lived a celebrity lifestyle all the years of my life like you but I’m no fool!” Jenn could feel her temper simmering under the surface of her skin. From within the confines of her jeans pockets, her fists were tightly clenched. “I’ll live my life how I want to, not how you or anybody else feels I should. I’m not some silly teenage girl with a crush!”

She fought hard to stop the angry tears stinging the back of her eyes, she couldn’t let her emotions get the better of her now. “I’ve loved a man and I’ve lost a man once already in my lifetime so trust me, I know how that feels but the only one that could fix that was me. I learned to heal, eventually…”

She pulled a hand from her pocket to jab a finger in Dorothea’s direction. “It’s up to you whether you choose to do the same but just don’t get in the way of my happiness while you figure it all out!”

Feeling her legs threaten to buckle, she cleared her throat and made a move to go, “I’ll see myself out!”

Before she had so much as taken a step, Dorothea slapped a hand down on the counter, her eyes burning with rage as she practically spat at Jenn. “You say don’t take you for a fool? Well you’re nothing but a fool if you think he loves you! He might say he does but he never will! You’re just a pathetic distraction for him, something to run to when the going gets a little rough!” Her chest heaved from the effort it had taken to utter the spiteful words.

Jenn stood motionless, her head slowly shaking in disbelief. “Dorothea – get OVER yourself! Sweet Jesus woman! You need help – professional help! If you could only hear yourself!”

If she hadn’t have been shaking with anger, she might have actually taken pity on the bitter woman. Instead, her resolve only strengthened – there was no going back now.

“You need to accept your marriage is over and MOVE ON! For God’s sake – YOU were the one to end it!” Still shaking her head at the absurdity of Dorothea’s words, she strode for the kitchen door only to freeze as she went to push it open. Dorothea’s voice was barely audible but the venom was instantly recognisable.

“Home is where the heart is Jennifer and this is where Jon’s heart will always be. Here with ME and with OUR children in this house that we built together.”

Jenn turned around to gape incredulously at her, “You’re nuts! Seriously, are you for real? Are you overdosing on some sort of prescription medicine?” Hands on her hips, she continued to look at her in disbelief. “If you didn’t want to split from Jon then why in hell did you file for divorce?”

And just like that, all the strain and fury fell from Dorothea’s face leaving a hollow mask, devoid of any emotion except desperation. She dropped her eye contact with Jenn and slowly turned away from her to brace herself on the large kitchen sink, her shoulders slumped as she quietly replied.

“Because I thought he’d fight for me, I thought he’d fight for us.”

At that moment, a gust of wind could have blown Jenn clean off her feet. She felt sick to the core as her brain tried to digest what the other woman was saying. This was all some kind of sick joke, it had to be. “You mean you never meant for the divorce to really happen?”

“No……..”

Head spinning Jenn put a hand out to steady herself as she felt the kitchen door open behind her. Bewildered she turned and gave a gasp as she saw Jon standing there, his arms by his side, his face ashen. Dorothea oblivious to his presence continued,

“For so many years I watched as our family and Jon’s career blossomed, then somehow along the way we got lost, and then Romeo came along and for a while everything was good again.”

Jenn looked aghast from Dorothea to Jon who was still standing motionless, his eyes fixed on Dorothea’s back that was now starting to shudder from sobs.

“And then slowly we grew apart again, Jon got lost in his music as usual and I stopped caring……and it just went from bad to worse without us really noticing what was happening.” Stifling a sob, she sniffed loudly her voice trembling with emotion, “So I thought living apart for a while would help, give us some perspective, it was never meant to be permanent and then…….YOU came along and RUINED everything!”

Whipping around to Jenn with a renewed fury, her tear stained face paled as she caught sight of Jon standing silently behind her.

“Jon………!!”

His face was white with fury, every sinew and muscle tensed in his neck as he stared unblinking at his wife. His chest rose furiously with every breath he took, his fists clenched at his sides. When he began to speak, his voice was low and dangerous.

“You put me, our children, our lives through ALL this as part of some sort of sick gamble?”

Dorothea gasped, her mouth open as she stared back at him wide-eyed and panicked. She looked like a rabbit caught in headlights as she frantically searched for something to say. Jenn stood frozen to the spot, unsure of who or where to look at, never in her wildest dreams had she envisioned this happening.

When Dorothea failed to come up with any sort of a defence, Jon abruptly turned on his heel and stormed back the way he had come, the slam of the back door marking his exit. The loud noise reverberated through to the kitchen jolting Jenn to her senses and making Dorothea slump to the floor on her knees, loud sobs racking her thin body.

“Oh God, oh my God………what have I done?” She stared wild eyed up at Jenn, tear streaked mascara rimming the underside of her panicked eyes. “What have I DONE?”

 “I think you just ended your marriage for real….” Turning on her heel, Jenn followed in Jon’s wake, the sound of Dorothea’s anguished sobs filling her ears.