For a Moment All I See Is You

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom!" Jody snapped, avoiding eye contact and fixing her hair in the mirror.

"Sweetie..."

"Just drop it, okay? I don't care. I'm fine. Everything's fine, just fine, and I'm really happy for him." The tears threatening to spill from her eyes told a different story, but she blinked them back. No, she was perfectly okay. She was so thrilled for her little brother, falling in love with a perfect guy and getting married before her. It was all fan-fucking-tastic. Really.

"Jody, I know this isn't how you wanted things, but..." She trailed off, unsure of where else to go with this. But it's your own fault that you're alone?

Jody felt the unsaid ending to the sentence. "But if I hadn't been such a stupid teenager, maybe I would've fallen in love with some wonderful guy when I was seventeen and then we'd be living happily ever after? If I'd made better choices, I wouldn't be alone at age thirty-seven while my twenty year old brother is getting married tomorrow? But if I-"

"Stop it! That's not what I meant. But please try to act like you're happy for him. He's so excited."

She sighed, knowing her mom was right. She was right twenty-two years ago and she was right now.

"Always the bridesmaid, never the bride," she muttered to herself as she took her seat next to her brother. She'd stood through so many weddings for her friends, taking on the role of bridesmaid more times than she was comfortable disclosing. But this was a day she hadn't seen coming. She was the unmarried maid of honor at her little brother's wedding.
If he was anyone else, she would just assume he was doing it to rub it in her face that he was getting married before her, but Alex wasn't like that. He'd asked their parents if they thought it'd make her uneasy or sad to have to do that, and even then he'd approached the subject with utmost caution. He was just genuinely excited to be getting married to the man of his dreams, and he loved his sister to death.

So she bottled up her feelings and put a smile on her face. As bitter as she was, there was no chance in hell that she would ruin his day. She kept her head down over her salad through the rehearsal dinner. What was the point of these things? Force the two families to have at least one meal together before the big day/night?

Come to think of it, she'd never met Alex's fiance's family. But as she looked up, she saw a strange look cross the groom's mother's face before she turned to whisper to the father. (What was Alex’s soon-to-be husband’s name? John, Joe, Jason...something that started with a J?) Wait, was she talking about Jody? That seemingly paranoid thought was confirmed when she not-so-subtly pointed across the table.

Suddenly, J-something's mother stood up. "If Alex and his family could meet with us in our room directly following dinner, that would be lovely. We're in room two thirty-one. Jack, you'll want to be there too."

Jack...that was his name. Of course. Such a simple name. How could she have forgotten it?

So after a mildly awkward dinner, the families came together in room two thirty-one.
Jack's mom asked Jack and Alex to step out in the hall. Confused, they complied, assuming they were all in on a surprise for the two of them or something. When they were gone, she turned to Jody and asked, voice hushed, "When you were fifteen, did you go by Jo?"

"Y-yeah," she replied, startled. How did she know that? That was the last time she ever went by that was that year. She didn't mean to, but suddenly she was hearing him again, breathing it in her ear. Jo, it'll all be okay... What a lie. Everything he’d ever said to her had been a lie.

Stop it.

Her face was paler than should be possible as she outstretched a cautious hand. "My name is Joyce Fritz."

That was all it took for Jody to start hyperventilating. "Oh god, oh god, oh god," she whispered, mainly to herself. "But, but Jack's last name is Barakat..."

"John cheated shortly after we adopted... The divorce wasn't a pleasant one, so I opted to change Jack's last name."

And then she was flashing back.

It was her fifteenth birthday, and she was three weeks late.

It was a week later and she was buying a pregnancy test with her best friend.

She was crying in the bathroom of a gas station with Kate, looking at the plus sign for what felt like hours.

She was pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how to tell her parents.

It was four in the morning and her mother found her throwing up in the bathroom for the third day in a row.

Right as she was beginning a lecture on body image and how making yourself throw up wasn't a healthy habit, she came clean and confessed.

She was on the couch getting a much worse lecture, this one about responsibility.

She was crying on her boyfriend's shoulder and he was whispering that it would all be okay.

She was at the movies for a much-needed girl's night out, and there he was, hand in hand with another girl.

She was curled up in her bed, sobbing because she was such an idiot!

She was meeting with prospective adoptive parents.

She was in the worst pain she'd ever felt, laying in a hospital bed.

She was vowing that she would never, ever have another kid.

She was refusing to look at him because she knew he wasn't hers.

She was giving him up because she knew it was what was best for him.

She was running out to the mailbox, always hoping for a card from his new parents, and never getting one.

She was losing hope that he would ever want to contact her.

For the second time that night, Jody had to force herself not to cry. "So...you're Joyce Fritz...but you remarried and became Joyce Barakat. And Jack...Jack is my son?"

Joyce nodded. Jody glanced at her own mother, who looked like a deer in the headlights. "What are we supposed to do?" she whispered. This was more difficult that every worst case scenario she'd been having nightmares about for the past three weeks.

"I guess," Joyce said slowly, like she wasn't even sure herself, like the words were coming without her will. "I guess we should let them decide."

They called the happy couple back in. "Jody, I think you should be the one to tell them," Mrs. Gaskarth said. She didn't mean to have the accusatory note in her voice, but she did, and it nearly set off the waterworks in her daughter.

"O-okay. You might want to sit down." They didn't. "When I was about fifteen, I got pregnant," she started. She saw Alex's eyes widen. "I was too young to deal, and the baby's father left me. A very kind couple adopted the kid, and even though it was an open adoption, they never really kept in touch, and he never made any move to try and find me. I, uh, I guess he wasn't interested."

"Ooh, ooh, are we having a family confession night?" Alex yelped, eyes shining. "I wanna go next!"

"I'm not done," she snipped. "Anyway, I gave him up as soon as he was born to John and Joyce Fritz. Apparently, there were some marital issues pretty soon afterwards, and Joyce remarried."

Neither Alex nor Jack seemed to be catching on.

"Her new husband's last name was and is Barakat."

Blank stares.

Alex's dad, the blunt man he was, stepped in and said, very matter-of-factly, "Jack, you're Alex's nephew."

——

“Jack, you’re Alex’s nephew.”

Alex barely had time to process the strange words that just came out of his father’s mouth before he heard the door slamming and realized Jack was no longer beside him.

All of the warm tingly happiness he’d been feeling was sucked out of him. “Uh…” He wasn’t sure what to say, eyes fixed on the door as if he was hoping Jack would come back in.

“Alex, honey,” his mom said softly.

“We thought it was best that you know beforehand,” Joyce added helplessly.

Jody frowned and grabbed her teary-eyed brother’s arm, yanking him out into the hall and closing the door. “Do you love him?” she demanded.

“Of course!” he replied instantaneously, furiously brushing at his eyes in an attempt to keep the tears at bay.

“And he loves you, right?”

“I…I thought he did, but after this—”

“That wasn’t the question. Ignoring that hellstorm of a situation, does he love you?” she asked.

“I guess. I mean, he’s the one that proposed and stuff.”

Jody rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair in that affectionate-but-patronizing way that only a sister can accomplish. “He loves you, Lexi. And I know that this whole thing is pretty fucked up and that I haven’t been very supportive because I’m a jealous middle-aged bitch, but you know what? Screw it. Also, don’t even bother pointing out to me that it’s even more fucked up that I’m suddenly showing support now that all this shit has come out.”

“Is there a point to this?” he asked with a forced laugh.

“Yes! If you love each other, I’m saying go for it. So what if it’s frowned upon. If his mother hadn’t noticed me, no one would’ve ever found out. Sure, this is kind of a weird occurrence that makes those involved just the slightest bit uncomfortable, but no one else has to know, right? Love isn’t supposed to be conditional. So go find him and tell him you don’t care that he’s your nephew.” Then, in a less peppy tone, she said, “If I’d waited and had him later on, I’m sure you would’ve made a great uncle.”

Alex gave her a tight hug. “You’re an amazing sister. You know that, right?”

She shook her head but smiled nonetheless. “Go forth, young one.”

And he knew just where to find Jack.

Sure enough, there he was, fully clothed, in the hotel pool. He was swimming quick, angry-looking laps. Alex cleared his throat and he stopped mid-stroke, almost sinking. “Oh, uh, h-hi,” he stuttered, hastily climbing out. “Sorry for running off like that… I just…”

“It weirded you out that we’re related?”

“No, actually, that wasn’t it.” Even in the dark, Alex could tell that his cheeks were turning red. “I was just pissed that my mom never bothered to mention that I’m adopted, that’s all.”

Alex busted out laughing. “Jack, babe…you’re twenty-two. Surely you’ve noticed by now that your mom has blonde hair and the guy she was married to before your dad also had blonde hair.”

“I…thought…I dunno. I guess it just never crossed my mind.” He sat in one of the rubber beach chairs that every hotel in the world has surrounding their pools. “What about you?” he asked after a while.

“What about me?” Alex joined him, leaning back in the chair next to his.

“Does it weird you out?”

“Honestly,” Alex stated slowly, dragging it out just to make Jack squirm. “What I’m having the hardest time coping with is that my nephew is two years older than me.”

It was Jack’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, that’s a little weird… Not gonna lie” He sighed. Why put off the inevitable conversation, no matter how unpleasant it might be? “So…what do we do now?”

“We have two options,” Alex told him. “Option one is we call off the wedding and tell everyone why and embarrass ourselves to no end and force both of us into a state of total unhappiness, which is almost a hundred percent avoidable if we go with option number two.”

“Which is…?”

“Well, I love you. And this doesn’t change anything. So what if I’m your uncle? Weirder marriages have happened, I’m sure. If you don’t think it matters, then I say we explain to our families that we’re still just as in love as we were before we knew, ask them to please never mention this to anyone, and go on with the wedding. Personally, I like that choice a whole lot better, but I’m leaving it up to you. What do you say?”

Jack thought for a long time. (Truth be told, he already knew what he was going to choose. He just wanted to mess with Alex.) Finally, he leaned forward and kissed him. “I say to hell with it, let’s get married!”