more than gold, jj maybank

The Coastal Venture

"No." I say, stepping away from my father and sitting down on an old bench.

"Jade." he says. "I know that this is insane. It was the only way. It was the only way to make sure that we were all safe and together." He kneels down in front of me, grabbing my hands.

"You're a murderer!" I yell, looking at him in shock.

"No, I am your father." He says softly. "This was the only way."

"You could've just gone to jail! You could've done the right thing." I yell, standing up and pushing his hands away from me. "I can't even look at you." I say, tears forming in my eyes.

"Sweetie. I did it for us. You need to understand that. I didn't know that you or Sarah were gonna be on that dock. It was never my intention. You have to believe me, baby. I just needed to make sure that our family is safe." He says. "I couldn't let Rafe go down for helping me."

"Thank you, dad." Rafe says, entering the room with a very tired looking Sarah.

"I can't believe you two!" I yell, turning around to look at Dad and Rafe. "What on earth had to go running through your psychopathic minds to do that?!" I yell, shoving Rafe back into the kitchen counter. "News flash, Rafe! You didn't save dad! You put us in all in shit that we will never get through!" I scream, looking at my father. "And you? You poisoned our family with all these lies and bullshit!" I take a deep breath before continuing. "You have ruined our family. I want to go home. I want to call my friends and tell them that I am ok and alive!"

"Of course you can, sweetie. You can call them. John B and JJ came to the house while Rose was getting you ready. You know that cross you guys have been looking for? Rafe had it. Turns out, that I guess, historically, it belongs to the Heywards."

"Yeah, we know." Sarah cuts in sitting next me.

"It also turns out that the most important thing to me is you, so I gave them the cross for you." He says, looking directly at Sarah making me scoff.

"And John B was ok with that?" Sarah asks. "JJ... was ok with that?" She adds, looking at me.

"Well, um, I had just given them a half-billion-dollar artifact, so, yeah. They seemed pretty ok. I don't know what to tell you. They're pogues." He says, drinking some water. "Rose! Wheezie, you can come in."

"Sarah, Jade. Hey, hey. We are going to our very own private Island." Wheezie says, smiling and sitting next to us. I glare at the now smirking Rose and tilt my head in challenge. "Isn't that awesome?"

"They're not feeling very well right now, sweetheart. But they will be. We're all gonna be feeling pretty good soon, huh?" My dad says, looking at me with a sly smile.

✵

"Do you guys wanna play war?" Wheezie asks Rose, Sarah and I.

"You bought cards?" I ask, looking up from the sand timer. Wheeze nods. "Yeah." I say, fake smiling.