Three Converts

Part 54

Griff nodded very slowly. He set his knife down. He stared past me for a very long time. "Genevieve."

I tried to look open-minded and encouraging, but my I knew my panic reached my face. What had he done to land himself in jail? And how was this girl involved?

"Genevieve was a girl who hung out with Dobson and Gordo and their crew. They came here a lot because Dad was usually drunk and Gordo liked to be sure he wasn't knocking me around. I liked having them here. It was always loud and fun and as you know, Dobson always has a great story to tell about whatever trouble he's getting into. Gordo too back then. I barely remember Genevieve, honestly. There were like a dozen of them that came over frequently, but I didn't bother getting to know them that well. I'd hang out for a bit, then go in the shop and work." Griff paused. His eyes dipped to the floor. It was dead silent in the garage, except for his swallowing.

"Anyway, Genevieve got pregnant. She was only sixteen. Her parents freaked out. And rightly so!" Griffin's eyes widened and he looked so innocent, so like my Griffin that I had to smile. "But she told them I was the father. I wasn't, Luce! I'm not! But. She was underage and desperate and that's what she told them. Her word against mine."

He had to be telling the truth. He had to be. My brain felt clogged. "Isn't there... a test or something they could do?" I tried.

Now he took my sweaty hands in his loving, capable hands and looked straight at me. "That's the thing. They were able to do an in-utero test and... the baby had my DNA." He shrugged helplessly.

"Wait, what?"

"So they put me in prison for statutory rape. She and her parents moved and nobody's heard from them since."

I was still trying to wrap my head around the DNA test. "How is that possible? Griffin? How is that possible?" Words were really failing me.

He rubbed my hands like he was trying to warm me up, even though I was getting warmer and warmer by the second. "Gordo. We never talked about it."

"You never talked about it?!"

"Gordo was trying to get his life in order. I didn't want to throw a wrench in that. And I think he really believed the baby was mine."

"Griffin!" I couldn't believe he would take the fall for his brother like that. I thought of Sophie. Would I do that for her? Spend a year in prison and tarnish my reputation? "Griff?" I forced the words. "Did you? Is it possible?"

I thought Griffin might cry. "Lucy. No. Never. Not possible." He kissed my palm, and I really did begin to cry.

"Griff, why would she do that to you? Why not accuse Dobson or one of his guys, or Gordo- the actual father, for that matter?!"

A half-smile. "She was friends with them. Nobody gets their friends thrown in jail."

It was so unfair. It was the commune's kind of justice. Innocent people being punished. Did this world ever dole out fair and just punishment to people who deserve it? Or was it just innocent after innocent being put on trial?

"Griff. I need some fresh air." He looked very worried. "I'm fine," I waved my hand to cool myself off. My rage was turning me red, I knew. "Just need air." He opened the garage door and the outside air on my skin was like aloe. I needed more of it. "I need to walk," my sentences were as disconnected as my fast and furious thoughts, but Griff got it.

"Want company?"

"Always."

In true Griffin fashion, he knew I wanted company, but I also wanted silence. We walked and walked. Quietly breathing in the mountain air. I longed to go to the lake, but since my fight with Franklin, it didn't have the same cleansing power. Instead, I drew my strength from the majestic mountains, and Griffin's calloused hands.

We walked until my heels blistered, then I asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"That I was accused of impregnating an underage girl and thrown in jail? Why do you think I didn't tell you, Luce?"

I nodded. I understood. Even though I wanted to know every intimate detail about Griff, the good and the bad, I only wanted him to know the best parts of me. "Still," I begged him, "No more secrets. I need to know everything about you." And I did. I wanted to crawl into his history, his timeline, and skate along it, drinking in every achievement, disappointment, every small injury and milestone. I wanted to know his life, so I could love him better.

We stopped walking in the middle of a path, halfway up the mountain to Sandston Valley. He put his arms around me. "What about the time I planted a pickle because I wanted to be a pickle farmer?"

I giggled. "Yup. I want to know about it."

"What about when I was pretending to shave, but then accidentally shaved one of my eyebrows off?"

"Seriously? Wow. Yes, I want to know that too."

"Okay, how about the time I broke my arm climbing a tree blindfolded on a dare?"

"Jeesh. You had an eventful childhood." It made me sad that mine was spent in conversion training, then on the streets of this very town trying to lure people into joining the commune. Griffin wrapped his arms around me even tighter. The fresh air had done its job. I was adequately calm now, if not sad that Griff had to waste a year of his precious life in jail.

"Where the heck have you guys been?" Rocco trounced down the gravely path. "I've been looking for you all over the place!" His voice was hard, but I heard something tender in it when he spoke to me, "We have a situation, Lucy."