Rightfully Hers

XVI

You are welcome.

JADA

"Let it go to voicemail," Isabelle murmured. She'd moved her weight so her left hand was no longer pressed behind her, and she instead used it to press me closer against her.

I pulled myself away from her, slightly irritated that our moment had been ruined, but also slightly grateful. I wasn't sure where that would have led us. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pressed the answer button without glancing at the caller ID.

"What?" My voice came out more bitter than I had intended, and I didn't need to look at Isabelle to know she was amused.

"Jada, dear, you finally answered!" My mother's kind voice met my ears. I held in a groan and cursed myself for not checking the ID beforehand. I cursed Isabelle for distracting me.

"I am busy right now, please stop calling," I sighed. I moved to sit back on my butt, and I used the hand that wasn't holding the phone to pinch the bridge of my nose in irritation.

"Jada, please don't speak so crudely to your mother. We have been worried sick, you haven't answered the phone in almost three months. We worried our little girl was hurt, or dead!" My dad coughed down the line, sounding more upset than angry. My parents very rarely got angry, but when they did, it never failed to make me want the world to swallow me whole.

"I'm not interested in speaking with you currently, Noah," I shot back, knowing that despite me being almost twenty, it hurt them when I didn't refer to them as Mom and Dad.

"Honey, please," Mom begged, her gentle voice sadder than usual. "We just want to have time together as a family. Rowan is a changed man, Jada, and you'd know that if you gave him the time of day."

"I'm on a mission, Mom, I can't fly to Toronto just so I can have a weekend visit. And even if I weren't busy, why would I take time out of my life to see the Devil himself? That doesn't make sense to me."

"You're acting like a child, Jada. Your mother and I miss you dearly. We haven't seen your brother in three entire years. You're not a parent, you wouldn't understand what it's like to lose a child, as temporary as it is." Dad attempted to keep a stern tone, but it melted as quickly as it came. A pang of guilt buried itself in my chest, but I had to remind myself that Rowan was a goddamn demon.

"Then spend time with him, I don't understand why I need to be there for you to reconnect with your oh-so-holy son," I remarked sarcastically.

"Rowan is getting married!" Mom blurted suddenly. I could hear Dad sighing a small, 'Margaret', but Mom only halfheartedly apologized to him. "Your brother is getting married in Toronto and we want you to be there. He wants you to be there, too."

"So he can prove to me that he's somewhat farther in life than I am?" I snorted. "So he can try to kill me with the champagne glass he uses for his toast? I'm really not interested in watching him ruin some poor woman's life, sorry."

"That's enough," Dad snapped. "Rowan is in a good place in his life right now, Jada, and he asked for you to attend his wedding. I can only hope you're grown up enough to come and act like an adult."

"I hate him!" I shot back almost immediately. "He spent seventeen years trying to make my life absolute hell, and now you want me to come back to wish him a happy life with some eternally unlucky woman?"

It was only then I noticed Isabelle was mouthing something. I shrugged as if to say I didn't know what she was trying to say, and she mouthed, 'Mute.'

I muted the phone immediately, and she pulled me towards her and wrapped her arms around me tightly. I found myself relaxing immediately, and she kissed my hair gently. I knew she was waiting until I calmed down completely before she spoke up.