Freja & Jeanie
Disclaimer:
Welcome to Freja & Jeanie
.
This story is part of my larger story cycle, commonly known as "The Alexaverse." As always, many thanks and gratuitous panty-shots courtesy of Freja and Jeanie are directed at my long-suffering editor and Beta-reader, who makes sure my grammar is on point. Constructive reviews and critiques are welcome. Pointless flames and anonymous trolls will be snickered at and deleted. Enjoy!
***
"Maybe it's not your fault," the elderly woman said, sitting at the table and reading a newspaper, her voice rife with disdain. "Maybe it's just flawed genetics, or maybe it's a soft upbringing..."
"But there are inevitably some people who are the natural losers and omegas in every generation, and that's just not good enough for my granddaughter," she continued, failing to notice that Alex was creeping up behind her, with murder in his eyes and a pair of very sharp scissors in his hand...
Chapter III- You're Just Too Nice!
Some days earlier, a brisk February afternoon...
"Mom, I understand you're upset, but you need to stop hypervascilating so that I can understand what you mean," Jeanie insisted into her cellphone.
Her mother, Jocelyn, had called, and while Jeanie automatically assumed that she'd somehow fucked up again, it would soon turn out that she wasn't the source of her mother's angst at all. At least, not directly.
On her end of the phone, Jocelyn LeTourneau was sitting on a chair in her sundeck and trying very hard not to start chain-smoking. It was a dirty and low-class vice, and she'd promised herself she'd never go back to it. She took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself and remember not to snap at her daughter. Jeanie wasn't trying to be difficult, but she wasn't exactly swift on the uptake, and Jocelyn very often found this most irritating.
"Okay..." she said finally, hoping she had control of herself. God, she wanted a cigarette. "Now, Jeanie, listen to me."
On her end, Jeanie nodded, as if her mother could see her.
"Your grandfather and your grandmother, do you remember them?" Jocy asked carefully.
"Of course, mom," Jeanie sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm dumb, not an amniotic."
She must mean amnesiac
, Jocy thought to herself, shaking her head in despair. Whatever. They needed to get through this. "So your father's parents, they're coming for one of their royal visits, so to speak."
"I like it when gran and gramps show up," Jeanie said cheerfully. "They always give me cute little stuffies, and-"
"Jeanette?" Jocy said somewhat firmly, interrupting her daughter's reverie. "While it's all very well and good for you that
you
enjoy their company, and that they're nice to
you
, do you happen to remember how they treat
me
?"
Jeanie thought about that for some moments. "Like... garbage?"
"Yes," Jocy said rather flatly, not at all appreciating the answer, even though she'd asked for one. "They are less than kind to me whenever they meet me, and they always have been."
"It's because you grew up poor in Barrie and then married dad when he had a lot of money, right?" Jeanie blurted out. "They think you're a gold-digger."
"Jeanette!" Jocy hissed angrily, standing up from her chair and almost glaring at her daughter through the phone. "What have I told you?! We
never
speak of that!
Ever
!"
"Sorry, mom," Jeanie said hastily, blushing. She'd already lost track of how many times she'd pissed her mother off on this call. There'd always been a hard and-fast-rule in the LeTourneau household;
never
talk about or allude to the fact that her mother had grown up poor in the slums of Barrie. Few things infuriated her mother as much as reminding her of her humble origins. She'd left that life behind, and it had never happened.
Which sometimes upset Jeanie, since her mother's family seemed like nice people for the most part, even if they were dirt-poor. She'd met them maybe twice in her life, and they had almost no dealings with that side of her family. Her mom had, in fact, insisted that none of her family members except her father and mother attend the wedding, so that they wouldn't embarrass her by being poor in the presence of her new in-laws.
"In any event..." Jocelyn continued, sweeping her daughter's gaffe from the conversation as if it hadn't happened. "... your grandfather and grandmother have announced that they are visiting. Remember how they weren't present for your wedding?"
"Yeah, I was kinda disappointed," Jeanie admitted. "Guess they were on vacay or something, eh?"
"Not... well, no, not exactly..." Jocy faltered, trying to not blush. She was doing her absolute best to make sure this didn't sound like her fault. "The fact of the matter is that your father and I didn't tell them you were getting married."