Chapter 531 - Gran and Gramps (2)

JoAnna was practically shaking from anger. "Gramps! You! Stop that! Now!"

"Stop what?", James innocently asked.

JoAnna was raging. "What? I already told you who Jeff is, and you said you know about White corp. Stop messing with him, or we are leaving!"

Old man pouted. "Fine!" He turned around and grumbled while leaving the hallway: "People don't know how to have fun these days…"

Jeff looked at old man in disbelief and then at JoAnna, expecting an explanation.

"Sorry, honey, my gramps likes to make jokes, and he has no filter when he speaks. The fact that he is messing with you probably means that he likes you. Most of his jokes are not funny to others, and it's getting worse with age." JoAnna did her best to explain, but she is aware that her silly grandfather put Jeff in an awkward situation, and Jeff will probably not easily forgive this.

Jeff grimaced. 'Makes jokes? No filter when he speaks? That explains from where JoAnna got it.' Jeff does not dare to say that aloud, afraid that JoAnna will get upset. He needs her to be on his side now because her grandfather is… unpleasant.

"Well, this is awkward…" Mary did her best to force a smile. "Sorry, my boy. My husband sometimes does not know to draw the line between a joke and a harassment." She looked at Jeff apologetically.

Jeff gave her a small nod, but he was not sure what he is nodding for. He wished that this visit ends soon.

They went to the outdoor sitting area in the back of the house and maid brought out chai, mango lassi and variety of Indian snacks. They were facing a small garden lined with flowerpots filled with colorful flowers, and toward the back was a large mango tree.

JoAnna chatted with her gran while Jeff listened and did his best to ignore James whose piercing gaze was fixated on him.

JoAnna was eager to move onto the topic which brought her here. "Gran, do you remember that I asked about the summer I spent with you on East Coast?"

"Yes, I do."

"Can you tell me what you remember about it?"

"You spent whole summer on our estate." Mary was short.

JoAnna remembered that if she met Jeff, she had to go to some public place. "Did I go out to some park? Or a pond? A playground?"

Mary thought for some time before shaking her head. "Not that I can remember."

"Oh…", JoAnna was disappointed. If she didn't leave the estate, then there was no way she could bump into Jeff.

Mary thought about JoAnna's question. "Why would you go anywhere? Our estate on East Coast is large, there is a lake and a small forest, we even had horses at that time. You loved riding horses. And more than once kids from the area would come to play."

"It was quite a while ago. Are you sure you remember everything?", JoAnna was hoping that her grandma forgot that she went to some park where she could meet Jeff.

"I don't remember much from then.", Mary admitted. "But I do have photos which I check every few months to freshen up my memory."

JoAnna perked up. "Photos? Can you bring them?"

"Sure… give me a minute.", Mary went inside.

Jeff noticed JoAnna fidget nervously.

"You know that it's OK if we didn't meet then, right?", Jeff patted her head gently.

"I know.", JoAnna absentmindedly smiled. "But it would be nice if we did."

JoAnna leaned on Jeff and he ran his hand through her hair.

Jeff was not able to deny that it would be nice if two of them met about 17 years ago. But he didn't want JoAnna to be disappointed if 'Little J' from his memories is not her. He already decided long ago that it does not matter.

Mary came out carrying a tin box with label '2002'.

"I have one of these for every year. I collect photos and trinkets for memories.", Mary explained with a huge smile on her face.

Mary carefully went through the contents of the box, and there was about 30 photos inside, maybe a bit more. She slowly went through them.

"Here is one!", Mary gave a photo to JoAnna.

It was a photo of a little girl holding two ice cream cones, one vanilla and one chocolate, and based on the smudges on girl's face, she was eating them both at the same time.

"Ha! I always liked them.", JoAnna smiled.

"One more…", Mary kept it on the side and continued searching. "And this one also…"

JoAnna took other two photos and showed first one to Jeff. "What do you think?"

Jeff looked at the photo of a little girl while JoAnna looked at the next one.

Second photo was JoAnna and some man in the background. He was few steps behind her, but it didn't look that he posed for the photo, more like just passing through.

"Gran, who is this man?"

Mary looked at the photo. "I don't know. James, do you?"

James glanced at the photo and shook his head.

JoAnna found that strange. "You said I didn't leave your estate. How come you don't know who was there?"

Mary shrugged. "Maybe a seasonal employee who helped with horses? We had a lot of people working there, and it was a long time ago."

JoAnna nodded and looked at the third photo. It was seven kids posing together. "Is this one of those playdates you mentioned?"

"Playdates?", Mary didn't understand.

"Playdate is when kids gather to play together.", JoAnna explained.

Mary nodded and took a mental note on what a 'playdate' is.

JoAnna looked at that photo carefully, and one face stood out. "Jeff, honey… isn't this you?" She pointed at a boy who stood next to 5-year-old JoAnna. She was not sure, but she saw Jeff's photos from his childhood at his home, and this boy looked like him.

Jeff was still staring at the photo of a girl with two ice creams.

"Jeff?", JoAnna touched Jeff's arm which was holding the photo.

He was startled and looked at JoAnna with a big smile. "This is you."

"Yes. That is me.", JoAnna confirmed. "And is this you?", she showed him the group photo.

They both laughed after confirming that it's them. They did meet 17 years ago!

"Gran! Gramps! This is Jeff!", JoAnna pointed at the boy on the picture. "Can you believe that? We met on your estate 17 years ago!", JoAnna exclaimed.

Jeff was grinning. He wanted to pull JoAnna closer and to kiss her, but her grandparents are there, so he didn't want to do anything inappropriate in front of them. Especially that old man, he should not be provoked. Jeff was happy that James is silent. Like this, he can just ignore him.

Jeff took JoAnna's hand and kissed back of her palm. 'This will need to do… for now.' He was looking forward to going back to the hotel and to hold JoAnna in his embrace. His 'Little J'.

"How nice!", Mary exclaimed. "If there is such thing as a happy coincidence, then this one must be one of those!"

James didn't comment. His expression was complex.

Mary confirmed that there were no other photos of JoAnna in that stack. She checked few trinkets that were kept for memories: few stamps, pen, two cocktail umbrellas, and one paper folded in four. It was a letter, written in a not so good handwriting, like a child wrote it.

Mary read it and smiled. "Old man Hill, someone wanted you to give him a wife." She extended her hand with the paper toward James.

"Just throw that away.", James was not interested in taking it. And he didn't like that she called him 'Old man'.

"What is that?", JoAnna took the paper from grandmother's hand.

JoAnna read it and put her hand over her mouth. "J. W. stands for Jeffrey White…", she whispered in her fingers.

Jeff leaned to read the letter in her hand and his eyes widened, threatening to pop out of their sockets:

" Old man Hill,

Take care of my Little J. When I grow up, I will come back to get her and make her my wife.

~ J. W. "