She looks gorgeous. I had doubts about the hairdresser, but she has done a very good work. Jazz is shining, and smiling. I give a big tip for the woman, who has made this miracle, but when she hears about that Jazz doesn't want to keep her cut locks, she says the haircut was for free. I have never made a woman happy, with only this amount of money. My soon to be wife is floating beside me, not walking. She is a little surprised when we stop in front of a sports shop, but I have no time to explain everything to her, because Mike and Tiffany take a notice of me, and cheerfully greet me, and Jazz. My fiance reacts a little self-concious when I introduce her to the couple and she is also hugged in greeting. She is getting more reserved, when she notice Tiffany's belly.
"How are you?" I ask them.
"Well, we manage somehow!" Mike answers, while he is caressing her wife's bump. "Junior is a bit active!"
"Mainly in the middle of the night!" Tiffany adds, and kiss her husband.
"You won't sleep too much after Junior will be born, if it is so active now! It will run, after watching the sunlight!" We all laugh. The couple and me are chatting about the camps, Jazz remain silent. She has no previous experience of the training camps, so she is a bit left out of the circle.
"Beware, The Anchorage has a very good effect on female fertility! After spending there two weeks, every women become pregnant!" Tiffany warns Jazz cheerfully.
She is not achieving her goal, Jazz stiffens, but tries to smile. She doesn't succeed. I told her, that we couldn't tell my friends, that our marriage is basically fake, so she doesn't say a word. Her fingers become ice cold. So do mines. I have totally forgotten about my promise to Heather and Erica, to the two exceptions of the rule. Somehow I'll work it out. I have to.
"By the way, Tiffany! Could you give a pair of training shoes, and a pair of brogue to Jazz? If you want to buy something more, just bring here, okay?" I manage to say.
Jazz nods, and obediently follows the chirping Tiffany.
"Where did you meet?" asks Mike. He is a little suspicious.
"In the woods." I smile at him."She is not a talkative person. Jazz is a bit reserved with people, but her blood is boiling, when we are alone!" I wink at him, and he begins to laugh. He understands, and let me borrow their telephone.
I finish talking by the time Jazz and Tiffany return to the counter with the shoes.
"Don't you need anything else?" I ask Jazz, surprised. She didn't choose any other clothes.
She shakes her head.
"I have everything I need."
We look each other with the shop owners. None of us have never seen such a reaction from a woman in a clothing store.
"She really liked a pullover over there." reveals the smiling Tiffany. "But she didn't want to buy."
"Do you like that pullover?" Jazz nods. "Go, and bring that here!" I ask her.
She slowly goes to the pack of clothes, and pick one of them. When I see the label, I almost got a heart attack. She has an expensive taste! No wonder, that she wouldn't want to buy. The pullover seems to be a quality one, and has a cute, feminine design.
"This will last long! It is from alpaca fur." smirking Mike. "It is really expensive after all."
Jazz reaches out for the pullover, with the intention of bringing back. Her face is emotionless. I pull the pullover out of her hands.
"It is also your Christmas present!" I smile at her, and she smiles back. "We need a coat, please choose one!"
The girl chooses for a long time, so I join her.
"Don't watch the price tag." I whisper to her.
"But these coats are also expensive." She whispers back. "Expensive clothes are usually uncomfortable."
"You don't have a coat, and you won't have many opportunities to go and shop clothes. These clothes are specially designed for sports. I think these ones won't be uncomfortable. So choose one please."
"What about this one?" She shows a light blue coat, with gray stripes.
"Try it on!"
It looks good on her, so we bring the coat to the pile. I make Jazz to change her shoes to the training shoes. I have noticed her hitching before. This pair of shoes would be comfortable for her. It could be useful for her, because Jazz is running to the toilet in her new shoes. Until she comes back, Tiffany makes a big pack from the remaining clothes. We are talking about the camps for a while. Tiffany and Mike suggest that we could hold family camps too. They really want to go to the mountains with the baby the next summer, and they are not the only ones. I agree, and promise I will tell to the others, and discuss the possibilities. When Jazz arrives back, we have to leave, because we don't want to miss the train. I look like a Sherpa, so Jazz picks up my backpack, and the big bag from the sports store. We arrive to the train station without any mess. The rush hour is over.
"Here you are!" Since I have free hand, I buy the tickets. I am giving Jazz her ticket.
"Paper?" she asks, and watch thoroughly the piece of paper.
"You said, you wanted to hide from your family, didn't you?"
She nods.
"So it wouldn't be wise to buy two tickets with my mobile. It is traceable. So mine is on the phone, yours is on paper."
"Thank you." She says.
Her look is serious, it resemble to Pascal Hillard's. This scares me a bit. Jazz has escaped from home, but does she really want to hide so seriously? I was planning to make a joke with the paper train ticket, but Jazz is so serious. She doesn't laugh at all.
"Are you all right?" I ask her, when she returns from the toilet of the train for the second time.
"Probably. My stomach is a bit upset, or I have been infected with a virus."
"Are you sure, you want to marry me?" I suspect, that this stomach-bug is from stress, and I am the cause.
"Yes. You are right. I need a name change, and the work. This will be a fake marriage, that only valid in paper, won't it?"
"Yes, of course."
We remain silent for a while, until lunch time. Jazz gets out Pascal Hillard's boxes, and we began eating. The food is delicious, especially the fruit pie. I notice this fact for her. Jazz's reply surprise me. She made this pie yesterday afternoon. It is her dad's favorite sweets.
"Dad?" I ask her in surprise again. "Pascal Hillard..."
"We aren't blood-related. He is my father-in-heart." She smiles. I don't want to make her smile vanish, but I have to ask a few things.
"What about your blood-related family?"
"I don't know, and I don't care." She shrugs. "They are don't like me, and I don't like them at all. I am just a staple for them."
"Staple?"
"They want me to marry an asshead."
I don't want echoing her words again, so I patiently waiting for her next words.
"He is a wealthy young man of upscale social status who is the son of a family of friends and they want to seal their friendship with our marriage." She says it, like a rhyme learned by heart, but her tone! That's killing.
"I suppose you don't want to marry him."
"Bingo."
"Why?"
"He is a kinky, brain sick bastard." She says, and put down the last bites of the pie. She visibly lost her appetite. "It is said, that he is in love me, but I don't believe. He can't feel anything similar to love.
"Don't worry, my state is just as serious as yours." I try to soothe her nerves.
"Are you forced to get married too?"
"No. I am stuck in my exwife's web."
"Black Widow?"
"Almost. When we divorced, she was pregnant. She said, her baby was the other man's. But she lied. Now she wants me to move to their house, and be my daughter's father."
"I suppose you don't want it." She says, and bites into the pie again.
"Bingo. So I told them, that my fiance doesn't like children, and I don't want two Jasmine in my family, since her name is Jasmine too."
Jazz stops chewing, and staring at me with full mouth. After a moment she begins to chew really fast, gulps a big, and start to speak.
"Is the work really needed?"
"Yes, of course. We need a hand to help. We all could help you to prepare for the races. It's just icing on the cake that you are called Jazz."
"Okay." She nods, and we don't speak until we reach our train stop.
It is not a big train stop, just a small one, like the one in Hardersfield. But this one is more friendly with the small waiting hall. The hall is the part of the house of the family of the track-watchman. The environment is tidy, and the wife is decorated the stop with flowers, that always keep me warm. Even their clothes dry outside in the garden. there is peace and tranquility.
For a moment. I spot five people at the otherwise empty station. Damn! I have never expected that Andrew would gather the whole family! Jazz will surely be nervous. I knock he shoulder, and when she turns back, I give her a short kiss.
We couldn't deep the kiss, because the door of the train open with a big hiss, and my whole family is staring at us, thunderstrucked.