He was finding it difficult to stay in his seat as the plane pulled around the runway. The only reason he wasn’t up and pacing was because the plane was still in motion. Instead, he stared out the window and looked for the bald rocker that was the grandfather of his children. Sitting under a light was black classic Mustang GT with a bald man standing near the rear setting a little girl with black curls on the trunk. So, that’s David Draiman?, he thought. It’s really him. Jordan’s dad. She was right. He’s not really larger than life when he’s away from the spot light. He looked for Levi only to find him wrapped around an older woman’s waist like he was hugging her. And that must be the beautiful Mrs. Draiman. There is no way she’s a day over 45. There’s no way either of them are old enough to have a 40 year old son.
When the plane finally stopped, he grabbed his bag and headed for the door. He didn’t wait for the attendant to lower the stairs for him. He did it himself and sprinted down them. From the car he saw David setting the little girl on the ground and heard him say, “Now you can tackle him.”
The kids took off in his direction in a dead run and nearly knocked him over. If he hadn’t squatted down to be on their level he may have been bowled over. “DADDY!” they screamed.
“Hey there you two!” he laughed as wrapped his arms around to the children.
“We missed you so much!” Jasmine said.
“I missed you too, Jazzy Jazz.”
“Dad, when we get back to Gramma and Grampa’s, I’m gonna show you the pictures from my diving trip”, Levi said excitedly.
“Really? You went diving? Who took you diving?”
“Grampa. He made me take a class then took me diving the next day. It was so much fun!”
“What all did you see?”
“All kinds of things. Sharks and a big manta ray… tons of fun.”
“You’ll have to show me the pictures. Now, you two have got to let go of me. I need to go greet Gramma and Grampa.”
“You’ve never met Gramma and Grampa?”
“Nope. This is the first time I’ve ever met them. So, why don’t you guys walk me over there?” Levi and Jasmine took their father’s hands and walked over to their grandparents with him. Jasmine clung to her father’s leg as he extended a hand to her grandfather. “Mr. Draiman, it’s an honor to finally meet you.”
“I don’t know about all that, but I’m glad to finally meet you as well”, David said as he shook his hand. He turned his attention his wife. “This is my wife, Brie.”
Brie held her hand out to Reece. “Pleasure to meet you, Reece.”
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Draiman.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Reece. All the boys say that to me.”
“I’m not trying to butter you up, Mrs. Draiman. There’s no way to a person can’t notice that you’re a stunning woman for your age. How old are you?”
“70.”
“Not a chance in hell. There’s no way. You’re not 70 and David’s not 73. Neither of you look older than your mid forties.”
David and Brie looked at each other then back at the young man that had just flown all day to meet them. “Where have you been all these years?” Brie asked with a laugh.
“Here, there, and everywhere.” He smiled.
“You’ll do”, David said. “Now, why don’t we head to the house? Brie put something on to cook this afternoon.”
“Sounds good, Mr. Draiman.”
“Please, call me David.”
“Alright. David then. Dinner sounds wonderful. I ate a little something while in Germany, but I still need to eat something else.”
“Well, my blood sugar is starting to plummet”, Brie said. “If we’re going, then we need to go.”
David kissed her head. “Alright. We’re going.”
Brie moved around to the passenger side of the car and loaded the kids up while David opened the trunk for Reece to load up his bag. Once everyone was in, they took off and headed home.
Reece sat back in the car and listened to the music that was playing in the car. He couldn’t help but laugh when he saw David reach over and turn off the stereo when he heard an old Disturbed song. “Why did you do that, David?” he asked.
“The front man for Disturbed I may always be, but I don’t want to hear it every time I get in the car”, he said with a chuckle.
“What do you listen to at home?”
“These days, and I suppose I’m dating myself with this, but we listen to a lot of opera and what was called classic rock when Disturbed was just getting started.”
“Tears for Fears?”
“Among other things”, Brie said. “Aerosmith is one of my favorites. I’m a huge fan of ‘Dream On’ and ‘Sweet Emotion’.”
“Good band. I prefer to skate to Disturbed than anything else, though.”
“Really? A skateboarding metal head?”
“Is there any other kind?”
---------------
After dinner, Levi and Jasmine told Reece about all of the fun things they’d done since being out with Gramma and Grampa. Levi showed off his pictures from his diving trip. “This is the black tip shark we saw”, he said as he showed his father the picture.
“That’s cool. It was really awesome of Grampa to take you deep sea diving.”
“I don’t get to see the grandchildren as often anymore now that we live out here in Jerusalem”, David said. “I figured that I’d take him down when he asked on the trip out. He is my grandson, after all.”
“While Grampa and Levi were diving, Gramma and me were getting our nails done and shopping. It was so much fun”, Jasmine said.
“Had to distract her somehow”, Brie said.
“Ok, you two, it’s bed time”, David said. “Tell your Daddy good night and you’ll see him in the morning.”
The kids fussed but did as they were told. They gave their father- as well as their grandparents- a hug and kiss goodnight. “I’ll still be here in the morning”, Reece told his kids.
Once they toddled off to bed, David went to the kitchen. “Reece, join my wife and I for a night cap out of the back patio?” Brie had stood up and went out back to have a seat.
Reece went into the kitchen to see what David was doing. “What do you have?”
“A little bit of everything and it’s all the good stuff.”
“Vodka?”
“One of my personal favorites.” David grabbed the young man a glass out of the cabinet and handed it to him. “Make yourself whatever you want then join Brie and I out on the patio.” David poured a little bit of soda in one of the glasses with the burbon that was already in there then grabbed both glasses and went out back.
Reece watched as the elder Draiman’s kissed. He could see that even though they were in their 70’s, they were still so very much in love. Brie stood and let David sat down then curled up against the front of his body on the lounger. Reece smiled. They were the perfect couple. He made his drink then joined them out on the patio. “I wanted to thank you both for your hospitality and allowing me out here to see the kids. It really means a lot.”
“Just because Davina’s being a bitch doesn’t meant that you should be kept away from the kids. If Jordan allows you to see them then we have no problem with it”, Brie said.
“You would have known sooner but we didn’t even know you were involved in their lives until earlier this morning”, David said.
“What? You didn’t know?” Reece seemed surprised.
“No. And the only reason we found out is that Jasmine had a bad dream involving Jordan. Levi told us.”
“I’m surprised that Jordan didn’t tell you.”
“Jordan likes to keep home at home, which we understood. But, Davina led us to believe that you were nothing but a donor. It wasn’t offensive that you didn’t want to be involved, but it seemed strange because Jordan told us that you would have been involved with Joseph should he have been born. It didn’t make sense, but we accepted it.”
“That’s ridiculous. I made it clear to Jordan when she came to me about Joseph that I wanted to be involved and that should she want to have children when she was in a relationship that I would gladly father the children, but I wanted to be a father them. I don’t believe in having children and not being a parent to them. That Davina would lead you to that conclusion is insulting.”
“The things we’re learning right now are starting to make us both wonder what else Davina has lied about”, Brie said after taking a sip of her drink.
“Oh, I’m sure in regard to me, there’s been plenty. But, when David called earlier he said he’d rather explain why the kids are out here in person.”
David nodded. “And so I shall. To make a rather long story as short as possible, Jordan has recently been going through some stuff. I can’t really go into detail about it, but she was injured as a result. She had broken ribs and a broken leg. Her fibula actually had to be stabilized with a titanium rod. As a way to make taking care of her easier on Davina we brought the kids out here. After I took Levi on his diving trip, Jordan called and told us that she and Davina have split. As a way to protect the children, Jordan had a provision put in the pre- nup that should she and Davina split, my wife and I get temporary custody until they either reconcile or custody is decided by a judge. We just found out right before I called you that you were already dragged to court to have your rights stripped and the judge ruled in your favor.
“How did you know that?”
“I have my ways, Reece. That’s all you need to know. Now, what we need to know is this; should something happen to our daughter and she doesn’t make it out alive, would you fight for custody of the children?”
“In a fucking heartbeat. Those are my kids. If Jordan’s not in the picture I fear what would happen to them at the hands of Davina’s family.”
“What makes you say that?” Brie asked.
“I don’t know how much you know about Jordan’s home life, but Davina likes to pick at Jordan. I don’t know why, but Davina will pick and pick and pick at Jordan in order to get her to fight with her. I honestly think that Davina is trying to get Jordan to knock the shit out of her so that Davina can launch domestic violence charges at Jordan and use that as leverage to get the kids.”
“That’s not Jordan’s style”, David said.
“I know. Jordan fights with her words and she will talk circles around Davina.”
“Jordan has a Masters’ in English Language and Syntax.”
“I know that too. It’s something that she’s very proud of. Davina hates it. She feels like she’s accomplished nothing in life though Jordan’s told her that if she wants to go back to school, that she’d pay for it. I think that Davina is just using Jordan’s fame as an excuse to be shitty.”
“What do you know about the touring issues?”
“Which ones?”
“How many are there?” Brie asked.
“Too many to count, but the biggest one is Davina insisting on going on every tour. Jordan wants the kids to have a normal life, like you tried to give them after the War. Davina is a suspicious bitch and thinks that Jordan’s just using it as an excuse to cheat.”
“You’ve heard her say as much?”
“Yes. Jordan actually asked me to come over to try to help talk some sense into Davina during one of the more epic fights. Jordan and I insisted that Levi and Jasmine need to be around kids their ages and be normal. Davina thought it was bull shit and that I was slipping it to Jordan behind her back. Jordan and I both went ape shit. Thankfully, the kids were in school when this happened. I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but I came really close that day.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t. I applaud your self control”, David said. “So, if something were to happen to Jordan, you’d go after custody of the kids?”
“Absolutely. I don’t want Davina ruining those kids anymore than she has.”
---------------
They all stayed up well into the night. Brie had dozed off where she was curled up against David, but the two men were having trouble sleeping. “So, let me ask you this”, Reece said. “What was your reaction when Jordan told you she was gay?”
“She told her mother and I at the same time and we looked at each other, then back to Jordan and said, ‘You’re telling us something we don’t already know?’. We’d figured that she wasn’t attracted to boys when they started school after the Occupation. She didn’t like any of the boys and thought they were all losers. And this was after they’d been in school for a year. Telling us that she was a lesbian when she was 13 really came as no surprise.”
“See, that’s not what Davina told me.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She told me that Jordan was so afraid of you that she didn’t come out until she was already out of the house. She said that none of the family was supportive and that’s why Jordan moved out at 18.”
“Oh, for the love of God. No, that’s not what happened. Jordan told Malachai and he told her what he thought we would say. I know this because I asked Malachai about the conversation with Jordan’s permission. When she told us, we could have cared less. So what? She’s not attracted to men. Is that supposed to piss me off? No. Am I supposed to be disappointed? I wasn’t. What fucked me up the most was her first heart break. If it had been a boy to break her heart, I’d have sicced Malachai and Jake on him and been done with it, but it was a girl so I couldn’t do that because Jordan’s my oldest girl. What good would sending my sons to threaten a little girl do? None because I taught my boys never to lay a hand on a woman.”
“I knew that didn’t make any sense”, Reece said in disbelief. “I mean, when Jordan would talk to me about you and the rest of your family she made you out to be super supportive. She told me that you were happy that she was going to adopt Samantha’s baby. Then Davina came along and started telling me that Jordan was lying about you guys.”
“Believe what Jordan told you. Apparently Davina has something else up her sleeve.”
“It pisses me off that she would do this to me and to Jordan. More to Jordan because Jordan’s her wife. I wonder if Jordan even knows about the lies Davina’s been telling?”
David shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you.”
Brie stirred and smacked her husband. “Get still. You move around too much.” She moved around a little more and got comfortable again before going sinking back into a deep sleep.
David chuckled and kissed her hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll try to be still.”
“There’s another lie from Davina.”
“What?”
“That you two fight all the time.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. My wife and I never fight. We never really have done a lot of fighting.”
“I can’t believe this shit.”
“I think Jordan needs to know the lies that Davina’s been telling you.”
“I’ll make it a point to get in contact with her as soon as I get back to the states.”
“I don’t recommend that.”
“Why not?”
“Remember that rather long story I shortened for you?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s why. If you stick around for a couple of days, I’ll call her and let you talk to her after I tell her that I looked you up and invited you out so she doesn’t freak out.” David fell quiet for a few moments. “Can I ask you a question, Reece, and you’ll be perfectly honest with me and ignore the fact that Jordan is my daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Out of Jordan and Davina, who do you think would be the better parent to those children?”
“Jordan, hands down. She always tries to have their best interests at heart.”
“If she and Davina should get divorced, you’d go to court and testify as much?”
“Yes, I would. Jordan and I would be able to work out a visitation schedule for me to see the kids and all that good mess. Davina would take those kids, run to Tonga and I’d never see them again. I might not always be in the Springs, but when I’m there I’d like to see my children because I was raised to be an active part in the lives of any child I help create.”
David nodded. “That’s what I needed to hear. Thank you, Reece.”
“It’s nothing but the truth, David.”
“And that’s why I appreciate it so much.”
---------------
Everyone that had been sitting outside dozed off in the seats they’d been sitting in. Reece had been kind enough to step inside to grab everyone a blanket. As he relaxed in the lounge he’d been sitting in, he took in everything that he’d learned about David and Brie Draiman since meeting them at the airport. He was in disbelief that he’d been lied to so much. Hearing from David himself that he not only didn’t care that Jordan was a lesbian, but that he was upset that he could do nothing about his oldest daughter’s first heartbreak, made him question everything he’d learned from Davina about the Draiman family. There was no way such bigoted people could come from two people who were nowhere close to as bigoted as he had been told.
Is there any way to meet her brothers and sisters when I go back to the states?, he asked himself. It would clear up a lot of misconceptions. Davina described all of Jordan’s brothers to be brutes and her sisters to big roaring bitches. None of that can be true. I mean, isn’t Jordan’s twin a doctor? None of it makes sense. I hope Jordan divorces Davina so that I can testify to all of the lies the bitch has told.
And so, Reece drifted off to sleep until his children got up and woke him.
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