Jane of Battery Park by Jaye Viner

Author:Jaye Viner [Viner, Jaye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636280110
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Published: 2021-09-14T22:00:00+00:00

The Vanguard had formed a line of confrontation to meet her as Jane came up from the basement. Only Seth remained behind them sitting at the kitchen table.

Tommy took the lead. “What were you doing in the park with that guy?” A lightning flash of fury glinted in the semi-darkness and marked shadows across Tommy’s face. Jane had never seen him so angry.

“We were just—”

“He knows who we are, doesn’t he?” Jamal shouldered past Phil to get up in Jane’s face.

“He doesn’t know anything. We’re just friends.” This admission was also a mistake. Jane wasn’t supposed to be friends with people like Daniel. Aaron looked mournful over this new evidence of Jane’s floundering.

“He’s one of them,” said Tommy.

“He’s not anything like his brother.” Jane scrambled for explanations that wouldn’t make her look even more guilty. “We just talked.” And then, desperate to remove their accusing expressions, she burst out, “I’m sorry. I know it was wrong.”

Seth rose from the table and stepped through the line of his fellow soldiers as though making a theatrical entrance on cue. He positioned himself between Jane and Aaron. “It’s okay, Rachel. Everyone makes mistakes. You had us surprised, is all.” Seth put his arm around Jane’s shoulder. “Mirt and I will drop him off at the park tonight and that will be that, okay? Just don’t talk to him again.”

Jane fell into him as hot tears of relief coursed down her cheeks. He put his arms around her, a completely enveloping full frontal hug, not the one-armed side hugs they’d always used. She smelled the Irish Spring soap he showered with, and for a moment, all she wanted to do was go home.

She thanked each one of the other soldiers for being understanding of her trespass and promised she wouldn’t do it again, even though the ‘it’ of what she’d done remained indistinct. The potential consequences if she hadn’t admitted a wrongdoing were equally unclear. Jane knew only the sweet haze of relief. Daniel would be fine. She’d lost a future with him, but she’d been delusional to want it in the first place. When she didn’t show up at the park on Monday, he would forget her, and forget this night.

Seth escorted her downtown all the way to the door of her dorm suite. Before he said goodbye, he went down on one knee and apologized for leaving her to join the army. It was an embarrassing display. He cried, said he’d been miserable without her, asked if she’d give him another chance. He talked about how worried he’d been for her at NYU, how she must be so lonely. For the first time in their relationship, it felt like he really knew her. He even used some of the same phrases Jane had been using to express her frustration to Tommy during the semester. Without Daniel as her hope for a life in the secular world, and with Seth so real and present drawing her back to the safe and familiar, Jane didn’t have the energy to say no.

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