One Last Cry :: Part Three .:. Back At OneOne Last Cry: Part Three -- Back At One
I can’t believe it. Three years in the making, this day has finally come. After months of planning, here Justin and I stood in St. Bart’s Cathedral, saying our ‘I do’s’.
“Do you Justin Randall Timberlake, promise to love and cherish Jeannie Nicole Harper in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her for so long as you both shall live?”
He looked at me with those crystal blue eyes, giving me that smile I knew all too well, and said, “Yes sir, I do”
“Do you Jeannie Nicole Harper, promise to love and cherish Justin Randall Timberlake in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him for so long as you both shall live?”
We were holding hands, and I was on the verge of tears. I was so lost in the moment that I forgot that it was my turn to say “I do”. Justin snapped me out of my trance by squeezing my hands.
“Oh right, sorry” I smiled sheepishly at the priest, “I do”
Father Sam smiled at me and nodded his head. “May we have the rings please.”
Justin turned to Trace, and I turned to Allison. Father Sam looked at Justin and signalled for him to go on. Holding my left hand in his, he slipped the platinum band on my finger while saying, “With this ring I thee wed.”
Father Sam turned to me, with a smile, giving me my cue. I took his left hand and with shaking hands, slipped his ring on his finger. “With this ring I thee—“ my voice cracked. This was a very emotional day for me! You try standing in front of Justin Timberlake, mere seconds away from being official husband and wife, oh and did I mention he was looking exceptionally fine in his white tuxedo? It’s hard enough trying to remain standing, never mind speaking. Everyone in the pews, along with Justin, the whole entourage and the priest chuckled lightly at my nervousness. I cleared my throat—a habit I had picked up from Justin, and started over. “With this ring, I thee wed”.
Father Sam smiled proudly, or maybe he was glad that it was done, either way, it was a happy smile. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
Everyone cheered as the priest presented us as Mr. And Mrs. Justin and Jeannie Timberlake. We walked down the aisle, and were showered by deep red rose petals. The church doors opened and there was an even bigger crowd waiting for us. Cameras began flashing, but who really cared? Nothing could bring us down that day. We walked down the steps, into the awaiting limo that would take us to the reception hall.
That was a great night. JC, Chris, Joey and Lance decided to play a trick on Justin by catching him off guard and trying to strip him down to his boxers in the middle of the dance floor. Needless to say, Justin was very, very surprised. That look on his face was priceless.
We had to leave the party early because Justin said that our plane, going to a surprise location, was leaving at midnight. We went around saying our goodbyes and thank you’s, and before we left, Lynn pulled me aside and said, “I’m very proud to have you as my daughter in law. I can’t see Justin with anyone other than you, now you take good care of him…”
“I will” I smiled.
Then she added, “So when are you gonna give me some grandchildren?”
Justin decided to break up our conversation; “Mom, as much as I love you, we have a plane to catch” he hugged and kissed her, before taking my hand and ‘whisking me away’.
Our undisclosed honeymoon destination was The Bahamas. It was paradise. Beautiful blue water, palm trees, coconut drinks…I really couldn’t ask for more.
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A year later, Lynn finally got her grandchild. A beautiful baby girl named Grace Marie Timberlake, Gracie for short. She had Justin’s crystal blue eyes, his curly hair, my smile and my nose. She was perfect in every way shape and form.
I was sitting with her in my arms, singing her to sleep in her pastel pink nursery. I was singing “Nothin’ Else” when I noticed Justin leaning against the doorframe with a grin.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to hear you sing.” He smiled while pushing himself off the doorframe and made his way towards us, singing, “There’s nothin’ else, that I have seen, there’s no getting around it or in between, you’re out of this world except you’re not green, you don’t know, what you mean to me…” he bent down and kissed Gracie’s forehead, then he gave me quick kiss on the lips.
“I think it sounds better when I sing it” I joked.
“I would have to agree” I rolled my eyes at his cheesiness. He focused his attention back to Gracie. I had to smile. He was such a wonderful father, and watching him interact with her, was amazing. With a simple touch, he could make her smile, coo, giggle… anything.
“Hey,” I said softly, while running my fingers through his short curls, “How’s the new album coming along?” Since “Justified” did really well last year, Jive had offered him a second contract to follow up a new record. Since Gracie was born, he never wanted to be away from us, so he had his own recording studio built in the pool house. I told him to put it together in the basement, but he said that it would be too noisy for Gracie, and that he’d constantly be distracted, so we agreed the pool house was far enough to not be a bother, but close enough that he didn’t have to leave the property.
“It’s coming along great. I’m working on a song I wrote about Gracie right now, it’s called ‘No Wonder’” he beamed with pride as he talked about this song. “And you know, as soon as this angel starts talking, and by talking, I mean making audible noises, I was thinkin’ we could do a little collaboration, like Eminem did with his daughter, except without the cursing and coke snortin’”
“You know, you spoil her too much. I’d like our daughter to go to school as a normal child, not a diva. Just because her daddy’s a famous white boy…” I trailed off, because I realized that he was staring at me. “What?” I smiled.
He cocked his head to the side, and gave me his trademark smile, “You’re so beautiful, you know that?”
What a charmer. “You’re a dork, did you know that?” I said very matter-of-factly.
He got up and scratched his chin, “But I’m a pretty fly dork, and you gotta admit…my booty’s pretty fine too!” What a guy, I chuckled lightly, and rolled my eyes.
I looked down at Gracie, and saw that she had already fallen asleep, so I got up out of the rocking chair and gently laid her down in her crib. Not wanting her to wake up, I shoved Justin out of the nursery, and closed the door behind me.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, your booty’s fly, go on, don’t you have recording to do?”
“Baby, my booty ain’t fly, it’s fine, damn fine!” he stuck his butt out, and pretended to rub it. “Say it baby, it’s damn fine! Go on, touch it!”
“Oh my God, you’re insane, I am not going to touch your butt,”
“Come on baby, you sure liked it last night, go on, touch it!”
“You know what, Mr. Ghetto Fabulous,” I slapped his butt, just to get it over with, “There, you happy now?”
“Very.” He grabbed my waist, and pulled me to him, and pressed his lips to mine. Sudden, but sexy. I always loved his spontaneous side. He slowly pushed me back until my back pressed against the hallway wall. Intertwining his fingers through mine, he pinned my arms above my head, while he moved his lips from my mouth to my neck. Then, just as I was trying to get his shirt off, he pulled away.
A little annoyed at his actions, and majorly out of breath, I said, “Wh-what’d you do that for?”
He stood there, grinning while rubbing his bottom lip back and forth with his finger, “I gotta leave you with a little something to look forward to later on, don’t I?”
My jaw dropped, what a—“you are such a tease”
“I know, and you love me for it” he gave me a quick kiss, before heading down the stairs, “I’ll be at the house for a little bit, I just need some quiet writing time, love you”. Just like that, he was out the door. “Quiet writing time” usually meant that he needed to get some stuff off his chest, and onto paper. It was like a meditation for him to sit in his dimly lit studio writing, or fiddling with his guitar or playing the piano for a medley. He would spend 5 days a week in there, and he’d always be in for hours at a time. Another rule he had was that he have no interruptions; no phone calls, no pages, nothing. Not even I was allowed in there. I don’t mind though because after a few weeks, he lets me hear some of this tracks, and well, all that quiet time definitely does him good if he can put out something sounding so amazing like that. They say creative minds don’t need much light, because they’ve already got the light inside them. Well, that’s exactly what Justin was. Well, with Gracie fast asleep, and Justin at the house, I went into the kitchen to keep myself busy.
A few hours had gone by, and I just happened to have made a cheesesteak and fries, Justin’s favorite. Since he’d been at the house for 2 hours now, I decided on bringing over the food, plus, I don’t think he had anything to eat this morning, so he’s got to be hungry by now. I grabbed the plate and a glass of soda and within seconds I was out the front door, and making my way to the house.
It was about a 2-minute walk, if you can even call it that, it was like taking two steps and you were there, but that’s beside the point. Trying to balance a plate full of food and a glass of soda in one hand, I managed to get the door open, but nothing could prepare me for what I saw; a brunette, THE brunette, buck naked, straddling a buck naked Justin on the couch. In my state of shock, I dropped the plate and the glass, making a loud shattering noise. That caught their attention. I heard Justin whisper, “Shit”, followed by “baby, I can explain” but I was damned if I gave him another chance. I ran out the studio, and into the house as fast as I could, with tears stinging my eyes.
Unbelievable…just fucking unbelievable. I could hear him calling after me, but I just kept running. After everything, after all the promises, after the vows and Gracie, this is how he treats his family. I ran up the stairs, into Gracie’s nursery, and picked her up, trying not to wake her up, I placed her in her car seat. I pulled out as many of Gracie’s clothes from her dresser, and brought it along with her into our room. I grabbed the biggest suitcase I could find, and stuffed as many clothes that I could fit. We were quickly joined by the king bastard himself.
“Jeannie, baby, come on, don’t do this again. Please, that, what you saw, I swear it won’t happen again…Jeannie, come on, put the clothes back…” he walked towards me, trying to take the clothes from the suitcase, but I quickly snapped at him.
“Don’t fucking touch me. Or Gracie. Don’t even get near me.” I yelled, “You had your chance Justin, you really did. And to think I believed that our family was perfect. It just wasn’t enough for you was it?! What, you didn’t get the thrill of being a badass when you were fucking me?”
“Jeannie, you know it was never just ‘fucking’ with you…”
“Like shit it wasn’t. It’s not called ‘making love’ when then next minute you’re gone getting off on another girl, or no, I take that back, she ain’t no girl, she’s a full fledged slut.” I had just about enough of him. I didn’t fill the suitcase up, but it had to suffice. I quickly zipped it up, and lifted Gracie in the car seat off the bed, and walked out, dragging the suitcase behind me. This feeling seemed all too familiar, which made it hurt 10 times more. Although, maybe I was just used to it, or numb to it, but as much as it hurt, I felt no need to shed anymore tears. Maybe I was all cried out. Hmm…I guess I’ll never know.
Even down the hall, and down the stairs, all the way to my car, Justin was following me, rambling on and on about how he would change, how it was the last time he was planning on ever seeing her, how he had just broken it off, but then she came back, not wanting to let him go. Bull.Shit.
I strapped Gracie’s car seat in the back seat of the same Mercedes Benz, and turned to face Justin who by now already had some tearstains on his cheeks. Good acting skills buddy!
“Jeannie please, I’m begging you, don’t do this. I need you and Gracie, you’re my life, I-I-“ he dropped to his knees, and hugged my waist, pressing his face to my stomach, “Jeannie PLEASE!” his sobs getting louder.
I grabbed his arms from around my waist, and pushed him away. “Tell me this Justin, do remember when the priest asked you ‘Do you Justin Randall Timberlake, promise to love and cherish Jeannie Nicole Harper in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her for so long as you both shall live’ and you said ‘I do’? I don’t know about you, but I took that seriously. But obviously, you listened only up to the ‘forsaking all others, keeping yourself only unto me’ part. That’s just too damn bad.”
I got into the driver’s seat, and slammed the door shut, making sure I rolled down the window to send a final knife in his heart, “I want you to take one last look at OUR daughter, because I can assure you it’ll be the last time you’ll ever get to see her. Our marriage is over. You’ll be hearing from my lawyers next week. Give Stacey my regards, oh and don’t forget to tell your little mistress to clean up that awful mess in your studio, I would hate for it to rot, like you will in hell. Have a nice day!” Without looking back, I drove out of the driveway, out of Justin Timberlake’s life, and away from place that housed all the lies and pain I’ve ever endured with Justin.
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Justin and I have been divorced for over a year and a half now. Thanks to the huge settlement I received from the divorce, I was able to buy a new house for me and Gracie, with enough money left over to put my baby through college, and then some. I haven’t really talked to Justin about his life since the divorce was finalized, but last I heard, he sold the house, and bought a smaller penthouse. Sure there have been rumours about him and other women, and rumours about him being an alcoholic, but at this point in my life, I really couldn’t care less. As much as I didn’t want Justin to be part of Gracie’s life, it was virtually impossible to take Gracie out of his, so we agreed on Sunday supervised visitations. Every time I look at Gracie, I can’t help but notice how much of an influence Justin already is in her life. She needs Justin in her life all the time, and so do I, but would I ever admit that to anyone else? Not a chance.
