Chapter Fifteen
The next day, Rosalie thought about how to approach Jaden and convince him to take up the case of the man whom Jade loved. She realised that she had forgotten to ask his name and details. Without knowing anything about him, she couldn't convince Jaden.
In the afternoon, Jade visited her on her way back from college.
"Have lunch with me, Jade?" Rosalie asked. She had eaten a small meal at around 11:30 and wasn't hungry around lunch time. So she decided to have a late lunch.
"Sure, thanks," said Jade. They sat down at the table and Betty served them lunch.
"Did you tell bro?" Asked Jade, hopefully.
"I will tonight but you need to give me some details about him," she told Jade.
"His name's Dustin Moore. He runs his restaurant 'Jenny's Restaurant and Bar' at the marketplace here in Travis Springs. His grandma Jenny helps him run it. They are honest, hard working people Rosalie. He's as old as Jaden. They were classmates in school. Dustin's parents died and he dropped out. He and his grandma started this restaurant at their home," Jade told her.
"Oh. What happened to him? How he was convicted of murder?" Asked Rosalie.
"Three drunken men had come over to his bar. They started a brawl amongst themselves. It was a nasty fight. One of them had a pistol. Dustin tried to separate them. One with the pistol fired a shot at his friend who died on the spot. Before Dustin could react, the actual 0placed the gun in Dustin's hands and escaped the scene. The police arrested Dustin. The man who actually did it had political connections and escaped," said Jade, unhappily.
"Ok, I will talk to Jaden tonight. Don't worry," Rosalie promised.
They ate lunch and talked about Jaden's dad's health and Jade's studies. Jade left after lunch and Rosalie went up to her room to research about her organic farm.
Jaden had already registered her company and they would go to buy seeds and hire labourers to get the soil prepared for planting their first batch of produce. Then harvesting and packaging.
Jaden had a packaging design and logo made from the office computer team. Then they would deliver to people as free samples to let them get a taste of their stuff. They would keep some of the first batch for free distribution. Later when the sales pick up, they would have their own sales outlet.
Satisfied with the way things were shaping up, Rosalie went to sleep. Her first ultrasound was coming up and she couldn't wait to hear her baby's heartbeats. She also wanted to know whether she really was expecting twins.
In the evening Jaden came home when she was chatting with her dad and the boys. The divorce case hearing was due next week. They would come home after that. The wedding was fixed after three weeks.
Jaden freshened up and came down. Rosalie served them dinner. After dinner, they went up to their bedroom.
"Jaden, do you know Dustin Moore?" She asked him.
He looked at her with a vague expression. "Yeah, he was my classmate. He used to run a restaurant at the marketplace. He murdered a man and is rotting in jail," he said with a blank face.
"He didn't murder the man. How can you conclude? Did you witness the murder?" Asked Rosalie.
"Why are you supporting his case so much? Don't tell me that you have fallen in love with him," he said, frowning.
"Don't be ridiculous. It's not me, Jade loves him," she said.
"It's nothing serious, just a crush. Dustin is a criminal and Jade should get over him," he said, turning his face towards his mobile with frustration.
"Jaden, how can you say so? For 4 long years she's loved the guy. Didn't you ever notice the sadness in her soul? What if Jennifer murdered Mr McAllister and convicted me? What if I would have been in jail for 15 years on false charges? Would you forget me?" Said Rosalie.
"Never, I would knock every possible option and get you released," said Jaden with a fierce conviction.
"Then do so for Dustin too, please. Do you think Jade will love and marry another in this lifetime? All you siblings are happy and settled. Don't you want the same for your little sister? Don't you want her to be happily settled with the love of her life?" Said Rosalie, with tears in her eyes. Why couldn't Jaden see how important this was for Jade?
"Don't cry love. Of course I want Jade to be happy. If her happiness lies with Dustin, then I'll see what I can do about it. Don't stress yourself please. It's not good for you and our baby," said Jaden with concern written all over his face.
"Tell Jayson to take up his case, please, " said Rosalie.
"I'll first have the incident investigated and then approach Jayson with evidence and facts. But it will take time as the incident occurred 4 years back," he told her.
"Thank you Jaden. At least we can try," she said, snuggling into him. "I can't imagine what I would have done had I been in Jade's place. I would have died without you Jaden. I must say that Jade is very strong," she said.
"I didn't know. She never told me, she loves him. I'm so happy that she trusted you enough to talk about her problems. We all know she's depressed but didn't know why," he said.
They talked for some more time and ultimately went off to sleep.
The next day was very important for both Jaden and Rosalie. They had an ultrasound appointment in the evening and were excited to hear their baby's heartbeat for the first time.
"I'll come home in the afternoon and then leave for the hospital together. Ok?" Said Jaden as Rosalie nodded. Jaden went to work.
He called his Private Investigator, Robert Harrison, who had helped him find Rosalie. He asked him to investigate exactly what happened at Dustin Moore's bar cum restaurant the night of the murder and collect as much evidence as he could.
In the afternoon, he went home excitedly. Rosalie was ready to leave. They went to the hospital. There was a long queue of patients awaiting their ultrasound tests. When it was Rosalie's turn they went inside.
"Can you hear the heartbeats?" Asked the sonographer as she placed the sensor on her belly.
"Yeah, it's the best thing I've ever heard," said Jaden and Rosalie agreed. They heard their baby's heartbeats with rapturous excitement.
Wait, I think you have two babies in there, Rosalie. Hear that? It's two sets of heartbeats, " she informed them and they cried with happiness.
"Congratulations, you have twins," she said as they left the sonography room.
They were too excited and happy. It was evening already and a storm was brewing up in the distant horizon. The gust of wind every now and then was picking up speed, sweeping away all the dust in its wake.
"A dust storm is approaching, let's hurry home," he said, driving a little faster to reach home before the storm catches up.
They thankfully reached home, and went inside the huge wrought iron gates to park the car.
"Whose car is that?" Asked Rosalie as they looked at a white GMC Sierra parked beside the main door.
"Don't know. I've never seen it before," said Jaden, staring at the unknown car.
