BLOGWORDS – Wednesday 20 August 2025 –WRITING WEDNESDAY – DOUBLE DOUBLE WHO’S IN TROUBLE – GRANDFATHER and GRANDMOTHER JERNIGAN

BLOGWORDS – Wednesday 20 August  2025 –WRITING WEDNESDAY – DOUBLE DOUBLE WHO’S IN TROUBLE – GRANDFATHER and GRANDMOTHER JERNIGAN

WRITING WEDNESDAY – DOUBLE DOUBLE WHO’S IN TROUBLE – GRANDFATHER and GRANDMOTHER JERNIGAN

 

 

* cover reveal Friday 5 September

 

 

GRANDFATHER and GRANDMOTHER JERNIGAN

      The silver Beemer in the driveway, parked in front of Moe’s car, could only belong to my grandparents. And not J-Pop and Nonny. They drove a green Ford Taurus and it would have a Minnesota tag on it. This horrible car—and I have nothing against BMW—was Grandfather and Grandmother Jernigan’s pretentious car. Again, nothing against BMW; it was pretentious because it was theirs. Because they were pretentious.

      They took Jason’s side in the divorce all those years ago. Encouraged him, in fact. Jocelyn Jolly was beneath him, not good enough for him. They had found him a better—and younger—wife. She, Jessica, was society. Her family had money. That was it right there. J-Pop and Nonny did all right. But they weren’t society—and therefore, neither was Mom—and they didn’t have money.

      Grandfather owned Jernigan Real Estate, and he only contracted homes that were half a million dollars—or more. Jason had grown up knowing he would work with his father, and one day take over the company. His “tryst” with my mother was a blip in his otherwise planned-out life. That he married her let alone had kids with her was, to his parent’s thinking, the greatest mistake of his life.

 

      I looked for Grandfather and Grandmother, wondering why they were here. I wondered, too, what they’d think of chicken and hamburgers cooked on the grill. Then again, I knew they wouldn’t eat anything.

      They were off to the side, by the lilacs Mom loved so much.

      I tried to figure why they would be here. They had only ever come to this house once before. Jason may have walked out on us but we were still blood. And Joseph Jernigan had to know his progeny—yeah, I know fancy words—were being taken care of. That we wouldn’t bring disgrace to the Jernigan name. I don’t reckon we’re in his will or anything. More like we belong to him, even if it is only on account of our last name. They never approved of Mom but they had to give her credit for taking care of us. Especially since she did it without child support for six years. Yeah, Jason’s a champion like that, ain’t he.

      Still, why they were here today had me scratching my head. So to speak. I mean it’s not like we’re little kids anymore. Me and Jord are twenty-six and Jeff is twenty-eight so it’s not like it’s a milestone birthday or anything. I wondered if the old [CODGER] was sick or something and dying, and maybe he wanted to see if we should be in his will. I laughed at myself, though. Joseph Jonathan Jernigan— yeah, all the “J’s,” probably where it started. That and he married Janette Joan Jackson—wasn’t going to leave anything to me or Jord, or Jeff. He had, after all, disowned us.

      I tentatively stepped outside, looking to see who all was here.

      Great. Uncle Jared and Aunt Mary Ellen were standing with them, obviously talking about Mom, and probably everyone else there. I went the opposite direction.

      My cousin, Holly, and her husband, Tom, walked past me. Tom held out two drinks for Grandfather and Grandmother. Drinks in glasses, not a bottle of beer or anything. Holly was all career minded and was gunning for partner. Of course Grandfather would give it to her; she was his favorite.

      Robert, another cousin, and his wife, Renatta, were there, too, but they had beer bottles and acted more normal with all the other garbage humans. Robert—Robert, never Bob—was already partner but he was a people person too.

 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“I’ve always had voices—er, stories in my head. I once said I should write them all down so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!”

 

My stories are deep and dark, my characters raw and real, with a healthy helping of hope and joy, humor and laughter, and abiding and sustaining faith.

My characters struggle in some way for their identity. Their stories are their journey to know who God created them to be.

There is also a strong element of friends, family, and faith in all my stories, and the difference it makes to have such a support system.

 

 

·       unsavory heritage series—seven generations, from Cissy to Connie, each with their own secrets, one of which is ugly and unsavory, and initiates the curse they all bear

·       Seasons series—four friends, each one struggling to know the truth of just what happened when one of them plunged into the depths of the black waters of the Edisto River

·       FourSquare – Four stories about four couples who also happen to be four sets of twins.

 

 

“Maybe you have to know the darkness to truly appreciate the light.”—Madeline L’Engle

 

“There is freedom waiting for you on the breezes of the sky. And you ask, What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” —Erin Hanson

 

#Blogwords, Writing Wednesday, Robin E. Mason, Current Work in Progress, #WIP, Double Double Who’s in Trouble, FourSquare Series Book 2, Grandfather and Grandmother Jernigan, #FourSquare, #twinfiction, #twinsmarryingtwins, #twinconflict, #fictionwriter, #battleforidentity, #cominginAugust, #amwriting, #amediting, #fictionwriting, #faithfiction