by Natalie Ann
“Jesse! How could you be so stupid? You haven’t even figured out your career and now you’ll never get hired if you’re pregnant. Then you’ll have to be out of work for a period of time even if you do find a job. Do you know how hard it’s going to be to find a good job and be a single parent?”
“Jessica’s not single,” Mason said, his voice harder than she’d heard before. She loved how he put emphasis on her name. Maybe her mother would stop with the childish nickname. “She has me. She doesn’t need to work at all, but if she wants to, she can. She can do whatever she wants. I’m not going to stop her and I’m not going to tell her what to do either. She’s a grown woman.”
“You have no right to make those decisions for her,” her mother said.
Jessica went to open her mouth, but Mason—who was always a slow talker—beat her to it. “I’m not making any decisions for her. She can make her own and she has. I love her and I respect her. She’s smart enough to know what she wants and to do the right thing. She doesn’t need me or you to tell her what to do.”
She was just getting ready to blast her mother when it registered what Mason had actually said. “You love me?” Jessica asked.
He turned her to face him. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t you think that?”
“Because you’ve never said it,” she told him.
“Well, neither have you,” he said.
She was crying now. Tears of happiness. “I was afraid to.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I don’t know. The past few weeks have just been crazy. I didn’t know how to broach it.”
“You just say it.”
“Then I will. I love you, Mason.”
“I love you too, Jessica.”
***
The next day, Jessica walked across the stage to get her diploma. She looked out into the crowd and found Mason right away, along with his entire family all sitting together. Surprisingly, her father was next to Mason. She wasn’t sure how that happened. Her father flew in this morning and Jessica hadn’t even seen him yet.
Knowing her father, he probably had a picture of Mason on his phone and walked around looking at everyone until he found him.
The past few weeks she’d discovered a side of her father she’d never expected but was loving it just the same.
She didn’t see her mother anywhere and wasn’t shocked. Her mother hadn’t had much to say during dinner last night. She talked, but not about much. Jessica liked to think that her mother was reevaluating Mason and their relationship, but she couldn’t be positive and she wasn’t going to ask. It wasn’t worth the headache or the stress.
In her eyes, she was happy to have almost everything she could imagine. Her mother’s approval was meaningless at this point.
Once the ceremony was done, she made her way toward Mason. He was there to lift her up and hug her tight. “I’m so proud of you! You didn’t even trip on stage.”
“It was close there for a minute.” She didn’t want to say she felt like she was going to throw up. She was afraid she’d get hungry so she ate more than she should have and that proved to be a colossal mistake.
“It’s all over with now,” he said. “Now we can go back to my parents’ for the party.”
Jolene insisted on having a party for her with family after the ceremony, saying Jessica was family now and Jolene would be insulted if Jessica said no. Since Jolene had kept her promise and not said a word about the pregnancy, the least Jessica could do was go along with it. “Dad, I see you met Mason.”
“I did,” her father said, pulling her forward and hugging her. “He said he’d give me a tour of the brewery and ship me some beer.”
Jessica shook her head. “You only came for the beer,” she said, laughing.
It amazed her how her relationship with her father had changed in the past few months. That her father had said he’d always known Jessica would make something of herself and he had all the faith in the world in it, but he was more worried about her not getting out there and experiencing life. When he found out she had a boyfriend, he became more attentive.
All those years she looked for her father’s acceptance, and she had it all along, but just never knew.
As for her mother, she doubted that would happen. But at least Jessica wasn’t so nervous about telling her father about the baby. She was going to tell him before he left. Actually, she was thinking about talking to Mason and maybe telling everyone today at the party. Doing it all at once and not waiting until after the first trimester like she’d originally told Jolene.
“The beer is a nice side benefit. Mason invited me back to his parents’ for a party. That was nice of them to put one on.”
Jessica turned to Jolene and Gavin. “It was very nice of them. They’re a great family.”
“Yes, we are,” Jolene said, causing everyone to laugh.
“Let’s go then,” Jessica said. “I’m starving.”
Epilogue
Mason and Jessica drove to his parents’ house while her parents actually rode together. She was astonished over that but didn’t question it. As long as she didn’t have to deal with her mother, she was fine.
She was actually surprised her mother decided to come after Jessica left last night to go to Mason’s. She figured her mother would watch her walk the stage, then fly back home early.
When they pulled into his parents’ driveway, she walked around to the back and saw it was all decorated with streamers and balloons and she felt her eyes fill. “Your parents shouldn’t have.”
“They wanted to,” Mason said.
She hugged Gavin and Jolene and thanked them both over and over again. Everyone came forward and congratulated her on her graduation. It felt kind of odd, but comforting too. She was still so much younger than the five of them, but in some ways, she didn’t feel it. Maybe Mason was right and it was just a number after all.
When everyone was there, Jessica turned to him and said, “What do you think about telling everyone now? Or is it not the place?”
“It’s the place. But let me start. It’s my family.”
That shocked her, but she let him go. If he was willing to get up in front and talk to people, she wasn’t stopping him.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Mason said.
The talking stopped until Cade broke the silence. “Mason wants to speak first. Wow. Jessica, what did you do to get him to want to do that?”
“She got me to love her,” Mason said. Brody and Aiden started to laugh, but their significant others only told them to hush. “I’d like to congratulate Jessica on her graduation, but I’m sure no one was surprised since she is one smart cookie. I guess I should thank my mother for finding Jessica too.” Mason paused when his mother laughed and Ella snorted loudly. “But really what I’d like to do is give her a gift.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Jessica said.
“You’ve already given me more than anyone ever has.” He got down on his knee and she thought she was going to pass out again, so he reached out and grabbed her when she swayed. “Don’t you dare go down on me again.”
“I won’t,” she said. “I think I need to sit.”
“Get her a chair,” Jolene screeched loudly. “I don’t need her hurting my grandchild.”
There was a loud gasp from Jessica’s father, but no one else reacted, or if they did, she didn’t notice, because Gavin was putting a chair behind her and pushing her down, then giving her arm a little reassuring squeeze.
“Thanks, Dad,” Mason said.
“Well, you did give me my own brew, it’s the least I could do,” Gavin said, winking.
Jessica wanted to tell them all to stop and let Mason finish what he started, but she couldn’t seem to form any words. “Mason?” she asked.
“If everyone is done interrupting.” He pulled a ring out of his pocket and grabbed her hand. “Marry me. Make me your husband. Let’s raise this child as a family. You know how much I love you
so just tell me yes.”
“Yes!” she said jumping out of the chair and hugging him.
When all the clapping settled down, she turned and looked at Jolene. “You said you weren’t going to tell anyone about the baby.”
“She didn’t,” Ella said. “The four of us knew. We always know when something major is going on, even if it’s not spoken.”
“Really?” she asked Mason.
“I didn’t tell them, I swear. But I had a feeling they’d figure it out.”
“You’re all okay with it?” Jessica asked, looking around at Mason’s family.
“Of course we are,” Ella said. “I’m going to have another niece or nephew to spoil. I hope it’s a girl. Sidney needs a playmate, right, Sidney?” Ella reached over and picked up Sidney, tossed her in the air and they both giggled.
“I love you, Mason.”
“I know, Jessica. I’ve always known. And now no one can say I don’t speak often, because I just got in front of all of you and bared my soul.”
“Don’t be baring anymore though,” Cade said. “We don’t need to see that.”
“Hush,” Jolene said. “Cade, your day will come, so be quiet.”
“I’m not sure anyone could put up with Cade,” Jessica said, and everyone laughed. Cade winked at her, letting her know she truly did belong and got that family acceptance she always wanted in life.
***
“So you don’t think my son is good enough?” Jolene asked Veronica away from the rest of the party. She’d been waiting to find the right time to give Jessica’s mother a piece of her mind.
“I never said that,” Veronica said, her back getting straighter.
“Mason said that you didn’t approve of him? Those were Jessica’s words.”
Veronica frowned. “Mason was Jesse’s first boyfriend. I had to give her some tough love. I don’t want her settling in life, and she needs to see what is out there. I guess in the end I was the one that was wrong though. That maybe Mason helped Jessica find some confidence she’d been missing most of her life.”
“My boys are good at bringing the best out in people.”
“I hope you’re right. I’d hate to see Jessica hurt like I’ve been.”
“Don’t worry about Mason. He’s the softest, gentlest of them all. Jessica is in good hands.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“I know my kids. Trust me on this.”
To be continued for...Cade Fierce
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love
Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance
The Fierce Five Series
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden
Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love
Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love
Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love
Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love
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