“OK.” He tears his mouth from mine like he’s being forced to give up his ice cream before he gets to the chocolate inside the cone. “I’m getting dressed. But first, I need you to take three steps that way.” He points to the couch as I giggle and comply. God, I love this guy.
“This is it,” Jonathan states as he slows his car to a stop by the curb in front of a very modest looking brown brick, 80s style house.
“Really?” I respond, unable to hide the surprise in my voice.
“Not what you expected?”
“No,” I admit. “I expected something grand with a circular driveway and a white columned entrance.”
He lets out a laugh and reaches over to point past me. “See that tree over there? I used to climb it with my brothers and we’d throw water balloons at passers-by. When I was seven, the branch broke, and I fell down and broke my wrist. See that lemon tree? We used to pick them in the summer and eat them straight off the tree. They were sweet like lemonade.”
“This is where you grew up?”
“Yeah. I offered to buy my parents a fancy house in a fancy suburb, but they weren’t interested. They built this with their own money and raised four boys in it. They don’t want to leave.”
He looks up at the house that used to be his home and I can see the happiness it holds for him.
“You must have had a really great childhood.”
“We were ratbags. My poor mum used to run herself ragged looking after us. Joel lived over there.” He points to the slightly smaller house next door. “So even before he came to live with us, he was over all the time. Dad worked his arse off to keep us fed and clothed. But it was a great life. Lots of love and good times are in this house.”
“I understand them not wanting to leave.”
“Yeah. And I’m glad now that they didn’t,” he says, reaching over to place his hand on my stomach. “Now this little guy will get to climb trees and pick sweet lemons like his dad and uncles.”
I smile, loving this side of him. “Unless it’s a girl.”
“Even if it’s a girl. Girls like climbing and pegging lemons against a wall too.”
He leans over to kiss me just as a voice interrupts us from the left side of the car. “Hey, Jon-o. You coming in, or making out with your girlfriend? If you are, can I take some pictures? I could sell them for a few bucks, I reckon.”
Jonathan hits a button and the electric window on my side slides down to reveal a young Jonathan-look-a-like with slightly longer hair but just as charming a smile.
“How’s it going, J?” Jonathan smiles through the window. “This is Sandra. Sandra, this is my youngest brother, Jayden. You can call him ‘J’ like the rest of us do.”
“Hi,” I say in greeting as I offer him my hand and he shakes it rapidly.
“Come inside. Mum’s been cookin’ up a storm. She’s all excited that you’re bringin’ a girl home.”
I give Jayden a questioning look and he explains, “He didn’t bother bringing the last one around at all. The one before that, he hid until they were engaged and the papers told us.”
My eyebrows shoot up in an expression that I hope reads, are you serious?
In response, Jonathan shrugs and has the decency to look a little sheepish, but secretly, I’m a little happy. It means he really is serious about me if he’s bringing me to meet his family of his own free will.
“Let’s go inside,” he says. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of them.”
We get out of the car and he clasps my hand, entwining our fingers securely as he leads me into the house with Jayden regaling us with tales of his latest football match and how his team stormed the field and won against a supposedly unbeatable team.
“Union and surfing are his two favourite things besides women,” Jonathan tells me as an aside when we make it to the front door and Jayden yells that we’re here. I smile because Jayden is so much like Jonathan it’s uncanny. They have the same thirst for life.
As we walk through the door, I’m pleased to see comfortable surroundings that are really similar to Jonathan’s place. On the walls are photos upon photos of family memories. As I take a quick sweep of the images, it’s hard for me to tell which brother is which because they all look so much alike.
Still holding my hand, Jonathan takes me with him, following Jayden through to the kitchen and dining area where the rest of his family are busy either eating or preparing food.
“Hello!” his mother calls, rushing over to greet us. She hugs Jonathan like she hardly sees him then turns to me with happy, shining eyes. “I’m so happy to meet you.”
“You too,” I say and suddenly we’re swept up in a chorus of greeting, hugging and backslapping between each member of the family.
“It’s good to see you here,” Joel says as he embraces me like we’re long-lost friends. Everyone embraces me, and I’m overcome with emotion because this was really unexpected. I love my family, but we’re very small and quite reserved. This rambunctious lot have immediately exceeded my expectations by welcoming me like I already belong.
Jonathan takes my hand as the family recedes before he takes the floor. “Now That you’ve met Sandra, I should probably let her know who the hell you lot are.” They laugh as he turns to me with a smile. “This is my middle brother, Coop, or Cooper if you want to be formal.” Coop is another Jonathan clone. I tell him hello and shake his hand politely. “This is my dad, Bill,” he continues.
“Short for ‘William’,” I assume with a smile, and Bill lets out a chuckle as he takes my hand and leans in to kiss my cheek.
“She catches on good this one. Nice to meet you, sweetheart,” he booms, his salt and pepper hair flopping about his stubbled face as his blue eyes shine down at me welcomingly.
“You already know Jayden and Joel”—they both salute or nod—“And this,” Jonathan says with the biggest grin of all, “is my mother, Molly. There’s no long or short of her name. She’s just ‘Molly’. Someone tried to call her ‘Mols’ once and they got slapped for it, so no one changes her name anymore.” Jonathan gives me a wink as Molly draws me against her short soft body in a warm hug.
“Molly is actually short for Margaret, but I won’t answer if you call me that.” She smiles, and I see that she too, has blue eyes and her slightly greying hair still has a healthy mix of blonde in there, making it unnecessary for any sort of colouring.
“You got here just in time, son,” Bill says to Jonathan with a clap on his back. “We’re just about to fire up the barbie. You can help check the gas lines before we start.”
He nods and gently squeezes my hand before releasing me with a kiss to the side of my head.
“Please don’t set any of the trees on fire this time,” Molly calls out after them as they all file out of the kitchen leaving their mother and me on our own. “They’re a menace to society with that barbeque,” she comments, craning her neck to see what they’re doing. “I swear, when they get together they barely have a full brain between them.”
Smiling, I watch through the window as Jonathan puts one of his brothers in a headlock and rubs his knuckles on the top of his head. Then Joel does some ninja move that turns them into a scrum on the grass with Bill yelling that he’ll turn the hose on them if they don’t get up. They’re all smiling and laughing so much that it fills my heart. It hits me how utterly wrong the media is about Jonathan. The man he is with his family, and the man he is with me, is the real him, the rest is a persona, and I’m beginning to feel very blessed to be a part of the warm, caring and fun loving man that is the real Jonathan Masters.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask, turning away from the window to find Molly watching me with slight amusement as if she was just reading my thoughts.
She doesn’t comment though, she simply points to the other side of the bench and answers my question. “Sure. Why don’t you grab those tomatoes over there and get cutting?”
I do as she says, being careful not to squish the tomatoes and
get them all over my dress. “How many should I do?”
“The whole bag,” she answers, bustling about the kitchen herself.
“How many people are coming?”
“Oh, it’s just us. But when you see those boys eat, you’ll understand the need for all this food.” She smiles, placing a tray of meat on the counter before washing her hands then picking up two heads of lettuce and shifting to the sink.
“Jonathan said you took Joel in when he was seventeen,” I say, trying to make conversation.
She shrugs. “He needed a home. We had one. It felt like the decent thing to do.”
“I commend you. Not many people would do something like that. You must have a big heart.”
Tearing lettuce with her hands, she smiles at her thoughts. “They all have big hearts, and they’re all fiercely protective of each other.”
“I love how well they get along. You don’t see that closeness in grown siblings often.”
“Do you have siblings?”
“No. I’m an only child. But I’m close to my parents. I never went through that rebellion most teen girls do. They were always my favourite people.”
“That’s lovely. You’ve got a strong family background then.”
“I do.” I flash her a smile as I scoop the tomatoes into the bowl.
“How long have you and my son been together?” she asks after a while. “The papers have shown you with another man. But if you’re here, I’m guessing he’s out of the picture.”
My cheeks redden. “I met him before Jonathan, and we went out a couple of times. But it didn’t turn into anything. Your son very thoroughly swept me off my feet.”
“Are you pregnant?”
“Pregnant?” My eyes bug out, and I almost choke from the surprise of her abrupt question. “What makes you ask that?”
“Because you’re here. Jonathan never brings girls home. The fact he has means he’s either very serious about you, or you’re pregnant.”
“He is serious about me,” I say, trying to sidestep the pregnancy question until Jonathan is with me. “I’m serious about him.”
“So, you’re in love with him?”
“Yes.” My voice is almost a whisper now.
“And he’s in love with you?”
“I believe so.”
“Has he said as much?”
“He has.”
“And you’re aware of my son’s reputation?”
“Yes. I know all about it.” Gee, Jonathan wasn’t lying when he said his mother would be a harder interrogator than mine. I’m wondering if the welcoming embrace was just an act. Jonathan had to get his talent from somewhere…
“Then why are you with him?” What?
I frown. “How can you say that about your son? Just because he’s made mistakes in the past, doesn’t mean he’s incapable of having a lasting relationship now. He’s grown since his relationship with Leisel. He’s learned from his association with Marnie. Now he wants something more. He wants me. And I want him. And if you’re going to stand there and insinuate that what’s between us is sordid or temporary then I challenge you to go and say it to your son’s face. He thinks the sun rises and sets with you and it would break his heart to know you thought so little of him. I happen to think Jonathan is the most loyal and trustworthy man I’ve ever met besides my own father. He loves me and I love him, and I will not stand here and listen to you putting him down. Shame on you, Mrs Masters. Jonathan deserves better.”
With an impassive expression, she takes a moment to study my face as if she’s reading my intentions on the surface of my skin. Then she nods like I didn’t just give her a blast and continues with the salad. I’m shaking.
“He has it in him, you know,” she says finally. “The ability to be faithful. He was just too young for a commitment like that before.” She rinses the lettuce underneath some running water. “I’ve always thought that all he needed was to find that one woman who makes him forget about all others. Then he’d settle down for good and become the man I know he can be.”
“I believe that too.” I offer a kind smile as I hold out the salad spinner for her to place the loose leaves in.
“I’m glad. You must be very special, you know. Especially if he’s bringing you around this soon. He never introduces us to his girls unless he absolutely has to. We met the Marx girl after they were already engaged and the papers found out, and he wouldn’t even let us talk to that DeLuca woman he was supposedly with after that. Pfft. A publicity stunt,” she mutters. “I’ve never heard of something so absurd in my life.”
“It happens all the time, unfortunately. Celebrities fake relationships for the sake of the cameras, but in private they have nothing to do with each other.”
“It’s not something I condone at all,” she titches, just as the noise from outside comes nearer the house and the first person inside is Jonathan.
Rubbing his hands together, dusting off imaginary dirt, he looks between his mother and me. “Getting along I hope?”
“I like her Jonathan. You can relax,” Molly says, turning to me and giving me a wink to let me know I passed. A sense of relief washes over me and I smile before looking to Jonathan. I can see the relief on his face as well. I realise how huge this meeting was for the both of us. His family is a really important part of his life and if I’m going to be with him, I need to fit in. Thankfully, it seems I do.
“Did you tell her anything?” he whispers as he leans past me and snatches up some tomato.
I shake my head. “She asked though.”
“And?”
“I deflected.”
“Good work.”
“Oh, stop your canoodling, you two. Let’s get this stuff carried outside so we can enjoy the sun,” Molly says as she picks up the salad bowl and points Jonathan to a basket of bread rolls. “The weather’s been god awful lately. What do your parent’s do, Sandra?” She walks ahead, expecting us to follow her out.
“Oh, my mum is a domestic goddess,” I say, catching Jonathan’s smirk as I borrow his term. “And my dad is a semi-retired engineer. He’s supposed to be fully retired, but he keeps picking up projects.”
“That’s interesting. And you’re a journalist?”
“That’s right.”
“She works for Voyeur, Mum,” Jonathan puts in. “That magazine that refuses to print gossip.”
“Ah, she has integrity.”
“I don’t believe in spreading rumours,” I say as we set everything on the table.
“We need more in this world like that,” she says before turning and yelling to Bill to ask how long the meat will be. When he says about fifteen minutes, Molly turns to me and offers me a beer or a wine spritzer.
I’m painfully aware that my answer could give us away, so it takes me a second to respond. Thankfully, Jonathan jumps to my rescue. “She’s our designated driver, Mum. But I’ll have a beer.”
The rest of the afternoon is filled with a mountain of food that besides a bit of bread and salad, gets eaten, a rugby match in the backyard, and a hell of a lot of male bonding and embarrassing story telling.
Being told about the time when he tried to kiss their neighbour when they both had braces and got fused together, makes it almost possible to forget that Jonathan is this international heart throb who makes millions of dollars.
Surrounded by his family, Jonathan seems like the most normal man I’ve known. They tease him about his poor fashion decisions and for spending too much time in front of the mirror practicing lines. Then they regale me with stories of his generosity because he shares everything he’s earned with his family while also giving money to animal shelters and children’s charities. During this time, Jonathan slides his arm around my chair and leans in close to comment on his side of each story. He talks himself up when they poke fun and talks himself down when they praise. And the entire time, I feel myself growing closer and falling deeper.
I observe the close bond this family shares, and I hear his mother’s wo
rds from earlier in my mind. He does have the ability to love and be faithful. I just need to trust him. And I do. I trust that his feelings towards me are real. I trust that he loves me with everything he has.
“You are so full of it,” Jonathan says to Coop, laughing as he tears off a piece of bread and throws it at his brother.
“I’m not. Ask Jayden, he was there.” Coop picks up his own bread to return the attack. A new bit of food sails across the table and hits Cooper in the side of the head.
“Yeah, I was there,” Jayden says. “And you are full of shit. Belle dumped you.”
Cooper scowls and throws tomato at Jayden who dodges.
Joel laughs. “That’s what you get for playing games, bro.”
“It was working fine,” Cooper sulks, throwing more bread, this time heading for Joel who catches it and eats it.
“Sure. Until she got sick of you and dumped your arse.” Jayden cackles and that small bread battle turns into a full on food fight.
I join in, squealing as lettuce hits me in the face and Molly yells for everyone to stop, even though she’s laughing too. Her protests just ensure that the food is thrown in her direction.
“You’re all Neanderthals.” She laughs, using her plate as a shield.
As the battle grows and the noise escalates, Jonathan catches my eye and we both just…stop, and it feels like the world stops around us too. Then he kisses me; he wraps his arms around me as food continues to hit us and he takes my mouth in his, and kisses me in this deep, loving way that fills my heart and makes me sure.
It’s in this moment I know, from this day onwards, I will never love another man the way I love this one.
His mother said that Jonathan just needed to find the right woman to become the man he was meant to be. I guess we can say the same about me. For me to change, for me to trust and give my heart, I needed to find the right man, and that man is kissing me without restraint while his entire family looks on.
Thirty
Jonathan
Star (Beautiful Book 5) Page 18