Moments that define us

Chapter Fourteen

Jameson

They say that church is for everyone. That you can come as you are and Jesus is just holding out his hand for you to accept. But honestly I didn't feel worthy of his acceptance, or forgiveness. But walking into that small country church, and seeing Emily talkin' to a group of kids who were hanging on her every word. It made me want to be the man I knew I could be.

She looked up at me like she just felt my presence. This girl. She took my breath away. She had her long light brown hair in lose curls down her back. She had on a modest yellow sundress, and her cowgirl boots. I had only seen her wear them a couple times, but every time she took my breath away. She wasn't done up in a lot of makeup either, and I was thankful for that. She was a natural beauty.

She whispered somethin' to the kids and walked over to me. A big beautiful smile on her face. She reached for my hand, intertwining our fingers. "Hi." She whispered. She had an adorable blush shading her little cheeks.

My chest shook with silent laughter as I pulled her in for a hug. "Hi baby." I whispered as I kissed the top of her head.

"Come on I want you to meet everyone."

She dragged me over to the kids. They seemed to be just as smitten with her as she was them. I couldn't blame them. While all the kids were making their rounds introducing themselves, someone came up behind us and cleared their throat.

I felt Emily slightly freeze beside me. I squeezed her hand, and she took a deep breath before turning to the newest arrival.

"Hannah. Hi." Emily said almost too sweetly. I got the feeling she wasn't crazy about this member.

"Hi, Emily. How have you been?" Hannah sneered at Emily. I held back my scoff.

"I'm great. Just moved back the first of summer. I work at a local doctors office, and it's going great."

Hannah gave the fakest smile, and I felt Emily's hand tighten in mine.

"Well aren't you gonna introduce me to your friend here?" The way she said friend had me thinkin' she hoped that's all Emily and I were.

Emily cleared her throat and smiled at me. "This is Jameson. He's my... boyfriend?" She said it like a question. Granted we never put titles on our relationship. I guess there was never need to.

Hannah's smile turned menacing, so I tried to save this, and get my girl away from her. I held out my hand for her the shake. "Hi, ma'am. I'm Em's boyfriend." She shook my hand. Then I turned back to Emily to ask if we should take our seats.

Church was filling out, and it wouldn't be too much longer we wouldn't have a seat. We said a quick bye to the kids and Hannah. I was thankful to be away from her.

As we sat down her parents came and set down next to us, saying a polite hello. Then the preacher got up on the pulpit to start the sermon.

I felt outta place with him talkin' about forgiveness, and about how we are called to love like Jesus. I didn't know how a person could love someone like Jesus does, but looking over at Emily and the smile on her face, while her fingers played with her mustard seed necklace made me realize that maybe loving like him was a lot like loving Emily. Pure and honest. Like she was.

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After the church service we made rounds to tell people bye. It surprised me how polite people here were. The last church I went to felt more like a cult. But here, I could see how genuine some of the people were. Maybe not everyone was authentic in their walk with the Lord, but I could tell most were.

I followed behind Emily to her parents house. I was a little nervous. I had only ever dealt with one other set of parents. While Mandy's parents loved me, they weren't around a lot, or even much involved to create an actual relationship with their daughter. Let alone me.

My palms were sweaty when I shut off the truck engine. I wiped them down my jeans, took a deep breath and got out. Emily was walkin' over my way when I got out. She had such a beautiful smile on her face. I walked over to her, grabbed her hand and pulled her into me.

"Jameso" she started, but I cut her off. I pressed my lips lightly to hers. She hesitated a minute before melting into me. She threw her arms around my neck, and pulled me even closer. Just as I went to deepen the kiss, a throat cleared behind us for the second time today.

We slowly pulled apart, and looked over at her momma watching us.

"Well goodness. Be happy it was me, and not your daddy that caught you two hangin' on to each other like that."

Emily looked down like she was embarrassed or ashamed. So I stepped forward. "I'm sorry ma'am. I couldn't help myself."

She gave me a disapproving look. "Well you better be able to help better than that. I need to know you are serious about my daughter before you haul off, get her pregnant, then leave her behind."

Emily gasped beside me, like she couldn't believe her momma had said that. Truth be told I was a little shocked by the outburst, and a little uneasy. Pregnancy talk brought up a lot of unwarranted memories.

"I assure you I would never leave her behind if somethin' like that happened. But you need to know my plans with your daughter are to wait."

Emily shook herself back to the moment, and stepped forward. She grabbed her mommas hand and gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry we got carried away. But all we have done is kiss momma. He's been a perfect gentleman."

That seemed to appease Alma for the time being. She gave a terse nod, and said she would be in the kitchen preparing lunch. For us to join in soon.

When Alma finally made it to the front porch Emily turned and looked at me. I felt slightly uneasy with that look. Didn't think I was gonna like what she had to say.

"I'm sorry momma said that to you. She believes you care about me... But she also thinks your gonna hurt me."

I didn't know what to say to that. I blew out a breath, then pulled her to my chest so I could hug her. I knew there was a chance I could hurt her. Didn't mean I wanted to though.

"I understand her lookin' out for you baby. I will do everything in my power to never hurt you."

She hugged me a little tighter, then lead me into the house. She went to the kitchen to help her momma, and her daddy asked me to sit on the back porch with him. I knew some serious man to man was fixin' to happen.

We sat in the rocking chairs staring out over the property. Em brought us each a sweet tea. I thanked her and kissed her wrist. When she left, Roger didn't hesitate to get straight to the point.

"I see the way you look at her ya know." He looked over at me, then took a sip of his sweet tea. "That girl of mine loves you. I don't reckon I ever saw her look at a man the way she does you. So here's a little advice." He paused a moment before continuing. "Treat her right, don't break her heart. You can never go wrong with flowers, but if you really screw up, make sure you don't use flowers. They are meant for beautiful moments, not broken ones. Go to church with her. Try to live right. Do right by my girl, and we won't have no problems."

I let that sink in a moment then turned to him and told him the only thing I could. "I love your daughter sir. She's beautiful and smart. I don't think the sun shines as bright as she does. I promise I will do my best to not hurt her."

He just nodded his head, and smiled. "That's enough of the heavy now. Tell me about this bull ridin' my girl has been tellin' me about."