Growing Love

4

Jenny

We all sat in an awkward and uncomfortable silence. It was me, and Izzy on the two sitter. Val on a single chair. Katherina and her family on the long couch. Everyone had their eyes on Val, who was just sitting there sipping her tea!

"I'm sorry. Who are you to Carter?" I think her eye twitched. Did it twitch?!

"His mother in law." I think both Katherina and her mother's eyes twitched too. Me and Izzy are so close to each other, our hairs might as well be making a chocolate and strawberry swirl.

"I see. And what brings you by Mrs?"

"Valkyrie Kingman. Call me Valkyrie." The looks on their faces when they heard her name was priceless! But the look on Izzy's was even more.

"You act like you didn't already know." I whispered in her ear. She leaned over and whispered in mine.

"It's not that. Val always tells people to call her 'Val' when she wants to be polite. Right now you can see that she's pissed." She's right! Her face may seem nice and sweet. But her eyes look ready to kill.

"Valkyrie. To what do we owe this visit?" Dirty bastard is obviously checking Val out. But you can't blame him. Long brown hair, charcoal gray eyes, clear skin, slender and curvy body. Val is a total knock out. Where Mrs. Harrison looks like she's seen the bitter end of the knife. Her face has way too much make-up on. Even Katherina, as much as I hate to admit it, looks better than her mom. You can kind of see why Carter would be attracted to her. She's a beauty. But too bad it's all exterior.

"I understand that you wish to attended my grandsons birthday celebration tomorrow." I didn't miss the slight smirk as she said her grandson.

"He is our grandson, and he should be here. He is a Harrison, not a McClain." I'm about to kill this lady. Thankfully Izzy is holding me down. But I can tell she wants to do the same.

"While I will admit that Katherina is the birth mother. She has given and signed away all rights to Nicholas. However. I myself am still a mother, and can sympathies with wanting to see your own son." She pulls out an invitation, and I think mine and Izzy's jaws hit the floor. "The party is tomorrow at three. You are welcome to come. But do know, I do not guarantee that you will be able to hold Nicholas. Let alone be alone with him. Carter hardly likes him being more than two steps away from him. I doubt he will let you near his son. But never the less. You may come. Girls?"

"Yes ma'am?" I'm scared. I'm not gonna lie. I almost peed myself when she looked at us.

"Let's go. We are done here." She got up, and started making her way to the door. We followed, after sending Katherina some nasty glares first. We got into Val's car, and thankfully she drove normally this time.

"Val. With all due respect. Why in the hell did you invite them?!"

"Jenny's right. The point is to keep them away from Nick. Not invite them in and give them cake." She didn't speak for a while. Just kept on driving with this knowing smile on her face.

"Girls. Trust me on what I just did. I know exactly what I am doing." We drove in silence after that. The only thing that was on my mind now was, Carter's gonna be pissed.
______________________________________

Sure enough, he was pissed. He ran outside and mashed up a few things, destroying half the tables and decorations. It was actually a little funny. He slipped on a few of them, but kept on mashing things. Can you say 'hulk smash'? All the while, Val held Nick and just played with his hands.

"Why?!" I have never seen Carter this pissed. He was red in the face, shaking. His breathing was harsh, and he looked ready to kill. And with his body and strength, he just might. "Why would you invite them, when you know I want to keep her away from him!"

"What's going on?!" Charles and Alastor are able to walk on their own now, but they are still taking time off to rest.

"Val invited Katherina and her parents tomorrow." He was still shaking, and he tossed a chair into the pool.

"Love, why would you do that?" Alastor was looking at Val, but she still had a calm smile on her face.

"Alastor, when have you known me to be wrong about things like this?" She looked at him, and he seemed to think.

"Never."

"Exactly." She handed Nick to Charles, and looked out at the destroyed backyard. Carter was now sitting on one of the chairs, head in his hands. Surrounded by popped balloons and smashed decorations. "I never interfere with this family's affairs, unless I have thought everything through. I have a plan, and it is already in motion. I cannot say what it is, because the less you all know the better. Trust me. I am the one that thought of Carter and Ethan. You think Alastor and Charles thought of it?" With that, she walked inside. We looked to Charles and Alastor, who both seemed embarrassed.

"I love that woman. But she terrifies me when she gets like this." I guess we can see who Ethan took more from. A scary devil with an angelic face. Go figure.

"However, she's telling the truth. The idea of merging the company by marrying Ethan to Carter was Val's idea. She Carter in secret a few times, and she said she felt a connection, and that the idea would work for everyone. And she's right." We didn't say anything after that. Just looked at the direction Val went towards, and then went our separate ways.

I went to mine and Marcus' room, and laid down. I turned to my side, and thought of everything that's happened. This family has been through so much, but we are all still together. We only seem to get closer and closer with everything that happens. And we just seem to keep growing and growing. It started of with just me, James and Carter. James moved out at a few months after he turned eighteen, and I went with him. Our parents wanted to travel and see the world, so we let them. I brought Marcus in a while later. Then, Carter got Ethan. And with him came Val and Alastor, and they helped bring Charles back into the mix. Carter then brings Freddy, who helped Carter and Ethan bing Nick and Izzy in. And now Freddy and James helped bring Mickey in.

The strangest thing is. I don't feel like it's enough. I feel like this family still has so much more room to love, and so many of us with enough love to give.

"Jenny, my love?" I didn't even know I had fallen asleep. I woke up to Marcus looking at me with worried eyes. "Love what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He picked me up, and placed me between his legs while he rested his back on the wall. I wiped under my eyes, and looked at him.

"I was just dreaming."

"About?" He ran his fingers through my hair, and started braiding it.

"This family, us. I remembered when it only used to be me,my parents, my brother and Carter. Then I met you, and slowly my family started to grow." He wrapped his arms around me, and I looked at how big and strong they were. I still remembered how shocked I was to learn he was born a girl. But that didn't change the way I felt about him. "Marcus?"

"Hm?" He had his head resting on top of mine. His steady breathing calming me down.

"I love you." He pulled my chin up, and placed a slow and passionate kiss on my lips. It still sends butterflies to my stomach. He pulled back, and looked at me. His pale blue eyes holding so much love.

"I love you too Jenny." I love this man, and I want to continue to grow with him, and this family. So I pray this craziness ends soon, so we can all have more moments like this.