Unbreakable

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Family Welcomes

“Jeremy how long have you and your wife been together. I don’t remember you mentioning you had been married the last time I saw you,” his great aunt questioned.  I was too lost on names to remember the names he had introduced me to them with. The old lady rolled her eyes at me after she looked up and down my body. I wanted to laugh at the look on her face as she whispered something to her husband.

            “Well…er… I met her at work. It was love at first sight and I’m sure you could understand why, look at her!” he exclaimed glancing up and down me like his aunt did. “It was love at first sight,” he laughed. When the awkwardness of the conversation was over, Jeremy escorted me to the other side of the hall where they were having his parents’ reception. He was doing well. I hadn’t seen him cry once, but I could tell that it was wearing down on him. I wanted to wrap my arms around his waist and tell him that it was going to be okay.

            “Dad, when can we leave?” whined Colton as he walked up to his father and me.

            “Son, you need to go and play with your cousins. We won’t be leaving for a while,” told him shooing him away. Colton stomped off without saying anything else.

            “Hope, I’m so sorry for this,” he admitted looking at me sheepishly. I wanted to tell him that it was okay with everything. I enjoyed learning more about him. If I were going to keep falling for him, I wanted to know more about him because I felt like we were really just undercover and not getting to know each other more.

            “Hope, I need you for a second,” Caroline said grabbing hold of my arm and pulling me out of the room. I looked sheepishly at Jeremy and he looked sorry about his family.

            I followed her down the hall and into the ladies room. She touched up her makeup in the mirror while I stood leaning against the counter with my arms crossed. She looked over at me and smiled.

            “So, I want you to know that you make my brother happy. I know it is something to do with work that you are together, but I want you to understand that I haven’t seen him this happy since Colton was born and he married Vicky.” She said her smile not faulting. I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face. I was about to say something but she kept going on.

            “I also wanted to ask you to be my maid of honor in my wedding,” she asked sheepishly. My jaw dropped to the ground so to speak and I couldn’t help but look at her as if she were crazy.

            “Well, I would be honored but I’m not sure I understand what I did to deserve this. I mean I’ve only known your brother a couple months and you a couple of days. With everything that has gone on, I have no idea how this crazy family can deal with everything so easily,” I sighed.

            “Thanks Hope!” she exclaimed jumping up and down. I was sure I was still looking at her as though she was crazy, but she didn’t seem fazed. “I know that it’s silly, but I think that you are going to be a great addition to the family and I am sure that Jer wouldn’t mind walking down the aisle with his beautiful wife instead of one of my friends from college,” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice. I couldn’t help but smile and shrug my shoulders.

            I was glad that they liked me, but it made everything worse when the assignment would end and he went back to his family and mourned the loss of his parents with his sister.

            We walked out of the bathroom and walked down the hall. I wanted to ask her more about her brother, but I was pulled away from her. Arms snaked around my waist and lips kissed the side of my neck, making my body react to what was happening.