I was relieved when the nurse told me that Jennifer would be discharged, but shouldn't travel. As it turned out, she did have the flu and definitely needed to rest. I recognized that this was just a temporary hold up and that as soon as she was feeling up to it, she would be on the first available flight to New York.
The four hour detour to the hospital had been tiring and I tried to stand back to let Jaylyn comfort her daughter. It wasn't easy, but I knew that they needed some time together. Ever since I arrived, I noticed a rift between the girls and their mother. Jaylyn and Jason seemed to bear a closer bond. From my perspective, the sisters were true daddy's girls and the loss of their father absolutely crushed both of them. Jason was emotionally strong, not really shedding a tear the whole time I'd been there, while the girls were giggling at a memory one minute and sobbing the next. It's a unique feeling to be rendered completely helpless and forced to watch the person you love suffer the most unbearable pain. I was beginning to wonder if the happy, adventurous, and playful Jen would ever return.
After getting her home and in bed, I picked up some Gatorade and soup. She needed to stay hydrated even if she wasn't eating much. Being told what to do is never fun and I knew we were alike in that way. Getting her to remain in bed long enough to get well would prove difficult, especially since she was determined to get back to work as soon as possible.
Saturday night, of course the first thing she wanted to do was call Luke. He and I had a previous conversation and I knew exactly what he would tell her. She wasn't happy when he reiterated my exact words about how she needed some more time to rest and get well.
As the week progressed she gradually improved and was showing signs of her old self. There were still moments where she would break down and cry, but it wasn't like it had been. I eventually talked her into coming back to LA with me since she had to go to Calabasas before flying back out to New York. On the final night in Vegas, I decided to take Jen out and surprise her. I made up my mind that tonight was the night.
We were sat by the hostess and the night seemed to be going perfect until Jen noticed who was sitting at a nearby table. It was Nicole, and she was with her parents. Word around town was that Nicole had been ditched by her fiancée and was pregnant. Jennifer glanced over at the table, staring at her. Nicole stared right back, every bit as shocked to see us.
Distracted with the possibility of an embarrassing altercation in public, Jennifer only picked at her food and remained expressionless the entire time. I knew that Nicole's presence was getting under her skin and hoped our night wouldn't be ruined. I tried to keep the conversation going in an attempt to take her mind off of it, but Jennifer couldn't help but notice them getting up to leave the table. With perfect hair and makeup, Nicole appeared like her unchanged, yet, it was impossible to miss her growing belly.
Her parents stopped at our table to offer their condolences to Jennifer and she respectfully thanked them. They proceeded to invite Jennifer over, obviously having no clue what happened between the three of us. Nicole just stood there, stone faced, until glancing in my direction. She never spoke a single word to Jennifer. She simply stuck her nose in the air and followed her family out of the restaurant.
"Can we just go now?" Jennifer sighed. I was ready to leave anyway, this was only the beginning of the night. A half hour later we checked into a hotel, which only confused her more. She couldn't understand why, since we had been staying at her parents' home.
She gave me a blank stare as I proceeded to walk around her, sliding my arms around her slim waist. I pushed the hair from her neck and kissed her. We were standing in the same spot that I was in not too long ago with Jake. "What are you doing?" She asked in an annoyed voice. "God, did you really get a hotel room just for us to have sex?" She broke loose from my hug and stared at me.
I looked down, scrolling through my phone to the videos that were taken that day. "I can assure you that wasn't my intention...... I have to show you something. Can you come back over here, please?"
She dropped her hands, watching her father's face appear on the screen of my phone. I saw her lip tremble as she stepped closer. I wrapped my arms around her, holding the phone in front of her. "Now, I didn't want to do this until Valentine's Day, but I just can't wait any longer? Just keep watching, okay." I whispered. Her eyes immediately filled with tears as she watched her father's astonished face turn into a smile.
Jake asked for me to hang out with him the first weekend Jen had been in New York. I knew that he was an old fashioned kind of guy, so he was completely stunned when I went old school and asked his permission to marry his daughter.
I had given it a great deal of thought and wasn't sure if I was making a mistake by including the videos in my proposal, but in the end, I was positive that she would want to see them. The first one was shorter than the rest, but the best one was of him accompanying me to pick out the ring. It was clearly evident that he was happy with the thought of me marrying Jennifer.
When the final video ended, she broke free of my embrace and crossed the room. Standing with her back to me she struggled to regain self control. I kept the white box in my hand and gazed at the floor. "Jen, I'm sorry. I just thought you would want to see those, but maybe it was too soon. I honestly didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm alright. It was just that seeing him again was hard." She couldn't seem to stop crying. "Can I please see it again?"
"Of course, you can see it as many times as you want, but can you come back over here please?" I dropped to one knee and she began laughing and crying at the same time. My palms were so sweaty as I plucked the ring from the box. "Will you marry me Jennifer?"
With one hand over her mouth and tears still streaming down her face, she nodded her head and finally responded. "Yes."
The End
