A Princess in Charming

Chapter Twenty: Kristina

"Baby, what has you so lost in your head over there?"

Kristina shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Sorry, Gem. I had a pretty horrible afternoon yesterday. Can't seem to get it out of my head."

The two women were seated in Gemma's living room going through boxes of Abel's old baby clothes and setting things aside for Thomas.

"I heard Tara's back in town and stopped by," Gemma nodded.

The older woman spoke Tara's name like it was mud. There was obviously no love lost between the two women. Kristina felt slightly victorious knowing that Gemma favored her over the doctor. Even though Gemma could be secretive and downright manipulative at times, she had a good heart. A good heart that she had passed down to Jax. Truth be told, Kristina had grown to love Gemma as though the woman was her own mother. Kristina couldn't stand Clay but she adored Gemma and she knew the feeling was mutual. "You know Jax doesn't want that skinny little bitch. My son only had eyes for you since the day he met you. I should know, I was there."

"I'm not worried about Jax," Kristina shook her head. She really wasn't. While she had experienced a moment of insecurity when she had first met Tara it was just that, brief. One thing she was proud of was the fact that she had a happy, healthy marriage. She trusted her husband completely. It was as simple as that. "He made his feelings perfectly clear... directly to the uptight bitch's face. And this was before our son felt the need to inform the good doctor that she looked like the evil queen from Snow White. I really love my boys," she chuckled.

Gemma laughed. "If you aren't worried about Jax, what's bothering you baby?"

Kristina set a powder blue onesie with the SAMCRO reaper on the front on top of her keep pile. "She acted like she was better than me, even called me a child bride," she sighed. "Does a college degree really make someone better? She's snotty, uptight, and has no real friends that I've heard about. I don't have a college degree but I also don't hold my position as Jax's wife, Clay's daughter-in-law, or Sonny Corinthos' kid over anyone's head. I care about my family and the club. I'm young but I'm doing all that I can to be a good mom. I like being a wife and mom. I like taking care of the guys and croweaters down at the club. I even talked Georgie into getting her G.E.D. This feels like what I should be doing with my life. Is all that worthless because I didn't go to college?"

"That, baby, is why you should only ever follow your heart. What society says is acceptable is always changing. You just need to be true to yourself. And the truth is that you are an amazing mom and you're going to make one hell of a queen for SAMCRO when my times up. I'm happy to call you my daughter-in-law. That's something that I would never have been able to say about Tara. Hell, I probably would have ended up killing the bitch." Gemma laughed but Kristina knew the woman well enough to know that she was speaking literally. Nothing stood in the way of Gemma protecting her family... not even someone's pulse.

Kristina chuckled. "I'm being silly. I shouldn't have let her get to me. It's just... my mom. She was a lot like Tara, really uptight and always wanting everything to be perfect. As much as I wish I could say that I know she'd be happy for me if she was still around, I can't. She'd probably be pretty pissed that I gave up on Stanford to be a wife and mom in my early twenties."

Gemma smiled sympathetically at her. "Well, I'm proud of you and I know your dad and Carly are too."

"Don't forget me, princess."

Kristina looked up to find Jax standing in the living room doorway with Abel on his hip. "I'm proud of you too." He took a seat beside her on the couch and gave her a quick kiss.

"Me too, mommy! I's proud too!" Abel leaned over and bestowed a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

Kristina laughed. "Do you even know what we're talking about?"

"Nope," Abel shook his head and giggled.