Ten minutes on the dot, she watched Jackson’s hunter green Ferrari roll down the driveway. Bouncing with joy and excitement, Jessa forgot all about the direction that Jackson had given her. Dashing outside, she had just reached the bottom step when Jackson’s arm swooped her up and threw her over his shoulder.

“Oof! What? Wait a second? Where are we going?”

Jackson didn’t respond to her question, rather kept walking into the house like a man on a mission. “Hey man, do you have a spare room I can borrow? Seems like I need to have a chat with a certain Little bear,” Jessa’s face flamed as her brain processed the words that fell from his gorgeous lips.

“Um, I’m not sure I want to give you that privacy. How do I know that a conversation is all that will be had?” Emmett responded. At that moment, she loved her brother-in-law a little more. It touched her heart that he cared enough to question the mammoth that was currently holding her hostage.

“I promise all that will happen will be agreed upon and consented to, but I don’t plan on anything more than a chat.”

“Mhm…okay. There is a spare room across the hall from the playroom. I hold the right to interrupt the conversation and check on Jessa’s wellbeing at any point after fifteen minutes.”

“Sounds good, man.”

Jessa was shifted higher on his shoulder as Jackson walked to the room that Emmett told him about. Her mind began to race at the conversation that Papa said he needed to have. This couldn’t be good for her. Seconds later, Jess felt Jackson’s knee as he settled her in place.

He didn’t speak for a little bit and she wondered if he was ever going to talk. As more time passed, she began to squirm in his lap. Jessa didn’t like the quiet at all and her mind started to race. What if he decided that he didn’t want her anymore? What if he believed that she was too much just like her one and only boyfriend thought all those years ago.

“Stop whatever thought is running through your mind, Little Bear, because I promise that it’s not as bad as the thoughts that your mind is trying to play up right now.”

Trying to settle the racing thoughts, Jess waited for him to finally talk about why they were sitting here.

“What was the one direction that I gave you Jessa?”

“To wait inside for you,” She whispered. “Which I did! I waited inside the door frame of the front door! Therefore, I was technically inside still.”

Believing that she had pulled one over him, her concerns and fears crept away. She wasn’t wrong, technically she didn’t go outside until after he had gotten here.

“Really? My eyes must have played tricks on me then because I was sure that I saw a certain Little racing towards my car.”

Okay, he had her there. She did run out the house when she saw his car getting closer, but who could blame her! Did he really expect her to contain the excitement she felt at getting to see him?

“Papa told you to wait inside for him, right?”

“But!”

“No buts. Did or did not Papa say for you to wait inside?”

“Yes, you did. Technically, I did! I waited inside until your car was almost all the way down the driveway.”

“Is that what Papa said to do?”

Jessa realized that there was no talking her way out of this one. She didn’t think he was going to care about the technicality of his statement.

“No, Sir it’s not. BUT! Technically, I did wait inside until you were almost down the driveway, then I went outside.”

“What would have happened if I didn’t see you dart out the house and you came barreling in front of my car?”

“You could have hit me.”

“That’s right Little one. Papa could have hit you and caused serious problems. That’s not okay. When Papa or Pops tells you to do something, we expect it to be followed.”

Letting out a sigh, Jessa decided it was best if she just kept her mouth shut or she might find herself into deeper trouble.

“I’m sorry, Jackson. I was really excited to see you and didn’t think. It won’t happen again.”

“Now don’t go writing checks that your bottom will have to cash later, because we both know that this will be a repeated conversation. Do you understand why Papa told you to wait inside for him?”

“I do. It was for my safety and by not following the direction you gave me I could have been hurt badly.”