Page 38 of Resisting You
"Not a chance?—"
"You see, my sweet daughter-in-law needs to call her own parents and I suspect she wants some privacy for that. Plus I think the newlyweds could use some quality time together without being under a microscope, wouldn't you say?"
"Mom," Noah warned, but there was a good natured smile simmering there, too.
"What? This was supposed to be your vacation. We were supposed to have a full week of uninterrupted Noah time. And now we're forced into a fake picnic for the cameras?"
"I'm afraid that's my fault," I offered, trying to take some of the heat off Noah. "Or... um, our fault. For eloping. It really threw a, er, wrench in Noah's vacation plans."
Noah took my hand, giving it a squeeze and sending me the sweetest smile. "The only thing that us getting married ruined was my wasted heart."
I gasped at his words. And the way he held my eyes. And then as he dipped his mouth toward me, diverting at the last minute, he pressed a soft kiss to my cheek.
"Ugh, fine," Kristen interrupted. "Let's do the other locations on another day. But you better call your parents back," she added, pointing right at me. Then, not waiting for any of us to confirm this, she rushed off toward the photographers to dismiss them.
"Go on," Noah said, giving me a lift of his chin. "Call your parents. We'll give you privacy and make sure none of the reporters are close enough to listen in."
I pulled out my phone and scanned the first few texts from my mother. Her words were stern, to the point, and filled with desperation.
Mama:
There are heinous rumors floating around about you, sweetheart, but don't worry. Your father's people are working to squash them.
They came back saying they're true... did you elope with some boy we've never met?
Please tell us the rumors aren't true.
Rosalina Alvarez, answer your phone!
Taking a deep breath in, I mustered up all my courage before tapping my index finger to my mom's name on my phone. It barely rang once before she answered. "Rosa! Thank God. Victor! It's Rosa! Finally!"
"Hi, Mama. I, um, don't have a lot of time right now, but I did want to call and tell you that it is true."
An eerie silence took hold on her line and if it hadn't been for the long, even breaths, I wouldn't have been sure if she'd hung up on me. "It's true," Mama finally repeated.
Beside her, I heard my father mutter a curse and realized I must be on speaker phone.
"Why?" she asked. "Why would you do this without including us? We didn't even know you were dating anyone."
"It's... it's been kind of a whirlwind," I said. "Besides, you always told me that when you know, you know. You and Apa only dated a few months before you got engaged."
"Well, that's true, Francesca," Apa said in the background.
Another few seconds of silence. Finally Mama said, "We want to meet this boy. This Noah Blue Tripp."
"Of course," I said. "He has a busy filming schedule but we'll come out to see you soon. And we can Facetime. Tonight. We're in Maple Grove for his sister's wedding this weekend."
"We have that charity auction tonight," Apa said and Mama huffed a response.
"This is our daughter we’re talking about here, Victor! Plus with the time difference, we can make it work. Although I don’t thinksoonis soon enough," Mama snapped, then quickly turned her hostility back to me. "It's unacceptable that you would do this to us. Deprive your parents of being there the day you got married."
"I know," and not for the first time in this whole ordeal, I felt guilty. Really guilty. "We'll get something on the calendar when we Facetime, I promise. You just let me know when you're free to chat and meet him."
"Fine."
I exhaled. All things considered, that could have gone way worse. "Okay. I love you."
"We love you, too," my father answered. Mama said nothing.
