Page 93 of Forever Fascinating

Getting out of the car, she saw her parents standing there together, holding each other on the front porch as she opened the door.

This was what she wanted, yearned for, and had craved… and looking at them, she could see Matthew holding her in thirty years the same way. Just realizing that, imagining the way he would loop his arm around her like when they were walking in Athens… it made her feel hollow and loved at the same time.

She immediately broke down, crying happy tears.

“I thought you said you were happy…” her father laughed as she reached her parents, running into their arms and hugging them.

“Oh my gosh, Daddy… I’m so stinkin’ happy,” she sobbed, smiling at them. “He’s the best person ever and…”

“To the corner, young lady,” her father said gruffly. “And give your mother your cell phone so she can look through the photos of your trip. There’s not anything indecent in there, is there?”

“What? NO! Ewww… Dadddddyyyy, that’s nasty,” Jana protested, making a face. “And I’ll show you the photos, tell you where each one was taken, while I eat because I’m starving, and you wouldn’t want your youngest, most favorite child to waste away to nothingness… would you?”

She batted her eyes at her father, who immediately curled his arm around her neck.

“Get inside, twerp… and let’s see your Matthew Barlow – right? That was the young man’s name from the wedding.”

“Is it the nice man in uniform?” her mother asked, suddenly realizing who it was she and her father were talking about. “Ohhh honey, he’s awfully pretty and those grandbabies…”

“Oh, golly mama… not yet,” Jana sputtered nervously, holding up both hands anxiously. “We are taking things one day at a time, but I wanted to let you both know what was going on in case Jacefreeeeeaksout,” she stressed. “Matthew is in his squadron and going to talk to him today. I don’t think Jace likes him at all – but I do.”

“That’s all that matters,” her mother said primly. “Your brother can just try to act mature when we are all in the same house for holidays. Besides, you accepted Karen without any qualms just because he loved her – he should do the same for you. If you hadn’t accepted Karen, do you think it would have changed how he felt about her?”

“No.”

“Exactly,” her mother said with finality. “Now, are you going to show me where you went, since we both know it wasn’t South Carolina as you claimed.”

“Greece,” Jana admitted nervously.

“ANOTHER COUNTRY?” her parents exclaimed in unison, looking at each other in horror.

“CORNER, NOW,” her father snapped, pointing and reaching for her phone.

“But Daddy…”

“Corner! Don’t make me count, either…”

“I’m twenty-seven…”

“One… Two…” he growled.

Jana cursed and ran for the corner, looking over her shoulder to see her parents flipping through her phone… and smiling at each other.

She turned back to the corner, realizing that they needed to get this out of their system, and if standing in the corner was necessary as a sign of respect for her parents – she would do it in a heartbeat, every single time, because she adored them and knew they would support her in whatever she did.

They always did.

They were probably just steamed that she’d kept this all a secret for so long, not telling a soul, and anything could have happened while she was out of the country. She could have been hurt, killed, gotten lost… and that was not a way to have her parents find out about her and Matthew.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Jana said quietly. “We’ve just been so sure that everyone would be upset, disappointed, or tell us ‘no’that we didn’t tell anyone that we were talking.”

“Did you marry him?” her mother asked bluntly. “I see you are both wearing rings… did you marry this boy?”

“No, we are planning it eventually, but that was more of us promising to keep talking and working on building our relationship together.”

“Kind of like when I gave you that little rose ring you have in your jewelry box, Lindsey… I like that they are promising and not jumping head-first,” her father said softly. “Reminds me a lot of us, Linds…”

Jana started in surprise, because she knew what ring he was talking about. As a young girl, she used to love looking in her mother’s jewelry box with her, listening avidly as she told her about each piece. Now she realized that her father had given her mother a promise ring, too.

---