Susan didn’t speak immediately; she held her eyes on me like she was testing me to see which one of us broke first. I looked back at her and waited. Eventually she gave in and gave me what barely passed for a smile.
“My daughter says she loves you.”
I waited as she continued to examine me.
“Do you love her too, Jay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“Don’t call me ma’am,” she sneered. “Makes me feel like an old woman.”
“Okay, Susan,” I smiled. She was studying me, passing enormous amounts of judgment, but I didn’t mind. Of course I wanted Rachel’s parents to like me, but I wasn’t about to try and change myself to get their approval.
“So you love her too?” she asked. “After spending one evening with her five years ago?”
I shrugged. “Love at first sight, I guess.”
“Being a smartass?”
“No, m—Susan,” I replied.
She twisted her lips and eyed me again. “And this drug business you were involved in?”
“I wouldn’t say involved in,” I corrected her. “More like forced into.”
“It’s over with?”
“It is.”
“Because I don’t need my daughter being shot over a dime bag or forced into being a drug mule for your friends,” she said sharply.
“Not my friends either, Susan. And that will never happen. Colin was the last one of them and he’s never getting out of jail.”
“You’ve got that right,” Susan agreed with a sigh. Even if the case hadn’t been so cut and dry, the Bannings would throw their wealth and weight to make sure Colin never saw the light of day.
She stared at me again and I thought I saw a chink in her armor starting to form. Slowly, her mouth twisted into a bit more of a smile.
“Okay, boy,” she said. “Let’s just pretend for a minute that I give you and my daughter my blessing, and her father also goes along with this. How do you plan to provide for her?”
“No offense, Susan,” I chuckled. “But looking at this house, I don’t think your daughter needs anyone to provide for her. But what I can tell you is that there is more to me than what you see, and I will love and protect your daughter for as long as I am alive. We both know that with or without your blessing, Rachel will be with me. But I’d rather have you and your husband’s approval.”
Susan frowned.
“What do you say, ma?” I smiled. “Willing to put your faith in me?”
Chapter Fourteen
Rachel
“Where are we going, Jay?” I asked for the sixth time, knowing I wasn’t going to get an answer. But what else was I supposed to say while I sat next to him in his truck with a blindfold over my face?
“Vegas, babe,” he joked. “Time to get married as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. Which one do you want to be?”
“Can I be John Wayne?” I countered.
“As long as you wear the cowboy hat, six-shooter and nothing else.”
“Deal!”