Page 48 of A Night To Remember

“Now let’s go meet the rest of the family.” Moira took Charlie’s hand and lead her to the living room.

Charlie entered the living room to see a set of twins fawning over her daughter with delight and a few adults hovering over her. Kristy seemed to be on cloud nine from all the attention she was receiving. Charlie was relieved to see Jake had made it to the bathroom on time with Kristy.

Jake was talking to a man who could only be his father; they were so close in looks. They might have been twins if the older man wasn’t grayer. Father and son were roughly the same height and build and shared the same startling eye color. Jake stood when Charlie and his mother walked in the room. He smiled at Charlie, taking her arm. “Charlie, I would like you to meet the rest of my family. This is my father Bill.” Jake indicated the man who Charlie had already guessed was his father.

Bill Fox gave her a big smile, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek, and Charlie immediately knew where Jake had gotten his charm. “It’s very nice to finally meet you. Thank you for bringing Kristy to us. She is an angel.”

“Thank you.” She smiled back, liking Jake’s father right off the bat.

Jake steered Charlie around. “This is my brother Carl. He’s the jokester of the family, or at least he thinks so.”

Charlie giggled as she shook hands with Carl. He took after his mother in looks but was still a very well put together man. “You’ll soon learn Jake is a terrible liar. He’s just jealous because I’m the favorite.” Carl winked at her.

“Carl, you’re going to scare the poor woman off.” A redhead walked over to them. She wore a friendly expression on her face, looking at Charlie with curiosity.

“This woman is Saint Bridget. She’s a saint for being married to my brother for so long,” Jake explained to Charlie.

“Nice to meet you, hon, and those two carrot tops over there, fawning over your little darling are our daughters Kara and Kammy. They were thrilled to learn there was another girl in the family.” Bridget pointed to the twins playing with Kristy.

“You need to meet a few more people.” Jake took Charlie’s hand, leading her to the other side of the room where a blonde woman sat in a chair, giving her a cool stare. Charlie felt a little uncomfortable under the woman’s direct gaze. “This is my sister Helen. Her bark is far worse than her bite. Her husband is downstairs with their little holy terrors playing video games.”

The blonde didn’t look amused. “Very cute, Jake. How do you do, Charlie?”

Charlie didn’t feel any warmth in Helen’s greeting, but everyone else seemed nice, so maybe she was imagining it.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Charlie smiled at Helen, who didn’t return it. Just then a tall, dark black man entered the room, followed by four loud little boys who were clearly biracial. A smile crossed Helen’s face then.

“That’s Helen’s husband, Jason, and their sons Jason Jr., Mark, Dylan and Caleb,” Jake said to Charlie as he drew closer. She gave Jake a look. This must have been what he meant when he’d said race didn’t matter to his family.

Jason had a broad, welcoming grin on his face, when he and Charlie shook hands.

Jake’s family was a joy. Being an only child, Charlie often wished for siblings. From what she could tell, Jake was very close to Carl and Helen. They all teased each other mercilessly like a bunch of kids, but anyone could see the mutual love and respect they all shared for each other.

Charlie liked every single member of the Fox family. Bill Fox, the patriarch, had a laid-back charm that put Charlie at ease. She liked the way he would wink or smile at Moira every now and then throughout the course of the night. It warmed her heart to see the elder Foxes still obviously in love.

At dinner she learned Carl was indeed the jokester of the family. He had the whole table cracking up throughout the entire meal. Jake’s sister, Helen, was the kind of person to “tell it like it is”, yet anyone could see her heart was as big as her mouth. Helen was the type who was fiercely loyal to her family and friends.

Even the kids were great. Kristy was especially thrilled at all her newfound cousins. The nine-year-old twins had taken to Kristy and she to them. The boys were rambunctious as four-, five-, six- and seven-year-olds would be, but basically, they were good kids. The evening was turning out better than she thought it would.

As the night progressed, Charlie saw sides of Jake that she hadn’t realized he possessed. He was the caring son, the playful brother, and the protector. Jake was never far away from her or Kristy the entire evening, making sure everything went smoothly for them. Charlie could feel a tug on her heartstrings each time she made eye contact with him during the course of dinner. She found herself enjoying her visit so much that when it was time to get going, she felt a little sad.

When the families were standing around talking and getting ready to leave, Charlie stood apart from them all and observed the camaraderie. She leaned against the wall and watched them with envy.

This family represented all she had wished for with Paul. The love shown by the husbands in attendance to their wives was touching. Charlie had that special bond with someone once. She missed that feeling of being loved and cherished more than she cared to admit. Charlie smiled wistfully, thinking about how her life with Paul could have been.

She and Paul would have a couple of children together by now. Paul had been good with children. He had been a volunteer at a local boys and girls club. The kids he had mentored loved him. Knowing what a generous and kind-hearted man he had been, she knew Paul wouldn’t begrudge her relationship with Kristy.

She was confused about how she felt about Jake. On the one hand, Jake brought her to heights of rapture she only thought existed in romance books. Charlie had already decided they would become lovers if he brought up the subject again, but could she allow him to become more? On the other hand, Jake seemed to want more than she was willing to give. She was so confused. The one thing she did know for sure was she couldn’t put herself through the hurt of loving someone deeply again, only to lose them.

Jake Fox posed a big threat. Every so often he would sneak into her thoughts and she would banish his image from her mind. There was no way she could allow him to creep into her heart, which she feared he was already doing more and more each day. It was already bad enough she conceded to her physical needs, but to allow herself to feel more just couldn’t happen.

“A penny for your thoughts.” Jake approached her with a smile on his face.

“I was just thinking about my husband.” Charlie said the first thing that popped in her mind, and not wanting him to know he was the center of her thoughts.

Charlie looked away from his suddenly pale face.

“I see.” In one abrupt motion he turned and left Charlie alone once more. Charlie watched his retreating figure. She had the sudden urge to call him back, but thought better of it.

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