Page 58 of Forever My Soldier

“My husband is a foolish man,” she said, “but if he helped you to see that, then I hope you can forgive me. You, too, Jenna. I was wrong to butt into your life like I had. I should’ve never insisted I knew what was best for you, especially when it comes to your love life.”

Jenna turned and looked at her mother, as if seeing her for the first time. “I’m missing something here,” she said, but she was ignored for a beat.

Eyes still fixed on her mother, I nodded. “It’s okay. I personally can forgive you, but you need to know I love your daughter and I’m not going anywhere.”

Coming around to what I was saying, even if she didn’t understand why I was saying it all, Jenna added, “You have to let me live my life, Mother. You have to know I love Deacon and he is my future.”

Her mother cleared her throat. “Yes, well I see that now. I won’t be interfering anymore.”

“Mother,” Jenna probed.

“I mean it and I owe you a debt of gratitude for saving my husband, Deacon. He and I may not always see eye to eye, but I do love him and I trust him, so if you two had as good of a conversation as you say, then I can live with this,” she said, winking at me, something I never thought I’d see.

Gesturing, I brushed her thanks aside again. “Glad to hear it. And no thanks necessary, I’m just glad I was there and a doctor was there having breakfast, too.”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to see my husband if they’ll let me finally.”

“Of course.”

Jenna leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You know, I’m surprised by this turn of events, but I am happy about them, too. It’s nice to think that we finally got through to her.”

“I think we just may have.”

“But you still need to explain this whole Caribbean trip to me.” Her brows stitched with confusion. “I feel like there’s a really good story there.”

“Another time,” I promised and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her against my body. “Another time.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jenna

Between my fathergetting the green light to be released from the hospital, just that he needed to take it easy and adjust his diet, and my mother ending her crusade against Deacon, I didn’t know how things could get any better.

I tapped my foot as I waited outside for Deacon. “You coming?” I yelled, as he locked up after running back in for something.

He laughed as he shook his head. “I’m telling you, you’re one impatient woman.”

I scrunched my nose. “I don’t want to wait anymore.” Then I hopped on the balls of my feet and smiled. “Come on, you said you wanted to take me somewhere, but wouldn’t tell me where. I’m on pins and needles over here.”

He leaned down to give me a kiss. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. I got my girl, my bike. Maybe we should just sit here for a few minutes and talk about that.”

I pointed a finger to his chest. “No way! We’re going now.”

“If you insist,” he said, slipping his helmet on as he threw a leg over the bike, and revved the engine. “Hop on.”

I grabbed my helmet and got on behind him, my arms finding comfort wrapped around him. He pulled out with the ease of someone riding for years and I let everything slip away, the wind carrying it all away.

By the time we got where we were going, I took my helmet off and slipped off the bike. “What are we doing here?” I asked, fixing my hair and looking around.

We were in the parking lot of his old high school, the place where we first met. “What made you want to take us here?”

Deacon shrugged. “I wanted to take us back to where it all started.”

“Why?” I hated to admit it, but he usually wasn’t overly nostalgic.

“I haven’t been back here since I graduated,” he confessed. “Could never seem to do it.”

“Being a teenager is never easy. But, then again, neither is being an adult,” I admitted.

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