Page 9 of Please Remember

"Jax," Noel says, but he stops when my glare shifts to him, letting him know I won't back down without a fight.

"I love Allie. I've never stopped loving her, and our house is exactly the way she left it. In fact, our house is the only thing she remembers. That's how she found me. I will not let you take her out of town and away from me. Not when I just got her back."

"We just got her back, too!" Karla shouts.

Allie looks around the room, and I can tell she's trying to put the pieces together. Even though she doesn't remember me or any of us, the way she looks right now is my Allie. Her personality is the same, and it makes me want to fall to my knees and thank God she's back.

"You're wearing a suit," Allie says.

"What?"

"You're wearing a suit. You were leaving when I showed up outside the house. Where were you going?"

The smirk her mother wears has me taking a few deep breaths to avoid punching the wall beside me. She will win this fight over my dead body.

"He was going to his engagement party, my dear," Karla says. "The one with another woman."

"You should probably go to that," Allie says, her head tilting. "You shouldn't skip that. What will your fiancée think?"

The words and disinterest with me being with someone else stabs me right in the heart, but I push it aside. "It doesn't matter. Not now that you're back, Allie."

"Jax, I don't remember you. I don't even remember me. And I certainly don't remember us. You seem to have moved on, which, seven years is a long time not to. I don't want to get in the way of that."

Yeah, like I'm marrying anyone but you, Allie, now that you're back. Forget it, baby, you're stuck with me.

"Things are different now. You being back changes everything. I can't let you go again. I just... I can't. The way things are now is not what our lives were supposed to be. We’re supposed to be together.” My voice cracks as I wrestle with the strength of my emotions. “I love you, Allie. I’ve always loved you. Those feelings never went away. Ever."

Detective Shields stops Karla from saying something, and she looks at Allie. "Allie, it's up to you who you want to leave with tomorrow. No one can make you do anything. It's your decision."

Looking at her, I try to plead with my eyes. If I thought it would help, I'd drop to my knees and beg her to choose me. I won't tell her she can't go with her mother, and I won't tell her that they don't get along and haven't since she was in high school. Even though I want her to know her mother's terrible to her, I need her to choose me because it's what her gut tells her.

Sure, I could tell her that Karla threatened to throw Allie out of the house when she learned we were having sex at seventeen. That she'd shown up to Allie's graduation drunk and barely functioning all because Allie decided to go to college near me. Or that she told everyone who would listen, specifically the media, that I had something to do with Allie's disappearance even though she was more than aware I was setting up a surprise proposal for Allie.

Her mother may not have had anything to do with what happened to her, but she sure as hell had a hand in making sure people thought I did. For years, I’ve lived under the suspicion that I was capable of doing something so terrible to the woman I love more than life itself. Karla’s a monster in a completely different way than whoever did this to Allie, and it would kill me to see Allie go home with her instead of me.

Allie looks between me and her mother, and it's clear she's unsure who she should pick. From her standpoint, the one where she knows nothing, I can't blame her if she decides to pick her parents. She doesn’t know anyone, but parents should be a safe bet. Though, the thought of losing Allie to her mother almost has me falling to my knees.

She didn't go to the police station. She came to our house. She came to me.

"You don't have a right to our daughter anymore, Jackson."

"I never gave up on her, Karla," I snap back.

Allie looks at her father. "What do you think?"

"I think," Noel says, avoiding his wife's gaze, "that I want you to come home with us. But it's your decision, Allie. You got yourself out, and you went to someplace that felt familiar. Whether you remember or not, you've always had really good instincts. I think…” Noel pauses for a beat, as if what he’s about to say physically pains him. “I think you should follow your gut."

The look of pure rage on Karla's face as she glares at her husband almost makes me laugh out loud. Karla wants a do-over with her daughter after their strained relationship came to light a few years ago. This would be her chance to have the mother-daughter bond she lied to everyone about. Plus, if Allie never remembers, she probably thinks she can create the perfect little replica of herself like she tried to make her daughter so manyyears ago.

"The house I grew up in... you don't live there anymore, right?" Allie asks.

Karla's mouth forms a tight line, and she shakes her head. "We moved away. It was too painful to stay here, sweetheart. Jax wants to paint us as monsters because we needed to start fresh even though he moved on and is marrying another woman."

Oh, you bitch."I only moved on because everyone told me I had to. I never wanted to because Allie's the only one I've ever wanted. Even you told me to move on, Karla."

"There are probably going to be more questions that you'll have for me, right, Detective Shields?"

Parsons bristles at her blatant lack of his acknowledgement, and Shields tries not to smirk. "Yes, Allie."

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