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20
KARTER. After Jak’s last mission, he seemed to be far more willing to let himself simply exist. Almost immediately after my art show, he became more jovial, relaxed, and simple. He had never seemed uptight or robotic like I had heard other people describe former military Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines. To see him now versus seeing him before was the difference between night and day. I never would have guessed it could have been possible to enjoy him even more, but it sure was.
“I don’t have my glasses, but let me see your hand, honey,” his mother said as she reached for my hand.
I lifted my hand from my lap and straightened my arm to extend over the table. Gingerly, she reached under my hand with hers and lifted it to her face. As she focused on the ring she fumbled across the table with her free hand and attempted to find her glasses. After raising them to her face and pushing them onto her nose, she gasped.
“My word, that’s beautiful Karter. Now when are you two thinking you’ll get married?” she asked.
Jak sighed and shook his head, “Mom, we just got engaged. The marriage won’t be for a while.”
She looked up from the ring and over the top of her glasses toward Jak, “I wasn’t talking to you, Jak. I was talking to Karter. Go in the other room if you’re going to interrupt us every time we try to talk.”
“We just got here mom. If you want to call that an interruption, it’s number one,” Jak sighed.
“When would be a perfect time for you, honey? If you got to pick?” she asked.
I turned toward Jak and stared.
Help me out here, Jak.
“Don’t look at him, Karter. He doesn’t know a damned thing, no matter what he tries to tell you. If you got to pick, when would you want to get married? Pay attention, Jak,” she said as she turned her gaze toward Jak.
Lady, I like you. You make me feel good.
I looked at her and grinned. I had already thought about it. Personally, I would prefer a June wedding. It seemed like everyone did it, and although I really didn’t know why, I always expected if I did get married someday, I would want to do so in June.
“I’d like a June wedding,” I smiled.
“Did you hear that, Jak? She’d like a June wedding,” she said as she removed her glasses and set them on the table beside her cup of coffee.
I turned my head slightly toward Jak, in hope of seeing him give confirmation of what I had said, and his acceptance of it as being okay. As always, I got exactly what I needed and wanted. His dimples showing were all the endorsement I needed. With my hand still resting in her palm, I turned to face his mother.
“Well as far as I’m concerned honey, you’re already my daughter-in-law. It’ll be nice to finally make it official,” she said as she released my hand.
I shifted my gaze toward Jak slightly. As soon as I did, his mother snapped at me.
“Stop looking at Jak for answers, Karter. He’ll do nothing but get you in trouble with those eyes of his. He’ll hypnotize you with those damned things,” she laughed.
I raised my hands to my cheeks, “I know, right? He does it to me all the time. He tells me things and I find myself just…”
“Go in the other room, Jak. We need to talk,” his mother said softly.
“Mom, I’m not going in the other room,” Jak complained.
His mother turned her head toward Jak slowly. As she reached for her cigarettes, she lowered her chin and raised her eyebrows.
“I’ll be in the other room,” Jak sighed.
Jak leaned over and kissed me softly. As he walked through the door and into the other room, his mother stood from her chair, tip-toed to the doorway, and stared into the other room. After a silent moment of her staring into the living room, she turned around and walked to the table and sat down.
“You’ve got to keep an eye on him, he’s a sneaky one. We don’t need him listening to our girl talk,” she said as she scooted her chair closer to the table.
“Now we can talk,” she smiled.
I grinned and nodded my head, “Okay.”
“I want this to work for all of us, honey. You and Jak. So, I’m going to give you what little advice I can,” she said as she lit a cigarette.
