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Sawyer
“Your dad would be so proud.”
The feeling of contentment moved through me as I sat beside Jesse across the table from my mom.
The truth was, there was so much for me to be thankful for. It had been an emotional day, but I was feeling as happy as I could be. More than that, I was excited about revisiting my list, checking some things off of it again, and adding some new things to it, too. I was beyond grateful for what Jesse had brought into my life.
All that had happened from the moment my mom opened the door had been emotional in all the best ways possible. A few tears were shed, which mostly came from my mom, but there was no denying we all just felt the love. I felt a like a big ball of love.
Suffice it to say, my mom seemed just as content as I felt. She was beyond welcoming to Jesse. My heart was already bursting at the seams, and to see that she not only remembered Jesse but also accepted him without hesitation sent my heart soaring. I felt like I was living in a fantasy.
How could it all be this easy?
After all these years, was I really going to experience this much happiness?
Considering how emotional the morning had started for me, it was nice to be at this place. Though, in all fairness, I hadn’t really had any concerns about Jesse and I coming for this visit with my mom.
I’d spoken to her several times over the phone since that first time I called to let her know I hadn’t left Steel Ridge, and she’d already indicated she was excited about my relationship with Jesse. This just happened to be the first time she was seeing me since I left her house the day Jesse saw me at the cemetery.
The fact that he and I were here together with her, especially with the status of our relationship being what it was, was a bit surreal. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d be sitting at the table in my mom’s house sharing a meal with her and Jesse.
But here we were.
It was one of the most special moments of my life.
Jesse and I had just filled my mom in on all that had happened since the day he showed up here looking for me. We told her how he’d had a feeling I might have made a stop at the cemetery, so he went there and learned he was correct. We shared how we decided to spend some time together talking and how I simply never left.
Jesse and I had decided against telling her the real reason I had come back to Steel Ridge. Or, I had mostly insisted on not telling her. I didn’t want her worried about me, and I had full confidence in Jesse’s ability to keep me safe. Jesse might have disagreed with my decision and believed there would be no harm in telling her the truth, but ultimately, he left it up to me.
Not knowing about that, my mom couldn’t have been happier about where things were in my life, and apparently, she believed my father would have felt the same. I couldn’t say that I thought he’d disagree with her, but I was curious to know if her reasons for saying what she did were different than what I believed they would be.
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
The smile on her face, already beaming, grew larger. “There are a million reasons that your dad would be proud, but if I’m speaking specifically about what’s in front of me right now, I can say without a shred of doubt that he’d have been thrilled to know his daughter found the man that she did. You found a man who is a lot like your father was. Your father was a selfless man who had a desire to protect the people he loved. He had a desire to protect people he didn’t even know.”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
My dad was just a protector by nature. Jesse was the same, if not already evidenced by the way he treated me and the fact that he was part of the bodyguard and private security unit at Harper Security Ops. To know that my mom believed Jesse was a lot like my dad warmed my heart. I loved knowing that the man I’d fallen in love with had so many of the same wonderful qualities that made my father such an admirable man.
I’d taken so long allowing the way my mother’s words made me feel to move through me that she decided she wasn’t finished speaking.
“And he’s completely smitten.”
“What?” I asked.
“Your dad loved me like I never knew was possible,” my mom started as a painful burn hit my lungs. “I didn’t have him for as long as I would have liked, but I’d never trade the years I did have with him for anything. I’m convinced that Jesse feels very much the same way about you that your dad did about me.”
Worry immediately consumed me. I didn’t think she was doing it intentionally or with any malice, but I wondered if what my mother was saying was making Jesse feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.
I turned my head to the side and shifted my gaze to him. Much to my surprise, he didn’t seem the least bit distressed.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Jesse was looking at me like I was the most exquisite thing he’d ever seen. Then, he said, “I can’t speak for your father, because I didn’t know him, but I know your mom is not wrong about the way I feel about you.”
“She’s not lying about my father,” I assured him, hoping he realized that I knew my father and the way he loved my mother. My mom hadn’t been wrong. Jesse loved me the way my dad loved her.
He must have gotten precisely what I wished to communicate by that statement, because he nodded and smiled at me.
