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Without even knowing what the problem was, Jack was ready to cancel dinner plans with his family. That right there should have been enough for me to know that there was nothing to worry about. This man had looked after me with such an intense dedication from the start. It was unlikely that he’d stop doing that now.
“I’m not sick,” I assured him. “It’s just… well, I’m a little nervous. Actually, that’s a lie. I’m a lot nervous about meeting your family.”
Jack’s features softened as his hand came up to cup the side of my face. His thumb stroked tenderly over the skin on my cheek. “Sweetheart, that’s not necessary.”
“I don’t exactly have any control over it,” I told him.
“What can I do to help make this easier for you?” he asked.
Offering a sheepish look, I suggested, “Keep me locked away in your cabin until the end of time?”
Jack chuckled. “I’m already planning to do that. But I do get the occasional visitor, so I figure it’s best you just come out once to meet them.”
I sighed, and my shoulders fell. “Can you at least promise me one thing?”
“Anything.”
There was so much conviction in his tone. I didn’t know how he could be that sure about making a promise to me when he hadn’t even heard what I wanted.
“I love that you asked me to go to dinner with your family tonight,” I started. “I really want to go, and I love that you want me to go, but I’m terrified that this could be the beginning of the end of us. What if your family hates me?”
“That’s not possible.”
Shooting him a dubious look, I insisted, “It’s completely possible. I don’t think you can promise me this. I don’t think you can guarantee that they won’t hate me, or that at the very least, they won’t pretend to like me in the beginning only to until things get even more serious with us that they take drastic measures to make me feel unwanted and unloved.”
Jack’s other hand came up to capture the other side of my face. He leaned in close, until his face was mere inches away from mine. Then, his voice dipped low, and he insisted, “I absolutely can make you that promise.”
The sound of his voice and the look in his eyes told me that he believed every word that came out of his mouth. I thought it was great that he had that kind of faith in the people who had raised him, but I didn’t think he could make the guarantee that he was attempting to make.
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
Uncertainty fell over me. I pursed my lips and scrunched my nose. “I’m sorry to say that this hasn’t done anything to help ease any of my fears.”
A twinge a frustration mixed with determination washed over his face. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course, I do. But this is different,” I argued.
Jack’s fingers pressed in. “Have I ever done anything to make you think that your wellbeing is not my top priority?”
I shook my head against his hands.
“Trust me, Dakota. Everything is going to be fine,” he remarked.
“But what if—”
“Sweetheart, you are the first woman I’ve been with since Lacey and our baby died,” he declared, cutting me off and sharing something with me that he’d already shared with me. I snapped my lips together and waited for him to continue. “My family knows what it was like for me to lose them. They were devastated right along with me. And as time went on, they tried everything to pull me out of the despair I felt, because it killed them to see me like that. Do you honestly think that they’re going to hate the woman who actually managed to make me laugh again?”
My lips parted.
Tears filled my eyes.
Jack wasn’t done. “The last few weeks have been some of the best of my life. I don’t know if it’s because of what came at the end of it all for Lacey and me, but I can’t remember ever being this happy with her. And I know I was beyond ecstatic with her. That’s what you need to understand. It’s me that you’re making happy. It’s me that you’re with. Yes, they’re my family, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be the two of us. I know my family well enough to know that they aren’t going to hate you. You have to trust me when I tell you that. It’s all going to be good. They’re going to fall in love with you just the same as I have.”
“What?” I rasped.
Jack’s features softened. “I love you, Dakota.”
