Mending the Soul (21 page)

"Hey Nicholas, remember our talk that we had with the kids this morning?" Jenna asked.

"How could I forget?" He laughed.

"Well, they brought something up, and I had no clue how to answer them and I wanted to know what you were thinking about it, and if it scared you." Jenna told him.

"Oh, you mean the marriage question?" He asked.

"How'd you know?" She looked at him in awe.

"Well, it was pretty obvious you were kind of taken aback by it. I don't know what to tell you. You know that I love you, and you make me happy. I can't see my future without you in it, and that kind of makes marriage a logical step right? Not that I'm ready for that right now, and I don't think you are either, but I'm not exactly opposed to the idea for the future. Am I scared?…A little, but that feeling gets smaller and smaller each day I spend with you, and the scared feeling is replaced with the love I feel for you." He said honestly as he looked into her eyes.

"Wow. What a change. Are you the same Nicholas Tiller?" She asked with a smile.

"Nope. I've changed a lot. I feel like a whole new person!"

"So if your mom corners us and asks that question tomorrow, I'm letting you field it since you do such a good job explaining it." Jenna said as she wrapped her arms around Nicholas and kissed his lips lightly. "Now, let's get cooking. We can make some of the stuff today so we don't have as much to do tomorrow. Now get on it, Tiller!"

Nicholas smiled and pulled her in for another kiss, ignoring her work orders for the time being.

*****

Monday morning, Jenna woke again in Nicholas's arms. She looked up into his eyes, to find them open and looking right at her. "Wow, you're awake before me this morning. That's rare!" She teased.

"Well, I wanted to watch you sleep for a change. Besides, you told me that we had to be up early to get ready for the party. I can't help it if you're just lazy!" He joked.

"You're right, I better get moving!" Jenna said and jumped out of bed. She had almost made a clean getaway before Nicholas grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to bed.

"Not so fast. I haven't even gotten a good morning kiss yet. You aren't getting away that easily!" He told her before claiming her lips with his own.

Just before things really started to heat up, Jenna pulled away. "You're just trying to side-track me. I have to get in the shower, and you need one too."

"Well then let's save water and take one together." Nicholas suggested with a sly smile.

Jenna looked at Nicholas while a million thoughts ran through her head. Yeah, it was probably a bad idea if they showered together, but they didn't end up having sex last night, so maybe shower sex wouldn't be so bad? Jenna walked over to her bedroom door and twisted the lock. She gripped the bottom of her nightgown and pulled it up over her head. She tossed it to Nicholas who was laying on the bed with his mouth hanging open in surprise. Jenna walked to the bathroom and turned the shower on, then went to her medicine cabinet and took out a condom. She laid it on the counter and said to Nicholas, "You have a present in here, just waiting to be opened."

Jenna got into the shower and felt the water cascading over her body. As she looked out the glass panels of the shower stall, she saw a still stunned Nicholas walk into the bathroom and look on the counter. His body was ready for Jenna as soon as he saw his 'present', so he opened it up and sheathed himself before sliding into the shower next to Jenna.

"I figured the shower will help to cover up the sounds of us making love, but we still need to be quiet." Jenna said as she wrapped her arms around Nicholas's neck. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, careful not to slam into him too hard to send them both flying out of the shower.

Nicholas looked at her as her hips wiggled over him. "Are you ready already? No foreplay or anything?" He asked, not wanting to disappoint her.

"I'm ready, just give it to me!" Jenna said, almost desperately.

Nicholas did just as she had asked of him and he slid into her. He backed her up against the shower wall as he quickly drove her to the brink of her climax. After hers passed, Nicholas let his explode.

"Sorry, I couldn't wait much longer." Nicholas said sheepishly.

"Nicholas, that's what a quickie is all about." Jenna said with a smile. "It was perfect!" She told him as he put her down. She gave him a deep, sensuous kiss as she reached for the used condom to throw it out. When she got back into the shower, they took turns washing each other’s bodies, trying not to take too much time.

After their shower, Nicholas ran over to his house to get dressed. Jenna got herself ready for the day, then went to get started in the kitchen. By the time Nicholas got back, the kids were up and eating bowls of cereal for breakfast. Jenna offered one to Nicholas, but he declined and helped her make the food for the party instead.

A few short hours later, friends and family started to show up for the cookout. Colby was so excited to see that Mike Mussina was one of the first people there. He dragged him into the house to show him how cool his mom had decorated his bedroom, then he introduced him to his dog named 'Jeter'. Mike laughed at that one and couldn't wait to tease his buddy Derek about the dog that looked so much like him. Colby hung on Mike's every word, and didn't want to leave his side for anything. Mike ended up in the back yard with him and Emma, teaching them the basics of pitching.

Nathan and Vanessa showed up shortly after, carrying dessert to share. They had offered to help with more than that, but after all their help in the past couple of weeks, Jenna told them that dessert was more than enough. Nathan and Vanessa were proud to see that their hard work had paid off and that Nicholas and Jenna were both happy again.

Finally, Nicholas's mom, Mrs. Tiller arrived. Nicholas and Jenna were on the deck, grilling up the meat and chicken when they saw Emma run a blue streak across the lawn. She shouted "Grandma! Grandma! Guess what! Daddy's got a new girlfriend and she's going to be my new mom!" Nicholas and Jenna looked at each other with wide eyes and shot down the deck. When they got there, it was worse than they thought. Not only was Nicholas's mother standing there, but Leslie's mother had walked up also.

"Nicholas, what's going on?" Mrs. Tiller asked.

"Mom! Nice to see you!" He hugged her. He turned to Leslie's mom and said, "Linda, nice to see you again. It's been a while."

"Linda called me up and asked what I was doing today and I invited her to come along. I didn't think you'd mind." Mrs. Tiller said, not quite sure what to make of the situation yet.

Emma got done hugging both her grandmas and went to stand between Nicholas and Jenna, holding one of each of their hands. "Both my grandmas are here, isn't that so cool?" She asked.

"Of course we don't mind if you asked Linda to come along." Nicholas said and gave her an awkward hug. He turned to Jenna who was feeling very self-conscious around the two older women sizing her up. She didn't know who Linda was, but from what Emma had just said, she had a pretty good idea. "Jenna, you know my mom." The two women said hi to each other. Nicholas went on and introduced her to the other woman, "And this is Linda Childs, Leslie's mother."

Jenna gulped. It was just as she had thought. "Nice to meet you. Can I get you ladies something to drink?"

"Nice to meet you too." Linda said, without any sincerity. "I don't think I'll be staying long, so I'm fine without anything to drink."

"Now Nicholas, what is this nonsense that Emma is sprouting?" Mrs. Tiller asked.

"Emma, why don't you go play with Colby for a little while." Nicholas told her. When Emma started to protest, Nicholas gave her a look that said not to disobey him. After she left, Nicholas turned back to his mother. "I think Emma is getting a little ahead of herself, but yes, Jenna and I are in a relationship."

Linda's jaw dropped. "How dare you cheat on my daughter?"

"With all due respect Linda, Leslie isn't ever coming back. She died almost three years ago, and I think it's time I moved on with my life." Nicholas told her, trying to remain calm.

"Her grave is barely cold and you move on? I thought you were better than that Nicholas!" Linda cried.

"Linda, it's been almost three years. Don't you think I deserve a life too? Just because Leslie's is gone doesn't mean I should stop living. I'm still here. I need to be happy with the life I have now." Nicholas said.

"You should be ashamed of yourself! And you!" Linda turned to Jenna. "What do you do, just go around looking to prey on young widowers? Have you no shame?"

Nicholas grabbed Jenna's hand and looked at her as her eyes started to gloss over with tears. "Now wait a minute! You are out of line Linda. First of all, I won't have you disrespecting Jenna at her own house. Second, she didn't 'prey' on me. She became my friend when I needed one most, and I fell in love with her. I'm sorry if you don't understand that, but that's how it is. If you don't like it, you can leave."

"Well, you've finally said something that made sense. I think I will leave. Just know that I'm no through with you yet! Good day!" Linda said and turned around and walked out.

Nicholas turned to his mom. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this. But, yes, Jenna and I are together now and I hope you can accept it."

"We'll talk about it later. Right now I need to try to calm Linda down." Mrs. Tiller said and followed Leslie's mother out of the back yard.

"Well, that went smashingly, didn't it?" Jenna asked sarcastically, pale as a ghost.

"Jenna, I don't care what Linda thinks. All that matters is that you and I are happy with what we have. My mom will be ok. I think she's just in shock right now, especially with the way Emma told her about us. We really should have done it in private, not at a cookout. I realize that now." Nicholas said. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He kissed the top of her head, then backed up to look into her eyes. "I love you. That's all that matters!"

"I love you too." She said with a sad smile.

"Good, now let's party. Who needs the old people anyways!" He said with a laugh.

Nicholas dragged Jenna back up to the grill and took over for Nathan and Vanessa who had filled the vacancy when the grandmas showed up. Vanessa put her arm around Jenna's shoulders and blew a raspberry on her cheek. Jenna laughed and returned the gesture. After that, Jenna's mood lightened and everyone had a great time.

After the last guest from the cookout had left, Jenna and Nicholas looked at each other with a sigh of relief that it was finally over.  They looked around Jenna's backyard to see how much of a mess they were going to have to clean up before they could call it a night.

"Well, it's not really too bad.  I think that placing all the trash cans around the yard helped to keep it cleaner."  Jenna said optimistically.  "Good idea Nicholas.  I knew I kept you around for some reason!"

"Hey, I'm not just another pretty face, I'll have you know!"  Nicholas teased back.

"You got that right!"  Jenna joked.

"I'm wounded!  That hurt, that hurt deep!"  Nicholas cried as if he was in pain, with his hand clenched over his chest.

"I'm sure you'll get over it.  Now, shouldn't you be cleaning or something?"  Jenna laughed.

The clean-up went fast, giving Jenna and Nicholas some time to sit on the deck before they parted ways.  The kids were already asleep, each at their own house, as it was a work night for Jenna and Nicholas.  They had agreed that the only sleepovers would be on the weekends, when none of them had school or work the next day.

As they sat enjoying their remaining time together, cuddling on the porch swing, Jenna heard a noise on the side of the house.  "Nicholas, I think someone is over there."  She whispered nervously.

Nicholas got up from the swing quietly to see what the noise was.  As he rounded the corner of the house, he saw someone walking towards the street.  "Can I help you?"  He called out.  The figure stopped and turned around, giving Nicholas a view of their face.  "Mom?"

She started walking back to where Nicholas was.  "Sorry, I just came over to talk to the two of you.  But, when I went back there, you looked so cute cuddled on the swing that I didn't want to interrupt, so I was leaving.  I guess you heard me though."

"It's ok mom.  We weren't doing anything, just talking.  Come on back…I think there's some things we need to discuss."  Nicholas told her.  He grabbed her hand and hooked it to the crook of his arm before he escorted her to the back yard.

"Mrs. Tiller!"  Jenna was surprised when she saw who it was with Nicholas.

"Mom just came to talk to us and thought she was interrupting, so she left.  I think we all need to have a little talk though."  Nicholas explained.

"I agree.  Please, have a seat.  Can I get you anything to drink?  How about some food?  We have so much leftover from the cookout."  Jenna rambled nervously.

"Would you happen to have any wine?  It's been a long day!"  Mrs. Tiller asked sheepishly.

Jenna smiled and brought out a bottle of White Zinfandel and three glasses.  After Mrs. Tiller got her glass, she took a drink and smiled, looking a little more relaxed as the wine entered her system.