Cherished (Wanted 4)

I smiled so big that it almost felt like my cheeks were going to cramp. “It was beyond cool. It was the most romantic thing ever, and I will never forget this moment for as long as I live.”

He put his hand on the side of my face and winked at me. “Good. That makes my heart happy.”

He pulled me into a hug, and we stood there for a few minutes.

“Scott, your parents are going to be pissed. We are really, really late.”

He laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder as we made our way back to his truck. I kept glancing down at the ring on my finger. It was breathtaking, and knowing it was his grandmother’s made my heart swell even more.

The platinum filigree ring was stunning. The princess cut diamond was huge and had to be over a carat. It sat atop two smaller princess cut diamonds flanking the main diamond. Then, it tapered down to baguettes. Scott had mentioned before that his grandmother’s platinum engagement ring was the most beautiful ring he’d ever seen and how he would never be able to find a ring as beautiful as it was.

He was right. It is breathtaking. The engraving on the band was exquisite.

“Scott, did your grandmother give you this ring before she passed away?” I asked.

Scott looked at me and smiled. “Nope,” was all he said as we walked up to where we had just spent the most amazing few hours of my life.

I was shocked to see everything had been cleaned up, and the catering company trailer was pulling away.

“Holy crap. They’re fast,” I said.

“Come on, Mom and Dad are waiting for us,” Scott said.

My heart dropped just a little. I really wanted to go home and celebrate being engaged, not go see his parents who hated me.

As we stood at the door, waiting for someone to answer it, a strong urge to break free of Scott’s grip and make a run for the woods hit me. Anything else would be better than facing his mom’s constant stares of disgust.

Melody threw open the door and was wearing the biggest smile on her face. “Well…it’s about time y’all showed up!”

She walked into Scott’s arms and told him how much she loved him and then she turned to me. When she pulled me into her arms, I was momentarily worried she might try to squeeze me to death.

She whispered in my ear, “I was so worried about you, sweetheart. I’m so glad you’re back.” When she pulled back from me, she shook her head. “When I found out what that little evil bitch did to my two boys and how she hurt you…well, let me tell you, it took every ounce of my Southern manners to hold myself back from going and giving her a piece of my mind.”

I just stood there, stunned. Who is this person? Where did Mrs. Tight-Ass Reynolds go? I gave her a weak smile and nodded my head. I quickly glanced over her shoulder, only to see Scott’s dad, Scott, Senior walking up.

He pushed his wife out of the way and took me in his arms as he spun me around. “Jesus, darlin’. Don’t you ever do that to us again.” He put me down and kissed the side of my cheek. “Come on, I’ve got a fire going in the pit on the back patio.”

They both turned and walked into the house. Scott started to walk in, and I grabbed his arm.

“Did you pay them?” I asked in a whisper.

“What?”

“You had to have paid them…or promised them something in return for acting that way toward me.” I looked back into the house.

Scott threw his head back and laughed. “Nope. No promises and no money have been exchanged. It looks like they’ve liked you all along. I told you they liked you.” He shrugged his shoulders and headed into the house, making his way out to the back patio.

I followed closely behind with my guard up. I was ready for what was sure to be an ambush attack from either one or both of them.

We sat for a few minutes, catching up on what had been going on. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I noticed Melody glance down at my hand. She brought her hand up to her mouth, and tears started forming.

Oh shit!

Scott and I seemed to be so shocked by their behavior toward me that we’d totally forgotten about our engagement.

Scott must have noticed at the same time because he cleared his throat and started to talk. “Um…Mom and Dad, I asked Jessie to marry me earlier. Well, really, it was right before we got here. Obviously, she said yes,” he said with an awkward laugh.

I peeked over at him and smiled before looking back at Melody and then Scott, Senior. The smile that spread across Scott’s dad’s face caused me to giggle. Melody then jumped up and started making these goofy sounds.