6. Six

Val

Chase’s truck has a new radiator hose, and we’re almost back in Jacksonville.

We only stopped once for breakfast. It was at a little hole-in-the-wall diner on I-95.

I now know that my husband— Yes, Chase is my husband. I still can’t believe it. He likes pecan pancakes. I’ll be sure to add that to my list of things that Chase likes to eat.

I swear this morning, when I was in that place between sleep and being awake, it felt like Chase had his arm wrapped around me and was fondling my breast. But when I opened my eyes, I knew it was only a dream because he wasn’t even near me in the bed.

I had such a hard time falling asleep, knowing Chase was lying just inches away from me. I was in bed with Chase! I wanted to pinch myself to prove I wasn’t dreaming about getting married to him, but I was too scared to move.

I think he slept like a baby. At least he was sound asleep when I finally dozed off.

When he pulls up outside the duplex, I jump down from the truck before he can come around to open my door.

“I can’t wait to get a shower and put on clean clothes.”

“Yeah, me too. Come on over when you’re done.”

I nod, then enter my side of the duplex, saying nothing more to Chase. After I take a quick shower, I take the time to completely dry my hair, hoping to keep it from curling too much.

I look at my closet and realize I’m trying to find something that will make me look ten pounds thinner. I shake my head at myself and finally settle on a cute hot pink halter top and jeans.

I usually just throw on cutoff jeans and a baggy shirt. When I’m working on my computer, I get so engrossed in the coding and software that I never worry about what I look like.

Now that I’m married to such a hot-looking guy, I figure I may need to start making an effort.

I walk out my door and around to his side of the duplex.

Chase yells, “Come on in, Val,” when I knock.

When he sees me, he mutters something about hot pink, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. What did you say?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Hey, let’s visit my mom. I need to introduce you to her.”

“What? Today? Chase, I’m not ready to meet your mother.”

“Sure you are. Besides, I know she’s home, and we need to let her know we’re married. It’s bad enough that we didn’t invite her to the wedding, but she’ll understand once we tell her the details, as long as we tell her right away. Hopefully.”

“Alright,” I nervously look down at my jeans and straighten my halter top, “I hope I’m dressed nice enough.”

“Yeah, you look fine.”

We get in his truck, and he heads to his mother’s house.

“Almost there,” he states as he pulls into a long private drive.

I pull down the visor mirror and try unsuccessfully to straighten my unruly curls.

“Relax, you’ll like my mom, and she’ll adore you.”

“What’s your mom like?”

“Well, let’s see. She’s still very attractive. Her dark hair has a large streak of gray in the front. She’s had that streak since she was in her early thirties. We keep waiting for the rest of her hair to turn gray, but it hasn’t yet. Lately, she’s been nagging my brothers and me to settle down. That and pickleball is her newest passion. She can talk about pickleball for hours.”

He stops to give it some more thought, “She also loves to read, take pictures, and um... bake. Oh, and don’t let her fool you. She’s a nice lady, but she raised three sons in a family that likes motorcycles. She won’t take crap from anybody.”

He pulls up to a large, sprawling house located on a huge piece of property.

Chase rings the bell and waits for his mom to come to the door.

“Chase! You’re back. I’m so glad you dropped by– Who is this? Oh, I bet you’re his friend Val.” She steps back to let us enter the front door.

The house is big and spacious. The ceilings are high. Sometimes, I forget how well-to-do Chase and his family are until I’m reminded of their wealth, like now. This house has a gorgeous river view you can see through the large windows.

He gives his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Yes, Mom, I’m back, and you’re right, this is Val.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Knight,” I say in greeting.

Chase watches as his mom gives me a big hug and states, “Please call me Bonnie. I’ve heard so much about you. I feel like we’re already friends.”

He gives me a quick thumbs-up before his mother lets me go.

“Come into the kitchen, you two. I just finished pulling some cookies out of the oven.”

“I knew something smelled good. Are they chocolate chip?” Chase asks hopefully.

“Of course. I was hoping you’d stop by to say hello, so I made a few batches,” his mother goes into the kitchen and over to the stove.

“They’re still hot. Have a seat at the counter, and I’ll put some on a plate.”

Chase and I both sit down at the kitchen counter, and we watch as his mother takes cookies right off a cookie sheet and onto a plate. She sets the plate between us.

Chase immediately grabs one up and stuffs it in his mouth.

“Be careful, they’re still hot,” Bonnie warns him.

“Yep, I love ’em when they’re hot,” he states around a mouthful of gooey cookie.

Bonnie just shakes her head at her son, goes to the fridge, and gets out some milk and tea.

“Milk or tea?”

“Iced tea, please.”

Chase doesn’t answer, so I guess he knows she was only asking me.

His mother pours a large glass of milk for Chase and then pours a glass of tea for me and herself. She takes a few sips and then talks to us while she continues to move cookies from the sheets onto a cooling rack.

I glance at Chase with a soft smile because right now, this big, tough guy reminds me of a little boy sitting there drinking a glass of milk and eating cookies that his mother fixed just for him.

“So, how was your trip, Chase?” His mother asks him.

“Tiring, long, but otherwise, I learned a lot. I can’t wait to talk to Carson about some of the additional safety measures. I’m sure we can implement some immediately,” he says between mouthfuls.

“Great. Carson has been so busy that both you and Carter are gone. I’m glad that at least one of you boys is back.”

His mother looks over at me and explains, “Carson is my oldest son, Carter is in the middle, and Chase here is the youngest. Carter decided he wanted to travel a bit, so he’s been gone for a while. As you probably already know, Chase was away for some business training.”

I nod my head politely. Chase mentioned he had two older brothers, but that’s about all I know of his family. I knew he was gone for business training if not all the details.

“Mom, Val and I have some news.”

“Oh really? Do you think I didn’t see that big engagement ring on her finger? I’ve just been dying for you both to tell me you’re engaged.”

“Um, Mom? That isn’t just an engagement ring. There’s also a wedding band.”

Chase holds up his left hand as well so she can see the ring on his third finger.

“What? Let me see! Oh, my gosh, are you... are you already married?”

“Yes, Mom, we’re married. We wanted you to be the first to know. You see, if we didn’t get married before Val turns twenty-five, she would forfeit her inheritance. So, we were already down to the wire as her birthday is this coming Friday. That’s why we didn’t wait to have a traditional wedding.”

Chase’s mother looks from him to me and then just smiles. She comes around the counter and wraps both of us in one big hug.

“I would have liked to have been there, but I understand why you went ahead and got married due to the circumstances.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Thank you, Mrs— I mean Bonnie.”

“Now, let me take a look at those rings.” She takes both of our left hands and examines the rings.

“They are so unusual. I love how they intertwine. They’re beautiful.”

“Thanks, Val picked them out.”

“Well, she obviously has great taste. Now, did he get down on one knee when he proposed? Like a gentleman should?”

“Yes, Ma’am, he did. We were out to dinner, and when they served dessert, he got down on one knee and presented the ring. Then he slipped it on.”

“Good. It’s a family tradition, you know. He can be civilized when he wants to be.”

Chase looks over at me and gives me a wink. I was astonished when he got down on one knee in the restaurant and slipped the ring on my finger. He laughed and explained that his mom would be very upset if she heard he didn’t get down on one knee and ‘propose the proper way.’

“We’ll have to have a family dinner so you can meet his brothers and some of our family. The Knight family is huge. So, at least Carson, as I’m sure he’ll want to welcome you into the fold. You’ll have to call Carter to let him know you’re married, Chase.”

“I will. I just figured you’d want to know first.”

“You got that right, young man. Val, be sure to keep him on his toes. He’s a crafty one,” she motions to her son with a spatula.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Val, Chase told us you’re into computer programming. Is that correct?”

“Yes, I work from home often, but I go to the offices for meetings and just to stay in touch. I love the software side of things. I’ve been working on a program that allows enhancements. It captures images, many images, and then the software pieces them all together to further enhance them. It helps identify objects and faces. We’re mostly working with surveillance-type camera images.” Val looks up sheepishly. “As you can see, I’m proud of our progress.”

“And you should be. That sounds fascinating. Be sure to mention it to Carson; he’s always looking for camera image enhancements. Isn’t he Chase?”

Chase looks over at me. “Yes, he’ll be very interested. What does your uncle think of the progress you’ve made?”

I wrinkle my nose. “My Uncle Victor isn’t that interested in the programs our department creates. He’d rather go into creating the next big digital game. Video or digital games can bring in high profits. However, there’s so much competition, and there’s not a lot of satisfaction in teaching a teenager to shoot people or drive fast cars. I like to think that my department is creating software that will help people. Possibly help solve crimes or even prevent them.”

I look up to find Chase’s mother has a huge smile on her face. I give Chase a quizzical look.

Bonnie looks over at her son and states, “I can see why you married her, Chase. She already sounds like one of us. She sounds like a Knight.”