“No!” Jake barked, not meaning for his refusal to be so loud.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I for one would love to hear what’s written on that card,” Josh teased.
“Yes, Mr. Ronson, please read it. This is so romantic!” Aviva said with a sigh as she batted her eyelashes at Jake.
Jake felt heat rush to his face as every pair of eyes in the room bore into him; waiting for him to take the flowers. Cutting his gaze to MacKenzie, he could see that her eyes sparkled with mischief.
Jake took hold of the now ridiculous looking bouquet. Unsure of what to do with them, he held them at arm’s length and cast a glaring look around the table. At some point in the midst of his bafflement, Mrs. Emerson had arrived and was now standing on his other side.
“These are for you, sir.” Mrs. Emerson then handed him the largest box of Belgium chocolates known to man. Jake refused to take them.
Everyone was laughing at him, including Noelle, who was bouncing around in her mother’s arms. “I’m sure, Ronson could have brought those at the same time as the flowers, Mrs. Emerson.” Jake reprimanded.
“Of course, he could, but there was no way I was going to be the only one to miss the look on your face, when you were presented with flowers and chocolates!” Mrs. Emerson laughed at his expense.
“Give those to me!” Jake snapped, snatching the offending chocolates out of her hands, and all but throwing them on the table.
“Read the card, Jake.” MacKenzie suggested.
Only just hearing her voice above the sounds of laughter, he was tempted to ignore her. Thinking better of it, he pulled out the card nestled between the blooms. Ripping open the envelope, he pulled out the card, feeling even more ridiculous at how small it looked in his large hand. With one final glare around the table, he cut his eyes to the note and read the words written there.
You gave me a bed full of flowers as my new beginning. Thank you. May the sound of laughter and the feeling of love always surround you and those you hold dear.
MacKenzie
Jake handed the bouquet back to a still hovering Ronson. Mindful of Noelle, who was still in her mother’s arms, Jake carefully lifted MacKenzie out of her chair and onto his lap. Uncaring of his audience, he spoke the words that he had kept locked inside for far too long. “I hold you both dear, and I love you MacKenzie Braithwaite.”
A hush fell over the room as though all the occupants knew this was a perfect moment.
“We love you too, Jake,” was MacKenzie’s simple reply. Probably sensing something monumental was afoot, Noelle pushed up in her mother’s arms and grabbed hold of Jake’s nose. When he transferred his attention to her, she gave him a big gummy smile. Her smile was followed by a hiccup that seemed to startle her. Then Noelle emitted a deep belly laugh that Jake would have been proud to produce. In shock, the rest of his family looked at the baby. Jake had heard the laugh before, and if he hadn’t known better, he would have sworn Noelle preened at being the center of attention.
***********
“Jason Kingdom, you had better have a good reason that a perfect stranger is refusing to allow us to take a car and leave the property!” Aviva glowered at the phone even though her husband couldn’t see her.
“Us?” Jason questioned.
“Don’t you dare start with me, Jason! By your own admission and those of your family, it’s now safe to get on with our lives. Well, MacKenzie and I want to go shopping. Therefore, I find it difficult to understand why a man I have never met is preventing us from taking a car!”
“Calm down, Angel,” Jason said in a placating tone.
“As a matter of fact, I don’t want to bloody well calm down. I want to know what’s going on.” By the time Aviva finished speaking, her teeth were bared, and the tendons were standing up in her neck. Only just managing to suppress the urge to fling the phone across the room, she drew in a deep breath as she battled to find her inner calm.
Assailed by feelings of what she had gone through only months before, she tried to push the disquieting thoughts from her mind. As for her recent accident, Aviva refused to give the thought even a moment to gain purchase in her mind. She had been through enough, and she refused to be coddled. To do so would be to give others power over her. Aviva decided to call her husband’s bluff. She wasn’t a fool, if there was still a chance of any of them being in real danger, she would remain at the house. She just needed to know what was going on.
“You told me that everything was okay. The reporters have moved on. Therefore, I am going to take the car, and MacKenzie and I are going out. I’m going to trust that you, your brothers and your father are not keeping anything from MacKenzie and me.”
Aviva knew by Jason’s hesitation that she had backed him into a corner.