Royce(51)

“No…yes. I’m happy too. And I want her to love me, but I’m afraid that it’s going to take me some time to convince her of that.”

“Good. Then you’ll need to work faster. You’re not getting any younger and the thought of having a grandbaby just makes me all simple in the head. But don’t you dare rush her.” He laughed at his mom before she continued. “Also, let’s try very hard not to piss her off too much this time, son. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you didn’t practice safe sex with her and that’s how you got yourself in the situation you’re in now.”

“Yes, ma’am. I know. And if she’ll let me knock her up every year for the next twenty, then who am I to turn a lovely lady down? And just for the record, I know there were only six months between your marriage and my birth.” He disconnected the call with his mother sputtering. He figured he was going to pay for that, but for now he’d live with it. His next call was to Jay. It just so happened that Bobbie was there too.





Chapter 18



Jay watched his niece come toward him. She’d been at Royce’s house for over three weeks and she had called him this morning and asked him to come and get her. He wasn’t sure what to do so he’d called Mr. Royce at work. The man had been positively livid when he’d found out.

“Hold her…well, try. If nothing else, I want you to stall her. I can be there in twenty minutes.” Jay started to tell him that he would when Mr. Royce spoke again. “I won’t hurt her, but there are times when I want to beat her butt. Damned girl.”

Jay knew just how the man felt. There were days when he wanted to beat her himself. Just like he had with her mother. But this woman was much more independent than her mother had ever been. Scarily so.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked as she pulled on her jacket. “Royce is at work today and I don’t know how much time I have before he comes home. And I need to get back to my own place. This is…Uncle Jay?”

“He’s coming now. I thought he’d…he’s on his way here and should be here soon. I’m sorry, baby, but the man loves you and I don’t want you to be alone.” She sat down in the chair and stared at him. “He said he loves you. Don’t you believe him?”

“I don’t…I don’t want him to love me. I mean, yes, I know he does, or at least he says he does, but Uncle Jay, he’s so out of my league. We are as different as night and day. He has so much and I’m lucky to have a pot to piddle in.”

“What a really stupid thing to say.” She opened her mouth to say something, but he raised his hand. “No, you listen to me, young lady. Do you think that a couple comes together with the exact same things? No, they do not. You think your aunt and I had even close to the same desires or…you know, that’s a bad reference. I hated your aunt. Yes, I know that’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t until later after—”

“I know you hated her. We all did for what she did to Suzy. But this isn’t the same. Royce doesn’t treat me like that. He treats me with respect and understanding. I just…”

“You just what?” Royce asked from the doorway. “You just what, Kasey? I’d really like to know because I do love you. I’m going to love you for the rest of our lives whether you care for me or not.”

Jay watched her. He needed more than anything to see if she loved him. He did feel badly for calling Mr. Royce when he should have sided with her, but he knew that Leah would have skinned him alive had he just taken Kasey home with him without seeing for himself. He watched the young man walk slowly toward Kasey and drop to one knee before her. Jay knew he’d made the right decision when he saw Kasey’s eyes light up when he touched her.

Jay thought he should leave them to their privacy, but Bobbie told him if he didn’t come back with details she’d never forgive him. He smiled at that. Who would have thought that little Bobbie would be such a passionate little thing? And her in love with him too. Jay decided that he’d been alone long enough and on his way home he was stopping to get a ring. Time to make things right for everyone.

Jay nearly fell off his chair when he saw Mr. Royce pull out a small blue box from his pocket. Then he got up quietly and left the room. Bobbie was going to have kittens. He was pulling out his cell phone to call her as he opened the front door. “You’re not going to believe it,” he said with a huge smile. “My Kasey is going to marry Mr. Royce.”

~~~

“I don’t want you to leave me. Please don’t. I’ve…I love you. I know you’re probably sick of hearing—”