Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

Flames and Firms

-LIA-

My Saturday morning had started out like a perfect dream. The scent of lavender had lured me awake to find a red envelope nestled on my pillow and I had ripped it open to discover a handwritten note from Jordan inviting me to come relax in the tub and accompany him on a breakfast date to the newest local coffee shop that was offering free chocolate candies to their first 100 guests. The chocolate alone had been enough to spring me out of bed and straight into the bathroom where I found my sexy husband in a white cotton bathrobe drawing an essential oil-filled bath. Needless to say, we'd gotten plenty dirty before soaking together in pure bliss.

Afterwards, we had decided to take a short detour on the way to our coffee shop destination and stopped by our oldest daughter, Maria's house to spend a few minutes with her family and welcome our first granddaughter home from her senior trip to Hawaii. However, instead of the quick visit that Jordan and I had anticipated, Gracie had decided to shock us all with the revelation that she'd eloped in Hawaii and was now married to the nephew of her parents' estate manager.

For a full minute, I'd wondered if I truly was dreaming and still laying sound asleep in bed, but that had quickly faded the second my son-in-law, Tony, had surged up from his chair in utter disbelief. Even now, nearly a half-hour later he looked like he was on the verge of madness while he shouted and ranted endlessly. Jordan's face was a picture of surprise and I was certain that his expression mirrored my own.

Maria gestured for her husband to sit, but it was no use as he continued to pace. "Babe, this is a lot to take in, but I don't think we should jump to any particular conclusions—"

"Jump to conclusions?" Tony exclaimed. "I'm not jumping to conclusions. She literally told us she's married, Marisa. Married. Our child who turned eighteen barely a month ago ran off to Hawaii and got married and just casually mentioned it as good news as if we're supposed to be happy about it. I'm the complete opposite of happy!"

Maria ran her fingers through her hair and blew at a loose strand that fell on her nose, "I know, Tony, I'm not happy about it either, but to her it is good news. Did you notice the look in her eyes? She's clearly in love with him."

"Oh, give me a break," Tony shook his head. "She's not in love. She's too young to be in love. This is just some temporary flame. She's infatuated because he's gotten in her head."

"We loved each other at eighteen, I think it's possible she loves him. Besides, at least she isn't hiding it," Maria ruminated. "Would you have rathered that? That she came back here married and didn't say anything? That she hid it from us? That's what I did when I had big news that I wasn't sure how to share with my parents. I carried around the secret for weeks until I couldn't take it."

Tony glanced at her and they shared a look that told me their memories were traveling back in time to the same place that mine had gone—almost nineteen years before when they'd been the young couple with shocking news that had turned out to be Gracie who we all loved so much.

"That was different," Tony lowered his voice. "We were two kids who were crazy in love and got a surprise out of it—"

"Exactly, we were in love. What makes you so sure that she isn't?"

"Because we didn't plan it, it just happened. You don't get married without some planning. If you ask me, Jason went to Hawaii with this plan in mind. He came to me and asked if I'd let him go on the trip so he could make some extra cash and like a fool, I said yes without realizing what I was agreeing to. What kind of man marries somebody's daughter without getting permission first?"

Maria raised her eyebrows and drifted her eyes over to Jordan. I chuckled.

"To be fair, I didn't plan anything, I just got wonderstruck by a really pretty girl," he said as he smiled over at me before a more serious look crossed his face. "But I was also young and dumb and not exactly thinking about how our parents would react."