Just before lunch the next day, Laura and JC were on the plane that was taxiing back from the gate, on their way to Chicago to meet his parents.  Laura tucked her hand into his before she turned to look out the window and watch them takeoff.  JC’s head was back, well on his way to falling asleep.  But Laura’s thoughts were going too fast to fall asleep.  Last night had been perfect.  They had had a limo for the evening, gone to dine at one of the fabulous private restaurants LA had to offer, before ending their evening at the theater seeing a show that Laura had been dying to watch. 

She was nervous about meeting his family.  He had talked a lot about them, but he hadn’t seen them in a while.  While they supported JC, they hadn’t liked many of the decisions that he had made, so much drinking and women, so it had been easy for JC to push them aside, but now JC was a completely different man – ready to settle down and start a family.

The flight passed quickly with Laura alternatively reading and looking out the window at world passing by beneath them.  JC slept the entire flight waking only when the flight attendant announced the descent instructions.  Blinking slowly, he looked around, rolling his neck to loosen his stiff muscles, before turning to look at his fiancée. 

“Have a nice nap?”

“Yeah, I did.  Someone hasn’t let me sleep much the past couple of days.  Did you sleep?”

“Nah, I don’t like to have people stare at me while I’m sleeping.”  She lowered her voice and leaned in as JC tilted his head down to listen.  “There were a couple of women who walked by so many times I’m sure there is a path worn in the aisle just from them gawking at you.  Either that or they ate something that didn’t agree with them, if you know what I mean.”

He threw his head back and laughed.  “Oh, you are so good for me!”

They laughed together while the plane landed, exiting the plane quickly after grabbing their carryon luggage.  Entering the airport, he grabbed her hand to avoid being separated in the sea of people.  They hadn’t walked far, when they heard someone calling JC’s name.

“5 bucks says it’s the women from the plane.”

“I never bet against a sure thing.”  The person was getting closer, still calling out JC’s name.  “I’ll make this as quick as I can.”  He handed her the bag he carried over his shoulder and turned to face whomever was calling his name.

“Oh, my gosh it IS you!  I am such a huge fan.  Can we get an autograph and picture?”  One of the women grabbed JC’s arm and hung on it like she was never letting go. 

“Sure.  Laura, would you mind snapping a quick picture?”  He asked with apologetic eyes.    

“I can do that.”  One of the women handed Laura a camera and grabbed onto JC’s other arm.  Snapping a couple of pictures, she handed the camera back as JC expertly escaped the grasp of the two women. 

“Can you sign something?"  Laura had to turn away and stifle a laugh as these two professionally dressed business women fumbled all over themselves to find something for JC to sign. 

After signing whatever scrap of paper the women dug up, JC bid them goodbye and retrieved his bag from Laura, again throwing it over his shoulder and taking her hand in his as they continued to baggage claim. 

“Do you ever get tired of that?  I don’t mean autographs and pictures, but people you don’t even know coming up and touching and grabbing on to you?  I’ve thought about that before, but never asked you.” 

JC sighed before answering, “I love my fans.  I love that they support me and everything, but yeah, when women like that come up to me and start hanging on, especially when I’m with my fiancée, then I have a problem with it.  But if I handle it the wrong way or say something wrong, then all of a sudden I have an attitude problem.  Sometimes I just have a bad day and need my space.  You know?  And unfortunately, you as my fiancée and wife will have to deal with it, and if you see something that really bothers you, let me know.”  He navigated them over to a quiet corner and turned to face her, cupping her face in his hands.  “But you need to know, here and here,” touching her head and heart, “that I am yours forever.  No matter what the fans have to say or what they do, it’s you who holds my heart and it’s you who I will come home to every night.  I love you!” 

“I love you so much!  You always know the right thing to say.  I can’t say that it doesn’t bother me when they do that, but I would never ask you to change anything.  You are the man I fell in love with and that is part of what makes you the wonderful man that you are.  I trust you and believe me if you ever do anything to break my trust, my father and brother will hunt you down and break every bone in your body!”

JC laughed lightly, but spoke from his heart.  “If I ever hurt you or break your trust, they won’t have to hunt me down, I’ll show up at their doorstop deserving everything that they dish out.  I can’t promise never to hurt you, but I’ll do my best not to, it’s inevitable that there will be misunderstandings between us, but we will talk them out and make everything right again.”  He leaned down and kissed her quickly, ever mindful that they were in the airport and fans were close by.  “Now we need to get out of here, before anyone else approaches us.”

Once again they started hand in hand to collect the rest of the luggage.  “I never asked, is someone from your family picking us up or are we renting a car?”

“It’ll be kind of hard for anyone to pick us up when they don’t know we’re in town.”

Laura stopped in her tracks forcing JC to stumble before turning back to her.  “What do you mean, they don’t know we’re in town?  You didn’t call and tell them?”

“No, I usually don’t.  Why?”

“JC, you they will be happy to see!  Me – I can’t just show up out of the blue.  What are they going to think?!?  Have you even told them about me?”

“You’re so cute when you’re nervous.”

“I’m not nervous, I’m mad at you.  How could you bring me here to meet your parents and not tell them?”

“It will be alright, I…”  He noticed the stares coming their way.  “Let’s continue this conversation in the car.  You get in line for a car and I’ll grab the bags and meet you there.” 

After getting JC’s standard SUV and placing their bags in the back, he opened the passenger door and helped Laura get settled before closing it and getting in the drivers seat.  She turned to stare at him, not saying a word, waiting for him to finish their conversation. 

“What?”  He glanced at her as he pulled into traffic. 

“Don’t what me!  You’d better use your smooth talking to explain this one – fast!  How could we fly all the way back here, when they don’t even know I exist?”

“Laura, Laura, they know you exist.  I couldn’t hide the love of my life from my parents.  I’ve called them more often since we’ve been together than I have over the past year.  They are used to me popping in and out and bringing you, well I’ll redeem myself because it means I’m settling down and they will be getting grandchildren eventually.  I didn’t want to tell them we are engaged until we saw them face to face and they could see for themselves how perfect you are for me.  It’s the same reason you haven’t told your parents we’re engaged, you wanted to tell them in person.”

“Yeah, but I at least told them I was coming home early.”

“And you think they don’t know that something is up, especially when you told them that I was coming home with you?”

“You’ve been back to see me several times before so that shouldn’t tip them off.”

“Uh huh.”  JC said doubtfully.  He smiled to himself, watching traffic as he drove.  He had called and asked her father for her hand in marriage before asking Laura herself.  He was surprised that Laura’s parents hadn’t spilled the bag that they already knew. 

He pointed out the sights as they made their way through the city.  Getting off the expressway, they drove through a beautiful, upscale neighborhood.  He turned into a two story brick home with flowers throughout the small yard. 

“Here we are.  Are you ready for this?”

“As ready as I ever will be.  Will everyone be here?”

“No, just my parents.  We’ll work through this slowly.”  He joked.

“That’s not funny.”

He squeezed her hand before opening his door and walking around to grab her by the waist.  He pressed his body into hers and leaned her back up against the vehicle.  “They will love you just as much as I do.”  Her arms worked under his and up around his shoulders.  “We can leave whenever you’re ready and check into our hotel.”

“We’re not staying here?”

“No, I don’t always and I figured you would be more comfortable in a hotel.”

“Have I told you how thoughtful you are and how much I love you lately?”

JC pretended to think about it.  “I think the last time was in the airport actually.”

“I’ll have to remedy that then, huh?”  She asked with a laugh as their lips met. 

Neither heard the front door open behind them or saw his parents stand on the front porch watching them. 

A masculine voice called out, “JC, quit mauling that poor girl and get up here and give us a hug.”  He pulled back from the kiss with a laugh, locking their hands together, and leading Laura to the porch to greet her future in-laws.  Releasing her hand, he wrapped his arms around both of his parents

***

Laura stood back watching the happy family reunion.  She could tell his parents were so excited to have JC home.  His mom, Karen, had closed her eyes against the tears she hadn’t been able to hide and his dad, Roy, had the biggest smile on his face as he pounded his hand on JC’s back. 

Too soon for Karen, JC pulled back and placed his arm around Laura.  “Let’s go inside away from prying eyes and I’ll introduce you to this beautiful woman here.”

Karen led the way into the house and the simple but elegant living room. 

JC pulled Laura closed to his side as he announced with great pride, “Mom, Dad, this is Laura, the love of my life and the woman who has made me the happiest man on earth, my fiancée!”  He pressed his lips tenderly against her temple as his parents stood there stunned. 

“You’re…you’re getting married?”  “My baby is finally getting married?”  His parents talked over one another. 

His mom was the first one to move toward the couple.  She opened her arms and hugged Laura before pulling JC in as well.  They all laughed as Roy gently moved his wife to the side so he could hug Laura as well. 

Karen couldn’t believe it.  She was at a loss for words.  She finally settled on pulling Laura to sit on the sofa next to her, leaving Roy to settle back into his chair and JC to slide in beside Laura.  JC tucked Laura’s hair behind her ear so he could see her face before leaning against the back and drawing her back to rest against him.

Karen kept a hold of Laura’s hand, holding it in both of hers.  With tears in her eyes, she said, “Thank you for bringing my son back to me.”  Laura reached out and gathered Karen into her arms as she broke down and sobbed.  Rubbing her back, she let Karen cry as tears came into her own eyes.  As Karen started to get control of her tears, Laura whispered in her ear, “Thank you for raising such an amazing and wonderful son.  He’s been gone for a while, but now he’s back for good.”  Now they were both crying.  JC sat forward in concern placing one hand on his mother’s head that was resting on Laura’s shoulder and the other hand gently rubbing Laura’s back.  Looking across the room at his father, they shared a questioning look as the tears turned to jubilant laughter. 

Pulling away, they wiped their eyes, the bond between them already in place. 

“We have heard so much about you already Laura, I feel like we already know you.  JC has called and talked about you so often.”

Laura laughed.  “Don’t believe everything you hear.  He tends to exaggerate!”

“The truth isn’t an exaggeration, sweetheart.”  They shared a look and a smile. 

“I just can’t believe that my baby is getting married.  I had just about given up hope on Josh ever settling down.  How did he propose?” His mom asked. 

Laura turned to JC with a question in her eyes.  He laughed and said, “Go ahead,” leaning back again as he clasped her hand in his. 

“It was so romantic.  We had gone for a walk on the beach, like we had for most of the evenings before and I had noticed that he had been more quiet than usual, but didn’t think any of it.”

Roy chuckled from his place across the room, “You have to be careful when he gets quiet!”

“So I’ve learned,” she said shooting glance toward JC who had a look of innocence on his face.  “Anyway, the sun was beginning to set when we got back to his balcony.  I honestly wasn’t paying any attention, I kept turning around to watch the sunset and he was dragging me up the stairs.  But when we got to the balcony, it took my breath away.  He had hundreds of candles lit and bouquets of flowers and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  And I of course had to think about it and left him kneeling there while I considered it for a couple of hours.”

“Hey, I’m quite a catch, you know.  No one here appreciates me.”  JC said with a mock scowl. 

“You were quite a catch.  You’re caught now, don’t you forget it.”  Laura said as she playfully punched him in the stomach. 

“Baby, I don’t want to forget it.”  He leaned over and gave her a kiss, forgetting his parents were there until his mom said, “Awww…you two are just too cute!  And so perfect for each other.”

Breaking apart, Laura had a blush on her cheeks as JC relaxed and watched the love of his life interact with his parents.  JC was happier than he had ever been and was at peace.