“I love you, Fallon,” I repeat, because that’s a sentence I’ll be saying for the rest of my life.
“I love you, too.” When she crawls onto my lap andpresses her lips to mine, there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve made the right choice—there is no other choice. Nothing feels better than being in Fallon’s arms, and nothing ever will.
I’m fully aware that we are talking about her grandparents as if they’re not in the room, which is rude. And this is their home, and we are kinda making out in front of them. Also rude. But they tried to split us up and send my wife packing halfway across the world without me, so they definitely started it.
37
Fallon
Who’d have ever guessed Ollie Jablonski would be my knight in shining armor. Or pads and a helmet.
He came through for me when I couldn’t see a way out. He was willing to risk everything just to be with me.
I’m lucky, and I know it.
What I want to do is head home and show Ollie just how much I love him, how much he means to me, how much I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.
But sometimes, real life intervenes.
There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you here by yourself, he signs as we follow my grandparents down the stairs.
You have hockey practice,I sign back.And you’re the Captain. You have to be there.
Ollie looks torn and I know it’s because he’s got about ten minutes until he needs to start the drive back to campus. But there are things that I need to say to my grandparents, and I’m not leaving until they hear me out.
My grandmother leads us all into the kitchen. I’m not sure if she wants us to sit down for tea or if she just wantedto get Ollie and me away from the bed we were sitting on. Our kissing session wasn’t worthy of a MyFans reel, but it was definitely spicier than anything you’d see at a Triumphant Travelers gathering—not that I’ll ever attend another one, but still.
I decide to stand at the kitchen island because I don’t plan to stay long and because sitting at the table feels too familiar. Things aren’t the same between my grandparents and me, and we have some work to do if we want to get back there.
Ollie stands beside me clasping my hand in his. I guess he’s really not leaving here without me. I can’t say I mind.
Gran’s face is sour, while Grandad just looks heartbroken.
“Fallon,” Gran begins, facing me so I can read her lips. “We understand you have deep feelings for this young man, but we cannot sit idly by when we have real concerns about your marriage.”
“I love him, Gran. Why isn’t that enough for you?” I ask, speaking the words.
“Because she loved him, too,” Grandad says, his face wrought with pain as Gran reaches for his hand.
It takes me a minute to see what’s really going on here, but I stay quiet because Grandad’s not done saying his piece.
“It doesn’t seem that long ago that your mother came into this very kitchen with a handsome athlete on her arm. Grant Zabek was all Kimmy could talk about for weeks. She couldn’t wait for us to meet him. She was smitten, that’s for sure.”
“She was so in love with him” Gran agrees, her eyes getting watery.
“Your mother was always so sensible, so level headed, but she lost all sense of reason when Grant was in theroom. We saw the signs, of course. It wasn’t anything overt, not at first. There was just something about him I never quite trusted.” Grandad is crying as he reaches for my free hand. I give it willingly.
Gran pulls an embroidered handkerchief from the edge of her sleeve, because even in the throes of family drama, she’s still Gran. “We should have intervened, Fallon. We should have said something, done something. Maybe not at first, but later, when our own daughter kept herself hidden away from us. When she did his bidding without a second thought, when she was so blind to the way he treated the three of you. By then, it was far too late to get through to her. It wasn’t until everything fell apart that we felt she truly came back to us.”
Tears are falling from my eyes as I round the counter. Ollie follows me because our hands are still joined. And because he loves me.
I let go of him just long enough to hug both of my grandparents before taking a step back to stand with my husband. “I love you both so much, but you have to understand that I am not my mother. And that Ollie is nothing like my dad. We’re our own people, and we’ll make our own mistakes. I know you thought you were helping, but all you were doing is punishing me preemptively. You were pushing me away just to keep from losing me.”
“We never want to lose you, darling,” Gran says, facing me. I know she means what she says, but I also know our dynamic needs to change.
“Then don’t call the Dean. Or go to the papers. Or tell anyone what you found out. That is the quickest way to lose me. You can’t threaten the man I love and think I’m going to be okay with it.”
My grandparents share a look, but Gran is the one who speaks up. “You have our promise. That is not to say thatwe condone anything your young man does on the computer, but as long as it doesn’t hurt you, then perhaps you’re right and it isn’t any of our concern.”
