"You want to meet my parents?"
"I figure I should."
"Why?" she exclaimed.
"Because I'm an old-fashioned guy, and I'd really like to ask your parents’ permission to marry you."
"Wh-What?" Candy stammered, her hand going up to her heart.
"I really wanted to have my grandmother's ring ready, and I wanted to plan something romantic. You know, the whole grand gesture thing, but I'm not really that guy, and I didn't want to start our life on that note. But I'm the guy who will rub your feet every night after work, the guy who will let you go to a spa while I take care of our brood of children. I'm the guy who will take all the burdens of life you feel on my own shoulders just so you feel lighter. I'm the guy who would promise to love you for eternity and beyond and mean it. You're it for me, Candy—my better half, my person, my life. I can never go back to a world without you. You have become everything to me. So, would you make me the happiest person on the planet and agree to be my wife?"
I sat there, staring into her beautiful eyes. Eyes that made me feel like anything in the world was possible. I watched as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, thinking how much I loved her. She was smart, funny, kind, sexy, and absolutely stunning. I would be a lucky bastard to call her my wife.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Yeah?” Shocked and exhilarated at her answer. “You just made me the luckiest man on earth.” I pulled her toward me and kissed her, long and deep. “I love you, baby. I promise to never make you regret that answer.”
“I love you too, and I know I won’t. I have never been so happy in my entire life. You’re who I’m meant to be with. I think I maybe knew it from the minute I met you,” she said, cradling her head into the crook of my neck. “But you sure about going to Florida? My mom can be a little much.”
“Yes, baby. Your family is going to be my family. I want to start things on the right foot.”
“New Year’s in Florida?”
“Yes, I want to make you officially mine as soon as possible.”
Chapter 11
Candy
"Princess," my dad said, scooping me up in a bear hug before turning his steel-gray eyes at Nic. He didn't say anything to Nic at first, just nodded his head and offered his hand. "My name is Captain Kain; you must be the young man my Candy told us about. "
Nic grabbed my dad's hand, a smile plastered on his face as he lugged both our bags. I'd told him that wasn't necessary, but he wouldn't let me lift anything.
"It's very nice to meet you, sir."
"Relax, son. I'm not the parent you need to worry about," my dad said, laughing. I mouthed an I'm sorry to Nic, a little worried about what I'd gotten him into. My family was typical. A nuclear family, parents still together, the eldest a son, the youngest daughter. To the world, we looked very well put together, but that was not the truth. My dad was great; he'd always been kind and supportive, a hard worker, and the best daddy any girl could want. My brother Colton was smart, athletic, and funny, the kind of guy you knew would be successful from a young age, and people would be right. He was a Greek god with a medical degree serving his country. My mother was a perfect-looking Stepford housewife who thought I was a spinster by twenty-one. She was a good mom, but she was not the type of mom I’d wished I’d had. She wasn't always supportive and was on the judgmental side. I was the most worried about how she would react to Nic, and based on my dad's not-so-hidden joke, so was he.
"Daddy, stop scaring him," I said, putting my head on my father's shoulder while Nic loaded the trunk of the car with our bags.
My dad chuckled. “Well, he will meet your mother soon enough.â€
“I’m sure Mrs. Kain will be just as lovely as her daughter,†Nic said smoothly.
“It’ll be fine,†I said as I got in the car and left Nic alone in the back seat.
When we got to the house, my mom was waiting for us on the front porch like a good hostess. I never understood why she did that. It had been the same way my entire life. She wouldn’t wait inside for a doorbell but instead on that porch, sipping some tea as if she were taken by surprise by the invited visitors.
“Candance, darling,†she said, standing there with her arms open, waiting for me to land in them. That was the thing about my mother. She never really gave us any affection but pretended to.
“Hi, Mom. How are you?†I asked, hugging her nervously.
“How was your flight, sweetheart?†she asked, and before I could even answer, she brushed me aside and went down the porch steps to gawk at Nic, who was taking our bags out of the trunk. “You must be Nicolas,†she said, smiling sweetly at him. “Don’t just stand there, sugar. Come give me a hug.â€
Nic awkwardly walked toward her and gave her an embrace. “It’s Nico, actually,†he said, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture.
“What’s Nico?†she asked.
“My name. Nic is short for Nico. My mother was Italian, and my father, German.â€
“Oh, dear, I’m sorry. I had no idea,†she lied. I had told her his name over the phone multiple times.
"It's all right. I've been called Nicholas a few times in my life," Nic said before gazing up at me with a smile.
"Well, y'all must be exhausted from your flight," Mom said, locking her arms with Nic and heading toward me and the door. "Cal, you got Nic's room ready, right," she called behind her to my dad.
"His room? Isn't he just going to share mine?" I asked, puzzled why he would have a room ready for him.
"Oh no, dear. A girl doesn't share her bedroom with a gentleman caller," she said.
"You’re serious?" I asked. "Would you be pulling the same shit if Colt brought home a girl?" I was so angry that I could see red. There I was, twenty-nine years old, out of my parents' house for almost a decade, and my mother was treating me like some precious teenage girl.
"It's different for boys, dear," my mother said with a patronizing tone.
"Sure it is, Mother," I said, turning and walking into the house. "I'll just see everyone at dinner."
Once in my room, I flopped down on my childhood bed, my gaze roaming the Tiger Beat posters scattered all along my walls. I laughed at my insane Leonardo DiCaprio obsession. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and wondered why in ten years, my mother had never bothered to remodel my adolescent bedroom.
Every time I came back here, I was thrown back into being that awkward girl. So mundane and obsessed with getting a word of kindness from her overbearing mother. Still, I didn’t want to be that girl anymore. I wasn’t that girl anymore. Just as quickly as I’d deflated, I found my courage and went back downstairs.