Chapter Eight: Trial By Fire
“Do I look okay?” Nikki asked nervously as JC parked the SUV into the restaurant’s parking lot. She smoothed her sweaty palms down her pencil-thin skirt. She had never done this ‘meet the parents’ thing. She and Chad had grown up together.
JC put a hand over hers. “Nikki, you’re beautiful. You’re always beautiful. Okay doesn’t even come close.”
“C’mon, Mom. I’m starving,” Dylan said as he released his safety harness and assisted his sister.
“JC’s parents are nice,” the blonde angel from the backseat announced. Kimmy had insisted on wearing her halo and Nikki had been too unsettled to argue.
“How do you know?” Dylan demanded.
“Cuz JC’s nice,” Kimmy stated the fact as if it was a given.
JC chuckled. “Score one for the angel!” He got out and walked around to open Nikki’s door. Helping her down, he hugged her briefly. “There’s not one single thing about you they won’t adore, honey,” he promised for her ears only. “You’re perfect for me.”
“Hardly.”
“Let us out,” Dylan said.
Once out, the boy went to his mother, taking her hand. His look was one of love and support. “I love you, Mom. If they don’t, tough.”
Nikki bent to hug him. “My little man.”
The first thing Karen Chasez noticed about her son was the ease in which he fit into the family unit. It was a snapshot she would hold forever in her memory. His arm was around the woman. The little girl with a halo was perched on his opposite hip, her head on his shoulder, her thumb in her mouth. The young boy stood between JC and his mother, looking as apprehensive as she did. JC’s face was relaxed and happy, the recent lines of strain were gone. He was obviously comfortable and happy with this family.
JC spotted his parents and smiled as he moved towards them.
“You look good, son,” Roy told him.
“I’m feeling great.”
Nikki hadn’t known what to expect JC’s parents to look like, but she hadn’t expected what she saw. Where JC was rather slight, his father was a sturdy looking man with a broad, handsome face. Karen Chasez was a tiny blonde. She didn’t see a lot of JC in either of them.
“You sound rested,” Karen said.
“I’m fine, Mom.” JC squeezed Nikki’s waist. “Mom, Dad, I’d like to introduce Nikki Martin.” He ruffled Dylan’s hair. “Her son Dylan.” Jostling Kimmy, he said, “And this is Kimmy the angel.” The little girl giggled.
“You have lovely children, Nikki.” Karen clasped the younger woman’s hand briefly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Chasez. I think your son is pretty special, too.”
Roy enveloped Nikki in a beefy hug. “We think so too. Let’s sit down.”
They were nearly to their table when Kimmy cried out. “Look, JC! A kissy ball!”
Nikki blushed. Dylan rolled his eyes – and JC chuckled, embarrassed.
“Been making use of the mistletoe, have you,” Karen teased.
Dylan muttered, “Like all the time.”
Roy and Karen’s eyes twinkled.
“Romance isn’t easy in front of these guys,” JC stated as he placed Kimmy in a booster seat, then held Nikki’s chair.
“I help,” Kimmy reminded him. “I got kissletoe.”
“Yes, you certainly did.” JC then scooted Dylan’s chair in, stroking the boy’s hair lovingly. “Okay, little dude?”
“Yeah, thanks,” the boy murmured.
“So, Nikki, JC tells us you met literally by accident.” Karen attempted to start the conversation going. “Or rather in the aftermath.”
“JC ran over Santa Claus,” Kimmy chimed. “But Santa wasn’t hurt.”
Roy’s eyebrows went up.
Nikki explained, “ It was an old man who could have passed for Santa Claus.”
“No. It was Santa,” Kimmy insisted, looking to her brother for support.
Dylan nodded. “It was Santa. He wasn’t wearing his red suit, but it was him.”
“Well, you are lucky children,” Roy told them. “Sometimes children see him on Christmas but before? That is rare.”
“He was there to give us JC,” the boy declared. “We thought it was the fireman at first.”
JC and Nikki looked at each other in amazement. According to her children, Santa preordained their relationship. It was news to them!
“Why was that?” Karen asked Dylan.
“I wrote to Santa. I told him we wanted a daddy for Christmas. We got JC,” Kimmy informed them all.
“I don’t know who is luckier,” Roy said. “JC getting you – or you getting JC.”
Kimmy shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “We love him.”
Dylan added, “Yeah, even if he smooches Mom too much.”
The hostess bringing menus saved Nikki from further embarrassment. That’s what a mother got for raising freethinking, secure children. JC was explaining menu options to the children, leaving her to her mortification. Love and supposed marriage arranged by her children and Jolly Old Saint Nick. How lucky could a girl get? Except that she and JC weren’t making any long term plans. And maybe after this fiasco he would be running for the nearest exit! She ventured a peek at the Chasezes. They didn’t look too appalled…
“I want grilled cheese,” Kimmy decided. “Can I have some fries?”
“Sure.” JC looked to Dylan. “And you, little dude?”
“Chicken fingers and fries.”
“And what do you want to drink?”
“Mom, can I have a milkshake?”
“Me, too!” Kimmy demanded.
“Can they split one?” Nikki inquired of JC. “They can’t finish a whole one by themselves.”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. If they don’t finish this time, it’ll be cool,” JC told her. “What about you?”
“I don’t see humble pie or crow on the menu,” she joked lamely. All three Chasezes looked at her, making her wish she could take back her words. “Umm…baked chicken sounds good.”
Once the ordering was done, it was back to conversation. Oh, goodie…
“Josh says you are from the Chicago area,” Karen said, trying to draw Nikki out.
“I was brought up more rural than urban. I am not a big city girl.”
“We live there now. It was an adjustment from Maryland.”
“Los Angeles was culture shock for me, but Chad loved it. We live in a family neighborhood, thankfully. The kind you’d find anywhere in the country.”
Conversation flowed more freely and by the end of the meal Nikki decided it hadn’t gone too badly. The rocky start provided by her children’s announcement only assured it could only improve.
Karen gave Nikki a brief hug. “You’ve done wonders for Josh, Nikki. It has been sometime since I have seen him so happy.”
Nikki smiled, her eyes going to the man who conversed with his father while helping the children with their jackets. “He certainly has changed my world.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Yes. I had pretty much given up on dating…”
“Until he ran over Santa,” Karen mused.
“I don’t know how they got that idea—“
Karen advised, “Let them believe, Nikki. They grow up so fast.”
“She’s a lovely girl,” Roy said to JC as he finished buttoning Kimmy’s coat.
“Nikki is a special lady,” JC affirmed.
“Serious?”
“Very.”
“Like grandchildren serious?”
“If she’s willing.” JC lifted Kimmy to his hip. “Well, angel girl, looks like you need a nap.”
“Uh-huh.” Kimmy popped her thumb in her mouth as she often did when she was tired and put her head on JC’s shoulder.
Roy shook hands with the solemn Dylan. “Nice to have met you Dylan.”
Dylan leaned against JC. “You, too, I guess. You gonna be my new grandpa?”
Roy smiled.
JC chuckled. “Don’t push, little dude!” To Nikki he called, “Honey, we’ve got crash and burn in about ten minutes out of the parking lot.”
Nikki came to him, taking Kimmy so he could pick up Dylan. “All this running around in a new place and the excitement of the holidays wears them out.”
Roy laid a hand on Nikki’s shoulder. “They’re great kids. I hope to see you soon.”
“I…umm…thank you, sir.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“See you and Mom tomorrow,” JC told his father in parting.
Karen and Roy watched them go.
“They’re a lovely family. I guess Santa was listening to my prayers for Josh, too,” Karen said. “I wanted someone in his life for him. I hadn’t counted on three someones.”
“I you didn’t know better, you would think they were married and those were his kids.”
Karen hugged her husband’s arm. “Our son had a wonderful example to follow.”
“You put Kimmy down in her room and I’ll do the same for Dylan,” JC whispered as he and Nikki carried the sleeping children into their suite. He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Then meet me in my room.”
“JC—“
“Nik, I haven’t kissed you thoroughly since last night. I’m having withdrawals.”
When he put it that way…She gave him a saucy wink. “Give me a couple minutes to freshen up – so I can get fresh with you.”
JC smiled. She already had him; she didn’t have to go through any trouble. He put Dylan on his bed and carefully removed the boy’s jacket. Stopping to brush his teeth, he checked his face out in the mirror. He guessed his mother was right – the Martins had made a difference. He replaced his slacks and sweater for jeans and a tee-shirt before Nikki came back in.
“Oh-my God!” Nikki exclaimed when she entered the master bedroom to see a fully decorated Christmas tree in front of the balcony windows. “Oh, JC…”
“Like it, Nik?” JC caught her up in his arms to give her a teasing hug. He noticed she’d changed into something less challenging; she wore a sweatshirt and pants. “I wanted us to have a tree to put presents under since this kids will wake up here Christmas morning.”
Here eyes grew misty and a tear slipped on to her cheek. He was such a thoughtful man – and she was so lucky he’d come into her life. “I love you,” she whispered.
Brushing away the tears sparkling on her lashes with his thumbs, he murmured, “Then don’t cry. Kiss me.”
She didn’t hesitate. Reaching her arms around his neck, she urged his mouth down to hers. They drank deeply from each other. They shared breath until they could only breathe one another.