Dinner was finally ready and everyone was in the banquet room that had been added onto the house after the first holiday season that everyone in the Disturbed Family decided that it was time to pay the Draimans a visit. David sat at the head of the table at one end and Skyler sat at the head at the other. Their wives sat in their right hand and the children lined sides. There was actually a lot more room than Jessi had complained about there not being a month before. As the food was passed around the table, there were stories being told. “I can proudly say that I have scared a young man enough to wet himself over Jona”, Skyler said with a proud smile. The topic had come up somehow.
“That honestly doesn’t surprise me”, Brie laughed. “You remind me a lot of my father. A stoic Irish man. If he had something to say if was either insightful or sarcastic.”
Skyler shrugged as he took a couple of rolls out of the basket they were being passed around in and put them in his plate.
“Well, I’ve done my share of scaring the hell out of boys who think they’re going to come around here and treat my daughters like shit”, David added. “Just ask Maddie.” He smiled quaintly at his pregnant daughter.
“Oh, Daddy, did you really have to bring up that piece of trash while I’m trying to eat?” Maddie said with a bright smile.
“Oh, now I have to hear the story”, Skyler laughed.
“I brought a guy home while I was in massage school. He was disrespectful. He would leave things alone that weren’t to be touched, he wouldn’t look Dad in the eyes when he spoke to him or shake his hand. He sat at our table, ate dinner with us… yadda yadda. After dinner he was playing with a couple of Mom’s Kabuki and Geisha figurines that are now in glass cases because the youngest grandkids like to touch things that don’t belong to them. It’s a kid thing. Anyway… I tell him several times to stop and act his age. The word ‘insane’ comes out of my mouth and he starts acting it. He yells at me, I stand up off the couch and yell back. Then, he did the dumbest thing you can do in front of my father- he slapped me and I shoved him THROUGH the front door while it was still closed. My brother’s take control of the situation and separate us. It took Jake, Jeremiah, and James to pull me off of him, but not before I connected with his head with a shovel. I was too busy screaming about how he was a dead man if I ever got loose to hear what Dad said to him when he came out”, Maddie explained.
“I pulled a pistol from my waistband, put the barrel between his eyes and told him he had five seconds to get his ass off of my property before he died”, David said matter of factly.
“I take it he’s stayed gone?” Skyler asked.
“Oh yeah”, Jake said. “Had he shown his face on this property again, I would have forgotten that I was a doctor who had taken an oath and I would have beaten the hell out of him.”
“You and all of us boys”, ‘Miah added.
“You don’t seem like a violent person, ‘Miah”, Kaylian said.
“I’m not. I’m the most laid back guy you’ll ever meet, especially in this family. But, there are a handful of things that a person can do that will take me from chill to pissed in a matter of seconds and he did all of them. He hit my sister, he insulted my father, he made my mother cry, and least of all; he got my nose broken.”
“What do you mean he got your nose broken?”
“I was helping Jake pull Maddie back. Jake went low and got her around the waist and I went high to get her shoulders. She elbowed me in the nose and broke it as she struggled with us to get loose so that she could finish what he’d started.”
“If someone were to hit my daughter?” Skyler asked.
Jeremiah looked at Skyler with a peaceful look on his face and said simply, “They’d die.”
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After dinner that night, Jeremiah helped his brothers clear off the table and get things cleaned up after dinner while his parents play host and hostess and entertained his girlfriend’s parents. There wasn’t a scrap left for the dogs, let alone leftovers.
After everything was cleaned and put away, Jeremiah ventured back out into the living room. He caught Skyler’s eye. “Mr. Mason, may I speak with you in private, please?”
“Excuse me a moment”, he said to Jeremiah’s parents and followed him out of the room. Jeremiah led him to the back porch. “How can I help you, Jeremiah?”
“Mr. Mason, I love your daughter with everything I am and I wanted to ask you for permission to make her my wife.”
Skyler looked at Jeremiah with a sarcastic smirk. “No… Just NO.”
Jeremiah stood and studied Skyler. He’d figured out what he needed to say. He needed to show that he wasn’t afraid and that he understood sarcasm. The look in his face was one of sheer amusement. “With all due respect, you’re not going to make me crack and I’m not going to back down. If this is some test to make me sweat I hate to inform you, but you don’t scare me. Though, I have to admit, I’ve been studying you since Jona and I picked you up from the airport and I think I have you figured out.”
Skyler’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh?”
“Yeah. You’re just a sarcastic ass. I can respect that.”
Skyler chuckled and let his sarcastic smirk get bigger. “Yeah, I know. And I enjoy being one. A sense of humor was what made me who I am and kept me sane during the difficult times I lived through during the Utopian Occupation. It also kept spunk in my life when there wasn’t a drop of energy left in me.” His face turned serious as he continued. “I thank you for respecting me and my sarcasm, just as I respect you for your sense of humor. I also respect you for your courtesy, your courage, and the endless and undying affection you give my daughter. May you forever stay that way, Jeremiah Draiman.”
Jeremiah hadn’t known that Jona’s father had been watching him as closely as he’d been watching him. But, Jeremiah was never rendered speechless and it was his turn to turn on the sarcasm. “I sincerely thank you for the kind words.” He paused briefly for dramatic affect. “So”, he said with a smart assed tone as he clapped his hands together and rubbed, “does this mean you’re gonna let me take your little girl away?”
Skyler’s face broke into a sly smirk again as he chuckled. “I guess so. I won’t like it, but considering I just gave you high praise, I don’t have a choice now.”
Jeremiah celebrated and didn’t a little happy dance. “YES! He really DOES like me. I was a little scared there for a sec, Mr. Mason that you didn’t think I could keep up.”
“Of course I like you! If I didn’t, this conversation would go much, much differently, if you know what I mean. And, you can feel free to call me Skyler… or Dad if you wish.”
“I think I’ll go with Skyler, though that’s going to take a little getting used to.”
---------------
When Skyler and Jeremiah came back into the house, Jeremiah had a hand in the pocket of the jeans he wore. He waited for Skyler to get seated with his wife again, then he put his plan into action. “Jona, come here for a moment, please”, he said.
Jona pushed herself to standing and went over to where ‘Miah stood. “Yeah, baby? He wrapped her in his arms and started peppering her with kisses. He face, her neck, her lips; every surface of her skin. “’Miah what are you doing?” she laughed and tried to pull away.
He stopped and dropped to one knee, one of her hands in his. “Jona, I love you with everything I am. I would be honored if you would spend the rest of our lives with me, take my name, and be my wife.” He pulled a small black satin box from his pocket. “Jona Mason, will you marry me?”
Her eyes grew wide as he pulled the lid of the box back and she saw the small diamond ring inside. “”Miah!” she gasped. “Oh my God! Are you serious? You really want me to be your wife?”
“Yes, Jona, I love you and I want no one else but you. Marry me.”
Her left hand shook as she extended it to him, and tears flooded her eyes. “Yes, ‘Miah. Yes, I’ll marry you”, she said.
He slipped the ring on her finger and stood. Her lips met his as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He lifted her with arms around her waist and spun around with her in his arms. “I love you, Jona”, he laughed quietly as he set her back on the ground.
“I love you too, my ‘Miah.”
James, who was watching the scene with a HUGE smile on his face, asked the question that was nagging in his mind. “Congrats, you two, but have a question, bro. What the fuck took so long?”
---------------
After the excitement of ‘Miah’s proposal to Jona had died down, they all sat around and got to know Jona’s parents. “So, aside from Jona, how many children do you have?” Brie asked.
“We have one son. His name is Damian”, Skyler said.
“How old?” David asked.
“He’s 18.”
“Why didn’t Damian come up with you?” Jona asked her parents.
“Acupuncture school”, they said in unison. “But, he’s going to come home for the holidays. We can bring him up to see you if that would be ok”, Kaylian added.
“Of course you’re welcome back”, Brie said with a warm smile. “We’re going to be related soon. You’re pretty much family and stuck with us now.”
“Well, thank you”, Kaylian giggled. “Do you think your kids can handle two ‘Mom’ figures?”
“I don’t know honestly, but we’ll find out.”
“I get to meet the future brother in law?” Jeremiah asked.
“Yep, over the holidays”, Jona said and kissed his cheek. “I think you’ll like my little brother.”
“Question is, will he like me?”
“I think that as long as you do with him like you did with me and show no fear, he’ll like you just fine, Jeremiah”, Skyler said. “He’s just really protective of his big sister.”
“I don’t blame him. I’m protective of all of my sisters.”
“Don’t I know it”, Colton added with a laugh.
“What do you mean by that?” Kaylian asked.
“The day I met them all, my car was surrounded by all five of the Draiman boys with Jacob leaning in my drivers’ side window. I got a stern talking to by Jacob and ALL of the boys looked like they wanted to rip me apart and would if I did something stupid.”
“And when any of the other girls bring a boy home, the boy has to brave the gauntlet of my five boys before they even get in the door, and NOW, it’s six boys because I Colton INSISTS on being out there with the boys. He’s really become a member of the family.”
“Do the girls do the same for their brothers?” Skyler asked with a laugh.
“We’ve been known to from time to time”, Maddie said with a sly smile.
“You guys didn’t do that to Jona, did you?”
“No. The first time Miah brought her home was the Holidays last year. Colt and I picked them up from the airport. If there had been any sign whatsoever that she didn’t make my little brother completely and utterly happy, then I would have stepped in and told her not to lead him on. But, they were so sickeningly cute on the ride home that I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.”
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