Hi guys, thank you for your reviews, alerts and favorites! I'm glad to see people are still reading this story.

This chapter is a bit of an in-between chapter, but I hope you love it nonetheless.

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Chapter 10. Arrival time

"Momma?!" Wade shouted. He stared at her, rooted to the spot, unable to move. It took him some time to fully realise she was actually standing there, staring at him with a serious look on her face, one eyebrow raised. He realised he still had one hand under Zoe's shirt. He quickly yanked it out, gently pushing Zoe off his lap.

"Hey son, she said, walking towards them, I didn't mean to interrupt something." She said seriously, eying Wade and Zoe who both flushed profusely.

"What are you doing here?" He asked standing up and walking towards his mother. As he reached her, he scooped her off the ground and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Hi" She said, her voice muffled by the bone crushing hug Wade had her in.

"Hi momma, it's really good to see you! He let go of the tight hug a bit and moved back to look at her.

"Why are you here? Not that I am not happy to see you. He added. Did you come with Rose?"

"Wow slow down with the questions son. Yes, I came with Rose but I also came to visit my sons because I missed you both. You might be grown men, but I still missed you and wondered how you were doing."

"We've only been gone for 3 weeks, Wade chuckled.

Well it might have been easier on your mother if you would have taken the time to call me, let me know how you were doing, although Jesse told me you've been quite occupied, she said with a knowing smile, craning her neck to look at Zoe.

Wade followed her gaze. Zoe still stood on the raised porch looking apprehensive and a little embarrassed.

"Momma, I'm so sorry about that. I'm very happy you are here though."He said, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close.

"Care to introduce us? She asked him, I'm sure I raised you properly."

"Of course! Can't wait for you to get to know her momma." He said enthusiastically, running towards the porch. He reached Zoe with a wide smile on his face which relaxed her a bit, he grabbed her hand in his and pulled her toward his mother. As they reached his mother, he placed a hand on her lower back and rubbed it slightly to calm her nerves. He gently pushed her towards his mother as he introduced them.

"Zoe, meet my mother; Jacklynn Kinsella."

Wade smiled at the woman who he was proudly introducing as his mother. Zoe was surprised to realise his mother was stunningly beautiful, she was quite tall, slender with a friendly face. She had light brown hair and the same deep green shade of eyes, she had slanted eyes however, very much unlike Wade's round one's but with the same twinkle Zoe grew to love over the past few weeks.

"Momma meet Zo... I mean my...my uh...girlfriend, Zoe"

Zoe could feel the nerves radiating from him as he stumbled over the words and the issue they never discussed before. They never even had that talk. She blushed a bit when Wade chose to introduce her as his girlfriend. She found she quite liked it.

"So girlfriend huh?" Jacklynn said to Wade with a surprised look before pulling Zoe in a hug. "It's a pleasure meeting you Zoe." She spoke against Zoe's ear.

"It's very nice meeting you too Mrs Kinsella." Zoe said when they broke apart. Still surprised by Wade's declaration of her being his girlfriend.

"Please call me Jackie." She said with a kind smile.

Wade wrapped an arm around Zoe and pulled her close to him as if to say his mother approved of her. He could feel her relax underneath his touch.

Jacklynn took her time taking in the scene in front of her, her son who had an arm wrapped around the girl who he called his girlfriend. He had never in his life called someone his girlfriend, none the less taken the time to introduce them to her. Sure there had been girls hanging around the Rammer Jammer, trying to talk to her son, but she always made sure she had chores for him to in the back office whenever she saw one of those floozies enter the bar. She didn't need another situation like the one with Tansy.

"So where is your brother, she said looking around, how has he been?"

Wade was not quick enough to hide the motion of his hand moving to scratch the back of his neck, which made his mother's eye's widen. She knew for sure something was up with Wade acting all nervous all of the sudden.

"What is it Wade?!" She asked sternly.

"What is what?" He asked her trying to sound innocent, Zoe nervously moved her feet and tried not to meet Jacklynn's gaze.

Before he had to think of a very good lie, he could see a little girl sprinting towards him, a huge smile on her face. A tall lady following the girl in a much slower pace.

"Wade! Wade! She yelled as she ran towards him." He bent trough his knees and scooped her up when she reached him, hugging her tight and throwing her in the air as she screamed in pleasure.

Zoe looked on with a smile on her face, Wade now chasing the little girl who was attempting to hide behind the woman that was walking towards them. Zoe chuckled at the sight, it was very endearing to watch.

The woman finally reached them, Wade close behind her with the girl on his shoulders, both donning wide smiles.

"Zoe, this is Mrs Hattenbarger, my best friend and this is her daughter Rose." Jackie said pointing at Annie and Rose. The woman smiled at Zoe.

"Annie, this is Zoe, Wade's girlfriend." She added, giving her friend a knowing look.

Zoe shook hands with the woman, "It's very nice to meet you Mrs Hattenbarger, I'm Zoe Hart. you have a very beautiful daughter." She said, smiling at the girl on Wade's shoulder.

"Zoe Hart?" She asked Zoe giving her a questioning look. Have me met before?"

"I'm not sure, I don't think we have, Zoe said chuckling. I lived in New York my entire life, have you ever been there?"

"Not until today, she said with a friendly smile.

As soon as Zoe looked away she turned her head to give her friend a knowing look and mouthed "Zoe Hart?!"

"Wade have you seen my cabin yet?" Rose asked Wade. He pulled her down from his shoulder and put her back onto the ground.

"I haven't Rose, do you want to show me?" He asked her.

She nodded excitedly.

"Now Rose, we need to go to the office first remember? Then you can show Wade where you will be sleeping." Her mother said.

"Zoe it was a pleasure meeting you, she said shaking Zoe's hand. Jackie I'll see you later." She pulled her daughter away and walked towards the office, leaving Jackie, Wade and Zoe with a wave.

"We better get going as well, I want to surprise Jesse." Jackie said to Zoe and Wade.

"I need to stay here." Zoe said, pointing behind her to the nurses station, I'm the nurse for the day until Heather comes back."

"Thats a shame dear, I would have loved to spend more time with you, Jacklynn said sincerely. Hopefully I'll get to see you again before I leave." She said with a smile as she pulled Zoe close and wrapped her in a motherly hug.

"That would be great Mrs Kinsella." Zoe said.

"Please, call me Jackie."

Wade moved towards Zoe to say goodbye to her and pressed a quick kiss on her lips which made her blush because his mother's eyes were still on them. It didn't seem to bother Wade as much.

"See you tonight?" He asked her softly, his head still pressed against her.

"See you tonight, she confirmed.

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"Hi Wade, what are you doing here?" Emmy asked, looking at him walking into the cabin.

"Just escorting my little best friend here to her quarters." He said nodding towards the girl who was holding his hand.

"Rose, this is my friend Emmy, Wade said kneeling down to Rose's level. I asked her especially to be your counselor for your stay because she is very nice. I think you will like her a lot."

"Hi, Emmy said, kneeling down as well and extending her hand towards the girl, that's a beautiful name Rose, my name is Emmy, are you excited for camp?" Rose looked a bit shy but nodded all the same.

"Shall we find you a bunk bed?" Emmy asked her, taking her hand.

Mrs Hattenbarger looked on with an anxious look on her face.

"I promise I'll keep an eye on Rose, Wade told her as Emmy moved to a bunk bed in the back of the cabin where another girl was already sitting with her parents. Emmy is a great person and I know she'll be great with Rose."

"I know Wade, she said, it's just hard leaving her, she is my only child." She said, looking at Rose and Emmy with an apprehensive look on her face.

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A soft tapping noise on the on the thin window woke her up, she hadn't realised she had fallen asleep, a pile of files still in her lap. She looked towards the window, but couldn't see anyone due to the sheer darkness outside.

"Zoe, a deep voice whispered, can you let me in?"

She smiled hearing his voice, she wasn't sure how long he would be with his mother, she couldn't go find him herself, being on call for the night. She jumped from her seat and yanked the door open. Wade stood there looking hot as ever, leaning against the doorframe with a smirk firmly in place.

"Hey, he said breathlessly, walking into the tiny station and wrapping her in a hug, kissing her temple. He let go of her and threw himself down onto the small bed that stood next to the desk Zoe was sitting at, letting out a long sigh.

"Hey, that bed is for patients, I just changed the sheets."

"Maybe I can be your patient tonight Zoe? I need some tlc." He said wagging his eyebrows and a mischievous look on his face.

Zoe rolled her eyes and slapped him on his leg. "No, you will not be my patient, you're absolutely fine, now please get off the bed."

Wade didn't move off the bed. although he didn't deal a lot with the campers today, his day had been tiring. His mother insisted seeing the entire camp and they had walked around all day. She had tried to find out what was going on with Jesse, but both boys had pretended nothing was wrong, although she knew there was something. She was confident she would find out in due time.

She had then turned her attention to Jesse to grill him on Zoe and Wade, as Wade wasn't telling her as much as she wanted to know.

She could tell her son was different around this girl. Wade might not know or admit it, but she realised quite quickly that this girl might be the one for her son, being his mother she just knew. The only thing that bothered her was the secret that hung around Zoe. A secret Zoe must be still unaware off, otherwise she would have said something upon meeting her and Mrs Hattenbarger.

"My mom likes you a lot." Wade said out of the blue, still stretched out onto the bed.

Zoe had been curious to find out what his mother thought of her, seeing they had been in a compromising position when she met his mother for the very first time.

"Yeah, how did she take the news on her son having a girlfriend?" She half heartedly joked, she actually felt nervous raising the subject.

"Yeah well, I didn't want her to think you were just a random girl I was hooking up with." He said, but seeing the faltering smile on Zoe's face made him realise that had been the wrong thing to say.

"Well thanks for defending my honour." Zoe snapped. She didn't feel like it was fair of him to just call her his girlfriend so his mother wouldn't think bad about him. She had been so happy hearing those words from Wade, but apparently it was just to satisfy his mother and to make himself look good. She was getting very mad at him and his stupid actions.

"Is there anything else you wanted Wade, I was planning to call it a night." She said getting up and turning her back to him.

"Whoa, what's going on? Are you throwing me out?" He asked.

"I'm not throwing you out, I'm asking you to leave, it's going to be an early morning tomorrow Wade." She said as she opened the door of the office for him, standing there with her arms crossed.

"Are you being serious?" Wade asked her incredulously, sitting up on the bed and looking at her, not moving.

She remained standing there with her arms crossed, an annoyed look on her face. He got off the bed and walked the few steps over to her and tried to wrap his arms around her, but she placed her hands on his arms and pushed them back gently.

"Zo? What's wrong? Why are you suddenly throwing me out?"

"Nothing! She said angrily, I'm just ready for bed." She said, not meeting his gaze.

"Thats a lie."

"I have to be up at 6:00, she said shortly, now move Wade." She said, pushing him off her and towards the door.

"Oke then, he said defeated, not sure if he should fight her and stay or give in and leave. He decided on the latter, not sure if that was coming to bite him in the ass. He turned and walked out, looking back at her but she had already closed the door.

This was the first time Zoe had been mad at him and he didn't like it, his heart felt heavy as he saw the hurt on her face. He knew it was because of the girlfriend comment but he wasn't sure how to fix it. He wasn't ready to ask her to be his girlfriend because it meant so much more than making it official. It meant coming clear with his past and having to think about the future.

He thought about how he called her his girlfriend to his mother and it felt good, it felt right.

He sighed as he entered the cabin he was sleeping at. His brother was lying on his bed reading a book, one arm underneath his head. He looked up as Wade entered.

"Hey Wade." He said lazily.

"Thanks for keeping my bed warm." He chuckled at his brother who shot him a look from above the edge of the book but didn't speak.

Wade moved to sit on Ben's bed, that was opposite their bunk. "Whats with you?"

"Broke it off with Aoife."

"How did she take it?"

"Surprisingly well, he said, putting down his book and sitting up, facing Wade. It was like she didn't really care that much."

Wade looked at his brother, he was surprised to see Jesse looked sad. "Is your ego bruised or something?"

"I just thought she'd take the news a bit harder."

Wade scoffed at his brother's confession. "You wanted her to take the news harder? You just wait till you start going out with Gigi, the force will be unleashed onto you." He laughed.

"Can't freaking wait, Jesse said sarcastically, laying back down on the bed.

"Now get onto your own bed, Wade scolded pointing at the bed above his, I need my bed."

Jesse snapped his head towards Wade and looked at him in surprise. "Not hanging out with Zoe tonight?" He asked.

Wade shook his head, pushing his brother off the bed.

"Don't want to talk about it, he said and he laid down the bed as soon as his brother moved off it. Jesse climbed onto the top bunk. They were silent for a moment. Wade could hear Jesse move around before finally settling down.

"Wade?"

"Hmmm."

"Try and fix it, before she goes to bed angry."

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The nurse's phone beeped and Zoe sat up in her bed looking for it, feeling disoriented for a moment. She grabbed around for the phone and scrunched her eyes at the bright screen. It was a picture message from Gemma. She clicked the screen to open it.

"I'm so sorry about earlier, taIk soon? I miss you, Xx Wade."

Underneath was the photo that was taken off them in front of the waterfall during their first date. She had never seen it again because her phone didn't have any signal so high up the mountains.

She smiled despite herself. It was sweet of him to make the walk all the way to the office and obviously talking Gemma into using her phone to send her a message. She was still hurt though, she didn't understand why he didn't want to admit that they had obviously progressed into more than a summer fling.

It stung more than she had anticipated. Hopefully they could talk about that tomorrow.

She decided to send him a small message back, hoping he was still waiting for her reply in Gemma's office.

"Ok, talk to you tomorrow. Xx Zoe"

She refrained herself from adding an "I miss you too." She was still a bit mad.

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"Are you okay Annie?" Jacklynn said over her coffee, looking at her lifelong friend as they sat in the airport waiting to be called for their flight.

"I'm okay, Wade said the girl was very nice and very capable, I just miss her already. She said, taking a sip.

"My boys are grown men and I miss them already as well, Jackie said, making the both of them laugh.

"So your son is dating Zoe Hart." Annie started, deciding to address the elephant in the room. It had been on their minds since the moment Zoe had told Annie her full name.

"Yes, it seems so, can we be sure it's her though?" Jacklynn asked, she knew in her heart it was her. The memory of the many pictures Harley had shown them over the years of his secret daughter, secretly sent by her mother behind her back. Not to mention the photo she herself still owned of Zoe, Jesse and Wade on her third birthday, eating cookies with milk on the playground near the gazebo when they had played together the entire afternoon.

"I am very sure it's her. I even took their photo on her 3rd birthday when I was still working there." Annie said. I recognised her immediately, I just couldn't place where I knew her from. But when she said her name, his last name. I just knew."

"Do you think she still doesn't know?" Jacklynn asked concerned. She didn't understand how a mother could keep a secret like that from her own child.

"I don't think she does. Did Wade say anything about it?"

"He just said that she has a bad relationship with her parents, anything else he told me about her was all about how great she was." She said smiling. She had enjoyed seeing her son so happy.

"Never thought I'd see the day." Annie said happily.

"I know, I'm glad though, I was getting fed up with both of my sons acting like the town's own casanova's. It was about time they grew up."

A comfortable silence fell between the two lifelong friends, each sipping their coffee.

"Should we tell him?"

"Tell Harley?"

"Yes, he'll be happy to hear she's grown into a fine and beautiful young woman. Jacklynn said. Maybe leave out the fact that my son is dating her for the time being." She added as an afterthought.

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Thank you again for reading, please let me know what you think. Your thoughts help me write this story more than you can imagine.