Special thanks to MadTom for allowing me to be part of the The 33k Club. Such an honor!
Okay...Now, Its time to get on with the story. I added a point of view in the beginning to explain Jess's thoughts.
In this story, The Aarons family, and the Burkes travel to Texas. Jess and Leslie prepare to get married, and Jack forgives.
Thank you all for waiting so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter as this is one of the last of this series.
Enjoy and review!
Chapter 26 Marriage
-Jess's Point of View-
At first, I didn't know exactly what Leslie had meant about Dayton Park. From what I could understand, she referred to his comment on visiting him in the near future.
Not because we needed a vacation, but because laws in Texas allowed marriage between two people as young as 14 with approval and consent by a judge.
I watched out my window for Leslie as I tapped my finger on my desk unaware of anything around me.
-Story Point of View-
Leslie rushed down the Burke's stairway for breakfast.
"I gotta hurry dad!" She said impatiently.
"The pancakes don't cook any faster honey." Bill chuckled while flipping one pancake over.
Leslie sat down at the table and placed a napkin on her lap.
Bill flipped the cakes over one last time onto a plate and placed them in front of his daughter.
"Thanks dad." She mumbled quickly eating the pancakes. "Jess i..ss...wa...galp." "Waiting for me."
"Don't talk while you eat." Judy advised from across the room. "Jess will be there when you are done."
Leslie nodded and smiled at her parents.
"We leave for the airport in an hour, so be sure to get any last things you need." Bill commented.
"I will Dad." Leslie replied swallowing the last bite of pancake.
After wiping her face clean with her napkin, she jumped up and rushed to the door. "I'll be real quick!" She yelled back.
The usual trip over to Jess's house was a quick sprint but to Leslie, seconds felt like minutes.
Once she came up to the Aarons' front porch, she noticed Brenda sitting on a lawn chair looking out to the distance.
"Hi." Brenda said kindly.
This was a mild shock to Leslie. When was Brenda ever considerate enough to welcome anyone?
"Hi..." Leslie replied awkwardly and unsure of what to say.
"Your Fianc is in his room now." Brenda exclaimed. "Last time I saw him, he was really anxious."
"Fianc ?" Leslie questioned herself mentally. "Oh!" She thought grinning to herself. "I like that..."
"Okay, Thanks Brenda." She said while opening the front door and walking forward.
Jess must have already seen her coming up to the house as he was already downstairs and doing a last minute look at himself in a mirror combing his hair.
"Hi." Leslie called softly while putting on a big grin.
"Hey Les!" Jess blushed while turning around quickly and putting the comb down on the fireplace mantel.
"You missed a spot." Leslie joked pointing to a firmly combed area behind his left ear.
Jess took it seriously, and immediately began matting his hair down.
"I was joking Jess." She giggled.
Jess smiled as Leslie hugged him.
"I'm excited." She said.
Jess smiled his usual smirk and quickly gazed at the wall clock that was positioned just above the fireplace.
"My bags are all packed." "Although I can't say the same about May Belle." "She can't find her favorite Dress that she wants to wear on the wedding day." Jess exclaimed.
"My dad says we need to leave in less than an hour."
"Gosh...I better hurry up my family." "I'll meet you at your house in fifteen minutes." Jess blurted. He quickly ran up the stairway rushing to May Belle;'s room.
"Jess!" Leslie called before he disappeared from her view.
"What?" He replied looking back.
"Don't forget the ring!"
Jess smirked and pretended not to hear her.
Leslie heard a door open and shut, and then two voices talk loudly.
She could tell May Belle was the first voice as it was much more higher pitch than Jess's voice.
Leslie sighed softly and walked back to her house.
After awhile, May Belle and Jess came over and sat down in the lounge room.
"I'm ready to go!" May Belle said happily.
Leslie smiled at May Belle. "Did you find your favorite dress?"
"Yes!"
"Aren't you going to be the cutest little flower girl ever!" Leslie giggled.
Jess turned his head away and frowned.
"What Is it?" Leslie asked noticing Jess.
He didn't say anything.
"Is it about your dad?" "Did he decide not to come?"
"I don't know." Jess mumbled looking down at the nearby coffee table.. "He hasn't talked with me much lately, and from what my mom has told me, he's really upset about the whole thing."
"Oh..."
Jess glanced out of the window and noticed Bill and Judy loading the car with luggage. "Looks like your parents are bringing a lot."
"Yeah." "My dad wants the wedding on film from every angle so he is taking a few of his cameras and gear along on the trip."
Jess smiled as Bill attempted to pick up a large black bag that was bulging with contents inside.
"Looks like some books too."
"Yeah...A lot of books." "What did you think?" Leslie giggled. "He can't go anywhere without some."
"Ready To go honey?" Judy asked opening the front door and wiping sweat from her forehead.
"Yeah mom." "Jess's family shou..." "Leslie paused and quickly rethought the sentence. "Jesse's mom and little sister are ready to go."
Judy took notice at her daughter's change of attitude on the subject. "Is there any word yet Jess, if your father is going to come?"
Jess rested his chin on the top back end of the lounge couch while lying over Leslie's lap and shook his head. "No." "He hasn't told me or any of my family anything yet."
Both Jess and Leslie could hear Judy cussing under her breath as she pretended to happily pour a cup of champagne.
"If you want to express your emotions at a appropriate level of loudness in this situation, I suggest you speak up to ventilate your lungs better to aid in your distress." Leslie advised seriously.
Jess moved away to smirk. Where in the world did Leslie ever learn to talk like that? He thought.
Judy smiled softly while looking back at her daughter. "I know Leslie." "Its just you two are so happy and one ignorant parent won't accept his son's wishes because of his pride and quite possibly religious beliefs."
"The car is packed!" Bill yelled with a giant smile walking into the room. "Its time to go."
"What are you so happy about?" Judy asking wrapping her arms around her husband.
"Jack just came by!" "He told me that he was being stubborn and that he wanted to forgive Jess."
"Why didn't he tell me?" Jess questioned not really caring for the answer but overjoyed at what had happened.
"The man has a lot of pride." "I'm amazed that he even came by!"
"Some Man To Man Talk?" Leslie and May Belle giggled.
Bill smiled while patting the two girls on the back. "May Belle,." "The rest of your family is bound to be ready any moment." "You might consider bringing anything you left behind and pack it."
"O.K." May Belle replied. She rushed out of the front door and over to the Aarons' house.
"Just one last thing." Leslie mentioned. "Come on Jess!" She grabbed his hand and tugged forward.
"Where are we going?" Jess laughed unsure of what Leslie was doing.
The two suddenly stumbled into The Gold Room.
The light shined in as the sun lowed into the evening.
"Remember when we painted this room?" Leslie asked already knowing Jess's answer.
"Yeah." "It was just your parents, you, and me."
"Wasn't it wonderful?"
Jess glanced at a less glossy part of the gold painted wall.
"It was one of the best days in my life..."
He leaned down and placed his hand on the wall. Then he chuckled slightly. "You missed a spot."
Leslie landed down on her chest and crawled over. "Where?" She questioned playfully.
Jess stopped smiling and looked as if he would cry.
"I miss those times Les." "The way we use to be." "As children."
Leslie took hold of his arm and glanced at him comfortingly.
"We are those children." "The King and Queen of Terabithia." "We always will be" "Its just things will be a little different than from what we were use to."
"There won't be any more bullies from the fifth grade, or Monster Mouth Myers." "No Scott Hoger, or Janice Avery."
"What about Gary..." Jess mumbled as a tear shed from his eye and slowly slid down his cheek.
Leslie smiled brightly as her eyes twinkled in the beautiful sun. No wait, just her eyes were beautiful. The sun only showed that even more.
"No more Gary Fulcher either." Leslie replied softly wiping Jess's face with her hand.
"Come on Kids!" Bill yelled from across the house.
"Coming dad!" Leslie yelled back. "Just a minute!" She lowered her voice and continued to softly wipe Jess's face.
"There will be other people to fill in those bullies though." "There always will." "Its nature."
"Like Big company bosses, controlling employees and CEOs?" Jess laughed.
"Yeah...Especially CEOs." Leslie giggled.
After awhile, both of their smiles went away and memories of the past filled their minds.
"No matter what, we will always be together." Leslie whispered breaking the silence between the two.
"I know..." Jess hugged her tightly as she wiped the tears from his eyes. "My Queen..."
Both of them laughed and stood up.
"Come on, lets go now." Jess suggested snuffling his nose and clearing his eyes of their tears.
Leslie walked by his side, hand and hand to the front door.
Two cars awaited outside filled with the two families.
"Take a seat." Bill said locking up the front house door and pointing to the car as it idled with the engine running.
Leslie took the middle seat as May Belle was already seating to the left.
She patted on the leather as Jess stepped inside the car.
Bill hurriedly ran in front of the car and took a place at the drivers seat. He pressed the horn signaling for the Aarons to follow.
"We're off!" He exclaimed enthusiastically.
The two cars headed north to Arlington where they waited at the gate for the flight to Texas.
While Julie Burke and Leslie had some time to catch up with each other before they took their separate ways again, Jess had the chance to talk with his father.
"Thanks Dad." He said kindly. "For coming along."
"You shouldn't thank me." "I know I was harsh on you and I deserve the guilt." Jack answered.
"No you don't. Dad" "You were just looking out for me." Jess replied.
"Let me tell you something boy." "When your Mother and I got married, we ran off from both our parents." "Only cause both families disagreed in our marriage."
"I remember that my father use to whip and beat me every time I would get into trouble." "It was those beatings that I feared at first." "But as I got older, I got more independent from my father."
"What does that have to do with anything dad?" Jess mumbled unsure of where his Dad was taking the conversation.
"I promised myself that I would never be anything like my father." "The promise I made to myself was a reminder my whole life that I had to be different from him in every way."
"And it turned out that by doing that, I've been the worst father anyone could ever have." "Instead of spending time with you and the family, I chose to work hard and be away from you all."
"No you didn't!" "You were only trying to make enough money to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table." Jess protested.
"Is that how you felt every time you went out with Leslie?" "Happy that I was going off to work and didn't have any time for you? Jack snapped.
Jess's mouth stayed wide open as he slowly glanced away from his father. "Nobody's perfect."
Jack chuckled at that and refocused his gaze at his son. "I'm not asking you to forgive me." "I just want to be your father...A true father...The way it should have been all along."
"What do you mean?" Jess asked looking out at the large gate window instead of his dad for fear he might upset him.
"I quit my job yesterday so I could spend more time with you and May Belle and heck." "Even Brenda and Ellie before they grow up to much." Jack explained.
"But..."
Jack interrupted him before he could say anymore. "Don't worry son, I've got some savings that I can use." "It was only a matter of time before I was going to use them, and here is that time."
"Flight 92 now boarding for San Antonio." A PA announcer spoke.
"That's our call." Jack smiled. "Come on son, lets go!"
The Burkes allowed the Aarons to get ahead of them.
Jess looked back as he saw Leslie wave to Julie.
"Leslie!" He called.
She immediately focused her attention to Jess and ran up to him on the Jetway.
"Have a good wedding!" Julie yelled from a distance.
Leslie waved back and smiled at her. "We will!" Then she took hold of Jess's hand as the two boarded the airplane.
Once they found their seats, Jess attempted to buckle his seat belt.
"Here." "You've got my belt and I've got your lock." "Switch it around." Leslie giggled.
"Sorry bout that." Jess answered nervously. "I wasn't thinking."
"Yes you were!" "About something else!"
Jess smirked and snapped the buckle into place.
"You two ready to go?" Bill asked from across the aisle.
"Yes!"
"As ready as I'll ever be!" Jess answered sarcastically.
Leslie nudged Jess in the arm.
"Ouch."
The main entrance door shut and the aircraft's engines fired. Then it taxied to the runway and took off.
Jess kept his eyes closed so he wouldn't have to look out the window. Although the feeling of turbulence and descending was still frightening.
He slowly dozed off at the sound of jet engines.
"This is your first officer speaking, we are currently 110 miles North East from San Antonio, winds are out of the south at about 5 knots with clear skies. and a nice cool temperature of only 55. We expect to be on the ground in about twenty minutes." "Thank you, for flying with us, we hope you pick Delta again! "Enjoy the rest of your flight and keep your seat belts on until the aircraft comes to a full and complete stop at the gate." "Thank you."
Jess yawned and stretched his arms out.
Leslie was next to him listening to music on her I Pod.
"Are we there yet?" He asked.
"Huh?" "What?" Leslie yelled because of how loud the music was playing. Then after noticing that she was yelling, she smiled a little bit embarrassed that she did not know the answer to Jess's question.
"I'm sorry, I missed the PA announcement." "When I heard it, I just turned up the volume."
"Talk about the girl with no TV." Jess joked.
"Jesse Aarons!" Leslie giggled.
"Bill, did you he..." Jess paused as he opened his eyes after rubbing them realizing that Bill was also asleep.
"Does he always do that?" Jess laughed.
"What?" "Fall asleep?" "Yeah."
Jess looked out of the window to help pass the time.
Twenty minutes later, the airplane landed in San Antonio.
"This is so exciting!" Leslie shrieked.
Once the airplane stopped at the gate, both families, Leslie, and Jess rushed off the Jetway and into the airport terminal.
Bill opened a folder of papers while reading some of them out loud.
"Your reservation with the judge is to be in Courtroom 127 in the downtown district of San Antonio tomorrow at 12:00 Pm, to discuss the reasons of Marriage between Jesse Olivier Aarons, and Leslie Sophia Burke."
"Et cetera, Et cetera, Et cetera." "If the judge approves, the following two will be married."
"So this really isn't a marriage." "Its a chance to be married!' Leslie blurted.
Bill frowned. "This is one of the only states to allow marriage at this age Leslie." "You have to understand the judge needs good reasons to do so."
"Don't worry honey." "I hired a lawyer to help out with the details." "Come on." "Lets go outside to get a taxi to the hotel."
Once Bill and Jack flagged down two cabs, the families loaded in.
This time, Jack took a seat beside his son. Bill of course rode in the front passenger seat.
"Scoot over a little Les." Jess mumbled as his father shut the door.
"I am over as far as I can be!"
"Where to sir?" The cabbie asked.
"The Grand Hyatt hotel at 600 E. Market Street."
The cab driver put on a crazed look and shifted the cab into drive.
He must have not had a lot of customers give him an exact building address.
"I doubt you've read this book!" Bill said lifting a book out of his bag. "This book is about the economics between politicians and democrats." "It focuses on the spending..."
"Yeah, yeah ,yeah." The cabbie interrupted. "You need to read the published edition of driving for dummies."
"How so?" Bill asked.
"It says on page 101, that distracted driving can cause accidents."
"Oh...Well I'm sorry sir."
"That's alright."
"Although I wonder...Did you get a copy this morning of the New York times?"
Leslie giggled while glancing at Jess.
"Son." Jack said quietly.
"What dad?"
"I want you to know that whatever happens tomorrow, I'll always be there for you and Leslie."
Jess smiled.
"Cause I love you son."
Whhhhaaaat? Did he actually say that?
Even Leslie turned her head to look at Jack.
"I love you too dad." Jess replied quickly not waiting to make the situation awkward.
Jack grunted nervously but in the end, wrapped his left arm around Jess.
The cab came to a stop outside of the hotel. It was an extremely tall building compared to anything in Lark Creek. In fact, nothing in Lark Creek was even half as tall as it. Not even the water tower.
"Here you are sir." "The fare comes out to $92.78."
Bill handed over a hundred dollar bill. "Keep the change."
"There's Dayton Park!" Leslie pointed to him waiting outside of the front entry doors.
"Come on!" She yelled.
Jess quickly unbuckled his seat belt and was ripped out of the car by Leslie's strong pull.
"Hey!" Dayton Park called.
"Hi!" Leslie shrieked while hugging him tightly.
"Long time no see Leo." Jess said.
"Oh forget that nickname." "Just call me Dayton." "My life has changed a lot since I left Lark Creek."
"Okay Dayton." Jess shook his hand firmly.
"So I hear you two are getting married?" He smiled.
"Yes, we just couldn't wait." Jess answered sarcastically.
"Well come on inside." "I've arranged the rooms with the help of Bill who told me over the phone of what you guys wanted."
Jess waved to his family as they got out of the second cab to tell them to wait inside the lobby.
"We just need to wait for Bill." Leslie said as Bill paid off the second cab driver.
"Okay." Dayton Park said. "Nice city isn't it?"
"Bigger than any I've ever seen." "Even Washington D.C.!" Jess replied.
"Oh here comes Bill." Jess exclaimed after a small pause between anyone talking.
"Hello Mr. Park." Bill greeted while shaking his hand."
"Mr. Burke."
"I booked rooms on the twenty fourth floor so you will get just a spectacular view of this city."
"Lets go see it shall we?"
While Judy and the rest of the Aarons loaded their luggage onto carts, Jess, Leslie, Dayton, and Bill all went to the rooms.
"Look at that!" Jess exclaimed awestruck.
The balcony window viewed out for miles.
"This is going to be the best wedding ever!"
After everyone settled in to their rooms, Jess thought about what the next day would be like.
"Will there be any cake?" Jess mused.
"Yes." "After we get out of court though." Leslie replied.
"Time to go to bed kids." Bill said. "Its going to be a...Its going to be the biggest day of all our lives!" He laughed.
"Aren't you sad Dad?" Leslie questioned.
Bill looked at his daughter and thought about the question.
"I am a little honey...that your growing up." "But more than anything, I'm really happy." "All your life, I've tried to give you the best." "And back in Arlingto..."
Leslie jumped up from her chair and hugged Bill tightly.
"I love you dad."
He kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "Love you too honey." "Goodnight now."
Bill pulled back and shut the bedroom door.
"I guess we share a bed tonight." Jess spoke out loud.
"Yep."
Leslie crawled into bed, and tugged the sheets over herself and Jess. Then she turned out the lights. "Goodnight my King."
"Goodnight Les..." Jess yawned. "...lie."
"Goodnight Jess."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight Jesse Aarons..."
"Stop will you?" Jess laughed.
She kissed him on the cheek blindly and nudged him in the chest.
"Ouch."
"Goodnight Jesse."
"Goodnight Leslie Sophia Aarons." Jess yawned again.
"WHAT?" Leslie shrieked. "I never thought of that one..."
"Well now you have." Jess turned over on his right side facing away from Leslie and stuffed his head under the pillow.
"Hmmm...Leslie Sophia Bur...I mean Aarons..." "What about Leslie Sophia Burke Aarons."
"That way I get to keep my last name." "I really like that." "What do you think?"
She paused and waited for an answer.
"Jess?"
Jess was already asleep snoring.
"Gosh...Now I'll never get any sleep." Leslie moaned.
She fluffed up her pillow and rested her head comfortably.
"Yeah..." She smiled to herself. "I like that name."