As Friday came along, we began to prepare the guestroom for Frankie's visit. He would arrive around noon and we were already looking forward to seeing him. Jane had planned another Quad excursion and other stuff to have fun with him.
"Do we have enough beer?" Jane asked with furrowed eyebrows. "No, but we have to go shopping for groceries later anyways." I said calmly, pulling her into a hug. We had just finished making the bed in the guest room.
I understood how a new fear had surfaced over the last days and try to calm it by saying: "Frankie won't leave you, Jane." She hitched a breath in surprise. "How can you say that. I would never had thought that my ma would drop me just like that."
"My gut tells me so." The words were out before I could think about them and I silently thanked god that she took them lightly. "I'm really rubbing off on you Dr. Isles. Should I be worried?" she asked with a playful nudge.
"Uh oh." I said and grinned. "You definitely are. Taking me to the point where I rely on my intestines is really a leap."
"Sounds like it." She said and grinned. "I think I'm proud about that." She smirked before laughing.
"Shame that Frankie will be here in two hours and we still have so much to prepare. Otherwise I would drag you back into bed." I replied her nudge which made her roll her eyes. "You know we can always go shopping with him later." She said with wiggling eyebrows.
R&I
We were just unloading the groceries from the trunk when Frankie's car pulled into the driveway. He wasn't alone to our surprise. Jane shot me a meaningful glance with a wide grin after Nina had climbed out of the car.
There was a lot of hugging and big smiles when we greeted each other. "Hope that its okay?" Frankie said and Jane gave him a little push. "Sure, why not. I'm happy for you both." She said inviting them in.
We settled onto the deck with some beer and wine and snacks and chatted about all kinds of things. Frankie and Nina gave up a short summary of what we had missed at work, which seemed to be nothing. We told them about what we had done. Our talk also crossed politics and other topics.
For a few hours we were just two couples spending a nice afternoon in the best setting I could imagine. Frankie's eyes lit up when he heard about Janes plans for the weekend and we all decided to take windsurf lessons. Frankie insisted on paying for dinner as a thank you for the invitation and afterwards we went to have some ice cream as a dessert.
All was going fine, and we had a lot of fun until Frankie received a call from Angela later that night. How could it be different I thought bitterly while sipping my wine. We were back on the deck. It seemed as if the woman had a sixth sense telling her when the best time was to interrupt and spoil a good evening.
"Don't pick up." Jane said to her brother who already grabbed his phone. "I can't let her go to voicemail, Jane." He sounded almost apologetically. The moment my hand reached out for Janes on the table, Nina did the same with Frankie.
This was starting to get its toll on all of us as I recognized on everybody's faces. Jane tried to play it off by shrugging and taking a sip from her beer.
"Hey Ma!" Frankie greeted her cautiously. I couldn't hear what Angela said but Frankie's face took on a stressful expression. "No, I can't pick you up Ma. I'm not in Boston right now. What happened?"
"There goes our weekend." Jane mumbled in a low voice with a sad smile. "She always has a perfect timing."
"Yes Ma. I'm with Jane." His voice sounded tense and he rubbed his temple with his free hand. The remark made me wonder if she had heard Janes voice, but I didn't think so because she had spoken so low that even I had had a hard time to understand what she said.
"Listen, why don't you stay with Aunt Rosetta two more days and then I'll come and pick you up?"
He hung up after a few more exchanges and looked at us in distress. "Somebody stole her car." He explained. "She doesn't want to take the train because she's ma. Making a drama about being robbed and so."
"Good lord, it's a two hours ride!" Jane exclaimed annoyed. We had all heard Frankie tell her that he needed to think and that he would call her back.
"Well, now she's obviously deceived by all of her children. Tommy has turned her down earlier because he is with Lydia in some resort to holiday and I'm with you. She feels as if we all dropped her."
My mouth fell open in disbelief. Whenever I thought it couldn't get any worse it became worse. It was like a challenge to the universe, to keep topping the problems by adding new ones. This woman was definitely straining the patience.
"Why can't she wait the two days for you to pick her up?" I asked trying hard to stay understanding and nice.
"Because she had an argue with Aunt Rosetta. She didn't elaborate but she sounded as if she was in a hurry to leave." He replied and I could see that he was fighting hard against the typical guilt trip she had doubtlessly sent him on.
"I'm sorry." Nina suddenly spoke up. "As you all know I like Angela. And I think we all do. But she's acting as if she tries to pull some strings on you guys by behaving like that. She acts like a kid who wants attention and make everybody do what she wants." She paused and I was curious what she was going to say next. "What do you do with kids who behave like that?" she finally asked.
"Ignore her till she comes to her senses?" Jane replied slowly after giving the question a thought.
Frankie nodded. "But isn't it mean to give her that lesson?" he asked cautiously, still on his guilt trip.
Nina cocked her head and I saw her looking at me as if asking for support. The Rizzoli kids didn't like what their mother was doing but they were still protective. I saw what Nina meant. It wasn't because she wanted Angela to pay for what she did, it was more like seeing the whole situation as a needed lesson to get back on track.
"Well, I think that Nina is right. If you do what she wants, she'll get what she wants. Then she knows that it works on you. If you don't react to it, she will have to think over her attitude." I said getting an approving nod from the woman sitting next to Frankie.
I didn't mention that I thought that she tried to coax Jane into breaking up with me. Her demands were unfair and unrealistic in general.
Jane glanced into her beer, not happy about anything. "What if this makes us lose her forever?" she asked in a small voice. "What if your great plan, doesn't work out?"
I recalled her voicing the fear to lose Angela earlier this week. There was no guarantee that the plan worked out for sure. On the other hand, I wondered how far Jane would go to keep her. Was our relationship in peril after all?
Nobody spoke for what seemed to be an eternity and Jane letting go of my hand awoke panic in me. I swallowed hard to make the lump in my throat go away. If Angela really managed to break us up, I wouldn't be able to stay in Boston. I would run as far as I could. For the briefest moment I felt a gap between us. And I tried to wash the bitter taste of my mouth away by emptying half of my wineglass in one gulp.
Then I felt a hand on my thigh. Warm and soft, like the brown eyes which had turned to me to lock with mine. "I'm with Maura." Jane clearly said before kissing me. In a silly notion I thought that we shouldn't have said that we would get married after surviving these two weeks of holiday, but rather after surviving Angela.
"Yes." I said into the darkness of our bedroom once we had settled for the night half an hour later. None of us had wanted to continue the evening after the decision had been taken not to do what Angela wanted. "Yes!"
Jane who had spooned up in my arms turned around to face me. "Yes?" she asked puzzled.
"Yes. I want to marry you. And I don't mind if we fly to Vegas and nobody is present." I said and listened to her hitch a breath. "What happened to a proper proposal?" her voice bore a faint giggle. "To hell with that too." I said seriously.
There were soft lips catching mine for a sweet kiss before Jane pulled away, leaving me puzzled and cold. "Wait!" she whispered, sliding out of the bed to go to the bathroom. It felt like a weird time to use the bathroom I thought dumbfounded. Especially seen after the fact that Jane had just used it.
"Are you okay?" I asked worried that she felt sick. It would be no wonder after the strong emotions of the day.
"Yes. Don't worry. Just give a second." I heard from the other side of the door. Maybe I shouldn't have said yes to getting married. Maybe this was all too much I mused, when the bathroom door opened, and I saw Janes silhouette padding back towards the bed.
"Are you sure that you're fine? We can discuss the proposal another time you know?" I offered, only to hear her giggle.
"Maur, could you please switch on the light?" she said. In a notion of panic, I turned on the big light which left us blinking. I switched it off with shaking hands mumbling a sorry. Then I found the switch for the soft light on the nightstand.
"Much better." Jane said with a soft chuckle. I saw her going down to her knees next to bed and only then noticed the small velvet box in her shaking hands. "Well, this wasn't the way I imagined it to be honestly." She said with a sheepish grin. "I thought more of the classics like hiding it in a piece of bread, but then I was too scared that it would damage you teeth, same for the lobster, my favorite was to put it on top of a dessert." She rambled on before pausing and clearing her throat. "Maura, I don't have to tell you about the troubles we went through to come to this point. But its been a while since I've known that you are my person." "Yes!" I exclaimed interrupting her.
"No, you cant. that's not the way…" Jane made a face clearing her throat again. "Will you marry me, Maur?"
My jaw had dropped when seeing the ring in the box which she had opened while asking me. It contained two expensive and tasteful looking rings. She grinned. "You know. Now would be the time ahem to reply."
Tears of joy were running down our cheeks as I glided to the sheets towards her. I stepped of the bed and pulled her up from her kneeling position. "Yes." I softly said while locking eyes with her. She made me hold the box to take out one of the two rings to slip it over my finger. Her hands were still slightly shaking. "I love you, Maur." She whispered. Then she took the box back so I could slide the other ring on her finger. "I love you too Jane." I said.
"Now, let me fetch a bottle of champagne out of the fridge that we can celebrate." She said with a grin.
"When did you buy them?" I asked mesmerized after handing the bottle to Jane who had forgotten the glasses in her excitement. As I hadn't wanted to let her go of her a second time, we were drinking out of the bottle now.
"Remember my 5k run the other day?" she asked and wiggled her eyebrows. "Seriously?" I asked and she laughed and looked on the shining ring on my finger. "Seriously. Had to cut it short. At the end it took me so long to decide for one, that I basically only ran to the store and back. Can't tell you the faces they made when I entered the showroom in my running gear." She smirked and I burst out in laughter imagining the scene.
"You are the most special person I Know in the world." I said, blinking away the tears of laughter which slowly mingled with tears of being touched by the gesture.
"But where did you hide it?"
"As you were busy speaking on the phone with Frankie when I came home, you didn't notice the box in my shorts. Then later I moved it around a bit, unable to find a spot where you wouldn't find it. I finally hid it in the cupboard under the sink." She giggled.
I took the bottle out of her hand to take another gulp. Her hands came to cup my face. "I'm sorry if I gave you the feeling that I desert you. I didn't mean to. Your look tore my heart apart. But I never had the intention to let you go. I just needed a moment." She whispered, wiping away some tears.
"I love you so much." Was all I could say, and fresh tears sprung to our eyes. "I love you the same."