Two Days Later
Jennifer and Jonathan got up for one last breakfast with her dad, before they were leaving for the airport.
When Jennifer volunteered to help Walter with the dishes, Jonathan decided to bite the bullet with Stephen and have a conversation he had been wanting to have since they got there.
"Sir, if I may, I just wanted to let you know that I love Jennifer with all of my heart and soul. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I can't imagine my life without her. So, with your blessing, I'd like to ask you for her hand in marriage. I don't have a plan to propose to her or a ring or anything just yet, I just know that at some point in the hopefully near future, I will be asking her. That is, if you are okay with it".
"I am more than okay with it. I think you are the most intelligent man she has ever brought to meet me, as well as the most mannerly. It is obvious to me that you two feel about each other the way that her mother and I felt about each other once upon a time, and when the day comes, I will happily welcome you to our family".
"Thank you".
They shook hands.
"Just promise me something. Don't break her heart. If things between you and her don't work out, that's one thing. But all the men that she's been with before you couldn't seem to be a man about it, and always took the cowards way out, or they left it up to her. I will be a lot happier about the situation if you aren't a coward".
"Understood".
Jennifer came back in then.
"Ok, darling. Shall we?"
"Yes, we shall".
"Jennifer, sweetheart, it was a wonderful visit. And Jonathan, it was so nice to meet you".
"Pleasure to meet you too, sir".
"Pa, I hate leaving you".
"I hate it when you leave. But I have to fly back to London day after tomorrow, so it has to happen at some point".
"You could always move the gallery back to the States, Pa".
"I could. But then you wouldn't be able to come visit me in London, would you?"
"No, I suppose I wouldn't".
"Now sweetheart, remember. No more dangerous investigating, alright?"
"I promise to be careful".
She gave him a long hug and then said goodbye to Walter, before she and Jonathan got in the car.
They had an easy drive towards the airport and stopped in a few of Jennifer's favorite shops, before picking up lunch and heading to the plane.
After a very easy flight home, they decided to just stay in and rest for the evening.
"How long are you in New York for?"
"Well, I was thinking I might talk to you about that. Now that you are working for yourself, do you have any plans to work for an actual paper again?"
"Not at the moment. I like working for myself, really".
"Ok. So, what would you say to moving to California? You could move in with Max and me, and we can get you set up to work from my house. You and I wouldn't have to do the long-distance thing, we could do the every single day thing".
"Hmmm…it would be nice to see you every day. And I would still be working. Do you think we are ready to live together, though? I mean, I feel like we finally just got to a good place".
"Yes, I do. And we are in a good place, and I think we are both committed to staying in a good place. And the long-distance part didn't cause us to not be in a good place, but it was stressful".
"That's a good point".
He wrapped his arms around her and sort of pressed himself further into the couch, making them both stretch out a little bit more.
She rested her head on his shoulder and kissed the side of his neck.
"Living with you could potentially mean that we could spend our nights together".
"Don't forget the mornings".
"How could I? The mornings are my favorites".
"I'll have to remember that".
"And if I move in with you, I would get more of Max's wonderful cooking".
"He is a good cook".
"I will, however, miss the hustle and bustle of the city, and this glorious penthouse".
"Well, darling, we can still come here for trips. It's not like I'm selling it or anything".
"Good".
She settled next to him and began to scratch his chest a little.
"Ok, I've thought about it".
"And?"
"Want to help me pack?"
"I would love it!"
He leaned over and kissed her, and increased the passion with every second.
She climbed on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He played with the buttons on her blouse while he softly kissed her exposed flesh.
"Darling…how much packing do we have to do?"
"Well, I can do most of it while you are at the office, I suppose. Just my clothes, my mementos, my kitchen stuff…things like that."
He moved his kisses up to her neck.
"Do you own your apartment? Or do you rent it?"
"I own it".
"So…go with me on this. What if I could get you a renter? Maybe someone at the office. You could rent it to them furnished, and that would be less for us to have to pack".
"I like that idea."
"Good. I have another idea I hope you'll be fond of".
She smiled at him.
"I can't imagine that I won't be".
He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.
"That's exactly what I'm counting on".
A week later
Jennifer was all packed and ready to move to California with Jonathan.
They were hanging out at her apartment, waiting on the movers to come load her boxes.
Jennifer was wiping everything down, and making lists of how to use the tv and how to check the mail.
The movers showed up and moved all her boxes in just under an hour.
"Ok, that's it".
She took one last look around, and then she and Jonathan headed downstairs, and climbed into the car from the car service.
They headed to the airport, and then finally, to California.
Jonathan's House
Jennifer slept most of the plane ride to California, and Jonathan slept part of it with her.
They landed just after sunset in California and found that Max had left Jonathan's car for them at the airport.
He put the top down and they drove to his house. Jennifer was excited to see Max, and to unpack.
Jonathan was just excited to be home and to have Jennifer with him.
They went inside the house and found Max in the kitchen.
"Hey Max".
"Hey Mr. H. Dinner is almost ready".
"Can we help?"
Max turned around with a shocked look on his face.
"Hi Miss Edwards! Great to see you! And no, you may not".
She chuckled.
"It's great to see you too, Max".
"How long are you in town for this time, Miss Edwards?"
"She moved here this time, Max. Her stuff arrives in a few days".
"Wonderful!"
They had a lovely dinner, and then Jennifer decided to tackle unpacking her clothes.
After she had everything put away, she changed into a nightgown and robe and went and joined Jonathan on the couch.
"All unpacked?"
"For now. As much as I can be, anyway".
She lightly scratched his back while they watched tv, and just loved on him some.
"Are you working tomorrow?"
"For a little bit. Not the whole day, most likely".
"Mr. H., we got a poker dinner this Friday at Drew's house".
"What's a poker dinner?"
"Oh, I completely forgot. Darling, a poker dinner is where the men of the poker group I belong to get together and play a few hands of poker, and they bring their girlfriends and we all have dinner together and then the women visit in one room, while the men play poker in the other."
"Sounds great".
He reached up and patted her hand.
"And they are absolutely going to love you".
A few days later
Jennifer had settled into Jonathan's house as best she could, and was trying to not change too much around the house, but she was really wanting to put some of his things up in the attic and put her things out.
He had graciously cleaned out the guest room downstairs so she could have an office at home, and she had been in there working all day.
She heard him come inside.
"Darling?"
"In here".
He came in a few minutes later.
"Hi gorgeous".
"Hi handsome".
She stood up and kissed him.
"We need to leave here in about an hour or so".
"Is it a dressy thing?"
"No, it's very casual. And we are bringing a salad".
"I'll go change and then throw one together".
They shared a few more kisses and then she went to the bedroom.
She slipped on some black destructed skinny jeans, a bright blue tunic and some silver sandals.
She found Jonathan in the kitchen going through the mail.
"Darling, it finally happened. You finally got mail at my address".
"Oh? What did I get?"
"4 beauty magazines and a very important letter from the governor of New York".
She opened the letter and began to read it.
"He wants me to call him".
She did the math and had Jonathan dial the number.
She managed to quickly throw a salad together while she was talking to the Governor's office.
After what seemed like forever on hold, he picked up.
"Hi, this is Governor Riley."
"Hi, this is Jennifer Edwards".
"Thank you for calling. I wanted to speak with you in regards to what you went through. Can you tell me more about your experience so that I have the facts straight?"
She told him all about her experience and who helped her and who didn't.
"Did Jared Watkins give you any indications during your interview with him that he was planning this?"
"No, but he did become angry when we discussed what would happen after I published the article. He had it in his head that he was going to automatically get paroled, and I explained to him again, that I didn't have any control over that. I found him to be very self-serving, very arrogant, and frankly, very undeserving of parole. He stole all that money and didn't even spend it when he was on the run. He told me he supported himself through poker games. He told me that he didn't feel as though he should even be in prison, the fact that he paid the money back should have been plenty".
"I see. We found some writings in his cell where he apparently intended to set the prison on fire as he made his escape".
"He never mentioned anything like that to me. Only that he wasn't going down without a fight and that he wasn't going to release me till the very end".
"Interesting".
"Governor, I am going to finish my article series on all of this tomorrow. If you'd like, I'm more than happy to send you a copy".
"I would love that. I'll be in touch, Miss Edwards, thank you".
"Thank you".
She hung up and finished the salad and filled Jonathan in.
She quickly threw together a homemade salad dressing and they put a lid on everything, and then headed to the poker dinner.
Drew's House
Jonathan and Jennifer pulled up and parked, and then went and rang the doorbell.
A beautiful brunette came and answered the door.
"Hi! Come on in".
"Susan, this is my girlfriend Jennifer Edwards. Darling, this is Susan Ammons. Her boyfriend Drew Kendall owns this house".
"Hi, it's lovely to meet you".
"Likewise".
Susan and Jennifer headed to the kitchen to put the salad down.
"Jennifer, this is Laura Greer, and Rebecca Wilson. Laura is dating one of the poker guys, James, and Rebecca is dating the other one, Bill. Laura and Rebecca, Jennifer is dating Jonathan".
"Ahhh. It's nice to meet you".
"Nice to meet you both".
"How on Earth did you land Jonathan? I would have bet money he'd never settle down".
"I'm not sure, really. He pursued me more than I was pursuing him".
"Ok, so this is your first poker dinner. So, basically, the men will go outside and smoke a cigar. We will get dinner ready, then we all eat dinner, and they do the dishes. We get to gab and chat while they play poker".
"I think I can handle that".
"Ok, so we have grilled chicken breasts with basil butter that Drew and I are doing. Laura brought a homemade dip tray, with guacamole, fresh salsa, and French onion, with chips and fresh veggies to dip. Jennifer brought the salad and a yummy dressing, and Rebecca brought the dessert. We should be good."
"What kind of dressing did you bring?"
"Creamy lemon-dill".
"That sounds wonderful! Is it hard to make?"
"Not at all. You basically get a ranch dressing packet, and make it according to the directions, and add ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ tablespoon fresh dill, and the juice of 2 fresh lemons, and then ½ cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Whisk it all together, and then chill it".
"That sounds amazing! I want to try some! I'll get out the ranch for the men who aren't as open minded to new things as we are, but I'll be trying that one".
The men came back inside and joined the ladies in the kitchen.
"Ok, it's time to grill the chicken, guys."
"We are on it".
The men took the chicken outside to grill it while the ladies had a cocktail inside.
They were asking Jennifer all kinds of questions.
"How did you meet Jonathan?"
"We were in a wedding together almost two years ago, and we were paired to walk down the aisle together and the couple had a wedding weekend in the Hamptons where they asked us to be in the wedding. So, that was the weekend I met him. The wedding was a few months later".
"Did you see him in between the weekend and the wedding?"
"Oh yes. There was a couple's shower that the entire wedding party threw for them, and he came to it. And the grooms' parents threw a big dinner for the wedding party as well".
"Did you two start dating right after the wedding?"
"Um, no. We didn't see each other after the wedding until a year later at another wedding. And that's when we started dating. That was last August".
"So why haven't we met you before?"
"I just moved here from New York at the beginning of the week. Only other time I've been in California with Jonathan was back in November".
They kept chatting till the men came back in.
Everyone made their plates and they sat down to dinner.
Halfway through dinner, James looked at Jennifer.
"Are you a journalist by chance?"
"Yes, I am".
"I know where I've seen you! Are you the journalist that was in the prison when they rioted?"
"Yes, I am".
"That was pretty intense. I bet you have some story to tell".
"Yes, I do. And it should be published soon".
After dinner was over, the ladies went to the living room and had a cocktail while the men did the dishes.
"How long have you all been doing this poker dinner thing?"
"Well, not very long. The guys have been playing poker for a couple of years. We just got tired of them hanging out without us, so we started hanging out and it just became a thing".
"I love this! You guys all seem like you get along too, so that helps".
The ladies chatted while the men played poker, and they were all very interested in Jennifer's career.
"So how horrible was it being in the prison?"
"I was terrified. I have to say though, most of the inmates were polite and kind to me, and assured me that they weren't going to hurt me, that I was just an insurance policy. But it was pretty nerve wracking, and I have had some nightmares, and I have some stitches I am waiting on to fall out".
"Sweetie, I'm a doctor. And in my professional opinion, I would say you are handling this better than most people. If it was me, I wouldn't even be able to talk about it".
"I wasn't at first. But I think writing about it has been therapeutic for me".
"I would have to agree with that. Writing is a form of venting, and venting definitely has its benefits".
"What kind of doctor are you?"
"I can do a little bit of everything, but my specialty is gynecology and obstetrics."
"Good to know. I might be calling you at some point-I don't have a doctor out here and I want these stitches gone".
"Where are they?"
"Right here on my hairline". She flipped up her hair and showed them to her.
"Oh, yes. These are ready. All have come off except one. But it's ready. When you get home tonight, put some nail polish remover on a cotton ball, and dab at it and it should come right off".
"Oh, thank you. You have no idea how happy that makes me".
"Happy to help".
"So are you going to be writing for a paper out here?"
"I don't think so. I was writing freelance back in New York just before I moved, and I kind of think I want to keep that going".
Just then, the men came back into the room.
"Well, Jonathan stole all our money, so poker is now over with".
"Good job, darling".
Jennifer leaned up and kissed him.
Jennifer turned to Susan.
"Can you point me in the direction of the bathroom?"
"Certainly. It's just down that hallway".
"Thanks. I'll be right back. Darling, can you get me some more wine?"
"Sure".
Jonathan stepped over to the bar to get her some more wine and the women followed.
"Ok, we don't mean to get in your business. But you have to keep seeing her! She's adorable! We just love her!"
"Trust me, she's not going anywhere".