Chapter 8 - Forgiveness

"I screwed up BIG time, didn't I?" Matt asked his mother.

"I believe you did," Jean answered.

"What am I going to do? I bet they'll never forgive me. I went crazy. I can't believe I did that. Do you think they'll believe an alien held me captive, sucked out my brain, and was controlling me?"

"I highly doubt that. You need to understand something. Junior did not steal Kris from you. You dated Kris even though she was your best friend's ex-girlfriend. I don't know if the same rules apply with men, but that goes against the woman's code of friendship. Anyway, those two probably have the heat to forgive you, but in time. I'm not saying this was all of your fault, so do not get that impression. You cannot expect them to forgive you when you want them to."

"I know, Mom. I wish I could go back in time to fix this. I would pay anything right now for forgiveness. I hope they can forgive me." Matt and his mother sat upon quiet and still air until Matt announced,"I'm gonna go feed the horses." Matt walked into the barn and flipped out his cell phone and dialed Dani's number.

"Hello?" Dani answered her cell phone.

"Hi Dani, it's Matt."

"Oh, hey Matt. Can you make this quick? I'm busy at work."

"Yea. I have news on Kris and Junior." Matt stated.

"Really? What is it?" Dani asked.

"They surfaced. Together. I don't know where they were, but I saw them earlier. You may want to check up on them. I just thought you would like to know."

"Thanks for the tip, Matt. I guess I will call them later. Sorry to let you go, but I need to assist the horse that just got checked in. Bye."

"Bye, Dani." With that out of the way, Matt fed the horses.

---Kris and Junior, Davis Farms—

"Kris. My dad will be here soon." Junior was a tad bit worried about his father, but he would take his criticism like a man and deal with him later.

"What should I do, like hide or something?" Kris asked.

"No. I think we should tell him about us. It can't be worse than earlier."

"Alright. I just hope he won't blow his head off, too."

"That makes two of us." They heard Ken open the door, as if on cue. "Great. I think I should go down there and deal with him." Junior wished his bravado was real. Truth be told, he was scared about his father not accepting Kris again.

"Are you sure you should deal with him now? He hasn't seen you since...the wedding with Laura. Now you want to tell him you are engaged to me so soon after? I don't think this is a very good idea," Kris admitted.

"It's now or never. I want to lean towards never, but I have to deal with him sometime," Junior explained.

Ken thought he heard a muffled voice when he was upstairs. He silently prayed , hoping there were no intruders in his expensive home. "Is anyone there?" Ken yelled.

"Crap. He heard me," Junior said.

"Okay. Now I know someone is in here." Ken thought. He never stopped to think it could possibly be his son he's not seen in a while. Ken tiptoed to Junior's door and heard whispering. He snuck up on the door, grasped the knob gently, quickly turned it and yelled, "Ahh!"

Ken's actions made Kris and Junior jump out of their skin. "Dad. Don't do that. Jeeze. Want to give your son a heart attack?" Junior spoke.

Not only did Ken scare his son and Kris, he scared himself because he didn't actually think anybody would be in there. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to visit dear ole' dad. And look who's with him. You know Kris, Matt thought maybe you went to the bus station and skipped town. Glad to see you didn't. Matt will be so thrilled."

"Dad. That's enough. I didn't bring her here to deal with your sarcasm." Junior defended.

"Speaking of that. When did the two of you arrive?" Ken asked.

"This morning, after you were already gone." Junior answered.

"Were you guys together the whole time since your wedding?"

"You meant the wedding that wasn't. And yes, Dad, we were ever since I caught up to her." Junior's annoyance was dominant in his voice while he spoke.

"Where did you go?"

"That is not important."

"Tell me one thing. What is up with the two of you? Don't say that you are still in love with her."

Kris sat there, feeling totally out of place, while the two men talked. As far as she could tell, they both were annoyed with each other and it was best to stay out of the way, no matter how awkward she felt.

"Why, Dad? Why is loving Kris so wrong? You always criticize me or give me a hard time when I'm with her. She doesn't have to be rich for me to love her and become part of the Davis family." Junior was getting extremely pissed off by his dad now more than ever.

"I criticized in the past. Whoa. Did you and Kris elope or something?" Ken was now shocked beyond belief.

"No. But we will be getting married. Don't worry. We won't bother you or even come around here when we are married."

Kris was tired of Junior breaking off his relationship with his father because of her, but she didn't dare interrupt this.

Everyone was silent for what felt like a good ten minutes, but wasn't even one full minute. Ken was the first to break the awkward silence. "Well. Congratulations, Kris. Soon you will become a Davis. Let me be the first to welcome to the family."

Junior and Kris were both taken aback by Ken's response.

Ken walked out of Junior's room and Junior followed.

"Dad. What's up with you? Why are you acting all nice all of a sudden?" the younger Ken questioned.

"Junior," Ken started, "I know you well enough by now to know that you really love this Kris girl. Enough to have a future with her. I am ready to accept this. Just don't make the same mistakes as I have in my past."

"What mistakes? Having me, Dani, or both?"

"You and your sister would never be a mistake. It may seem like that at times, but I am happy I can call you both my children."

"Then what are you mistakes?"

"With your mother and you kids. I didn't spend enough time with your mom. I cheated on her. The only good thing that came out of that was your sister. You were the good thing that came out of my marriage with your mother. When you kids were younger, I never spent enough time with you. I let you do whatever you wanted. You turned out good in time, but a few years ago, you were spoiled rotten. I apologize for not taking a bigger interest. I want to make up for the lost time now, with you and your family in the future. Yes, that includes Kris. I just want forgiveness. I'll give you time. If you decide against it, I will totally understand." Ken walked away from Junior.

Junior just stood there. His father was trying, that was new for him. He walked back into the room where Kris still sat quietly on the bed. "He actually cares," he said to Kris. This was all shocking for him. His dad never really acted that way.

—Matt, Raintree—

Matt went inside the house. His mother was waiting for him. "Mom?"

"I was here, thinking. I'm sorry for what I said the other day. I-."

"Mom. It's okay. I had to hear it. I didn't want to, but I needed to. You did the right thing. You shouldn't feel sorry."

"So, everything's back to normal then?" Jean asked.

"Yea, I guess so." Matt answered.