Natalie sat on the couch in her living room. She was going through some of the photos she and Julie had collected of Adrian. She was gently arranging them in the family album when Julie came in from school.
"Hey mom!"
Natalie hastily closed the album and looked up at her daughter.
"Hi sweetie, how was school?" she asked almost too innocently.
"Fine. What'cha got there?" Julie sat next to her mom, eyeing the album with a smile.
"Oh, just the photo album," she answered absently rubbing the cover with fondness. Julie sat down, took the photo album from her mom's caress, and opened it. She smiled at the pictures of who she hoped would soon become her new dad.
"You miss him, don't you?"
"Who?" Natalie asked, looking away.
"Mom. You know who. The object of your affections," she answered holding up a candid shot of Adrian at the sink doing his dishes. He had a smile on his face when Julie snapped it because she had mentioned something about her mom to him. Natalie took the photo and studied it.
"When did you take this?"
"A couple of weeks ago, when we were there for dinner," Julie shrugged. "So, you didn't answer my question."
"What do you think?"
"I think yes!" Julie giggled. "I do too."
"Julie, I think he wants to ask me to marry him,"
Julie almost panicked. "Mom! How do you know?"
"Well, we sort of talked about it," she smiled, "in a roundabout way. I mean, we had this talk about a promise to wait."
Julie pulled her legs up to get comfortable and settled in to hear what her mom was about to disclose. "Wait for what?"
"Well, wait. He said he didn't want us to go too far." She looked at her daughter considering her age and understanding of relationships and her lack of experience in them. She hesitated.
"Mom, I think I'm old enough to have this talk. Besides, Mr. Monk already had this talk with me. Remember?"
"Yeah, well he almost didn't practice what he preached," Natalie slapped her hand to her mouth, not meaning to let that little piece of information out. "I mean . . . !"
"Mom!" Julie laughed at the slip and her reaction to it. Natalie turned three shades of red. "Okay! Give!" her daughter demanded.
Natalie looked at her as if they had switched roles somehow. Julie sat with a big grin and her arms folded across her chest. "It was, that night back a few months when you went over to Kathy's house, when we had to come and get you and go into hiding." She didn't like that part of the memory. Julie nodded, getting serious for a moment. She relaxed her arms and put her hands in her lap. She focused on the happy ending, then thought there had to be a good part before all of that.
"Go back to the beginning. Before we had to leave. The good part." She smiled again, as if she had to pinpoint the moment for her mom.
"He had made a promise to me about getting closer," Natalie began slowly. She fidgeted for a moment as feelings for Adrian stirred her emotions. "I knew what he meant, but I wasn't sure he'd be capable of something like that." Julie was enjoying this. "So, when he was hurt, well, you know how he is. He hates physical contact."
"Except from us," Julie observed.
Natalie looked at her perceptive daughter. "Right. Julie, I don't think you need to know this."
"You brought it up!" she exclaimed, not liking the idea of the story being cut short. "Come on mom!" Julie begged, taking her mom's hand in hers.
"Julie, you wouldn't want me to tell Adrian about some of our girl talks would you?"
"No! But this is different," Julie insisted. "Just tell me! Did you two make out?!"
"Julie!" she smacked her leg half in fun and half scolding.
Julie was giddy. "Mom, don't I need to know what to do when I'm with a guy?"
"You just reminded me that Adrian already had this talk with you. He told you to wait."
"But you two didn't!" she argued, now slightly confused.
"We're adults. Look that's not the point!"
"But it is." Julie got serious for a moment and felt tears form in her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be my role models?" she asked quietly wiping the tears.
Natalie took Julie's hand. "I'm sorry. You're right," she sighed and decided she did need to know, though not every intimate detail, Julie needed to know about the promise and what it meant. "Yes, we did. Make out," she spoke haltingly, quietly. "But it was a mistake. We almost didn't stop. That's where the promise comes in." Julie listened intently. "Julie, I haven't been a very good role model to you, and Adrian is helping me to be a better one," she sighed and continued. "I used to think I had to sleep with every guy I dated, to know if he was the right one for us."
"The birth control pills," Julie remembered quietly.
"I'm sorry Julie," she said with slight shame. "I almost pushed Adrian too far."
"He would have? You know?" Julie asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, but the way we were . . ." she searched for the appropriate word, "sharing our feelings, I wanted to find out." Natalie was almost afraid to look at her daughter. They had never really had such an intimate talk as this before. She was hoping it wouldn't hurt their relationship or cause her to see Adrian in a different way.
"Okay," was all Julie could muster.
"But Adrian stopped us. He was the one with the will power," she ventured a look at her daughter who seemed to smile at the idea that Adrian had saved her mom from even that kind of danger. "So, he explained the promise." Natalie continued, condensing hers and Adrian's last two experiences, which Julie didn't need to know about, into their last conversation on the matter. "He said that he and Trudy waited."
"He told me that too," Julie reminded her.
"They waited until marriage."
"But I've seen you two kissing."
"I know, but again, we're adults and we try not to let it get out of hand. Sweetie, a teenage boy is ruled by his hormones, where two adults have more control, especially when they've made a promise to each other. So, we don't go into dangerous territory. For teens, it's all dangerous. Do you understand?" Julie nodded and looked at her mom thoughtfully.
"So, I should never really leave you and Mr. Monk alone?" Julie smiled.
Natalie smacked Julie again. "No! We're okay," she smiled back. "He said he would keep his promise to me. That's how I know he's going to ask." It was Natalie's turn to let the tears fall.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"I was just a little disappointed when he didn't ask then and there," she shrugged, "But that's Adrian." Then she chuckled, "The wait can be unbearable!" she admitted.
"He'll be back soon. I'm sure he'll ask you then. You know how he gets when his mind is on a case," Julie assured her.
Natalie smiled with a nod. "I hope so."