Chapter 5

"Welcome to our home," Aaron greeted Jason and his daughter. His tone was warm and he shook Jason's hand firmly.

Jason and Minerva had hopped the late afternoon flight Friday night in order to be here in Nashville at the elder Hotchners home for dinner.

Luckily, flying was much faster than it had been back centuries ago and so they reached Nashville in a little bit over an hour. Jason had packed for the trip the night before and left his bag in his car so he could head straight for the shuttleport as soon as his last class was over for the day. Minerva had met him at the university having her brother Kaiden drive her to Stanford so that Jason and her could ride to the shuttleport together.

Kaiden had offered to drive them to the shuttleport and drop them off so that they wouldn't have to waste money on long-term parking but both had politely refused.

Kaiden had quietly wished his sister good luck, as he knew why they were heading up to Nashville and asked her to tell him how it went once they returned.

Now, here, they were at the Hotchner home being greeted by Minerva's father Aaron.

"It's nice to finally meet you Jason, Minerva's told me and her mother all about you," Aaron told his daughter's mate.

Aaron recognized the signs of nervous tension and tried to get Jason to relax. Jason reminded him of Spencer so long ago and how nervous that young man had been meet him and Shonda and also Shawnda's parents Dave and Jazz.

He had relaxed after they had greeted him warmly and not treated him rudely like he was an invader in the family. Many parents did so to their daughters respective boyfriends that Aaron couldn't blame Spencer for being nervous. He couldn't really blame Jason either, but he hoped that Minerva's mate relaxed once he had a chance to talk to them and they didn't treat him like he was unwelcome.

Aaron suspected that he had at least one bad experience where the parents hadn't exactly been warm and welcoming and that had likely made Jason expect the same reception from his girlfriend's family.

Jason was a handsome man but also a few years older than his daughter or at least the age she appeared. Minerva was actually much older than Jason, but Minerva's mate didn't know that yet.

"It's nice to meet you too sir," Jason said just preventing himself from running his hand through his hair nervously. He wasn't exactly sure why this kind of situation made him nervous, as he was fine meeting with the parents of his students.

But that was totally different, as he had no romantic interest in his students and meeting the parents was simply to discuss that students academic progress.

This situation was totally different, as he was meeting the parents of the woman he loved, which was nerve-racking for him at least. He had confidence in most areas of his life, but this was not one of those situations.

"There's no reason to be so formal young man, I'm Aaron and my wife is Shonda. Shonda will tell you to call her by her first name once you are introduced and so will Minerva's godparents. We are just not formal people."

"That's very true," said a very pretty woman with the same red hair and green eyes as his girlfriend. "Aaron is exactly right we're not very formal. Feel free to call me Shonda."

"Come into the living room, as that's where everybody is," Aaron added seeing Jason start to relax at their warm welcome.

"Dinner will be ready shortly and I hope you like it. It's ham casserole."

"I'm sure it's delicious, even though I don't think I've ever had ham casserole," Jason answered. "I do like ham."

"It also has rice, peas and poblano peppers, so it has some kick but it's not really spicy," Shonda said.

"Let me introduce you to Dave and Jazz and then we can eat," said Aaron.

"Sounds good to me," Minerva said speaking for the first time since she and Jason had entered the house. "You'll like the ham casserole as it's one of my favorites," Minerva told Jason. "The poblano peppers are only mildly spicy. I hope you don't have trouble with spicy food since I love it."

"I usually don't eat anything that's too spicy," Jason said. "But I'm willing to try it."

"That's the spirit," Minerva told him kissing his cheek.

Aaron led the way to the living room where Dave and Jazz were waiting.

"Jason this is David and Jazzlyn Rossi, Minerva's godparents and good friends of the family," Aaron introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, young man," Dave said, as he and Jazz stood.

"Yes, it is," Jazz said also shaking Jason's hand. "Minerva has been telling all of us about you for months now, so it's nice to finally put a face to the name."

"It's nice to meet everyone," Jason said, as he sat beside Minerva on one of the couches across from where everybody else was. The couch was very comfortable and it also looked expensive, even if Jason's knowledge of furniture wasn't very good.

"You didn't expect such a warm reception did you?" Shonda asked Jason knowingly.

"I really didn't," Jason admitted.

"I told you, you'd like my family," Minerva told him.

"I should probably learn to listen to you when you say stuff like that then," Jason told her smiling relaxing considerably at everybody's friendliness.

"You definitely should, because Minerva knows her family," Dave said seeming to be studying Jason from where he was sitting. "We're not like a lot of families."

There was definitely more truth to that then Jason probably believed. Minerva nearly chuckled at her uncle's comment.

"It's not exactly uncommon for parents to disapprove of somebody their children are dating," Shonda noted.

"Very true," Jazz agreed a distant look in her eyes as if she was thinking about something from the past.

"So Minerva was telling us that you teach criminology at Stanford," Aaron said getting the conversation back on track.

"That's true I do," Jason agreed.

"And that you have a grown son," Shonda added.

"That's true too," Jason said. "His name is Stephen and he's in college now. He's 20."

"So I hear your wife died," Jazz made the question a statement.

"She did she had some kind of illness that the doctors never did identify, despite advanced medical technology," Jason said. "Stephen was only 14 when she passed."

"The death of his mother must've been hard on him," Dave said sympathetically.

"It was," Jason said. "She was always closer to Steve then I was."

"It must've been hard on you to," Shonda suggested. She didn't say however, that she was very glad that Jason was no longer attached to any woman so that he and Minerva could hopefully be together.

"At first it was, but I've come to realize, that while we were high school sweethearts we probably would've divorced at some point," Jason said honestly. "Our marriage just lost it's spark, which I realized after she had passed."

"High school sweethearts often divorce," Dave commented. "The statistics for divorce is very high.

"I'm well aware of that," Jason said. "I hadn't dated ever since Sarah's death, not until Minerva."

"So that's around what? 5 years of not dating at all?" asked Jazz, after doing some calculations in her head.

"More or less," Jason said. "I just wasn't interested in getting out into that minefield again. I went to work, I came home, occasionally I went out for a drink with some colleagues or out to dinner."

"Was Stephen the reason you didn't date?" Shonda wanted to know.

"He was certainly part of why I made that decision. Stephen didn't need to see me with a woman that wasn't his mother, especially not right after she passed. Besides, most women don't want to date a man with a kid at home, though I know that's not always the case."

"Like me," Minerva said speaking up.

"True, you didn't care if I had a son. Of course, by the time we met Stephen was out of the house and he's basically grown-up now," Jason said.

"So have you met Jason's son?" Aaron asked his daughter and Minerva shook her head.

"I haven't, he's been away at college," Minerva said.

"He hasn't been home to visit ever since he started," Jason said.

"So what university is he going to?" Jazz asked.

"He's going to one out in California. He didn't want to go to one near where where his father taught of course. I think he feared I'd spy on him see what kind of trouble he got into," Jason said with a small smile.

"He's just testing his boundaries. Our children certainly did," Aaron said.

"Hopefully, he'll be home for the holidays," Dave said.

"I certainly hope so and that he doesn't decide to go off with some friends of his leaving me by myself," Jason said. "Technically, he doesn't even have to tell me if he's made plans with his friends since he's 20."

"You won't be by yourself, as we can enjoy the holiday together," Minerva said. "Even if Stephen does come home."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Jason said brightening at the thought of spending at least some of the holiday with Minerva. "I would think you want to be here with your own family though."

"You'll soon be family to," Aaron said observing the interaction between Jason and his daughter.

"Dinner's ready folks," Shonda who had left the room unnoticed announced from the living room doorway. "Come into the dining room before it gets cold."

Everybody rose from their places and headed for the dining room. Minerva guided Jason after everybody else and they came to a large room just a minute later.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~

After dinner

Dinner had been delicious, Jason thought, as he followed everyone back to the living room that was comfortably decorated.

"I hope you left room for dessert," Jazz told Jason, as she and Shonda brought the dessert, plates napkins and cutlery into the living room. The teamwork was smooth, as if the two women had done this many times before Jason noticed.

"Trust me, you don't want to miss out on Aunt Jazz's desserts," Minerva told Jason. "They are always spectacular. She owns a bakery and it's always very busy from the time they open to the time they close."

"So what's for dessert tonight sweetie?" Dave asked Jazz.

"It's known as blueberry galette. It's basically a blueberry tart with cinnamon and lemon zest

"Why don't people just call it a blueberry tart instead of giving it such a fancy name?" Shonda asked her best friend.

"I didn't name it, I just made it," Jazz told Shonda with a smile. "You'll have to take up the fancy name with whoever created the desert originally."

"I'm sure whoever created the recipe is probably long dead," Shonda shot back.

"Well, let's try some," Minerva said reminding her family that there was somebody that wasn't in on their secret. "I'm sure it's delicious Aunt Jazz. Everything you make is scrumptious and who doesn't love blueberries?"

"I've heard that some people are allergic to blueberries, but I'm not," Jason spoke up having relaxed a great deal from when he had first met Minerva's family.

Minerva had been right, her family was very warm and welcoming. It explained how Minerva had turned out so well.

"I'm looking forward to trying it, as I love desserts with fruit," Jason said.

"Not a fan of chocolate?" Shonda asked him with a eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"I like chocolate just fine," Jason said. "But I've always loved fruit ever since I was a kid. If there's some kind of fruit desert on a menu of a restaurant I'll get that instead of the something else. Of course, sometimes there's a dessert that combines fruit of some kind and chocolate and that's what I end up getting.

"Well, at least you eat chocolate," Shonda conceded with a smile.

"Every single member of the family are chocoholics," Minerva told Jason, "Including me. Don't get me wrong I love fruit to, but I'll choose chocolate over that every time."

"When you have such an excellent baker in the family of course, we're chocoholics," Dave spoke up.

Shonda and Jazz served each person a portion of the tart and then served themselves before sitting back down.

"Dig in and tell me what you think," Jazz told Jason. "Be honest with me and don't tell me something because you think I want to hear it. I won't be insulted if you don't like it and that goes for everyone."

"That's unlikely," Jason said. "I've heard from Minerva what an excellent baker you are on multiple occasions."

Jason cut a piece of the tart and put it in his mouth chewing slowly savoring the taste of blueberries, cinnamon and lemon zest.

"It's excellent," Jason told Jazz honestly. "I've never had this particular fruit dessert before, but I'd be willing to eat it again, it's that good. It might become my new favorite and if your other desserts are this good well, you can count me as a loyal customer whenever I'm up here in Nashville."

"I'm glad you like it so much," Jazz said relieved.

"Why were you worried if we like it or not? We like everything you make honey," Dave told Jazz. "I've never had a bad dessert ever since we married."

"It is very good, Jazz," Shonda said and Aaron and Minerva agreed.

"I'm glad everybody likes them," Jazz said. "This was kind of an experiment, as I've never made this particular dessert before and I thought if you guys liked the tart I could start selling them at the bakery."

"You need to," Jason said. "I'm sure they'll be very popular for those people that prefer fruit over chocolate."

"You definitely do," Shonda agreed, as she finished her tart. "I might prefer chocolate most of the time but that doesn't mean I don't eat other things from your bakery occasionally and I would definitely buy this if it was me."

"I'll let you know how successful they are at the bakery," Jazz promised then told Shonda. "Whenever you come into my bakery you always buy something with chocolate in it every time. If you actually buy something different I'll be shocked," Jazz added looking directly at Shonda.

"I'm a creature of habit," Shonda shrugged a small smile playing on her lips.

"Now that's the truth," Aaron put in, even as he finished his desert.

He kissed his wife's cheek in obvious affection.

~~~Jason and Minerva~~~