The Christmas Proposal by Cheryl Wright

Author:Cheryl Wright [Wright, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

“I think I just broke up with Noah.”

Tears streaming down her face, Mandy ran into Helena’s arms.

“What? No!” Helena pulled her into an embrace, and Mandy cried until there were no tears left to cry.

As they sat together in the living room, Joseph came in to find out what all the ruckus was about. “What I saw last night was not a couple about to break up,” he said quietly. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“I agree,” Helena said. “What I witnessed was a young man very much in love. And you didn’t seem too unhappy either.”

Mandy looked from one to the other of them. “Do you think so,” she asked between sobs. “We had a fight. Today. And he walked out.” Tears began to stream down her face once more. Helena handed her a box of tissues.

“Walked out?” Joseph asked. “On my little girl? The nerve of him!”

It wasn’t his fault. Mandy knew it was all her doing. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut?

She knew exactly what had happened. Noah was getting under her skin and she didn’t like it. Didn’t like it one little bit.

She’d gotten scared.

Scared that maybe things had gotten serious. Had become real.

That’s not what she had planned.

Her idea was they’d pretend to be together to keep her parents off her back. When did it all go so wrong?

“Do you love him?” Helena’s voice broke through her wayward thoughts. “Mandy. Do you love him? Answer me honestly, sweetheart.”

Mandy nodded. She’d known it from the first day they’d met. From the moment they’d touched. She’d been lying to herself all this time and didn’t even realize it.

“And you’ve told him, right?” Both her parents sat on the edge of their seats waiting for her to answer.

“I, uh,”

“Mandy. Did you tell him?”

She shook her head and looked down into her lap. “No.” The words came out so quietly she barely heard them herself.

“Oh Mandy. Really?”

Without her permission, her tears began to stream down her face again.

“You may not know this,” her mother told her quietly, “But I didn’t like your father much when I first met him.”

“Hang on…” Joseph interrupted.

“Shush Joseph,” Helena told him. “But I loved him from the moment I saw him. Mandy, look at me, sweetheart.”

Mandy looked up and stared at her mother through her tears.

“Are you willing to let him go? That’s the question you have to ask yourself.”

Mandy nodded knowing Helena was right. Was she willing to let him go?

“What I saw last night was two people who cared very much for each other.” Helena patted her hand as she spoke gently. “Two people who were very much in love.”

Mandy couldn’t hold back. She had to tell them the truth. “I did it for you both.”

Helena looked confused, along with Joseph. “Did what?”

She sniffed. “Noah was to be my pretend boyfriend.” Her mother stared at her in shock. “So I could bring someone to the party,” she said quickly.

Her parents both sat in silence.

“But somehow everything changed. He is so kind and caring,” she wiped her nose with a tissue.

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