Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“And your points are all well-made,” Kola agreed, “but she and Jake are a different thing.”
George nodded.
“Tell me what was said,” I prodded Kola.
“People think Jake is all low-key and easygoing, and he is. I mean, for the most part, he really is. But he’s also––” He stopped and thought a moment, and then looked at Harper.
“Traditional.”
“Yes,” Kola said, nodding. “He does not want to be, in his words, a sperm donor. He wants to be a father when he’s ready to be a father, not when she thinks he should be ready.”
“Which I understand,” Sam told both Kola and Harper. “She thinks for him quite a bit, and I think ninety percent of the time it’s fine. He doesn’t really care about a lot of the things she obsesses over, so it works out well.”
“Exactly,” Kola affirmed. “But not this time.”
“Because what if he gets a killer job offer after he gets his master’s, or even a year or two after? What if he has to relocate for a couple of years?” Harper asked, all done chopping now, putting both items in bowls. “How can Hannah leave Sutter? She won’t be able to. But why would that mean that Jake has to be the one that would be away from his wife and child? How is that fair?”
“That’s true,” I agreed.
“Would Hannah let her child be taken away from her or you and Mr. Kage?”
I couldn’t imagine that she would.
“There’s more to consider than just the timing of now,” Harper insisted.
“For her,” Kola began, “now is good. Now is best. She wants to be a young, fit mom, and I get that. It’s not about freezing her eggs for down the road, it’s about being a mother when she’s in the best physical and mental place to be one.”
“But Jake wants to be married before a baby arrives,” Harper explained. “And he doesn’t think that the rest of us should have to be up all night trying to calm down a crying infant just because the two of them are. So that means their own place, and that’s a change too. Jake is not financially prepared to pay for a house and a car, and of course Hannah has resources he doesn’t have, but then would any of that be his? Aren’t you supposed to do that together?”
“The rooms are soundproofed,” Harper reminded everyone, always the logical one.
“But what about people who marry into wealth?” Wick asked, ignoring his interruption. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Sure,” Harper agreed. “But if they waited, then he and Hannah could check off all the milestones together.”
“I don’t want to lose you over my stupid family or you marrying into wealth,” Wick blurted out.
Harper smiled, having finished washing and drying his hands, and then crossed from the sink and took a seat beside Wick, who quickly grabbed his hand. “You won’t. I can take blue-blood snobbery all day. I’m sorry I thought the reason I wasn’t liked was because of something truly terrible.”
“I know what you mean, but there should be no reason for them to not be madly in love with you. I already talked to my mother, and she’s breathing fire at the moment.”
“She is?” Harper sounded so charmed by that.
“Ohmygod, she’s so mad. She was already livid about them thinking that Tariq being an aerospace engineer wasn’t the greatest thing ever, and when she saw how they treated you, she lost her mind. I don’t think you have to worry about even seeing them at our wedding, because my mother probably won’t invite them.”
“Of course I want everyone there, I want them to change their hearts and minds, but barring that, I’m okay with them being absent,” Harper said with a sigh.
“Me too. And so you know, you talking about a wedding makes me crazy happy.”
The way Harper chuckled, and Wick could finally breathe, made me smile.
“Also,” Kola went on, “what about the engagement and wedding ring that Hannah deserves and should have as the CEO of Sutter? Shouldn’t the ring show off her status?”
“Hannah wouldn’t care about that,” I assured my son. “And look at Aaron’s ring. All he wears is a simple heavy ring made out of platinum and––”
“She might not, but there’s a double-standard there,” Kola interrupted me. “Uncle Aaron’s a guy, so he can have any kind of ring, no one cares. It’s more about his watch collection. But for Hannah, what does it say about her? Did she marry down instead of up?”
“I think you’re reading way too much into the kind of ring she has on her finger,” Sam told his son.
“Maybe, but that doesn’t really matter, because the person it does matter to is Jake. He knows what she should have, what other suitors could afford, and how is that not supposed to bother him?”