Hearts on Fire (The Hunter Family) (23 page)

“I should be home by 5:30.”

“Perfect, I will see you then.”

The next call I made was to my parents but I wanted to wait to share the good news, and I had already told Claire to let me tell them.

“Hi mom, Zane and I are coming for dinner on Wednesday night at 7:00, I hope that’s okay.  Can you please invite Nana Bunny?”  I needed to have an ally and I wanted her to see us together.

“Honey, I don’t know if that is such a good idea, you know how your father feels about him.”

“This is important mom, can you please talk to daddy and make it happen?”

An exasperated sigh escaped her lips.  “Alright, fine, I’m not even going to ask what this is all about, I’ll just wait to see what it is when you get here.”

My mom was serious when she said she wasn’t going to ask, she knew not to pry, and I’m sure she thought I was going to tell them we were engaged and that would be the last thing either of my parents wanted to hear.  Nana Bunny would probably be thrilled.  They needed to give Zane a chance and, hopefully with my good news about the ballet and Zane’s new career, they would be open.  I was going to have to explain to them that he never did anything wrong, and it was me and my insecurity that ruined things between us.

That night when I opened the door, Zane picked me up in his arms and swung me around before gently setting me back down on my feet.  His eyes were filled with love as he gently held my face in his hands and kissed me.

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you.  I probably sound like a broken record but your support really does mean a lot to me, Zane.  Thank you for believing in me.”

He winked at me and I blushed like a teenager.  “Anytime.”

Zane was a nervous wreck as we walked up to my parent’s door. I kept reassuring him in the car ride over that everything would be okay and he held my hand tight as I opened the door.  Their butler greeted us first and then my mom came over and gave me a big hug and a kiss.

“It’s good to see you, honey.” 

She gave Zane a cool stare but was able to manage to get out a very polite greeting.

“Hello Zane, it is nice to see you again.”  She smiled at him and her smile did not reach her eyes, but hopefully by the end of the night that would all change.

“Thank you Mrs. Hunter, it’s nice to see you too.”

My dad came over to us and gave me a hug and a kiss.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

He looked at Zane and barely managed a hello as he set his jaw and fire flashed across his eyes.

“Zane.”

Zane cleared his throat.  “Hello, Mr. Hunter.”

Thankfully, Nana Bunny came over to us at the perfect time giving us a warm smile.

“Hello darling, it’s good to see you.  That goes for you too, Zane.”

He smiled at her.  “Hello, Mrs…”

She shook her finger at him in a very playful way.   “No, no…what did I tell you?” 

Zane smiled at her.  “I’m sorry.  Bunny, hello Bunny.”

Nana Bunny only allowed people she really like to call her that, so it made me happy to know Zane was on her short list.

I smiled at her and gave her a big hug. “Hi Nana Bunny.”  I whispered in her ear so that no one could hear me.  “I’m so glad you’re here.”

She winked at me and patted my hand.  “I think dinner is ready, shall we go sit down?”

We made small talk at the dinner table and you could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.  My parents clearly did not want Zane there.  When dessert was served I decided it was time to clear the air.

“So I asked for this dinner tonight because I need to clear something up and I also have some really big news.”

Anger consumed my father’s face and he slammed his fork down on the table. “If you are going to tell us that you are…!”

“Joshua Hunter!”  Bunny’s voice was loud and stern.  “Allow your daughter to finish!”

My dad instantly backed down and the only two people that could make him do that were my mother and my grandmother.  Thank goodness for Nana Bunny.

“Sorry mother.  Abigail, please continue.”

“I want you all to know that Zane never did anything wrong.  I was extremely insecure about his lifestyle when he was in the band and it was very hard for me to see so many female fans around him all the time. I assumed that Zane was doing something that he was not and because of my assumption, I ruined everything between us. I want you guys to get to know the Zane that I brought home to you the first time because he is a really great guy. I told you both that I thought he cheated on me and I was completely wrong about that.  The girl I saw him with was his sister and I met her and she is a very sweet person.  We cleared everything up, I apologized to her and to him and I want you to give him another chance because he deserves it.  I love him, I want to be with him and he’s going to be around so I would really like it if my parents loved him too.”

I winked at my grandmother.  “Nana Bunny, I know I don’t have to worry about you.”

“Also, Zane is not in the band anymore. Dad, you might not believe it, but the talk that you had with him when you first met him really sunk in and he decided to focus on building a business.”  I looked over and Zane. “Tell them Zane.”

He cleared his throat and looked at my parents and Nana Bunny. "Abby is right. I decided to go into business with my friend and we opened a bar/restaurant that is doing really well, we just opened a second bar and we recently signed a contract on the space for a third bar which we plan to open next year. Mr. Hunter I listened to everything you told me and, you were right. My businesses are thriving and I really have you to think for that.”

The look on my father’s face was priceless.  He literally puffed his chest out with pride and I actually saw a hint of a smile.  He crossed his arms and studied Zane.

“I want to be clear about something, Zane, all I care about is that you are able to make a good, stable living.   If the band had worked out, that would have been fine too, as long as it was enough steady, reliable money that allowed you to support a family one day.  I am very happy that I could help and I’m glad to hear that your business is doing well.  Working for yourself is hard but is definitely worth it.  I wish you nothing but continued success.”

“Thank you, sir.  I’d like to say one other thing.  Abby means the world to me and I would never intentionally hurt her.  I want you all to know that.  I love her very much.”

My mother put her hand on my father’s arm and smiled at Zane.

“That makes us very happy to hear that.  You do understand that we are very protective of our children so when one of them is hurting, that hurts us.  We haven’t been very accepting of you lately because of what we saw her going through.  I’m happy to hear that you two have worked things out and we are looking forward to starting a new relationship with you, Zane.”

My dad gave him a quick nod. “Sarah’s right, Zane.  Let’s agree to start new.” 

“That sounds great to me, thank you for the second chance.”

Bunny smiled at all of us. "Well this just warms my heart, I'm so happy that you could all come to some sort of resolution.  Now, Abby dear, you said you had some news for us.”

I smiled at everyone at the table.  “Yes, I do.”

My father looked terrified and I almost laughed because I was sure he was thinking the worst, like I was pregnant or something.

My mother was literally on the edge of her seat.  “We’re dying to hear what it is.”

“I got the lead in Swan Lake!”

All three of them jumped up, Nana Bunny not quite as fast as my parents, and came over to hug me.

“Oh, Abby!  That is just wonderful!”  My mom started to well up as she wrapped her arms around me.  “I knew you had it in you, sweetheart, congratulations.”  She was choked up and her words were reduced to a whisper.

My dad gave me a big hug and kissed me on the cheek.  “I knew you could do it, I knew my girl was a star.  We can’t wait to see you perform.”

Nana Bunny hugged me tight and I felt her tremble a bit.  “Congratulations darling, I am so proud of you.  You worked hard and you made it happen.   I knew your day would come, I just knew it.” 

When I saw the tears in my Nana Bunny’s eyes, I lost it.  She was the sweetest person I knew, and to see her cry, even if they were happy tears, was my undoing.

“Don’t cry Nana Bunny, please.”

She patted my arm and smiled at me.

“They’re happy tears, dear.  I know how badly you wanted this, so I’m happy to see that you are finally getting what you want.”

I smiled at her as I put my arm around her. “Thank you.”

“By the way, everyone, Claire is my understudy and I have never seen someone happier to be an understudy than she is.  She really has been a huge help to me.”

My mother looked relieved.

“I am so happy you girls worked everything out.  Life is too short to stop speaking to each other, you have to treat every moment as precious.”

I gave her a big hug.

“I agree, mom.”

She smiled at me.  “This deserves a toast!  I’ll ask the chef to open a nice bottle of champagne!”

A few minutes later we all raised our glasses as my father gave the toast.

“To our wonderfully talented and beautiful daughter, we wish you a wonderful run, many more starring leads,” he looked at Zane, “and lots of love and happiness!”

We all clinked our glasses.  “Here, here!”

As I looked around at everyone, it felt really good to be surrounded by people who loved me.   Life was good.