The Forgotten Heiress novel Chapter 42

Jessica nodded and did just that. She told them about Nick's return, her mom remembered him from months ago, and his first encounter with Shane. Riley helped her recount yesterday's altercation between them and Shane. Upon hearing about it, her parents became furious and Christian and Axel assured them that Nick had taken care of him.

Jessica made a note to ask them what they meant by that at a later time and continued with her retelling. She glossed over the details of their bathroom stay, Nick spending the night and the way he'd marked her.

Thinking about the mark, she itched to run her fingers over it but she didn't dare for fear of drawing unwanted attention to it. She no longer felt pain but she felt it there, solid like the weight of a necklace lying around her neck. She felt as if a piece of Nick was with her and would never leave her.

Jessica divulged everything she learned from Nick about shifters; Danielle and Riley made sounds of amazement but otherwise stayed quite, like everyone else in the family they'd had months to get used to the idea that shifters were real, and Jessica finished with his wish for her to live with him.

"Live with him?!" Her mom shook her head "No, you are too young."

Jessica sighed. "Mom, you were my age when you met my father."

"No, I was older."

"Only by a couple of months." She retorted and then took a deep breath to calm down.

"You don't know him," Her mom continued to argue; "we don't know him."

"Mom, you didn't know my father that long either, you told me so."

Lauren gave her husband a sideways glance and fidgeted nervously in her seat. "That was different." She confided with finality in her tone.

Lauren didn't feel comfortable talking about Cade at the moment. She didn't know how to explain her relationship with Cade to her daughter and the rest of them without hurting her husband's feelings. She just couldn't explain the deep and never ending love she felt for Cade to her husband and children.

Jessica looked over her shoulder at Christian and Axel. "I need a minute alone with my family, mind stepping outside for a couple?"

"Why?" Christian asked her, "We'll still hear you." He pointed at his ears to remind her of their superior hearing.

Jessica groaned, slouched back on her seat and closed her eyes, trying to figure out a solution. "Did you mean it?" She finally asked after a couple of seconds of thinking and failing to find an answer to her dilemma.