The Proposal & Solid Soul - Brenda Jackson [72]
Kylie nodded. “Now, about Marcus Steele.”
Tiffany straightened her spine and immediately went on the defensive. “What about Marcus?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about him?”
“Why? So you could find some reason for me not to like him, Mom? Well, it won’t work because I do like him. You’re the one who wanted to leave Buffalo and move here. And I’m the one who was forced to go to another school and make new friends. Not all of the kids at school like me. They say I talk funny. Marcus has been nice to me. Extremely nice. He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes.”
“You’re not old enough to have a boyfriend, Tiffany.”
“That’s your rule, Mom.”
“And one you will abide by, young lady.”
“Why? Because you think I’ll get pregnant like you did? That’s not fair.”
“It’s not about that, Tiffany. It’s about such things as keeping your reputation intact and not getting involved in anything you aren’t ready for.”
“It is about what happened to you when you were sixteen, Mom. And how do you know what I am or am not ready for? You want to shelter me and you can’t. You’ve talked to me, but the choice of what I do is ultimately mine.”
“No, it’s not,” Kylie bit out. “As long as you’re living under my roof, I make the rules and you will abide by them.”
“I can’t, Mom. I care too much for Marcus and we have news for you and Mr. Steele. We are madly in love!” she almost shouted. “And nothing either of you say is going to make us not be together, whether it’s at school or someplace else.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Tiffany said stalking off to her room, “that I don’t want to talk anymore.”
CHANCE LEAPED TO HIS feet. The sound of his chair crashing to the floor echoed loudly in the kitchen. “What do you mean you might not go to college but stay in Charlotte to be closer to Tiffany Hagan?” he shouted. His anger had clearly reached the boiling point.
“There’s no reason to get upset, Dad. What’s the big deal if I decided to hang around here and go to college? One university is just as good as another.”
Chance rubbed his hand down his face, trying to fight for composure, and quickly decided to use another approach. “Marcus,” he said calmly, “I’m sure Tiffany Hagan is a nice girl, but you’re only sixteen. In another couple of years you’ll finish high school and go to college where you will meet plenty of other nice girls. You have such a bright future ahead of you. I’d hate to see you get too serious about any girl now.”
A stubborn expression settled on Marcus’s face. “She’s not just any girl, Dad. Tiffany is the girl I plan to marry one day.”
“Marry!” Chance nearly swallowed the word in shock. “How did marriage get into the picture? You’re only sixteen! I know you think you really care for this girl and—”
“It’s more than that, Dad, and the sooner you and Tiffany’s mother realize it, the better. Tiffany and I are madly in love and we want to be together forever. There’s nothing either of you can say or do to stop us, so you may as well accept it.”
“Like hell I will.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marcus said as he walked out of the kitchen toward his bedroom.
Total shock kept Chance from going after his son and wringing his neck.
KYLIE PACED THE FLOOR. Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Tiffany hadn’t come out of her room yet, which was probably the best thing.
Love!
At fifteen her daughter thought she was in love. Madly in love at that! Kylie swallowed a thickness in her throat when she realized how her mother must have felt sixteen years ago, dealing with her when she’d been obsessed with Sam Miller.
She paused when she heard the phone ring and quickly crossed the room to pick it up, thinking it was probably Lena checking to see how things with Tiffany had gone. “Hello.”
“We need to talk, Ms. Hagan.”
Kylie blinked at the sound of the ultrasexy male voice. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the caller was, or to know he’d evidently had another talk with his son. She sighed. Yes, they did need to talk. “You name the place and I’ll be there.”
“All