Standing at the gate to her parents' place, Maria placed her hand in Caleb's, squeezing it reassuringly. He was staring at the sky blue house with the white picket fence. It was the kind of house that a newly married couples would lived in, nothing huge and fancy, but not too small that it couldn't support a family. His dad often flipped houses like this.

"Come on," she said, pulling him inside the yard.

They wandered up to the double white doors, and she turned the knob. "Hello?"

"In the kitchen, sweetheart," came a gentle quiet voice, slightly hoarse from age.

Maria pulled Caleb down the hall and into the kitchen. Her mother was this small, heavier set lady with the eyes of an angel and a smile that could radiate all the way across the room.

"Who's this?" her mom asked.

"Mom, I'd like you to meet Caleb. Caleb, this is my mom Eleanora."

"It's nice to meet you," Eleanora said reaching out to shake his hand.

"Pleasure is all mine," he said, leaning down to kiss it.

"Oh you found yourself a charmer eh," her mom said, swatting at her with the dish towel.

"You have no idea," Maria said laughing as she ducked away from the wet towel. They sat conversing with her mother, waiting for her father to appear, but he didn't. "Where's Daddy?"

"I think he's in his office. Some work came in late today."

Time had finally come for dinner, and he was supposed to find some way to get her father alone to speak with him, but it looked like her Father was trying to try to avoid them all evening by disappearing into his office.

"You'll have to excuse my husband. He doesn't want to believe that his baby girl is all grown up," Eleanora said.

"Mom, please," Maria said, her face reddening.

"It's true though. I think he was hoping that you'd never find a guy, but me, oh gosh, I've been waiting for this day," her mother said, wrapping Maria in her arms. "As long as he makes you happy, or I'll whip his butt with this towel, too."

"I'm going to do my best to keep her happy for the rest of our lives," he said tenderly, hoping that her mother would understand what he was trying to say.

Her eyes widened. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Maria pulled her hand from her pocket and showed her mom the ring. Eleanora stared at it. He was unable to make out what she was thinking, her face was blank. "Oh honey, this is so sudden, are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," Maria replied, hugging her mom tightly.

"I wouldn't recommend saying anything to your father right now. Let him get to know the lad first."

"But..." Maria complained.

"I think she might be right," Caleb said. "Your mom knows him best."

"You just wanna chicken out," she said, jabbing him in the ribs playfully. He wrapped his arms around her, tickling her neck with his lips.

"I want to make a good impression on your father. I owe him and you that much."

Okay, maybe he was chickening out a little bit. He's never met the man. If a guy came up to Caleb, and said I'm marrying your daughter, and he didn't know him, he'd probably deck him or pretty close to it. Or if he asked to marry his baby girl so soon, he'd assumed she was knocked up.

Caleb looked down at her belly and wondered if they had already started a life in there. They wouldn't know for a little bit yet, but he would prefer being married before dropping that bomb on her religious parents.

"So Caleb, tell me about yourself?" Eleanora asked, as she returned to the dishes.

"Not much to tell really. I own my own business."

"Been married before, any kids?"

"I-"

"Mom!" Maria interrupted his answer.

"It's an honest question, dear," her mother replied.

"It's alright, hun," he said, taking Maria's hand. "No and no." The question wasn't a comfortable one, but they did have a right to know what their daughter was getting into...well, to a degree. He was certain they wouldn't like the tying up bits, so he'd keep that to himself. Caleb couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. She loved every bit of their kinky play.

"That's unusual for a man your age these days."

"He's only 28, Mom. Not everyone gets married early like you guys did."

"So Ma'am, is there anything I can help you with?" he asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

"You cook?" Eleanora looked up at him in surprise.

"Well, I've been on my own for a while now, so I've learned a thing or two."

"Well, darling, I don't know where you found him, but I like him already." Her mom said, her eyes beaming. He flashed Maria a smile that said, don't worry, I've got this! He didn't need her fighting for him. Charming the ladies was his forte, young and old alike; it's why he was so popular in his circles.

"What would you like me to do?"

"I wouldn't think of asking you to help today. You two just go track her father down and let him know it's almost ready."

"Ready to meet my dad?" She looked at him hesitantly, holding out her hand.

Caleb took a deep breath. "Ready as I'll ever be." This wasn't something he did every day. Ever since his experience with Karen's parents, he avoided them altogether. But he was young and inexperienced, hopefully this time it went better.

Maria knocked on the office door and slowly opened it. "Daddy?"

"Come in, baby girl."

She looked at Caleb and rolled her eyes. Somehow he didn't think that she appreciated that name very much. "I'd like you to meet someone."

Sitting at the desk was a man that looked 6'5 and his body hadn't slimmed with age either. He still looked like he could take down an army. When the man stood up, Caleb swallowed hard as he held his out his hand.

"Daddy, this is Caleb. Caleb meet my dad, Riccardo Delsante."

"It's a pleasure, sir," Caleb said. "You have an amazing daughter."

"Of course, she's amazing. She's a Delsante. Did you know that our roots go all the way back to royalty in Spain?"

That would explain his commanding presence and the overpowering spirit shooting off the man like an arrow. "I'd love to hear more about it."

Walking around the desk, her father wandered over to the bookshelf, pulling out the family tree book. "We had this made a few years back when we dug into our family history. What about you? What's your history?"

He knew the man was probing, eyeing him up as competition. "Nothing as spectacular as royalty. I was born and raised here. I imagine my roots will stay here long after I'm gone."

"Roots are good. That means you aren't a wanderer. And my daughter needs to learn that she can't run from her roots."

"Daddy, just because I live in the next town over doesn't mean I'm running."

"Don't worry, sir. I'll make sure she doesn't," Caleb promised.

"What's your full name, son?"

"Caleb Sylvester Jackson."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little Caleb Jackson."

Maria looked from one man to the other in confusion. "You know him?" she asked her dad.

"His Father did some work for me when Caleb was just a baby."

"And you remember him?" Caleb asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. How's your old man these days? I haven't seen him in years."

"Still working. I'm planning to take over for him actually."

"Don't you still own that sex shop?"

Maria's cheeks reddened at the question. Of course, her father would know about that. There wasn't a single thing she could get away with in her life. Even when she tried to read under her covers with a flashlight, they always found out. But his question didn't even seem to faze Caleb, he just seemed to roll with it.

"I'm actually considering selling my shop or shutting it down, not sure which yet."

"Selling it would be the more logical option. You should give me a call if you're interested," her dad suggested.

"Thanks, sir."

"Did your mother say how long dinner was gonna be?" her father asked her.

"Probably another 20 minutes," she replied

"Okay. I have another call to make and then I'll meet you guys at the dinner table." And with that, he dismissed them.

They left the room and Maria closed the door behind her, breathing heavily as she leaned against it. "I'm sorry, they love to steamroll a person."

"It's fine, hun, really."

The last thing she wanted was for them to know that he owned a sex shop. Surprise, surprise. Her dad picked up on the name right away. Despite her dad acting civil. She knew that in his mind he was going over and over all the ways that he could prove to her that Caleb wasn't good enough. And if not now, then he would do that the moment he knew they were engaged.

It wasn't long before they were sitting around the kitchen table with an assortment of taco ingredients. Something simple, yet, delicious. That's often what Caleb liked having around the house, too. He'd make up the hamburger, and then they'd have enough left for almost the whole week.

"I hope you don't mind Tacos," her mom said.

"I love tacos," he said, smiling at her.

Maria stared at them. The smell for some odd reason was making her stomach roll. Oh no. No. No. Her stomach seemed to say, yep, it's coming whether you like it or not. This can't be happening. Not now. "Excuse me." She shoved the chair back and made a mad dash to the bathroom.

She didn't even want to look back to see the looks on their faces. Maria knew exactly how it was going to look. Maybe she could sneak out the back door and not see the looks on their faces or hear the questions that she knew would come.

Slamming the door closed to the washroom, she flipped up the lid of the toilet and lost whatever remained in her stomach from lunch. It wasn't long before there was a gentle knock on the door.

"Are you okay, honey?" her mother asked.

"I'll...be...fine," she stuttered between heaves.

"Can I come in?"

"I'll be out...in a few minutes, Mom."

Maria sat with her back against the tub when her body finally settled. She's gotten nauseous before her period before, but never enough to puke. There was only one thing that made sense to her, but she needed a test to find out for sure.

On one hand she wanted to be pregnant because that's what they talked about, but on the other hand, she knew the reaction her parents would have.

They would probably disown her for having sex before marriage. Slowly standing up, she cleaned herself up and then returned to the table, her eyes looking at everything but the people sitting before her.

"Are you okay, dear?"

"I think I may have caught a stomach bug, would it be alright if we had a raincheck on dinner?"

"Why don't you go lay down and let Caleb finish his dinner," her dad suggested. "I want to talk to him."

"Dad, please, not the third degree. Don't ruin this for me," she whined.

"Ruin what? I just wanna talk to the boy."

"I think we should just get everything out into the open. I've never been one for beating around the bush either," Caleb said, taking her hand. "I want to marry your daughter, Mr. Delsante."

Maria glanced at her dad, certain her face was glowing with embarrassment and the truth about not being a virgin anymore. Riccardo was looking back and forth between them, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Do you love him, honey?" her dad asked, suddenly looking twice his age, as though the news tossed him into a time warp.

"I do, daddy, very much."

"And I your daughter, Sir."

The room was silent. All Maria could hear was the clock ticking on the wall as everyone stared at each other, unsure of what to say next. A battle was being fought in the eyes of her dad and for the first time, she could see how pale he looked.

"Then you have my blessing," Riccardo said, pushing himself away from the table. "Excuse me."

After he left the room, Maria sat in her chair, stunned. "Is he okay?" That's when the well of tears opened and streamed down her mother's cheeks and she shook her head. Maria rushed over, wrapping her arms around her mom. "You're scaring me, Mom."

"Your dad has pancreatic cancer. We just found out earlier today."

"Oh my god," Maria's hands flew to her mouth, and she buried her face in Caleb's chest. There has been enough death and bad news in her life to last a life time. Caleb opened his arms to welcome Eleanora as well, lending his strength to them both.

And there they stood, crying and weeping for more lost dreams than Maria had ever thought possible. She wanted her dad to be there to watch her kids grow up and now that dream was gone before it even begun.

Life had truly taken a strange turn. She went from starting a new life to finding out that her dad's might be coming to a close. "How far along?" Maria asked her mom.

"Stage 4, it has spread. We're going in to find out more tomorrow."

"I'm so sorry," Maria said softly, wrapping her arm around her mom as they hugged. "Are you doing okay?"

"As good as can be expected, but I have faith that the good Lord will guide us through this."

"Do you want us to stay tonight?" she asked her mom.

"No, that's okay. There isn't anything you can really do at the moment. Just head home. I'll call you with any updates tomorrow night."

"If you're sure."

Her mom looked up at Caleb, framing his face in her hands. "Take care of my baby."

"You can count on it."

Slowly they walked outside to the car when Caleb's phone rang. "Yes?" he answered. As he listened, she watched as his eyes clouded over and his face reddened with anger. "I'll be right there."

"What's going on?"

"That was Tammy. She needs me at the hospital."

"Why?"

"Charlotte attacked Karen."

---

A/N

Funny how sometimes life just doesn't let up and you find your being torpedoed from one trial into another. How much can one person stand?

I hope you enjoyed this relatively calm chapter. :)