Taming Of The TOMBOY!!!!

Chapter 10

"Sure Dolly, no problem," Jack said on the phone entering into the leaving room and Jenny turned her attention from the TV and looked at him with surprise. Jack didn't notice it and continued his conversation on the phone. "Of course Dolly, it'll be only my pleasure." he was saying on his most charming voice and Jenny just gaped at him. "Ah don't worry about it, I'll manage everything." he said with a warm smile "alright then bye. See you in no time." he finished smiling and cut the line. Then he looked at Jenny and saw her staring at him with her mouth open. "What?" he asked

"Were you just talking to my mom?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"And did you just called her "Dolly"?"

"Well yeah." he shrugged.

"And she just let you? She just let you call her by her nick name?"

"Yeah. Why?"

She ignored his question and sighed angrily. "Great," she said angrily " Just great".

"What's the matter?" Jack asked.

Jenny took a deep breath to control her anger and then after calming herself down a little she said "My mother doesn't allow anyone to call her by her pet name. Not even her parents or her friends were allowed to call her by her pet name. She had let only two person call her Dolly in her whole lifetime. One was my dad and the other one is Uncle Jeremy. And now she lets you call her that." She finished angrily.

"Okay I'm honored." he said solemnly "As I told you before we two really get along very well. But why are you so upset about it?"

"Why am I so upset about it?" she repeated his question screaming. " Yeah right. Why should I be upset? First, my mother reveals my whole life story to the man I hate, then she gives him the right she didn't even give her parents and talk to him like they were childhood best friends! My mother, my best friend who means the world to me is siding with my enemy! Really what's there to be mad about? Absolutely nothing. I shouldn't be upset at all." she said fuming.

Jack stifled a laugh at her childishness and asked: "So you are feeling betrayed now?"

She put her hand on her chest feigning a shocked expression "Betrayed! Why would I feel betrayed! My mother is now best friends with my enemy! What's there to feel betrayed about?"

"Stop saying that. I'm not your enemy you know," he said softly.

"Yes, you are. That's the only thing you are to me. An enemy." she said with harshness purposely to hurt him. It didn't work though. As Jack knew that she was being harsh on him so that she could make him hate her. So that she could push him away from her. 'Like that is ever going to happen!' Jack thought smiling to himself and then looking into her eyes he smiled softly at her and said "Okay we'll argue about it later. For now, hurry up and get ready. We are getting late."

"For what?"

"Dolly invited us for dinner."

Jenny got more mad. "See my point? Now my mother only calls you and talks only to you. Doesn't even bother talking to her daughter. And I had to learn from YOU that I'm invited to my mother's house for dinner along with you. She doesn't even consider asking me. And you confirm her that we are going without even asking me. My decision doesn't just matter to any of you."

"That's not true honey. Your decision is most important to both of us. I didn't ask you about it because I knew that you miss her a lot and you would want to go. And as for your mother, she didn't talk to you on the phone because she wanted to talk to you in person. She hasn't seen you since our wedding and she misses you a lot. That's why she has invited us to dinner because she wants to see you. She told me that she didn't think that she could survive one more day without seeing you." he said softly.

"Really?" she asked happily.

"Really. She loves you a lot."

"Hey, I know that! I don't need to learn that from you."

"And you still get mad at her for nothing." he shook his head chuckling.

"She is my mother! I love her! It's my right to get mad at her! And besides, I only get mad at people I love most."

"Really?" he said with a suggestive tone.

"That doesn't include you! You are an exception," she confirmed.

"I'm still honored. At least I'm special for you."

Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Now will you please get ready? We are getting late." Jack complained.

"In a minute," Jenny said and left the room.

..............................

As soon as Jack rung the doorbell, a very happy Mrs. Parker opened the door and hugged Jenny tightly. When she finally released Jenny there were tears on her eyes with a smile tugged on her lips. "Jenny! I'm so happy to see you! I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, mom"

Mrs. Parker then turned to Jack. "And Jack my dear. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Dolly. How are you? Like always you look gorgeous."

"I'm fine too honey And thank you. And I must say though I didn't think it was possible you seem to have become more handsome."

Jack chuckled. "That happens when someone really special enters into your life," he said with a wink.

Jenny rolled her eyes at their friendly exchange and entered the house which made Mrs. Parker slap her hand on her forehead. "Look at me!" she exclaimed "keeping you in the doorway! Come in, come in" she ushered Jack into the house "I'm sorry for keeping you in the doorway like that Jack. I just got too excited to see Jenny."

"There's nothing to apologize Dolly. It's only natural." Jack said with a warm smile.

"Thanks, dear."

For the next two hour, they chatted with each other. Then the dinner was served and they chatted and joked and laughed while eating. By "they" it mostly means Mrs. Parker and Jack. Jenny was really upset to see that whenever there was an argument Mrs. Parker took Jack's side instead of her! She was surprised by the fact that how easy Jack and her mother was with each other. She knew that they get along well but she had no idea that they have become this close. It was like they knew each other for ages. Then they finished eating and Jack followed Mrs. Parker to the kitchen to help her to clean up with so much ease that she felt like she was the outsider. With a sigh, she went upstairs to her old bedroom.

In the kitchen Mrs. Parker asked smiling Jack "So? How is it going? Is my girl troubling you too much?"

Jack grinned at her. "Everything is going wonderfully. And I absolutely love it when she troubles me. Which is totally normal considering the fact that I love every single thing about her. Oh, Dolly, I love her so much! It couldn't be humanly possible to love someone that much."

Mrs. Parker chuckled and said with amusement "You are really crazily in love with her, aren't you?" Then she turned serious and said, "She is not going to forgive you easily you know for forcing her to marry you."

Jack sighed and said "I know. But you know as well as I do that this was the only way. She was never going to marry me or anyone else in any other way."

"I know son and I wasn't judging you for that. In fact, I'm really glad that you did what you did. I was just saying that it'll take hard work for you to convince her to accept you as her husband."

"I know Dolly. And I'm ready to do everything for her. And trust me soon she will fall in love with me as well. I can feel it."

"Oh if you are worried about her falling in love with you then it's totally unnecessary.

She is already halfway there." she said beaming but then turning serious she said "But that was not what I was talking about. Making her falling in love with you is not nearly as much tough as it is going to be making her accept it. I know my daughter, Jack. She is very stubborn and egoistic. She is not going to give in to her feelings easily. She will keep fighting them as long as she can. Her ego always comes between the way of her feelings."

"I know that Dolly. But she won't be able to do that for a long time. My love for her is so strong that it will make her stop fighting her feelings. I'll make sure that she does." he said with a determined voice. "And don't worry, Dolly. She won't be able to resist me for a long time." he joked grinning.

Mrs. Parker laughed "I'm sure she won't."

In her old bedroom, Jenny went near her old bookshelf and caressed the books lightly. Then she picked up a book and started reading it but couldn't concentrate. The events of this evening were going through her head. Everyone has accepted Jack with open arms. Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Katy, Laura, Boris. Jack has charmed his way into everyone's heart. But that's okay since they didn't know the real reason for their marriage. They thought that Jack an Jenny were madly in love and were a happy couple very much in love. But her mom! She knew everything, how she was forced into this marriage, how JACK forced her into this marriage and yet she treats him like.....like... like a son-in-law! She cringed at that thought. Well technically he was her son-in-law but he got that title by forcing her daughter into this marriage! Wasn't her mother supposed to hate him as well? Then why didn't she? What's wrong with her? Seeing them so friendly with each other has upset her a lot. She felt betrayed that her mother would be so nice to the person who has forced her daughter into marriage. Where a part of her was really happy that Jack respects her mother so much and treat her so nicely. Then again it made her upset as she didn't want to see him as a good person! She only wants to see him as a very bad person whom she could hate with all her heart! And it was becoming really hard day by day. Forget about hating she was having a very hard time preventing herself from liking him! This couldn't happen! She wouldn't allow that to happen! So lost she was in her thoughts that she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned only to see her mother smiling at her giving her a knowing look, "Thinking about Jack?" her mother asked.

She swallowed at that and then said "What! No! Why would I think about him?" And then cringed inwardly at the fact that how unconvincing she sounded. She was never much into lying and when it comes to her mother she couldn't lie at all. She never needed to lie to her mother because up until now she used to share everything with her mother. And the fact that her mother had the ability to read her mind just by looking at her eyes didn't help the situation either.

As though reading her mind her mother smiled and said "You can't lie to me you know. I know that you were thinking about Jack.”

Jenny got mad and said "Okay. So I WAS thinking about Jack. You want to know what was I thinking? I was thinking that how my own mother could be siding with the man who forced me to marry him? How could my own mother treat him like he was the favorite person of her in the whole world? How could my own mother betray me like that?" Jenny was shaking with anger.

"Jenny, Jack really lo..cares for you." Mrs. Parker sighed with relief inwardly. It almost slipped from her mouth that "Jack really loves you."

"See? Even now when I'm mad at you and accusing you are singing his praise."

"Okay, so I'm taking his side right? So? What's wrong with that? All he wants to do is keep you happy. So? Is that too wrong for me to want to see my daughter?"

"All he wants to do is keep me happy?" she scoffed. "Jack Cooper doesn't want to keep anyone happy. The only person he wants to keep happy is himself."

"You know very well as I do that it's not true. Though that's what you want to think him as don't you? So that you could hate him easily? But you know that he is not like that. And you are upset about it. The truth is that you know exactly what a nice person Jack is and you like him very much. Just leave your ego and admit it that you like him. For once in your life, Jenny for your own sake STOP BEING SO STUBBORN."

" I DON'T LIKE HIM! I HATE HIM!" she screamed, " I will never forgive him for......"

"For what? For forcing you to marry him?" her mother interrupted angrily. "Have you ever spend a second thinking why had he done it? That there might be a reason for it? No, you haven't. Everything doesn't have to be the way you think it is, Jenny. Just try to understand others point of views as well."

Jenny was shocked at her mother's reaction. She had never spoken to Jenny angrily before. As a matter of fact, she had never seen her mother angry before. It was Jenny who did all the screaming. Then Jenny said coldly "I don't know or care why he did it. I just know that he did it and I'll never forgive him for that. And I want to ask you only one question. Whose side are you on all of this? Mine or Jack's?"

"Jack's," her mother said without any hesitation.

"Goodbye mom," she said and ran from the room before she could burst into sobs. She came downstairs and when Jack saw her face he followed her to outside of the house without asking any question. Then they got into the car and finally, then Jenny allowed herself to cry. She was sobbing hysterically when Jack hugged her tightly and asked: "Jenny, honey what happened?" Jenny pushed him away and said, “Just drive Jack.” Jack started to say something but Jenny interrupted him screaming “Just drive the damn car Jack.” Seeing her crying like this was breaking Jack’s heart. He wanted to hold her, soothe her, kiss her tears away but he knew that this wasn't the right time he just did what he told her to do. He started the car.

During the whole drive, Jenny kept sobbing and he kept his mouth shut though it was nearly killing him as he knew that it will only upset her more if he didn't. Only after they finally reached home did he try to speak to her.

Sitting on the couch, she buried her face in her hands and kept sobbing. Jack sat on the floor in front of her and took her hands on his. "Jenny, baby, please talk to me. Look at me, honey. Please stop crying. Tell me what happened honey. Please." Jack said desperately.

Jenny pushed his hands away. “You want to know what happened? Fine! I will tell you. Actually, it's a good news for you. You should celebrate! Congratulation Mr. Jack Cooper. You win! You have snatched my mom from me. You've snatched the person I love most in the whole universe from me. She is on your side now. She supports you! Good job. Keep it up.” She said screaming through her sobs and started to get up when Jack grabbed her hand and made her sit down. “Jenny I…..” he began softly but Jenny interrupted him “Please Jack don’t. Just don’t.” She started to get up again but Jack held her hand firmly.

“No, listen to me please.” He said softly and put her finger on his chick and made her look up into his eyes. “Jenny you are mistaking. I have not snatched your mom from you. No one can ever snatch your mom from you. That’s an impossible task. Your mother loves you too much to let something like that happen. You mean the world for her and no one can ever change the fact. NO ONE.”

Jenny got lost in his eyes. “But …but she said …… she said …” she hiccupped when Jack interrupted her. “If she said that she is on my side then that’s because she KNEW that I’M on YOUR side. So by being on my side, she will really be still on your side. And I’ll be always on your side Jenny no matter what. So basically we are on the same side and your mother knows that. So no matter whose side she chooses she will be always on your side.” He said softly giving her an affectionate smile.

Jenny started to calm down. His eyes always have this effect on her. No matter what the situation is those eyes always made her feel better and draw her into another world. Jack stroked her eyes softly. Then he cupped her cheeks. Jenny was still lost in his eyes. Then he slowly started to lean towards her to kiss her. Jenny also leaned towards him to receive his kiss. Their lips were nearly touching when Jenny suddenly came to her senses and pushed him away harshly. “You and I are never on the same side. NEVER!” she said and ran upstairs to their bedroom leaving him there still sitting on the floor.

She flung herself on the bed and started crying harder. Okay, time to face the truth. She can't run away from the truth any longer. She just has to face it. She wasn't crying because Jack has stolen her mom from her. Nor was she crying because her mother has chosen Jack over her. No. All the fights she had with Jack in this issue from the very beginning, all the things she had about it, all those bullshit were only a cover, a cover to hide her real feelings. She hadn't run from her mother's house like that because she was mad that her mother has chosen Jack over her. No, she ran away from there because she was scared. She was scared that one day Jack will win her heart as well as he had won the heart of her mother's and every other member's heart of her family.