It wasn’t about scoring points. It was about being there when someone needed you.
Later, when the doctors confirmed his father would recover, Linda hugged me… really hugged me for the first time.
“You didn’t have to stay,” she said.
“Yes, I did,” I replied simply. “That’s what family does.”
She looked at me for a long moment, then said something that changed everything: “I was wrong about you.”
Now, she texts me more than she texts Ryan.
Sometimes I think she forgets which of us she was supposed to dislike.
Last week, she called me in a panic about what to wear to her college reunion.
“Nothing looks right,” she complained. “Everything makes me look old.”
“I’ll be there in an hour,” I promised. “We’ll figure it out.”
Ryan watched me grab my keys, amused.
“Should I be jealous that my fiancée spends more time with my mother than with me?”
I kissed him quickly. “Absolutely. We’re planning to run away together as soon as she gets her passport renewed.”
He laughed.
“Seriously though, what happened? Six months ago she was plotting ways to break us up.”
I shrugged. “We made a deal.
And then we both held up our ends.”
“Whatever you did,” he said, pulling me close, “thank you. I’ve never seen her this happy.”
And as for the wedding? Linda sat front row, cried through the whole thing, and gave a toast that ended with, “I couldn’t have picked a better woman for my son if I tried.”
I caught her eye across the reception hall later.
She was dancing with her husband, now fully recovered and twirling her around like they were 20 again. She winked at me, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing.
Guess my little deal worked out better than either of us expected.
Ryan found me watching them and slipped his arm around my waist. “What are you thinking, darling?”
“Just thinking that people are like books,” I said, leaning into him.
“You can’t judge them by their cover, or even by the first few chapters. Sometimes you have to read the whole story to understand what they’re really about.”
“And my mom’s story?” he asked.
“Is still being written,” I smiled. “But I think it’s going to have a happy ending.”
And honestly?
I never wanted to “win Linda over.” I just wanted her to see the real me… the Jenna whom Ryan loves. Turns out, that was more than enough.
Source: amomama
