© 2013 Sandra Corton

Chapter 8

They were at the baggage claim with Chase standing calmly, while she was a nervous wreck. Every minute that ticked closer to being anywhere near his parents, edged her anxiety on. This was just too much for her to handle.

"Ah, one bag down." Chase said decisively, as he quickly snatched her suitcase.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Chase Montgomery coming back home." A delicate female voice said from behind them. He turned to see his first love Amber smiling straight at him.

"Hey, Amber, were you on the same flight?" Chase pulled her in for a brief hug, before looking back to where Brianna stood only to find her gone. He cursed under his breath knowing that she couldn't have gone too far.

"Yeah, I'm just coming home for the weekend," Amber babbled on until she noticed him barely looking at her. "Is everything alright?" She distracted him from his quick visual search for Brianna.

"Of course, I just don't want to miss my bag." He gestured to the carousal.

"We should catch up while we are both here for the weekend." She suggested with a hopeful look.

"I'm flying back early on Sunday, so I probably won't have enough time. Maybe my next visit." He said with a shrug, and she nodded, but seemed rather disappointed.

Brianna watched the exchange from where she stood, trying not to completely lose her cool. The woman was beautiful with chestnut hair and a svelte body. She had one of those faces that was stunningly beautiful with crystal blue eyes to accentuate her features even more.

Brianna felt jealous, she realised with a gasp. She was jealous of the stunning woman who seemed to know Chase very well. She envied the casual intimacy that they seemed to have between them. Things like this only made her see how difficult life would be if they were together. There would always be more beautiful women than she was, and they would always be throwing themselves at him.

"Are you going to hide behind that tree all day, or should we go?" Chase asked with a grin, making her jump and her face flush at the same time.

"Hide." She answered simply, which made him roll his eyes.

"C'mon, Buttercup, you are not getting out of this." He informed her, as he unclasped one of her tightly held fists, and wrapped his warm hand around her freezing one. He tugged on her hand, but she remained rooted to the spot.

"No." She said on a whimper, and he stopped to look back at her.

He dropped his bag at his feet, as he finally noticed her panicked face. Maybe he had pushed her into this too quickly.

He felt like the world's biggest arsehole for making her feel this stressed. He just wasn't sure how to reassure her that this wouldn't be as horrible as she imagined. He cupped his hands around her face, and tilted her stricken face up, so that she had to look at him.

"I would never do anything to harm you, Buttercup. Ever. You need to trust me about this." He assured her gently, and she bit her lip not sure what to do.

She wanted to trust that this would all work out perfectly well, but she knew from experience what usually happened. Then again, she was here, miles from home, so what else could she do but meet his parents? He had her trapped in a situation that she had never asked for, and there wasn't a lot that she could do to change it. It looked like she just had to suck it up and deal with this the best way she could.

"Fine, let's go." She muttered, but he remained where he was.

"Are you sure that you're alright with this now?" he asked worriedly.

"As I'll ever be." She told him forcing herself to sound positive.

"Good," he dropped a small sweet kiss on her lips, dazing her just a little bit. "Then let's go."

With his hand holding hers, he led her out of the terminal. Brianna tried to force down her nervousness, but it stubbornly held on.

"Chase!" An eager voice called out his name, and they both looked towards where it had originated.

An older lady smiled broadly, as she waved dramatically at her son. Her hair was greying, but she was still showing the beauty of her youth. Her smile and warm brown eyes reflected Chase's exactly. Brianna could only stare between them. The man next to her could have been Chase's much older brother they looked so similar. He smiled too and his hazel eyes crinkled at the corners, as they approached.

Brianna pulled against Chase's hold on her hand, as his parents came closer. His mother didn't miss that they were holding hands. Brianna was surprised when a bigger grin spread across his mother's face, as if she felt happy to find her son with someone.

"You haven't been home often enough." His Mum scolded lightly, as she pulled him in for a hug, and Brianna could finally slip her hand from his.

"I know, Mum, sorry." He sent her his best pouty face, which even seemed to work on his mother. Brianna shook her head slightly, was there anyone not immune to his charms?

"And this is?" the older woman turned to Brianna, who flinched at the focus on her.

"This is Brianna Morgan. I want her to be my girlfriend, but she keeps saying no. I was hoping that you guys could help me convince her." Chase stated with a gleam in his eye.

"Chase!" Brianna chastised, as she slapped him lightly on the arm.

"I like you already, especially if you managed to say no to him." His Mum gestured to Chase, who was greeting his father.

"Numerous times." Brianna said dryly, making the other woman laugh.

"You are definitely a keeper. I'm Teresa." His Mum grinned, before pulling her in for a hug.

Brianna felt her jaw drop open, not quite believing what was happening in this moment. This woman couldn't possibly accept her for turning her son down. That made no sense whatsoever!

"Brianna, I would like you to meet my father, this is Nathan Montgomery." Chase introduced, pulling her thought away from her.

"Um, it's nice to meet you." Brianna said awkwardly, as she held out her hand and felt hers engulfed by his.

"Lovely to meet someone who finally won't give into his charms." The older man winked at her, and Brianna didn't know what to say in reply.

She wanted to snort and list the number of times when he had won her over. He was always able to refute her weak refusals. All he had to do was look at her and she was putty in his hands. The fact that she was here at a meet the parent's scenario screamed to the world how she always seemed to give in to him.

"Let's go before any other people from town decide to mob you." Nathan said simply, as he gestured to the large glass doors.

"I've already seen Amber." Chase said, and Teresa looked at him questioningly.

"That would have been interesting." She raised her eyebrows at him, and Chase coughed, looking acutely uncomfortable.

"Just a bit, she wanted to catch up." Chase put his hands in the air, as if it had been the worst moment of his life. It hadn't seemed that bad from where Brianna had been watching. Teresa let out a snigger of laughter.

"Serves you right." Teresa told him firmly

"Hey, she broke it off with me, remember." Chase defended himself, and Brianna realised that the woman who had talked to him was obviously an old flame.

"Yes, but you took her sister to the dance when she wanted you back." Teresa argued, while Brianna watched the back and forth exchange with interest.

"Look that was years ago and I apologised remember. I was young, stupid, and angry at her." Chase said firmly, as he threw his bag and Brianna's suitcase into the back of an older, but well looked after four-wheel drive. "Can we just drop this subject now?" he asked and his mother nodded.

"Of course, I would rather get to know Brianna anyway." Teresa said, making Brianna panic the tiniest bit.

"No interrogation, Mum. I remember what you were like with Joel," he warned his mother who tried to look innocent. "Joel is my brother in law; he's married to my sister Janet." Chase explained to Brianna, who just nodded.

He opened the rear passenger door for her, and gestured for her to hop in. She did so hesitantly, not sure that this was such a great plan being alone in a moving vehicle with unknown parents. He got in on the other side, as his parents took the front seats.

"How old are you, Brianna?" Teresa craned her neck to see her, as she asked.

"Too close to thirty." Brianna answered rather sadly.

"Wait until you're too close to forty, fifty, or sixty, and then come talk to me, lovey." Teresa said with a small laugh. "How did you meet? Do you work in the industry too?"

Brianna baulked at answering that one. Did she mention Hawaii, or did she pretend that time never happened? Oh, how she hated making small talk with parents! She just never knew what the right answer was.

"No, I work in child care. Chase is the best man at my friend's wedding." Brianna told her, and at this, Teresa raised a brow and leaned even further around in her seat.

"Leonard's wedding? Isn't that next weekend?"

"Yes, and he sent you an invite I'm sure, Mum." Chase insisted at the upset tone in his mother's voice.

"That boy better had! He didn't come to my house and eat everything in sight for all those years just to not invite me to his wedding." Teresa huffed.

"Oh, hush, Terry." Nathan said as he drove steadily along.

"Fine." Teresa glared at her husband and went silent.

"See, I told you that they weren't that bad." Chase leaned over to whisper in her ear, when shortly after his parents went back to chatting quite happily. Brianna sent him a disconcerted look and said nothing.

They drove for a long time across countryside that stretched flat, until it reached a large mountain range. Eventually they went through a town where many people waved and smiled at Teresa and Nathan. Brianna felt exposed in the whole situation and felt immensely happy when they were back out in the countryside.

Shortly after, Nathan turned into a dusty driveway. He drove up a hill, until a quaint house came into view. A two storey, pale brick house sat between what looked like a paddock of vegetables and a rather huge shed. Nathan pulled up outside, and Chase hopped out to open both his mother's door and Brianna's.

"Gad to see that my boy hasn't lost his manners." Teresa said, as she pinched her son's cheek to his mortification.

"Really, Mum?" he said in exasperation, as he went to get their bags from the back. Teresa just let out a chuckle, as she followed Nathan into the house. "Are you still okay there, Bree?" He asked, as he reached for her elbow to escort her inside.

"I'm perfectly fine, thanks." She told him when what she really wanted to say was: 'not really, but it's not as if I've been given much choice about the situation.'

Chase gestured for her to enter before him, so she did rather hesitantly. The interior showed a warmth and comfort that went beyond just a pile of bricks that people lived in. This house felt like a home. It reflected all of the things that she never had growing up.

She could feel the love of a family here, from the framed photographs of children growing up, to the accomplishment these children had made.

Award statues of all shapes and sizes lined the mantle above a huge fireplace. Ribbons from races run or newspaper articles sat framed hung on walls around the comfortable lounge room. Envy filled her, how often had she wanted a life like this. For loving parents and a place that she could call home.

"You two can take the loft." Teresa gestured up the stairs, and Chase raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about that? I remember what you were like with Janet and Joel." Chase looked at his mother suspiciously.

"Oh, for goodness sake, Chase maybe I've matured since then." Teresa said with a grin.

"It was two years ago." Chase reminded her, but Teresa just swished her hands at him.

He led Brianna upstairs, and she ran her hand along the gleaming bannister. Oh, to grow up here would have been wonderful. Chase pointed out his brother and sisters rooms, the main bathroom, and his parent's room, before heading to another set of much steeper steps. She sent him a questioning look, but he just smirked at her. She followed him up to a door that led into a surprisingly spacious room.

"If you haven't guessed yet, this was my room growing up." He told her, as he set her suitcase and his bag down.

She looked around rather curiously, but it was obvious that there wasn't a lot left from his teenage years. A frame stood on the chest of drawers and she peered at it. He held the girl Amber, from the airport in his arms, and they were both grinning happily for the camera. The envy struck her again. He was so lucky to have lived such a normal life growing up.

"I guess you figured out about Amber from what Mum said?" Chase said, as he picked up the photo frame.

"Hmmm." She answered non-committal.

"We went out the whole of our senior year. She got a bit bored with me when I spent so much of my time working on the school play. She broke up with me and I got... annoyed with her. I took her younger sister to our dance. Not the best night of my life, but Amber seems to have forgiven me." He explained before shrugging.

"You're very lucky." She told him, as she sat down on the edge of the dark green quilt on the bed.

"What about Amber?"

"No, with everything. I don't think you could possibly understand what it's like, but I've never had somewhere that I could really call my home. You belong here, and it was obvious from the moment that you walked through the door. You have parents that love you, and memories from what seems like a great childhood. Don't worry about it, I'm just babbling nonsense." She finished quietly, as she lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She felt the bed move beside her, as he lay down next to her.

"Buttercup, I didn't bring you here to shove my great childhood in your face." He said sincerely, as he went to touch her, but she rolled away from him.

"What did you bring me here for?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"I, uh, well my reasoning sounds so stupid now." He let out a sigh.

"Would you be able to give me a few minutes to freshen up, please?" she made up an excuse to have him leave, before the tears started overtaking.

He didn't understand and he probably never would. She felt him move, but hesitate at the foot of the bed.

She stayed still and said nothing more. He moved away slowly, until she heard the door close and she squeezed her eyes tight against the tears. She knew Chase didn't see it, but there was a gulf of differences between them, which only seemed to make the chance of them having a relationship even slimmer.

It wasn't his fault that he was born to wonderful parents and had a good upbringing. The problem was that he couldn't see the gap between his life and hers. She had needed to fill that gap almost desperately when she had first met Terrence. She still needed it even now, but she wasn't sure if Chase was the right man to fill it.

She stood up and determinedly and made herself calm down. She forced back the tears and dragged in a soothing breath. She tidied up her hair as best she could and straightened out her clothes, hoping that she looked presentable. She was here and she would make the best of a bad situation.

She walked downstairs to find the quiet disturbed by a television blaring happily away in an empty room. She finally heard voices and headed towards them hesitantly. She wasn't quite sure what she should be expecting, so she forced a smile and went to her doom.

"I'm such a moron; I should have known that bringing her here wouldn't help anything. What the hell do I do now, Mum?" Brianna heard Chase say. She didn't really want to hear an answer, so she decided to walk into the room, as if she had heard nothing.

"Hello, Brianna, are you feeling a bit better?" Teresa asked, as she noticed her walk into the room.

"Uh, yes, thank you." Brianna answered.

"Hey, Buttercup." Chase enthused, and Brianna noticed that his mother give him a strange look.

"Hi, Chase." She tried to smile, but was sure that she failed quite miserably.

"How are you going?" He got up off the kitchen stool that he was sitting on and approached her, as his mother continued methodically cutting up vegetables.

"Chase, I need you to go out to the garden and grab me some extra beans and carrots," Teresa pointed with her knife out to the garden, while he hesitated. "Now, Chase!" She commanded, and he scuttled away quickly to Brianna's surprise. Brianna bit her lip and fiddled with the bottom edge of her shirt once they were alone.

"Can I ask you something?" Teresa asked kindly.

"Sure." Brianna answered with a shrug.

"Look, I'm not going to bite you or anything, but how long had he been calling you Buttercup?" Teresa enquired and Brianna frowned at the question.

"I don't know, for the last few days. Why does it matter?"

"Come out here with me, and I'll tell you something about my boy."

This time Teresa put the knife down before pointing, which made Brianna breath in relief. The older woman led her outside, down past the barn, and into a forest of old trees. Brianna had no idea what was going on, but the further they went from the house the more worried she became.

"Here we go." Teresa pointed to a few pegs hammered into the ground.

"I don't understand." Brianna replied feeling even more confused.

"When our babies were born we bought each of them a dog. Will's dog, Marmalade was more of a family pet than his dog. Janet never really liked dogs; she was more of a cat girl, so her dog, Marlee became one of the best working dogs that we have ever had. Chase and Buttercup were different they were inseparable. When she died a part of him died too. They had seventeen years together, and he swore that he'd never have another pet or call anything Buttercup ever again." Teresa told her seriously.

Brianna's mouth dropped open at the meaning of what she heard. She looked again at the sticks in the ground, and realised that they had the names of each dog that Teresa had just named. She felt bad for Chase losing his pet, but it still didn't make sense why he called her that name.

"I don't know what to say." Brianna murmured.

"C'mon, let's head back, or he'll think I've murdered you or something." Teresa said with a dry laugh.

"Okay." Brianna agreed, as she followed the older woman.

"You need to know that besides Amber, you are the only other woman he's ever invited out here to meet us. Except for that woman that he met in Hawaii, you're the only one he talks about too." Teresa informed her, making Brianna a little uncomfortable.

"Um, didn't he tell you that I'm the girl that he met in Hawaii?" Brianna muttered, feeling doubly awkward, but pleased that he spoke to his Mum about her. Teresa's face lit up at her words.

"Really? You're in with a grin now, lovey," Teresa pulled her in for a hug, which Brianna wasn't sure how to respond too. "He's not what the industry he works in makes him out to be, you do know that?" Teresa asked her, as she pulled her even closer.

"I don't own a television or watch movies. I didn't know who he was until my friend Andy introduced him the other day." Brianna spoke honestly, and Teresa almost jumped into the air with joy.

"You are far more precious than I originally thought." Teresa said with a delighted little noise, as she hugged her again.

"Mum, I've got your damn vegetables. Don't disappear like that!" Chase scolded Teresa, as he stormed out the back door of the house.

Teresa just shrugged good-naturedly, and went back into the kitchen without saying another word. She sent a wink to Brianna, who found that she was truly starting to like this woman.

"What dreadful story did she tell you? I will tell you what really happened." He insisted looking towards Brianna with a panicked expression.

"Sorry, but my lips are sealed." Brianna said with a laugh.

"You don't want to test me with that kind of thing, Buttercup." He warned in a low voice.

Brianna felt her heart flutter a bit at him calling her that. Now that she knew the story behind it, she wanted to hear his reasoning about why he called her Buttercup.

"Why do you call me that?" she looked at him and he closed his eyes.

"Damn it, why did she have to tell you about that of all things." He turned away from her, and stared off into the distance.

"I was never around most foster homes for long, but I always wished, beyond my parents turning up and wanting me, that I could have a pet to keep me company. You were able to have your dog for most of your childhood, and that was fortunate. You should be thankful that she was around for such a long time." Brianna told him thoughtfully.

"I am. She was a great dog. You remind me of her and no, I'm not meaning that in a bad way. The important things, beyond her just being a furry friend. She was loyal, friendly, but cautious about meeting new people. She found the smallest things interesting, just like you do. She didn't make noise, unless she had something to say, but she was always there for me. She was a great companion." He trailed off, while still refusing to look at her.

Brianna couldn't help but feel special, even when he had compared her to a dog. She understood that his dog had been his friend for most of his young life, and it was obvious how much he had loved her. Brianna felt rather honoured by the comparison.

"Chase." She reached for his hand; surprising him and making him glance at her smiling face.

"Wait, you're not upset?" he mumbled.

"Not really."

"Bree, I just told you that I like you because you have the same traits as my dead dog," he stated, flinching at the last words. "Any other woman would be fuming right now."

"I'm not any other woman, I guess. I can understand what you mean. It's actually kind of mind blowing that you see me that way. Especially as I'm always arguing with you all the time." She told him wryly.

"If I could get you to see how different the world is that I see, from the nice, calm life that you have." He told her, as his fingers threaded through hers and he pulled her closer to him.

Brianna snorted and felt all her nice feelings drain away. He didn't see her clearly at all, or how bad her life truly was. She struggled with what to tell him, as she stood still in his embrace.

"My life is not calm. I can barely afford my mortgage, my car belongs on the scrap heap, and I work for a woman who I don't really like." She told him simply, trying to keep her anger out of her voice.

"You don't have to do any of that if you don't want to." He said in a calm and sure voice.

"Yeah, right! Do you expect me to become the next bum on the street?" she asked him not believing what he was saying.

"No, but, I'll look after you." He told her earnestly. She went stock still, having no idea how to reply to him.

"Thanks, but no. This is my life and I need to live it my way." She told him shortly.

She pulled out of his embrace and walked back towards the house. No matter how many stories his family told, or how often he reminded her that he wanted to be with her, she knew the truth. They would never be compatible, which would lead to their break up. Eventually heartbreak would come her way again in the form of Chase Montgomery, and that was the last thing she needed.

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So for all the tons of comments I get for this chapter and the way Brianna is I thought I should say something myself. If the chase is over this early in the story there would be hardly any other chapters to write :) She's not perfect but is anyone? I know I'm not. So bear with her and see how Chase wins her over in the following chapters. Thanks for reading :)