Confrontation Ch. 08

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONAS!" The house erupted in cheers as Jonas grinned from ear to ear at his friends and family. His birthday was awesome. Mitch had set up everything on the ranch with help from the ranch hands, Rhea, Lynn and Ronald, once they were through, they had turned the dull ranch to a colourful garden, Mitch had even let some of the kids go on horse rides, but best of all, he woke up with both of his parents by his side.

The large cake Lynn and Rhea had baked was set on the table with five lit candles sticking out of it.

"Make a wish Jonas." Mitch urged.

Jonas stared at the cake, thinking of the many ways he could devour it, he looked up at Rhea and then Mitch then shook his head, "Nah, I already got my wish."

There was a chorus of "awww." That caused Jonas to blush and Rhea and Mitch to ☺ at each other.

"I'm sure you can think of something else you want." Cody, his closest friend at school pitched in.

Jonas thought long and hard, with a shrug he closed his eyes and blew out the candles, everyone cheered loudly.

"Can I open my presents now?" He asked once the cheering died down, there was laughter at that question

Rhea ruffled his curls, "Patience little one."

"I'm five mama, stop calling me little."

"Yes, he's a big boy now." Ronald said.

"You'll always be my little boy no matter how old you are." Rhea said, she leaned closer and kissed his cheek.

"Okay, okay, break it up fellas, the burgers ain't gonna eat themselves." Mitch said. There was a roar of agreement as the crowd dispersed to the next activity.

Rhea watched with a satisfied smile as everyone chatted and ran around the backyard, this was by far the best birthday party Jonas had ever had and she could see that by the laughter in his eyes and how happy he was, he loved this place, he loved the people and he loved his father. Starting a relationship with Mitch was by far the best decision she had made in years, thinking about it now, maybe she shouldn't have run away five years ago, maybe she should've stayed, she should've told Mitch about his son and they could've worked it out, who knows, they could've been married by now, and Jonas could've had a sibling, but there was no need to think about past mistakes, she had to focus on the present, the present she had actually made good decisions.

Mitch was absolutely wonderful, she didn't know what changed him and she didn't want to know, she just loved the new and improved Mitch, yes he was still his egotistic self, but he wasn't annoying, now he would just tease her about her pancakes, since Jonas had dubbed him the greatest pancake-maker in history, he had never let her forget about it. The teasing made her laugh, she supposed having Jonas around had made their relationship much easier, she tolerated him more, he returned the favor, and he didn't seem so annoying anymore. Sure, they had had a few disagreements in the past three weeks since they began dating, but it was nothing that hadn't been solved before the entire night and they didn't have the usual shouting matches either.

The last one had been two weeks ago when he had asked her to move in, she had vehemently refused, she had grown up in that house, it was a part of her, she couldn't just up and leave. They had traded words and called each other names, but after the heated argument, she agreed to think about it, three days later, she was moving in her properties in bits. Now, she had most of her things here, they hadn't spoken about it since then, but as far as everyone was concerned, she lived with Mitchell at his house.

"Нeу mama."

Rhea turned around to see Lynn, "Нeу mama." She returned, she shared a hug with her

"Enjoying the party?"

"I should be asking that, you are my guest."

"Well, I saw you standing here, ѕσ I thought you needed company."

Rhea smiled her appreciation at her best friend, she wrapped her arm around her neck and pulled her closer like she used to do when they were much younger, Lynn smiled up at her, "Thank you Lynn, thanks for everything."

Lynn shook her head, "Thank you, if not for you, I probably wouldn't have ended up with my Ronnie."

"And he's very good for you." Rhea replied as she watched Ron and Mitch having a laugh with one of the guys that worked at the timber factory, she could bet they were telling jokes about the kids, Mitch especially had a collection of Jonas jokes he loved to tell any and everyone, she was usually the listener so she was glad he had found someone else to tell for now.

"Mitch is good for you too. I've never seen him so happy. Congratulations, you've tamed the beast."

Rhea laughed, "We both tamed each other."

Lynn couldn't agree more, yes, they had both tamed each other. It was almost unbelievable that these two hotheads could live under the same roof. When Rhea had told her she was moving in with Mitch, she had asked if there would be paramedics close by, it was good to know they hadn't killed each other the past two weeks. Maybe Jonas had something to do with that

Rhea's eyes searched the backyard and fell on Jonas and Amy, he was cleaning some icing off her cheek and saying something to her, he was probably scolding her, "Look at them, Jonas always trying to be the adult." She laughed at the doe-eyed look Amy was giving Jonas as he continued speaking ą₪∂ inspecting her chin for any trace of icing.

Lynn laughed, "I know, right? He'll soon get another baby."

Rhea gave her an odd look, but Lynn's gaze remained on the kids, there had to be a hidden message there somewhere, she knew she definitely wasn't pregnant, so that only left...she narrowed her eyes at Lynn, "Lynnette, are you pregnant?"

Lynn smiled, "Maybe" she replied in a sing-song voice.

Rhea shrieked, "Oh my goodness, that's wonderful, I'm ѕo happy for you, congratulations." She said as she hugged Lynn closer.

"Thank you, I only found out yesterday."

"How far along are you?"

"About 15 weeks, the doctor says I can come for the scan in 3 weeks time. I can't wait." She said gleefully.

"Does Ron know?"

She shook her head, "No, I want it to be a Christmas surprise, you're the first to know."

Rhea raised a mischievous brow, "Ooh, that's nice. Just make sure he's not eating when you break the news to him."

Both friends laughed heartily at that, drawing the questioning eyes of Ron and Mitch, they stared at both women who stifled their laughter before they returned to the barbecue with Mitch shaking his head like an exasperated parent.

"So, how's Jared doing?" Lynn asked once the laughter had died down, it was a question she had been meaning to ask since Rhea broke the news of her dating Mitchell, but hadn't quite come around to doing that.

Rhea shrugged, "He's doing well, he's at Boston."

Lynn's brows scrunched up, "Boston? What's he doing there? I thought his company was at Kansas."

"He handed over the one in Kansas to the Vice President, he's opening up a branch in Boston, that's where Becca is."

"Becca? Who's that?"

Rhea smiled, "His girlfriend, they were highschool sweethearts so they just picked up from where they left off."

Lynn grinned, genuinely happy for Jared, she liked him a lot and had been understandably sad when she had heard he wouldn't be dating her best friend, it was a good development if he had found someone else, he deserved it, "That's great, what does she look like?"

Rhea retrieved her phone and searched through it for a picture of Becca which Jared had e-mailed to her two weeks ago, once she found it, she handed the phone over to Lynn, "That's her."

Lynn took the phone and gave the picture an odd look, she swore the girl looked just like...., "Oh my God Rhea, she looks like you."

"I know, right? I thought the same thing when he sent the picture."

"That's great. I'm so happy for him." She said gleefully.

"He sounds very happy when he talks about her, I think he wants to marry her."

Lynn's eyes widened in disbelief, "He told you that?"

"No, not directly, just hints."

Lynn smiled, "Well, I hope we'll get wedding invites."

Rhea laughed at that, "Like Ron would let you go all the way to Boston when you're pregnant."

Lynn shrugged, "We'll work something out."

Rhea smiled, her eyes once again surveying the backyard and finding that Mitch was nowhere around, she briefly wondered where he had gone, and then saw him emerging from the house, laptop in hand, what was that for? She didn't have to wait too long to know."

"Hey, Jonas, someone wants to talk to you." Mitch announced as he set the laptop on one of the party tables, he opened it up and booted it as Jonas took Amy's hand and led her to the table in excitement.

"Who?" Jonas asked.

"Yes, who?" Rhea, who was now standing by Mitch's side, asked.

"This guy." Mitch replied, as he opened up a video link.

Jared's face popped up and there was a roar of approval from those who had gathered to see what was going on, "Hey soldier." He began, "Sorry I couldn't make it to your party, I really wanted to be there, but I've got adult stuff to do that can't be postponed. I know your mama must have made a huge cake for you, don't forget to send me some." He laughed, making Jonas smile, "Someone wants to say hi." He continued, he made a gesture to whoever was in the room with him to come closer.

A woman who looked too much like Rhea came closer and waved at the camera, "Hey, Jonas."

Jonas turned to Rhea and gave her an odd look, she shrugged in response and he returned to the screen.

Jared wrapped his arm around her neck, "This is my girlfriend, her name's Rebecca, she wanted to talk to you after I told her I had a little boy."

"That's right Jonas, Jared has told me a lot about you, and I just wanted to wish you a wonderful birthday, and many many more to come."

"Happy Birthday!" They chorused.

"I was told you didn't make the cut for the spelling bee. It's alright, you can try again next year when you're older. Oh, and I'll send your present soon, alright? Bye." He and Rebecca waved at the camera. He reached for it and turned it off.

Jonas stared at the blank screen with a smile as he thought up the type of gift Jared had in store for him, whatever it was, he just knew it would be awesome.

Rhea smiled at Mitch, he had no idea how proud she was of him, she wasn't even aware he had kept in contact with him, she liked the maturity of his actions, the old Mitch would've kept a grudge, he would never have let Jonas get a video of Jared, knowing, especially that Jonas liked Jared a lot.

She kissed his cheek, "You did good." She said sincerely.

He returned her smile, "Good enough to earn a nice treat tonight?" He grinned mischievously.

She laughed at his question, "Yes, definitely good enough for that." She stared up into his eyes and wondered if she would ever tire of looking into them, she thought not, "I love you."

His face turned serious, how he loved those words when they came from her, it did things to his senses that he knew no one else would be able to do, just her, just his Rhea, no one else, he smiled and pecked her temple, "I love you too Rhe, I love you so much." He said as he hugged her.

*****

"Heads up!"

The ball came flying across the room, and as usual, Jonas didn't fail to catch it.

He laughed as he bounced the ball, a bowl of popcorn in his other hand, "I swear Ryan, your shots are weak as hell!" He crashed on the couch next to his nine year old brother and passed him the bowl. They were having their usual movie night which entailed their parents leaving the house, most likely to 'do the nasty' like they had come to refer to their sexual acts and all the kids getting together to see a usually PG13 movie. Amy and her two siblings would come over to their house or they would go over to theirs, it was their turn to host tonight and the chosen movie was The Avengers- chosen by Jonas, Ryan, Cody- Jonas' best friend and Kyrian- Amy's little brother

"Mama said never to curse in the house." Mikayla's squeaky voice said, her green eyes glaring at her disobeying brother, the 6-year old was a mini spit-fire, just like her mother.

Jonas got off the chair and went to her, bending his 6 foot 2 inches frame to look into her eyes, his green meeting hers, he said, "No shit!"

He waited for her to do something, but as usual, Mikayla just glared at him, he could never push her hard enough to make her go violent, he thought that was what he liked most about his little sister, she was just that hard to provoke....and she never lost a stare-down.

"I never quite understood that rule..." Miya, Jonas' immediate younger sister began as she came in with the drinks and set them on the table, "...does it mean we can curse outside the house but not inside?"

"It means you shouldn't curse at all." Cody pipped in, "Yo, when's Amy gonna be here? It's like 7:00 already."

"Actually, it's 6:41." Miya corrected.

Cody's eyes cut at her, she had a thing for always correcting him, he didn't like it, especially when people were around. Her brown eyes stared into his baby blues like she was daring him to make a smart comment, he wouldn't disappoint her now, "I know that smarty-skirt, I was making a rough estimate."

"There's a huge difference between 7:00 and 6:41 pm, 19 minutes to be exact."

"Jonas, kindly tell your sister that I'm what? 6 years, older than she is." He said, putting emphasis on '6 years'

"And kindly tell your friend that..."

"Alright you two, we know you love each other, no need to ruin a good movie night with your bickering." Jonas said as he returned to his chair.

"Goodnight." Mikayla huffed, she got off the chair and made her way into her bedroom knowing the movie for the night wasn't suitable for her, she had whined and bickered but the boys had insisted they would see The Avengers arguing that they had sat through Alvin and the Chipmunks with her the week before, never mind that they were in the right, she still hated to lose.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite." Ryan shouted.

"Check on the twins on your way to your room, will you?" Miya asked. She didn't get a reply, but she knew Mikayla would do as she asked, she would check on the twins even if she wasn't told to.

"Now to get to the good stuff." Ryan said as he picked up the remote.

"Won't we wait for Amy and the others?" Jonas asked.

"By the others you mean Kyrian and Bailey? You do realise your lips won't fall off if you mention other names apart from Amy." Cody teased.

"Dickface!" Jonas mumbled.

"More like dickbrain." Miya muttered.

"I'm sorry, did you say something Miya?" Cody asked as he sat up to look at Miya, Jonas sat between them.

Miya was all set to say something when they heard the familiar sound of the car that usually brought Amy, Kyrian and Bailey driving in, "Finally!" Ryan breathed.

Jonas narrowed his eyes at him but said nothing, instead he stood up to get the door. He heard footsteps and opened up with a smile only to find Kyrian on the other side, his ☺ waned a little.

"Expecting someone else? Someone with boobs whose name starts with an A?" Kyrian teased with a smile.

"Get in twerp!"

Kyrian laughed and went into the house, Cody gave him a hi-five before he sat on a love-seat.

"Hey Jonas."

Jonas barely saw the spritely 10-year old run past him, "Hey Bailey." He replied, he looked outside to see if Amy was anywhere around.

"Close the door Romeo, I'm gonna catch a cold if it's open any longer." Cody said.

"Please catch a cold, maybe you'll finally be able to sit your ass in your house for once." Miya said.

Cody rolled his eyes at her, "Please get off my case for once, I beg you."

She scoffed and looked away, lucky for him, she didn't have a come-back for that one.

"Kyrian, where's your sister?" Jonas asked, he would go out and find her, but he didn't want to give the others any more reason to tease him, he liked Amy, so what? Cody liked Miya and no one had ever said a word about them, they just loved to pick on the big guy.

"She didn't come, she got sick of your face." Kyrian replied.

"I'd get sick of your face too if I was her." Cody supported.

"And I'm supposed to believe your skinny, 12-year old self drove all the way down here?"

Kyrian scoffed, "It's not like Amy's legal anyway, so she didn't drive either."

"Hi." The soft, feminine voice said.

Jonas turned and felt his breath catch in his throat, she always had that effect on him, "Hi." He replied quietly, he was usually a big bowl of confidence, but everytime he set eyes on those big blues and that extremely pretty face, he turned to absolute putter.

She smiled at him, it was a small shy smile, one of the many actions that made him think she liked him as much as he did her, "How are you?"

"I'm...fine, you?"

"I..."

"Shut the door already you two, you can keep staring into each other's eyes once we start the movie!" Ryan shouted.

Jonas turned to glare at him, before returning smiling eyes to Amy, "Come in." His brother was right, as much as he'd prefer to stare into Amy's eyes for the rest of the night, the others had been waiting to watch the movie for a while.

Amy stepped into the house, blessing him with another smile as she walked past him before going to join the rest of the gang.

Jonas stared at her, he sometimes found it odd that he was so self-conscious when he was around her, he was the most popular guy in school, captain of the basketball team, Class valedictorian, every girl wanted to be seen with him, yet, he couldn't see anyone else but the blue-eyed, blonde-haired beauty he had basically grown up with. To think, there was a time he saw her as his little sister, not anymore, he was starting to realise the feelings he had for her were far from brotherly, he hadn't gotten the guts to act on them just yet, and probably wouldn't get them in a while, but he would enjoy the time spent with her as 'just friends' because once she turned eighteen, Amy Fletcher would belong to him- mind, body and heart.

*So this is the end guys. I'm dedicating this chapter to all the ANONYMOUS guys who have helped with their comments throughout the story. Thanks a lot people. Ciao.* Olanna