“Why? Because I threatened to leave you and take all my money with me? Is that why?” her mother was saying to her father.

George’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe her mother had threatened her father with the same idea she suggested months ago.

“No! What are you talking about? Look, let’s go back inside and discuss this calmly.”

“I want to go home now, Antonio,” her mother insisted.

George didn’t know what to do. She was hiding behind an SUV and she was not sure for how long it would stay there. She looked over her shoulder and saw the Jordan was now talking with his parents across the street. Should she do the same? Should she step in and tell her folks, “Hey, no need to fight. Jordan and I are in love. No worries. A wedding might eventually happen.”

George was about to step out from her hiding place and announce that there was nothing to fight over and that no one was leaving anyone.

“Please stop crying,” her father’s gentle voice followed as he stepped closer to his wife. It was the first time she heard him talk to his wife that way.

“Our daughter might be right. You care about nothing but your business and your money!” Mariana Lacson said in between sobs. George grimaced. She gave her mother that idea and now she regretted it.

“That’s not true. I don’t care about your money. I don’t care if you take your share and I very much don’t care what you do with it. Just…” he seemed to struggle with the words as his wife continued to cry and George almost saw herself in him when she was having her talk with Jordan last night. “Just don’t leave me.” This time, her mother let her husband embrace her. “You know I can’t imagine myself alone without you.” There was fear in her father’s voice, something she had never heard before—something she had never witnessed before and even imagined she would.

She did not bother to step in and decided to give them more time alone.

Everything she had believed about her parent’s relationship was suddenly shattered in that short period of time. She had never seen them show love or affection toward each other in the years she had been with them. Of if they did, she was blinded by her own judgment and resentment toward her father. Were they always like that? Was she the only one who never saw it?

She entered the restaurant without being seen and asked if there was any reservation for a Lacson or Ledesma family. There was.

“There were already four people who arrived but they seemed to have left. They should be back soon,” said the man who guided her to the table.

She nodded and looked out of the glass wall that faced the street outside. She could see Jordan across the street, talking with his parents and she almost smiled, wondering how much control he must have at the moment to look that patient.

She straightened in her chair when she saw her mother walking toward her, her eyes red but dry. And she was smiling.

“Hey,” she greeted the woman. “You cried, didn’t you?”

Her mother received her kiss and they both sat down. “We had a fight. You won’t believe how it started. Your tita and I suggested that we just let you and Jordan decide on your own but your fathers were adamant that they hear what you two have to say first. I thought it was ridiculous because they would only contradict everything you might say tonight. And the disagreement started and before we knew it, your tita and I walked out the restaurant.

She feigned ignorance and asked, “So what happened next?”

Slowly, her mother smiled at her. “Of course, your father finally agreed not to push through with the wedding.” Her mother leaned closer and whispered, “It took a little bit of acting on my part.”

Now, that was the shocker for her. Her eyes widened with amusement at her mother. “You did what?”

“Well, he wouldn’t listen to gentle talking so I decided a bit of tears and drama would work.” Her mother peered at her as she leaned away to compose herself. “It worked,” she mouthed at George with a smile.

“Then where’s dad?”

“Off somewhere, smoking, probably regretting he married me,” her mother jested. “He’ll be here shortly to announce that you don’t have to push through with the wedding. Act very grateful, George.”

She did not comment and just nodded.

“Mom,” she started instead. “Have I said sorry for the way I had been acting around you and dad?”

Her mother scoffed and waved off her words with a hand. “Oh, stop that, George. It is not you to say such things.”

She smiled and leaned against her chair. Her eyes travelled to Jordan still talking to his parents across the street.

“You know, I never really believed you loved each other.”

“Who?”

“You and dad.” She turned her eyes back to her mother. “But I was wrong, right?”

Her mother was silent for a while, thinking. She took George’s hand in hers and said, “You know, your father and I did a lot of mistakes together, especially around you. We thought keeping our love for each other very private had caused a lot of effects on you, our children, especially you. We may have thought it was not important to show you all that kind of love. But George, know that your father and I love each other dearly in our own special, private way. We may not tell and show it to others, but we never lacked the words and actions toward each other. But because we were too private about it, we gave you the wrong perception of that love to the very people who should be the prime witness of it.”

George finally understood what her mother had been trying to say for years. She suddenly felt stupid for having not seen that before, or believed it.

“And don’t think your father doesn’t love all of you equally as he loves me. He does. Very much. In his own way. He knows you very well, too, George. He just sticks to calling you Georgina because he was the one who named you. And you know how stubborn he can get.” George chuckled under her breath. It was funny how she could not find amusement at her father’s character. “But don’t expect him to change. I, myself, don’t want him to change. I just wish he could show you all the kind of man he is when we are together. Maybe you will in time,” her mother added with a wink.

About a minute later, her father arrived with his ever frowning face and George was surprised that she could no longer feel the resentment she would usually have whenever she saw that expression. She had seen that many times on Jordan to really even care. She stood up to give her old man a peck on the cheek, lingering a few seconds longer than before.

She saw the surprise on his face but none of them said a word.

“How have you been?” her father asked.

“Great, actually,” she answered honestly.

“Vivienne has been looking for you.”

“I’ll come visit next weekend.”

He just nodded and pursed his lips as they waited. Growing impatient, she texted Jordan.

Get the hell inside. What are you waiting for?

She watched as he fished for his phone from his pocket and turned his head toward the restaurant. She made a signal for him to go faster with her fist. She knew her father saw that and she saw the shake of his head.

Jordan finally managed to make his parents cross the street and enter the restaurant.

George stood up to greet Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma with a kiss. They grumpily acknowledged her and sat down opposite her parents. Jordan took the seat beside her and they looked at each other helplessly. There was a long awkward silence as the four older people before them and she was not sure if the news she and Jordan had for them would be taken with enthusiasm after all that happened.

“You said you have something to say, Jordan. Say it now,” his father said with impatience, not looking at his wife.

“Why don’t we just tell them what we have decided?” George’s father said before Jordan could open his mouth.

“No, you should hear us first,” she hastily said, planting her palm flat on the table for emphasis.

Her father sighed. “You don’t have to do this anymore, Georgina. Your mother and I already talked about this. And I am sure your Tito Rolly had also reached the same decision by the look on his face.”

“No, no, we really have something to say,” she insisted.

She knew her father was getting impatient now. “We don’t have to listen to whatever you have to say.”

“No, you should,” Jordan finally spoke.

“Let us not ruin this evening further by fighting a losing battle—” Jordan’s father was saying but Jordan cut him off with his own announcement.

“George and I decided to be in a relationship.”

That completely stunned the two couples before them.

“But no wedding yet,” George added in haste.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Anton Lacson demanded angrily.

Okay, she somehow expected that kind of reaction. After all, his wife almost left him for nothing.

“We actually just decided on it last night,” Jordan admitted with a forced smile.

“If this is another game the two of you planned to—”

“We are not planning anything!” George almost hissed desperately.

It was her mother who spoke up next. “Congratulations, hija!” When she turned to the woman, she saw that her mother was welling up with tears again.

“Oh, god, these children are going to be the death of me,” she heard Jordan’s father mutter across the table.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier,” Jordan answered his father with his dry, flat tone.

George let her mother take her hand to give it a squeeze, but her eyes were on her father.

The man was just looking at her with a bit of glitter in his eyes as he let out a small chuckle while shaking his head.

She kicked Jordan under the table and he squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. “But we have something to add.”

The folks looked at them expectantly.

“We plan our own marriage when we want to, how we want to and where we want to,” Jordan said strongly.

The two fathers gave a single nod, leaned against their chairs, and called for the waiter.

“But we should still celebrate,” Jordan’s mother piped in as she stared at Mariana Lacson with a knowing smile. Their husbands grumbled but did not say a word.

While the others were busy making orders to the waiter, George let out the breath she had been holding in and patted Jordan’s back.

All went well.