"What do you mean?" I ask her .

"I won't allow my only daughter marry a jailbird ." She says with a straight face .

"What are you insinuating? Just because he's a "jailbird" he's not good enough? I'm a fucking jailbird too mother!" I shout .

"Cassiey calm down. Dont disrespect momma. " Beth steps in .

"You better shut the fuck up." I bite out .

"What?" Both Beth and Momma say .

"You've replaced me with her? When I'm ever going to be enough for you? I married a rich man , the way you've always wanted .

You raised me saying that you want me to marry someone who can afford to build a life with me , and where did that end up?

You took me to karate lessons, I learnt to fight and where did that end up?

You told me to stand up for myself and I did , I fucking stood up for myself and you publicly called me a disappointment.

And while I'm fighting for my freedom in court , you adopt a grown ass woman?

She's enough for you ? So why the fuck do you think that you have a right to tell me that you dont approve of my choice? I love Ace and it doesnt matter what you think." I say tearing up.

Ace drops his hand on my thigh . And squeezes my thigh in support .

"And it's this jailbird that's made you speak to me like this? "

I look at her and my eyebrows scrunch in confusion . What the fuck is up with this human?

"Leave Ace out of this . I love him and it doesnt matter what you think of him . What matters is what I think ." I say to her .

And she scoffs . She laughs and looks at me.

"Cassandra , why do you just insinuate on embarrassing yourself , why do you insist on bringing sorry excuses of men here to meet me?" She asks .

"I admit mother , Jason was a shitty choice . But Ace , Ace is amazing . And he loves me momma . He didnt care that I was a criminal , he chose to love me for me .

And you know what mother , it doesnt matter what you think .

I think you should know that I was and am not obliged to bring Ace here for you to meet . I chose to bring here because I thought it'd be right of me as you daughter to bring him here ." I say to her , and she looks at me .

"He didnt care that you're a criminal because he too is a criminal . I'm very disappointed to be your mother ." She says .

"You? disappointed? Wow . Listen here mother , honestly I'm not here for your opion .

I came here because I want to show you that I'm not like you , that I actually care . Unlike you , once someone leaves my life . I dont delete their memories the way you do .

You've said that you've failed in me but honestly you've failed yourself as a mother . You're a horrible woman and a horrible human being .

But most of all you've failed your mother . She hasn't passed anything to you because you only care about yourself and not me , your child!

And I didnt want to bring it here but you asked for it , you've failed dad too . Because he begged you , he asked you to take care of me . But you , you failed him and he'll never forgive you . You're..." I say but she interrupts me with a hard slap across my face .

She raises her hand again , but a manly hand catches the hand .

"No , you're not going to do that. Listen here woman . I have no idea what you and Cassandra are fighting about .

But I will not allow you to lay a hand on her. I don't care how old you are and what you think you are to me or her .

You will not treat her like rubbish , she's already been through enough . And honestly, all she needed was your support .

Not only as her mother , but she needed your support as woman. You should've been there for her , and you weren't.

She's giving you a second chance to be there and you're spitting on it . You dont deserve her ." Ace says. And let's go of her arm.

"And you do?" She asks , cheekily .

"No , I dont deserve her . Nobody deserves this wonderful woman . But I love her.

But that gives you no right . You leave her alone . This was a mistake . Let's go babe ." He says holding his hand out .

"Thank you for welcoming us in your home ." He ends it .

We both leave the house and begin the two hour drive home .

The entire ride home , I feel his eyes on me . Even though he's the one driving . He offered because he felt that I was not well enough .

I feel his warm hand on my thigh when we hit traffic .

"I'm sorry that she hit you . I failed to protect you . I had one job , and that was to protect you and I failed . I'm so sorry Cass." He says

"Its not your fault . And I'm sorry that I dragged you into that mess . I thought that she'd change ." I say back to him . He doesnt have to feel obliged to apologize for her behavior .

"I'll always protect you baby." He says . And I hear the conviction in his voice as he says the words .

"I love you." I say to him .

"I love you." He says back to me .

I fall asleep, and I dont even realise it . When my eyes flutter open we're still on the road .

And as I'm about to ask where we're going , he parks the car new a bar with LED lights that spell out Nelly's. Sweet music is booming through the slightly opened windows .

He shakes my leg .

"Babe , wake up . We're are here ." He says .

"Where are we?" I ask him . He smiles at me then begins to speak .

"Nelly's , this was my favourite place in Toronto. I've lived here when I bought a house for Melanie and I .

This was my place to catch some air . You might run into some of my old friends . " he says with his smile .

I nod and we both leave the car and head inside . And a little bell over the door chimes, announcing our entrance.

A few heads turn to us , including four of the bartenders.

When we're closer to the bar , one of the tenders walks closer and his smile grows big .

"Oh man . Ace it's been years man . Where have you been?" He says .

"Hey , Eric . Haven't seen you in years . I'm surprised Melanie hasn't come here to inform you too . " He says .

I look up at the both of them, and the smiles that are painting their faces, paint one on my face too .

"Oh , Eric . This is my girlfriend and soon-to-be wife , Cassandra but you can call her Cassiey ." He says , his chest puffs out as he introduces me .

"Hey Cassiey . You're now part of this family ." The grey bearded man smiles at me .

"Bring us the usually ." He says .

I'm surprised that the guy- Eric remembers since he hasn't come here in ten years . He pushes two glasses filled with a red liquid .

I sip the drink and my taste buds hum in excitement . I plunge my eyes out and he smiles .

"This is good ." I scream over the music .

"Yea ?" He says . And then kisses my cheek .

After finishing the drinks . We move to the dance floor and begin moving our waists to the beat . His hands rome my waist . As he speaks dirty in my ear .

We head back to the bar and he drinks a few bottle of water because he'd be the driver .

"Did you have fun?" He asks me .

I nod my head too fast and my head literally feels like its falling off . He chuckles.

Eric bring my order of an non- alcoholic cocktail for the road .

The entire way home, we vibe to songs booming from the radio . Yummy by Justin Bieber plays and I swear I shake my ass near his face .

When we get home we walk straight into the house and I fall onto the couch . And Ace chuckles .

"That's it baby , drop your fat ass for me to fuck ." He says .

And that's all I remember from the night . And him making love to me till the sun rose .

"Hey ." He whispers in my ear .

"Hey." I reply to him . He smiles and I feel butterflies in my tummy . The light illuminates from the curtains , and his face shines .

"You wanna smell something out of this world ?" I ask. And he nods .

I breath onto his nose and he playfully pushes me off his chest .

"Oh my God Cass , what did you eat?" He asks .

"That's your sperm jerk. " I say .

He laughs and pulls me to his chest again and holds me tight and kisses my forehead . Wow , now I'm lucky .

I put my left hand on his chest and I notice something . Something that was never there before , a diamond ring . Right on my wedding finger.

I look up at him . And he smiles . I push my body up and scrunch my face in questioning .

"What the fuck?" I ask .

"Cass , I've been waiting a whole fucking month . I've been waiting to make you my wife . I love you and you love me .

It's time. But of course if you're not ready..." He says .

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I'll marry you! " I say.

I feel tears running down my cheeks , I almost slap him for not going down his knee - almost.

I look at him and he nods . We're really doing this . For the past week , I've been hearing him giving me signs of this.

He told momma that I'm his fiance and yesterday he told Eric that I'm his soon-to-be wife . My stomach literally erupted with butterflies.

I look at his exposed chest , with the C right there . And I feel happy , as if I haven't put my mark on him , I just did because he put a ring on it .

"I love you Ace Bernett. " I say to him .