The couple hurried to inform their relatives. For Sierra, the announcement started and ended with Jacob. She preferred to give her friends the news face to face. She could almost see May smirk when she imagined the fateful moment.
On Jonas' side, his family was delighted. Sierra was the first woman the man ever brought home. The free-thinkers already adopted Sierra in their mind before seeing her in the flesh. At the same time, most began to imagine the eventuality of their relationship from the moment Jonas shared a photo of her and Leone.
Jonas had told his brothers and father his intentions as they cleaned when he introduced Sierra to them. Everyone just waited for the man to make his announcement.
Only Ulrich lifted a few objections and asked if Jonas knew what he was doing. He even played the she's-a-foreigner violin, and what if she's a gold digger trumpet. Jonas didn't take his Ulrichs' objection the wrong way. He knew all his brother tried to do was watch out for his interests.
Each Potsmann was well-off. They had shares in Jonas' company but also lucrative ventures of their own. Jonas already sat on his first few million.
Ulrich voiced the noise that would probably spring up at one point.
Jonas reminded his brothers that it was he who ran after Sierra and wished to marry her. And that if anything went wrong, he was the only responsible.
Vincent's threats had made Jonas doubt at the time. Jonas came to understand the scarred memories of Cecile were what hurt but also what reunited them. Sierra was the one, the woman he had dreamt of all his life.
His resolve convinced his siblings again he didn't leave them much choice.
After the joy rained the reality, Sierra still had to leave Sweden to tie things up in France.
Jacob told her Jonas needed to be in Sweden. Thus Sierra made another crazy decision.
The woman booked her flight to France. She would leave on Sunday, which meant they had one day left.
Jonas knew Sierra's departure was necessary. She needed to tie things up in France; it was odd to think the woman who refuted the notion of them prepared to move to Sweden.
"Do you want to play scrabble?"
"Sure."
Sierra watched Jonas set up the board. They had played together so many times, but there, it was the context, correction, their status that changed. Sierra didn't sit across from a roommate or Leones' father but her fiancé. The surreal reality made Jonas lift a brow at sierras' blush.
Though they knew each other well, both found themselves with throbbing cheeks daily. The phenomenon was more significant from the instant they clarified their feelings and status.
Their story felt as though their love rebooted at every sight, and their heart hiccupped a throb.
"Are you okay?" Jonas asked as he watched Sierra place her letters.
"Yes, I'm just thinking about Leone," Sierra said. Her stare shifted to where her son slept. Of course, Rufus remained under the sleeping child's hug, though awake.
The dogs' fidelity was beyond all bounds. Rufus abandoned his Master and old friend to only play with Leone. It was as though Jonas trained him to take care of the boy.
It relieved Sierra, who got to spend alone with Jonas. The woman stepped on the brakes of her mother her motions; thanks to the dog who alerted and even held back the wandering toddler.
Yes, Sierra now tried to block moments with the man she used to flee. Not a man of many words, Jonas demonstrated his affection through hugs and kisses. The baby steps continued and it was for the better. The couple didn't want to engage in things that would make Sierras' departure more heart tearing.
"Let's do this in Swedish," Sierra announced.
"It's funny; I remember a woman who told me she'd never need to play in Swedish not so long ago," Jonas said with a wide grin filled with pride.
"Haha, are you going to remind me of this all my life?"
"Oui, mon amour. Je te rappellerais cela pour le reste de notre vie [yes, my love. I will remind you this for the rest of our life].
Sierra noted how the man underlined the word our in his sentence. For the rest of their life, the womans' cheeks rose and reached their highest peak yet.
Being with a person just as shy as he gave Jonas a glimpse of how people perceived him, but it also comforted him. With Cecile, he was the only one struck red.
Once the moment passed, Sierra realized she wasn't the only one desiring to brush up on her language skills.
Love crossed barriers, and language was where the sharing and exchange usually began. Jonas rarely spoke French while in France. Sierra only heard a few sentences here and there.
Most times, Jonas reserved his Fench for Leone. What surprised Sierra was how easily the toddler adapted to hearing both French and English.
There the words were for her, and they were definitely worth the wait even if they were unexpected.
Sierra wondered how she managed to speak English full time. The woman admitted how effortless it was. Where there's a will, there's definitely a way. Though they experienced moments where both worried about how the other perceived their words, the two tried their best. There, they freed the smiling eyes and complicity they refused themselves.
They could now express themselves other than with words.
"Can I use a dictionary?"
"Go ahead, wait," Jonas got up and fetched one for her, "here, you can take it with you to Paris."
Sierra took the pocket dictionary and flicked through the pages.
Jonas internally banged his head against the wall as he remembered the annotations he made next to ready-made sentences.
"Ça marche, the casual yes for any occasion. Ne t'inquiète pas, the reassuring don't worry. You'll definitely need this one. Je ne suis pas ton enemie, je suis de ton côté [I'm not your enemy, I'm on your side]," Sierra read.
She would have laughed if it wasn't for the last sentence she read. From the very beginning, Jonas told her he was on her side, and Sierra refused to believe him even when he proved his words daily. Jonas' annotations triggered Sierra's memory bank, but this time she saw things from a different angle, one that allowed her to see everything the man did for her sake alone.
"It's not funny, Sierra. Communicating wasn't easy, and you didn't make things simple," Jonas hurried to say. "Sierra?"
The images made her feelings bubble, "Je t'aiㅡ," the women began without warning.
"Mama," Leone wiped his eyes. His cry interrupted Sierra.
Jonas turned his head away to mask his teary eyes while mentally clinching a fist of regret. He loved his son, but at that moment, he wished Leone had slept a minute longer to let him hear Sierra's words.
Hi,
Sorry, I was supposed to publish this on Saint Valentin, but I was so tired. I just managed to post the first chapter of Ray Was Here and SoBar love. And guess what, I forgot it.
Anyway, the chapter is here. It's a small interlude. I hope you liked it.
Thank you for reading.