*Courtney's POV*
"Are you sure they aren't going to freak out?" I ask Duncan who's driving us to my parents' house.
"Court, they'll be fine..." he reassures me. Then he mumbles, "At least I hope so..."
"Duncan! The wedding is in one month!" I exclaim. Then I think about another aspect of the situation... "Did you ask them for my hand in marriage?"
Duncan lets out a heavy sigh.
"Did you or did you not ask them for my hand?" I ask a little louder.
"Look. I tried, okay? I drove all the way to your parents' house before I proposed and when your father answered the door and saw me, he slammed the door in my face." Duncan explains. In the past, my parents didn't really approve of Duncan, but I mean it's been twelve years... Wait a minute... I come to a sudden realization.
"Shit! My parents don't even know about us, do they?" I start to remember that I never told them myself. I only told Bridgette and Heather. Maybe some people at work, too... Oh no.
"Wait, did you not tell them?" Duncan slams his foot on the brakes. He turns and looks at me with a serious expression on his face. I try to make an innocent facial expression and just kind of look away.
"Well..." I say. I rake my hand through my light brown hair. "I haven't really talked to them since I moved into my apartment."
"This'll be interesting..." Duncan sighs as he restarts the car. His hands tighten around the steering wheel as we head down the street and pull into the driveway of my parents' house. It's a nice, light brown house. It's two-stories. We both get out of the car and walk up the steps to the porch. "Maybe you should go first, Princess..."
"Yeah... That might be for the best..." I say as I go up to the door and ring the doorbell. I take a deep breath. The door opens revealing my mother.
"Courtney!" greets my mom. "It's been a long time, come in!"
"Hi, mom." I say as I step into the house. Just when I enter, my father appears behind my mom.
"Hi, Courtn-" My father stops. His eyebrows come together and the tone of his voice changes to stern. "What is Duncan doing here?"
"Well, dad, um..." I stutter. He still doesn't like Duncan. Ugh.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Barlow. It's been a long time," says Duncan, stepping forward and putting an arm around my waist while extending his other as an offer to shake my parents' hands. I let out a sigh of relief, maybe a little too soon. My mother takes shakes his hand politely, but my father refuses it.
"Mr. Nelson, are you going to explain why you're here, exactly, with my daughter?" Dad inquires, crossing his arms. I sense Duncan starting to grow angry. I squeeze Duncan's arm.
"Can we come in?" I ask. If they don't chill out about this, I'll start to blow my top and nobody wants me to blow my top...
"Yes, of course." Mom says. Dad lets out a disgruntled sigh. I lead Duncan to the living room and we take a seat on the love seat. My father sits in one of the recliners and eyes Duncan suspiciously. A few minutes after a lot of uncomfortable silence, my mother walks in with four cups of tea. "Here you go..." she says, handing everyone a cup. Duncan and I both thank her which causes her to smile a little bit.
"So, are you two going to explain why you're here together?" Dad asks, taking a sip of tea. Duncan looks over at me and I take a deep breath.
"Well," I say. I lift up my left hand to show off the sparkly diamond ring. "Duncan and I are getting married."
My father spews the tea out and my mother drops her cup. Spilled tea goes everywhere, but luckily the cup didn't shatter.
"Courtney Elizabeth Barlow!" My father shouts. "You're getting married to this, this delinquent that broke your heart on international television? Have you no sense at all anymore?"
"That was forever ago! Duncan is not a delinquent! He's gone to college! He's gotten a stable, good-paying job! He fixed my car! He bought me dinner and made me dinner before even asking me out! On top of all that, I actually asked him out! We had been dating for like three and a half months and Duncan took me out to a super romantic dinner and then proposed to me!" I yell back. Duncan looks at me in shock.
"Well, Duncan, here never asked us for our blessing to go forth with such a proposal!" Dad counters.
"Just a minute, Mr. Barlow." Duncan starts. "I drove all the way here a month ago to ask your blessing, but you slammed the door right in my face! I proposed to Courtney without your blessing because you never heard me out and I love your daughter way to much to have not given her that diamond ring!"
"Will you all just shut up already!" screams my mother. There it is. That's where all my fire and compassion came from right there. She stands up and brushes herself off. She steps towards me. "May I see your ring?" I nod and step forward. Mom takes my hand in hers and examines my engagement ring. Then, she looks towards Duncan and smiles. "This looks like quite the expensive purchase..."
"Yeah, well Mrs. Barlow, it's a actual diamond in real silver." Duncan states, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's actually really simple, but I uh thought it would fit her well..."
"I love it," I say, looking behind me at Duncan. We share a smile. "I also love him..."
"Well, sweetie, I think it's lovely. Wouldn't you agree, Bill?" she asks my dad. He looks like he's been put in a corner with no way out. He looks from Mom to me to Duncan.
"I suppose," Dad replies with a sigh of defeat. He pulls Mom aside and start whispering to her.
"I still don't like the idea of our daughter marrying that guy..."
"Bill, they obviously love each other a lot. You can't deny that."
"But, he broke her heart!"
"That was a long time ago... They were all a bunch of dumb teenagers who didn't know what to do with themselves."
"Being a teenager is barely an excuse for what he did."
"You're not being fair towards him. Remember when we were young and in love? You didn't leave me alone and we both did some stupid things..."
"Yes, I remember."
Duncan looks at me with raised eyebrows. I let out a little cough to remind them that we're still here. Did they really think that we didn't hear anything they just said?
"Duncan, listen here, son," says my dad. He stands up a little taller and comes closer to us alongside Mom. "I give you my blessing, even though it's a little late, but if you ever hurt my little girl, I will hunt you down. You hear me?"
"I hear you," answers Duncan. My father goes up to him and gives him a big hug. Duncan looks shocked, but hugs him back. Mom starts smiling and her eyes well up with tears. We all hug each other and then start talking about the wedding.
"I wanted to deliver you the invitation in person," I say, handing them one of the wedding invitations I made.
"Why that's only in a month!" my mother exclaims. "This invitation is beautiful though..."
"Yeah. I made all the invites myself," I reply.
"That's my girl." says my dad.
We end up staying for dinner, lasagna. Yum. Duncan and I practically devoured the whole lasagna dish! After a couple of hours, it was time to leave. My parents hug us both again and we say our goodbyes before we get in the car to head back home.
"I'm so glad that all worked out," says Duncan as he pulls out of the driveway and starts driving down the street. "I was a little scared there at the beginning..."
"Yeah, me too." We both laugh. Man do I love his laugh. "Now we just have to visit your parents!"
"That's for another day, but they'll probably take it better. Just think how ecstatic they'll be that I'm marrying a lawyer!" Duncan jokes. "Not to mention the irony of it all..."
"That's very true..." I add, laughing. "You were the 'bad boy' and I was the 'type A', after all..."