Tangled with the Professor (Bringing Home Trouble)

Chapter 9

Mark

A few days later, Isabelle and I are driving to a small town coffee shop halfway between campus and her hometown. It’s a neutral meeting place to hash things over with her parents, hopefully save the holidays, and more importantly, save her relationship with them so ours doesn’t crumble under the pressure.

Isabelle is fidgety and anxious even though I’ve assured her everything will be fine. In truth, I’m not holding my breath that anything will come from this based on how bitter Bruce and his wife acted. But Isabelle’s family is important to her and she’s important to me. I’m weak where she’s concerned and will do anything to make her happy.

Worst case scenario? Well, that would be a flipped table, broken plates, screams of anguish and lots of tears. Since I won’t let that happen, the second worst would be me having to pull my weight and lean on my often foreboding physical presence to get them out of there. I won’t have Isabelle be bullied or belittled when I’m around and I’m not above acting scary to make them leave her the fuck alone. What we have is real, and I’m going to fight for it.

We’ll try it this way first though, since that’s what Isabelle wants.

We pull into the quaint coffee shop that advertises fresh lemon pound cake and cherry tarts, but food is the last thing on either of our minds. When the car is off we both sit there for a second as I reach for her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.

“You ready for this?” I ask in a bracing tone.

She squares her shoulders, takes a deep breath, then gives me a confident nod. “Let’s go.”

It’s like she’s heading into battle and I have to work hard to squash the anger I feel at her parents for doing this to her. She felt like she’d been chased out of her own home because of me, so it was up to me to try to make that right. I just now think of a new worst case scenario. Groveling as if I did something wrong. I think Isabelle would slap me if I tried it, but I won’t leave here until things are resolved the way she wants them.

Since it’s still early for lunch time, the place is almost empty, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and pastries baking surrounding us as the young man behind the counter motions for us to sit wherever we like. We’re just pulling in our chairs when Bruce and Julia arrive, looking even more pale and stressed out than Isabelle. She’s facing away from the door, but my face must change because she swivels around, calling out a nervous greeting.

It breaks my heart how much she wants everyone to get along. I want to reach for her but know it will be adding fuel to the fire if the Knights to see me touching their daughter.

“Good morning,” I say as jovially as I can as they take a seat.

Julia answers somewhat begrudgingly while Bruce remains silent. Isabelle huffs and is about to reprimand him but thankfully a kid comes over to take our order. There’s an awkward pause since none of us really thought too much about eating or drinking, so he suggests the fresh roast of the day and cherry tarts.

That little mundane task seems to break the ice and it doesn’t go unnoticed by her parents how difficult it was, and hopefully they realize it’s thanks to their own behavior. However, we also ran out without saying goodbye, so I decide to be magnanimous and briefly apologize for that. Only that.

“Did you go all the way back to the university?” Julia asks awkwardly.

Isabelle rolls her eyes and ignores her mom’s question, diving right in. “Please. Can we talk about the lawsuit?” Her father stiffens and looks like he’s going to get up and run. Suddenly I can see where Isabelle gets a lot of her fire as they stare each other down. “Dad, can you just tell me what happened back then? I know you tried to shield us from it, but it was obviously a rough time. Just tell me what happened. I’m on your side no matter what.”

His face trembles and it all flows out like water bursting from a broken dam. “I swear I never knew they were dumping, Izzy. You know I’d never be a part of something like that. I warned them of the stuff I knew about, but there was so much they were hiding. Maybe I should have dug deeper when I suspected, but…”

“It wasn’t your responsibility to manage the corporation,” Isabelle inserted. “Just the plant.”

He nods and continues. “It just about killed me that no one believed they were throwing me under the bus and pinning all the blame on me. I could have done jail time if things had gone a different way. But the worst part was thinking you and your brother might believe I’d pollute an entire county.”

“I’d never think that,” Isabelle tells him fiercely. Julia wipes away a tear from having to relive the worst time of her life and pats her daughter’s hand.

“We know, dear.”

“And I had my pride,” her father goes on, as if he’s relieved to get it off his shoulders after all these years. “We had a good life, I was well respected, and damn it, I did my job the best I knew how. Then it was all gone.”

The family falls silent as they reminisce about the hard times and Isabelle picks at her tart. I take a long sip of my coffee and set it down, turning to Bruce and waiting until he looks me in the eyes.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I say sincerely.

He snorts bitterly. “But not sorry for your part in it.”

“Dad, stop,” Isabelle says. “Mark was just doing his job, just like you were, and he does it well, just like you do.”

“And it’s not like we never recovered,” Julia pipes up. “Sure, we had a couple bad years, but then the president of Porter Synthetics personally headhunted you to be their new plant manager and ever since then we’ve been doing great.”

“Everything worked out fine, and hanging onto these hard feelings isn’t productive,” Isabelle says, reaching tentatively for her father’s arm. She stops, resting her hand on the table instead.

My poor angel, wanting to heal this old wound. If her father keeps being stubborn I’m going to haul off and knock him in the side of the head. He’s willing to cut her off because of me and I won’t have that.

But instead of having to pop him one, his stiff posture relaxes and he reaches for Isabelle’s hand to pat it. “You’re right, honey. It was just the shock of seeing him again that brought back all that old anger and resentment. But none of it was really aimed at him. He was just an easier target than that slippery snake of a company I used to work for.” He turns to me and clears his throat, thrusting out his hand. “I’m sorry I made you feel uncomfortable. It’s not your fault you’re so damn good at your job.”

I laugh and heartily shake his hand. Isabelle looks thrilled and that’s all I wanted. Maybe now we can enjoy these fresh pastries in front of us.

But no, now Julia gets a furrowed brow and turns worried eyes to me and Isabelle. “I’m still worried that you’re one of Izzy’s professors. It might hurt her career. Aren’t you concerned about that?”

It’s aimed at her daughter, but it strikes me in the heart. “I don’t care about that as much as I care about Mark,” my beautiful, loyal girl says. “And we’re careful about it so it won’t ever be an issue.”

This clearly isn’t good enough for her mom, so I speak up. “There’s no fraternization clause at the university. Our relationship doesn’t go against any rules or guidelines, and we’ve been keeping things professional on campus. This is very new, and we haven’t come out in the open yet, but it’s very real. We feel solid with where we’re at with each other.

Isabelle nods vigorously but Julie has more concerns. She wants to know if I would have still pursued Isabelle if there was a fraternization clause. “Would you have still made a move knowing you could be putting her future at risk?”

I fall silent, because I know exactly what she’s thinking, since I’ve thought it a hundred times myself. Despite there not being anything that would jeopardize my career, there was still the chance that people would think the wrong thing about Isabelle. That she was sleeping her way to certain positions, using me to gain favor and get ahead.

My own career wasn’t my concern, and yes, I would give it up in a heartbeat now that Isabelle is mine and mine alone. But if it put her in a bad light and she ended up resenting me for it I’d never forgive myself. If it caused her to lose out on the dream she’s been working so hard for, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. It would make my whole world fall apart since Isabelle is now that world.

I’m quiet too long and before I can express these thoughts, Isabelle speaks up.

“I would have pursued him instead,” she says, her voice sure and true. She takes my hand and holds on tight, her eyes shining. “He’s the only man who’s ever made me feel this way. Like I can do anything I set my mind to, that I’m worthy of everything I want.”

Julie wipes away a tear and nods, while Bruce looks slightly uncomfortable and proud of his daughter at the same time.

“Oh, honey, that’s all we want for you,” Julie says, then smiles at me gratefully, and for the first time, with no malice in her eyes.

As Isabelle and her parents hug awkwardly across the table, I can’t tear my eyes away from her gleaming hair, her bright smile that’s so full of relief, the way her eyes catch mine and twinkle with happiness.

Not nearly as much happiness as she gives me, every second we’re together. This is the woman I’m going to marry and it’s a different kind of torture getting through the rest of the meeting.

As soon as we’re back in my house to gather up Isabelle’s things since we’ve agreed to spend the last few days before Christmas at her parent’s house, I slip into my study where I have a small wall safe.

Once it’s open, I push aside the important documents and other valuables to reach the wooden box in the back. Inside is a collection of my grandmother’s jewelry. Not much, but good pieces that she loved. I nudge aside the heavy, outdated brooches and earrings to find the sparkling diamond ring that sat proudly on her finger until she gave it to me.

“Give this to the woman who makes your heart soar, just like your grandpa made mine.”

Isabelle is hurriedly packing up her clothes when I clear my throat behind her, making her turn to me with a smile that really does lift my heart. She’s shocked when I drop to one knee and hold out the ring.

“I love you so damn much. What we have is real, but I want to make it official. I want to be with you for the rest of my life and I hope you feel the same. Marry me, Isabelle?

She claps a hand over her mouth and bursts into surprised tears, then hurries forward and pulls me up to throw her arms around my neck.

“Yes, yes, of course!”

I twirl her around and we end up in a soul searing kiss that has her melting against me. I pull away to see the pile of clothes hanging out of her suitcase and remember what we’re supposed to be doing.

“Let’s go tell your parents how happy we are,” I say, amazed at how eager I am to be part of her family now that we’ve settled things. “Maybe this will make up for the fact I haven’t gotten them a present.”

Isabelle smiles wickedly and pulls my head down for another kiss. “There’s plenty of time,” she says, her lips meeting mine.

She’s right. All the time in the world, and many more holidays to celebrate.

Together.