466 The Child

Jackson cut her off. “Then let me take you to meet my family! You’re amazing—they just don’t know you yet. Once they do, they’ll definitely support us being together. That way, we won’t have to choose, and we can stay together, right?”

“What if they still don’t agree?”

“I’ll talk to them. I’m committed to you for life. They’ll have to come around, whether they agree or not!”

Emily couldn’t help but laugh. “But I don’t agree.”

Jackson felt a pang of panic. He tried to sit up to reach her hand, but his body was still confined by the plaster, immobilizing him completely, and he was forced to lie back down. “Emily, are you worried because my parents don’t like you? If I love you, their initial reservations don’t matter; they’ll come to accept it.”

“That’s part of it,” Emily admitted, “but there’s a more important reason…”

A sinking feeling came over Jackson. “…What is it?”

……

Weather forecasts are rarely reliable, but this time, it turned out to be spot on.