Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 513: Boundaries

Mari couldn’t stop staring at her engagement ring as Jax drove the car home.

“I still can’t believe I’m engaged to you for real,” she said after a long moment.

Jax smiled. “I thought I couldn’t wait to engage you, and now that I have engaged you, I can’t wait to get married to you.”

Mari giggled. “Me too. Why don’t we elope and get married secretly? We can do away with all that stress of planning a wedding.”

Jax chuckled. “I thought you were planning the wedding already with Emily and Dawn?”

Mari grinned. “We can just convert the plans to either Emily’s or Dawn’s wedding. It doesn’t have to be mine.”

Jax laughed. “I’m sure your parents would want to see you walk down the aisle.”

Mari rolled her eyes. “They don’t care about that. They didn’t have a normal wedding themselves, so why should they expect me to? Besides, it’s my wedding, and I can choose to do anything I want.”

Jax chuckled. “Anything like eloping?”

“I could decide to have a poolside wedding and get wedded in a white bikini,” she said, then paused her lips. “I think I might actually do this. A beach wedding. I’d wear a bikini. Remind me to call Emily and Dawn tomorrow.”

Jax chuckled. “And what would I wear? A black swimming trunk with a bow tie? What about the guests?”

“A black swimming trunk with a bow tie isn’t a bad idea,” she said with a grin. “And maybe we could ask the guests to come in their birthday suits,” Mari suggested with a giggle, and Jax laughed out loud.

“You’re so crazy.”

“Says the one who made all of that painting just to propose to me.”

Jax smiled. “That’s because I love you.”

Mari grinned. “And I love you too.”

“Now all I want is to get home and spend the rest of the night with you. We will sleep in. No one is leaving the bed until you have to go to work on Tuesday.”

Mari giggled. “Aren’t we going to bathe or eat?”

“Who needs food when we can eat each other?” Jax asked, making her holler with laughter.

“Please, I need food. We need energy to keep up.”

“Alright. We can leave only to bathe. We will order in food and eat in bed,” Jax said, and she grinned.

“That sounds good to me. No distractions. Just the two of us.”

The moment they arrived at the house, they found Chad and Venita waiting for them in the living room.

Jax scowled the moment he saw them, hating that they were about to interrupt his private moment with Mari.

Mari grinned at them as she walked in and raised her ring for them to see. “Officially, you’re both going to be my brother and sister,” she said, leaving Jax to go stand between them.

Venita and Chad smiled, but exchanged a look.

“What?” Jax asked when he noticed how uncomfortable they looked.

Chad cleared his throat. “We know you’ve forgiven us and we are cool now. But we were just wondering if you still want us to leave, especially now that you…”

“Leave? Why is anyone leaving?” Mari asked before Chad could finish.

She looked at Jax. “Did you ask them to leave?”

Jax scowled, but before he could respond, Mari shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter. No one has to go anywhere. You’re family, and the house is large enough to accommodate everyone. As you all know, I’m an only child, and I’d love nothing more than a happy, full house.”

Chad and Venita looked at Jax.

Mari looked at Jax too.

“Why are you staring at me? You heard her. As long as you don’t cause any trouble, you’re welcome to stay for as long as you want,” Jax said.

Immediately, Venita embraced Mari, weeping profusely.

“Thank you so much, Mari. I was afraid you’d want us out now that you would be getting married to Jax.”

Mari patted her back. “We’ve been over this already,” she pulled back to look into Venita’s face. “I’m not here to tear your family apart, Venita. I love Jax, and I love his family as well. I know we may have started on the wrong foot, but I’m not all that bad. I may not be as wonderful as you believed Diva was, but I’m also great too, I promise. All I ask is for a chance to be your friend.”

“You’re not bad at all, and you’re a lot more wonderful than Diva,” Jax said. Displeased that she was comparing herself to Diva.

Venita nodded, “I know I never said this, but I’m sorry that Diva tried to hit you with her car. Jax told me what happened.”

Mari sighed. “It’s fine. Let’s not dwell on any of that,” Mari said, then smiled as she looked at each of them, “How about we celebrate?”

“What are we celebrating?” Jax asked with a raised brow.

He had expected that they would go upstairs and spend the night having their private celebrations, not doing this.

“We are celebrating my first step into officially becoming a member of this family. And we are celebrating the unity of this family as well as my friendship with Venita,” Mari said, linking her arm with Venita’s.

Venita smiled. “Sounds like a great idea.”

“You guys can set the mood for the all-night party while Venita and I will handle the refreshments,” Mari said as she pulled Venita with her.

“Shouldn’t we both at least get out of our clothes first,” Jax called after her.

Mari stopped and looked down at her dress with a giggle, “Oh. You’re right. Let’s go change our clothes.”

Jax shook his head as he picked up the bag she had packed, and together they headed upstairs.

“Why did you suddenly decide to have a party? I thought we were going to have the rest of the night to ourselves?” Jax asked as they walked up the stairs.

Before Mari could respond, her phone rang.

Her brows pulled together as she wondered why Emily was calling her so late when it was past midnight.

“Em is calling,” she told Jax before receiving the call.

Jax grunted.

“Is everything okay? Did something happen?” she asked immediately.

“Sorry. I hope I didn’t wake you up or interrupt your celebratory coitus?” Emily teased.

Mari laughed as she walked into the bedroom with Jax. “Was that your plan?”

Emily sighed. “Nah. I was just worried about Jamal.”

Mari frowned. “Why? Did something happen?” She asked as she turned and signalled to Jax to unzip her dress.

“It’s about Jamal and Dawn. This might take a while. Can you talk right now?”

Mari rolled her eyes as she stepped out of her dress. “You know, as long as it involves Jamal, I’ll talk if it’s important. What’s going on?”

Jax raised a brow when he noticed that the conversation might take more time than he thought.

“This might take a while. Emily says it’s about Jamal,” she explained.

Jax shook his head, wondering why their conversation couldn’t wait until morning.

He had suggested she change her clothes because he had been hoping to have a moment alone with her in the room before they spent the time with his siblings, and now she was spending the time with Emily on the phone.

“Go on,” Mari urged Emily as she opened her bag and took out a short and top.

“I will ask Chad and Venita to forget about the party and go to bed,” Jax muttered as he headed for the door after changing his clothes.

“Don’t do that,” Mari called after him, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Jax paused at the door. “You said the call might take some time.”

Sensing that Jax was upset, she paused and looked at him. “Wait,” she said, raising a finger to stop him from leaving.

“Em, is Jamal or Dawn in danger?” Mari asked, still looking at Jax.

“No. It’s just…”

“Great. Then morning will not be too late to talk about it, right? Let’s talk in the morning. I love you. I need to give my fiancé my attention,” she said, wiggling her brows at Jax.

He smiled reluctantly.

“Sure. Have fun,” Emily said before hanging up.

Mari threw the phone down and went to join Jax by the door. “You were upset. Why?”

Jax exhaled. “The only thing I’ve wanted all evening is to spend some time with you. We were surrounded by so many people at the party, and I was hoping to come home to be alone with you. Now you are planning a party with Venita and Chad…”

“Only because I noticed they still feel uncomfortable, and I want them to relax around me. Around us. I want all three of you to relax and be united. And I want to win their hearts too,” Mari explained.

Jax nodded. “I suggested we come change our clothes so I can have a moment alone with you, but you were busy on your phone with Emily. At past midnight.”

Mari frowned. “Emily is my best friend.”

“And I respect that, Mari. You know I’m very cool with your friends. But even great friendships should have healthy boundaries too. If it were a matter of life and death, I would understand her calling so late in the night. Maybe if you were alone and this wasn’t our engagement night, I wouldn’t feel bad either. But you both literally spent the whole time at the party chatting. I also deserve a moment of your time.”

Mari sighed deeply, then nodded slowly. “I understand. But don’t blame Emily for it. I often call her this late in the night as well. We’ve both been single for a long time, and we are used to talking to each other at any time of the day or night. However, now that we are both in relationships, I understand that we need to establish boundaries.”

Jax nodded. “I understand.”

“If you do, now smile for mummy,” Mari said, poking his side.

Jax chuckled.

“Want a quickie before we go downstairs?” She asked, winking at him.

“You bet I do,” he said, pulling her close and kissing her deeply.