Yule Tidings by Savannah Dawn

this girl. 
                  “No Mom, it’s no joke.  I’ve asked her to marry me,” Jason said calmly.  He knew he had to control his temper; he didn’t want to make a scene, especially in such a busy restaurant.  Houghton was a small town.  Everyone and their neighbor would know what happened if things got out of hand here.  No matter who was at fault, his mother would blame him for any stain on her reputation.
                  “But you barely know her,” Anne argued, looking at the silent girl who sat rigidly next to Jason in obvious distress.  How dare he tell her this in a public place?  He knew she wouldn’t approve of such a thing.  Alexia wasn’t good enough for Jason.  Not by half.  She was a tiny, sniveling, little mousy haired tramp.
                  “Mom, we’ve been dating over a year,” he reasoned.  I won’t let her make me angry, he thought to himself, taking a deep breath.
                  “That’s nothing,” she exclaimed, a bit more loudly than necessary.  It was fortunate that the restaurant was so busy.  Only a few people sitting at the neighboring tables could have heard her surprise.  She’d dated Franklin for three years before they became engaged, and look how that had turned out.  She couldn’t let Jason ruin his life by marrying someone that wasn’t good enough for him.  Anne knew firsthand what happened when you married someone that was your inferior. 
                  “We’ve been engaged almost six months, Mom.  We were going to wait another six months before we got married, but we’ve changed our minds.  We’re moving the date up.  We’ll be married the first week of December,” Jason said, wincing at the look on her face.  She looked outraged, anguished, surprised, and disappointed all at once.  He didn’t want to cause her so much distress, but he wasn’t going to change his plans to please her, either.  He wanted to marry Alex and nothing his mother said was going to stop him. 
                  “You’re joking,” she said slowly.  Hoping and praying that he wasn’t really telling her this.  Married in December?  How could he be so stupid?  He was still too young, too naïve.  He couldn’t possibly know what he really wanted, or what he was getting himself into.  “Marriage isn’t just a few words, Jason.  This is a serious commitment.  You can’t really mean all this.”
                  “Yes I do, Mom.  We’re getting married in December.”
                  “Why so soon?” she asked, looking from one to the other before a thought entered her mind, coiling around her like a snake.  She looked at Alex coldly, “are you trapping him?”  she accused with such malice that the girl actually seemed to wince.  “You’re lying to him, telling him he got you pregnant so you can push him into marriage.”  Anne looked at her reproachfully.
                  “What?” Alex asked, finally beginning to get angry.  She’d been patient and calm while Anne berated Jason, insisting that their engagement must be some kind of joke, but this was the last straw.  “You are the rudest individual I have ever met,” Alex said, breathing quickly.  “I can’t believe Jason could be related to someone so cruel.  How dare you?”  Alex was finally pissed.  She would never dream of trapping Jason.  They’d been engaged six months, it’s not like they didn’t plan on getting married.  When she found out she was pregnant, she recommended moving the wedding back, not wanting to be extremely far along on her wedding day.  Jason was enormously excited about the baby, and he insisted on moving the wedding up.  He didn’t want to wait until after the baby was born to get married.  She was only six weeks along.  They’d be married before she reached twelve weeks.  She told Jason it wasn’t necessary, but he wanted to