Is this destiny?

While Sarah is in the rink with Aaron and Noah (under the watchful eye of Aiden), we are moving to the table where Jarred is sitting with Hill and White parents…

"Who is that woman?", Jarred asked when his eyes landed on the woman in her (maybe) late forties with a brown-red hair who just walked into the garden with Genie by her side.

They all turned that way and saw that JoAnna approached the woman and smiled while gesturing to join the party.

"That is Mrs. Ronin, Emma's mother.", Stella answered Jarred's question.

Stella and Elanor both perked up at the sight of Jarred whose eyes didn't move from the woman who definitely got his attention.

Stella's lips curled upward, and she added: "She is single."

Jarred shot a side-glance at Stella, but he didn't mind that last comment. The woman is very attractive and knowing that she is single can't hurt. The way she holds herself, straight back, confident walk, fluid movements… Like a queen. Something about Mrs. Ronin reminded Jarred of his wife who passed away many years ago in the same accident with Charlie's mother.

Now that he looks at her, Jarred can confirm that Mrs. Ronin is nothing like his wife, but that moment of similarity was enough to stir something inside Jarred and invoke his curiosity to find out more about her.

…

"I hope it's OK that I came here.", Mrs. Ronin told JoAnna. "I decided to see how my kids are doing and I went to the address Emma gave me, but they told me that that Emma and Charlie are here for Sarah's birthday, and that they will spend the rest of the day here, so… here I am. I am so sorry for crashing the party and I don't even have a present."

"Not a problem, Mrs. Ronin.", JoAnna assured her. "Sarah is busy right now, otherwise she would welcome you personally. But she knows that you arrived, and she asked me to show you around until she can join. Emma, Sean and Ryan are there…", JoAnna gestured to the right and then turned to one table on the left: "And Mike is… there…"

JoAnna awkwardly cleared her throat at the sight of shocked Mrs. Ronin when her gaze landed on Mike who is sitting with his arm around Tiffany's shoulders and chatting with Haru and Nala. It seems that Mike didn't tell his mother that he has a girlfriend. Well, she knows now.

…

Emma noticed her mother and how she is looking at Mike and she rolled her eyes. Didn't Mike tell their mother that he is dating Tiffany? They even live together!

Emma sighed while thinking how she told her mom that she can visit anytime, but she didn't think that it will be this weekend.

She turned to Sean: "Hide for the next twenty minutes until anesthesia wears off. Don't let mom see you with arms like that." Sean immediately went toward Allen and Julius and Emma continued talking to Ryan: "Go and warn Mike that mom is here, and I am going to greet her…", Emma was already walking in hurried steps toward their mother while glancing around, looking for Charlie. Where did he go? He was by her side a minute ago.

Emma was three steps away from her mother (and JoAnna) and she inhaled to greet her, when Jarred cut her off.

"Mrs. Ronin… I heard a lot about you from Emma. I am Jarred, Charlie's Uncle."

Mrs. Ronin's eyebrows shoot up and she quickly glanced at Jarred before responding with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Jarred, Charlie's Uncle. Please, call me Donni."

Jarred smiled, showing his white teeth. "I must tell you that I admire Emma a lot, and I am honored that we will be a family. Now that I've met you, I see from where she got her stunning looks."

Mrs. Ronin laughed and placed the back of her palm over her mouth. "You are too kind."

"Allow me to show you to the table with the best mini-falafels and veggie frittatas…" Jarred stepped to the side and gestured in the direction he came from.

"Oh, how nice of you. I didn't have lunch yet...", Mrs. Ronin responded while walking with Jarred.

Emma looked after Jarred and her mother, unsure if she should say something. Is it possible that her mom didn't see her? Well, her mom seems to be enjoying Jarred's company, and she can greet her later.

JoAnna's gaze darted between Emma and her mother few times before she asked Emma: "Are you seeing what I am seeing?"

Emma eyed JoAnna suspiciously. "What are you seeing?"

JoAnna rubbed her chin and narrowed her eyes at Jarred and Mrs. Ronin while responding: "I think that Jarred and your mom are hitting it off."

Emma frowned. "What?"

"When Jarred showed up, they ignored me completely. And you as well.", JoAnna said knowingly.

Emma was not sure what to think about this. She never saw her mother with a man, this is… unusual. And Jarred?

Meanwhile, in the rink…

Aaron landed two hits on Noah and he can't believe how hard Noah's muscles are. Is he a human? Aaron was reminded of terminator, or a Robocop… something metallic.

"You have one more free hit.", Noah grinned at Aaron.

Aaron was humiliated, but he can't back down now. Sarah is watching! He dashed toward Noah and went for a kick and just when his kick landed, he felt a punch in his gut and he was on the ground, struggling to breathe.

Sarah called the fight as Noah's win and squatted next to Aaron.

"How did I do?", Noah asked with slight panic. Why is Sarah ignoring him? If he knew that the man who is down gets Sarah's attention, he would fall after Aaron's first hit no matter how flimsy it was.

Sarah stifled a frustrated laugh. How can Noah ask for a praise when Aiden is two steps away? Doesn't he have any sense of self-preservation? She turned to Noah and gave him an approving nod. "You did good. We will talk later."

Noah's eyes lit up. His mistress will 'reward' him later. Who knows how many hits he will get? Noah hopes at least three.

Noah gave a small nod to Sarah, grabbed his t-shirt and walked out of the rink happily.

"Are you OK?", Sarah asked while helping Aaron to stand up.

Aaron was embarrassed to look at her. "You saw this coming?"

"Yup.", Sarah responded.

"Am I that useless?", Aaron asked dejectedly.

"In a fist-fight, against one of my soldiers, yes.", Sarah said honestly.

"Your soldier?" Aaron's eyes darted toward Noah in disbelief before he turned to Sarah and said seriously: "I want to train and be a soldier. Where do I start?"

Sarah shook her head in disapproval.

"I want to be of use to you as well.", Aaron declared while ignoring Aiden who was directing a death glare at Aaron.

"You are useful.", Sarah assured him. "You helped me more than once, remember? If you go and train, you might hurt your face and then you will not be able to model, and you will lose your EY contract and others as well."

"I don't care about contracts."

"Don't say that. Aaron, I have many soldiers who can fight, but you are the only one who can move across the globe and take my people with you undercover. Think of yourself like a spy."

Aaron paused and nodded in understanding.

He wanted to say something else, but Aiden pulled Sarah one step away and wrapped his arm around her shoulders protectively.

"That is enough.", Aiden warned Aaron with a growl. He already allowed them to chit-chat for more than enough and Aaron is not even trying to hide admiration in the way he looks at Sarah.

Sarah glanced at Aiden and smiled. He is hostile toward Aaron, but he is holding her gently and she knows that he didn't hit Aaron (and Noah) only because of her. She appreciates that.

"We will talk more some other time.", Sarah told Aaron. "I just hope that you don't think of yourself as below Noah. In my eyes the two of you are equal."

Aaron smiled brightly while looking after Sarah who was walking away with Aiden.

"Why are you so nice to him?", Aiden asked Sarah with a pout.

"I didn't lie. I see them as equal. Out of all the men in the world only one stands out, and I am lucky enough to be his woman."

Aiden gave Sarah a side-glance. "Since when are you such a sweet talker?"

Sarah giggled. "I learned from the best."

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