"When you love, you fight for it."
She could not help but look over at him as Tinsley let those words out, eyeing her husband with so much admiration as he bid Madison and John farewell.
Shawn was occupied texting away on his cell phone, not realizing that she was staring at him.
And when she looked back at her mother, who just walked back inside as if she could not relate to what Tinsley had said.
That would always be something she could never understand about her mother how she would not even desire anything as close to having what Tinsley and Kian had.
"We are leaving Dell...say your goodbyes."
Beth declared walking inside to grab her purse and it made him take his eyes off of his phone and look over at Della but she was already gone, following after her mother.
"I'm sorry for how the dinner unfolded..."
Tinsley apologised as the mother and daughter got ready to go.
"Why are you apologising? It is I who started it and Madison's arrival distracted it, to be honest..."
Beth said, holding Tin's hands in hers making sure that the latter understood no offence was taken.
"They were arguing even inside the car."
Kian came in and both the ladies looked over at him. They both did not expect that to be heard at all.
"Did not they make up?"
Beth asked, not understanding the circumstance at all. Everything looked fine when they left.
"It is now Madison's turn to give John the silent treatment and it was the trap she set to get back at him.
So they were arguing about it, luckily the driver had the sense to drive out."
Kian explained, shaking his head in dismissal. It was too much of drama.
"They will be fine."
Tinsley smiled. The same situation had happened over and over again and each time, the outcome was the same they would patch up and then talk about how wonderful the one was to one another.
"This is going to be their fifth right?"
Kian could not help but ask. It only made him wonder how the man who was scared to have not any more than one, John had speed run and become the father of four boys in no time and now for the fifth time...he had no words.
"She always talked about outnumbering me so."
Tinsley added. Madison always made it look like a race and a competition where she would tell the ladies how she was going to outscore all of them in the number of kids they had.
"She is one of a kind."
Beth remarked and then looked around to call Della that they were ready to go but then found out that they were the only ones there.
"Now where did she go?"
Beth questioned, getting annoyed at her untamed daughter.
"Beth...let the kids be kids...you were too harsh in the dining table tonight."
Tinsley could not help but step up, seeing it was the right time to intervene as the kids were not around. Kian nodded too.
"She needs to get her act together..."
"She will Beth...she will...but there is a time and place to make them understand.
The harsher you become, the more they become rebellious."
Tinsley tried to make her friend understand that everything was going to be fine and that her attitude towards handling Della must change.
"I stand with Tinsley here, Beth...you were too hard on the girl tonight.
You do know they are growing up and trying to find their place in the world."
Kian let out to which Beth shook her head, not taking the words of the couple seriously.
"What about Ava then? Why she can't be like her?"
"Not everyone is the same, Beth.
If Ava is good in her studies then Della must be too in some other thing and I'm sure she will find her jam too soon enough..."
Tinsley elaborated, hoping that Beth would understand. Her parents used to be like that applying so much pressure to act and behave in certain ways that she sometimes felt so trapped and seeing Della's situation, she just hoped that the young girl did not feel the same.
So intervening was necessary. Della was the same as Ava and Maples to her. Beth did not say much and just mumbled how they could keep Della if things were to go haywire.
Not like it would make any difference as she practically had spent more time in here than in her own house.
"I'm leaving...she can stay here."
Beth picked up her purse and strode forward, turning around to leave making Tinsley and Kian feel bad about how the evening turned out to be.
Meanwhile, she could not deny his request to follow him behind the living room as their parents got engaged in conversing.
She did not question him where he was going until she found themselves in the backyard.
"What are we doing here?"
She asked and it made him stop and turn around to face her, closing away the distance between them.
But she took a step back and it made him stop halfway on his track, their eyes interlocked.
"So you are still angry at me?"
He implored. She did not know what to say and what not to.
"My intentions were never to hurt you, Adella...you know that right?"
He continued and it made her part away her eyes off him. It was too much to not feel those crazy feelings take over her senses when he talked like that.
"But things...things just happen."
She could not even tell when he had gotten closer...so close that even breathing in was becoming a struggle then.
He took the opportunity of her looking away to get close to her space and then cupped her face with his warm hands, giving her goosebumps.
"Things...it just happens..."
He let out as he joined their lips together.
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