Behind The Proposal novel Chapter 61

She'd shut him down so quickly the night before, scared that he'd only been telling her what he thought she wanted to hear, that she'd barely given him a chance to speak. But then Gabe had shown her the video of his speech and she'd been reminded of all the things she'd missed about him. How he'd taken care of her and Jasmine, how he'd defended her and stood up for her more times than she cared to remember. How he'd loved her - because he had. She knew that now. She'd felt it last night when he looked at her. He still made her feel like the only woman in the world, like she was important, and special, and like he couldn't live without her

"... cousin Christine and John and their families are coming for Christmas this year." Mary's trill voice interrupted Sophie's thoughts.

What? Sophie blinked a few times and focused on her parents.

"Are you alright, Soph?" Kim asked, frowning at her.

"Fine," she dismissed and glared at her mum. "What did you say about Christmas?"

"There'll be an extra six for Christmas day this year," Mary instructed as if Sophie didn't have a say in it. "You'll need to get some more chairs, hopefully ones that are more comfortable than those ones you had last year -"

"No," Sophie shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. There were already eighteen people coming and she'd always been expected to do it all. Kim helped of course but her parents never did anything or brought anything. The old Sophie had done it all because she'd wanted to keep them happy. The new one... well that was different.

"What do you mean, no?" Mary scoffed. "You can't refuse our relatives coming for Christmas."

Sophie took a deep breath and stood up tall. She could do this. "Actually, I can, because I'm not having Christmas here this year," she pronounced with a confidence she didn't really feel.

"What?" All eyes were on her, even Jasmine's at the fuss that was going on.

"You never do anything to help me. Ever. You just expect me to do everything all the time. All you ever do is walk all over me. And I can't allow it anymore. If that's the way you're going to treat me, and my daughter, then I want nothing to do with you," she blurted out. It felt good to finally get that off her chest after all these years. It scared the hell out of her but it felt good. Her family could turn their backs on her after that outburst but she no longer cared because she had Jasmine.

"Excuse me?" her mother asked, disgust in her voice and in her eyes.

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