Chapter 9

The morning after Jasper’s life-changing birthday, Rosemary decided that it would be best to tell her parents about her new life with Jasper. They drove to Rosemary’s parents’ house, and her parents were overjoyed to see her. Seeing Rosemary’s ecstatic parents made Jasper a bit gloomy. No matter how much his parents hated him, he desperately wished that he had parents to run to and tell that he was going to have a family of his own.

“Oh sweetheart,” gushed Rosemary’s mother, “how have you been?”

“I’ve been wonderful, Mum,” Rosemary replied. Her father looked criticizingly at Jasper, at his leather steampunk clothes, his top hat, his shiny shoes, his long hair.

“Who is this man?” he asked his daughter. Rosemary smiled and said, “Mum, Dad, this is the love of my life, Jasper Watts.”

Jasper tipped his hat and asked, “How d’you do?”

Rosemary’s mother was shocked.

“Wait a minute, you’re not a Watts, are you?”

“Yes ma’am, I am,” replied Jasper proudly. “I am the current owner of the Watts Mansion.”

Both Rosemary’s parents gasped.

“Oh dear God,” muttered her mother. “You’re a Watts! This is incredible! Oh Rosemary, I am so proud of you, dear.”

Rosemary smiled, and Jasper leaned close to her and whispered, “They think I have money.”

They both cracked up. Rosemary’s father still wasn’t impressed.

“I didn’t know Watts dressed like that,” he said. Jasper looked at his clothes and replied, “We dress any way we want to.”

“May we meet your parents?” asked her mother. Jasper replied, “Well, to be honest, they died when I was sixteen.”

“Oh, the poor dear,” said the mother. Jasper smiled and said, “Oh, I’m alright, especially now that I’ve got a lady in me life.”

Rosemary’s mother, who was quite fond of Jasper, said to him, “I could not be happier for my daughter. You are a very dashing man.”

“Thank you, madam,” replied Jasper, trying to sound as charming as he could. “I hope you are also pleased in me decision of asking for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

Both Rosemary’s parents gaped at him.

“What!” cried Rosemary’s mother. “Oh no! No no no! She is eighteen years old!”

“Age makes no difference in true love, ma’am,” said Jasper, trying to keep his cool. “I have already proposed to her, and she accepted. We are getting married, and no one is going to stop us. I have tried to be formal with this, but this is the seventies. Formal manners have faded away. I am marrying your beautiful daughter, and that is that.”

Rosemary smiled at Jasper, then added, “And I’m pregnant.”

Jasper and Rosemary decided that it was a fine time to head home. They walked to their car, and Jasper shook his coattails at Rosemary’s parents. Once they got in their car, they both laughed their way home.

“Ooh, they hate you!” exclaimed Rosemary.

“That’s fine. I hate them!”

Once they got home, they relaxed and watched a movie. Jasper wasn’t the least concerned about Rosemary’s parents, for he was simply too overjoyed about his new family.