Oh Natalia. Sad. Sad.

This Jamison thing is going too damn far and they don't need a therapist to see that. That woman (who I'm guessing is Anthony's mother) was about to make me snatch her wig talking to Nat crazy. I'm on the fence about her going to this party. I want her to see Anthony, but I know the tidal wave of emotions it'll cause her amidst being in a fake engagement. I see you're going to keep slaying me with these plot twists. As usual, at the end of every chapter, I'm already in need of more.

Why is Natalia having such difficulty kicking Jamieson to the curb? Give the man his ring back and tell him that you are not now and never will be in love with him!  Natalia, Jamieson  is not together if he is lying to himself  and his family  about your relationship.  You are only hurting  him by using him. Hopefully going to the therapy will help Nat to quit being stupid and selfish and get her to tell Jamieson  that it's  over for good!  Can we get confrontation between that itch Barbara and Natalia? I would love that! !   Natalia frustrates me so much, when will she get it together? Cool beans! 

Can I say that Rita is my new favorite person because unlike everyone else trying to hold her hand and make decisions for Natalia, she was honest the kind of honesty that Natalia needs to hear. Because maybe just maybe she will begin to deal with those unresolved feelings of lost, love, and honesty within herself.

Of course Jamison's mother would want to talk about this fake engagement, of course she would want to throw an engagment party and a grande wedding. Of course she would say that she will let them make that decision, but lets be real Jamison is like his mother forceful. So I don't see that lasting too long.

So Joelle in her reply to me was talking about the wonderfulness that is Jamison. Unlike her I don't like the guy nor do I think he is prince charming in any type of way. He is so in denial that he would rather force Natalia into something knowing that their relationship isn't going anywhere, knowing that she isn't as happy as he wants to believe, and knowing that she feels guilty as it is, he uses that to get her to go to therapy? Really? Is this dude for real.

But the one thing that I am grateful for is that Natalia is seeing Jamison for who he is. She thinks he is her in away but I think he is nothing like her if he isn't willing to see that maybe he is with Natalia not because he loves her or really wants to be with her but because he sees himself in her then maybe he needs to stop be ignorantly blind and open his eyes.

So now that I know Anthony is getting his life together even though he might not be living his life like Rita would like, I hope Natalia goes to the party to see him. Because they seriously need to talk, then need to have a conversation that they haven't had. Yelling, and being emotional can't get you to the root of things when guilty in a factor pushing you to wanting to know the truth but not ready to hear it. And I love how Natalia was a little hurt that Anthony hasn't contacted her, she showed more emotion in that conversation with Rita then in the last 5 months with those surrounding her. Didn't she want a clean break from Anthony, didn't she want him to move on with his life, didn't she want him to live? Because her reaction showed me that she might be able to fake it with everyone else including her own head but her heart knows the truth. And maybe therapy will do her some good, especially if Jamison gets to hear the truth for once and have to deal with it.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

PS: Yes I will always have a shoulder for Anthony. You got me rambling about this chapter. Love it!!!

No No no...JJ....You got this all wrong!  Ugh....The whole point of me saying " just promise me..." is so that your irrefutable response would be... " absolutely Artamiss.. whatever you want Artamiss...As you wish Artamiss..."  

-_-...... but NOOOOOOO..You HAD to go and be deep and sh!t and make Jamison as inwardly dysfunctional as Natalia is...show off....Can't stand the way you make everything a perfect emotional roller coaster for me to indulge in.  Ugh. I guess I will have to suffer through the suspense like everyone else.  ;) 

PS 

give that man a woman!!! :D

You got e all messed up after reading some of the comments I am questioning Jamisons take no for an answer artiste but I honestly and truly good he's a great guy and helps her heal and they can make a truly happy life together... All I can do his hope for the best and hope Barbra trips into traffic for her conniving ass bs.

ahhh...if only love were that easy.   Poor Natalia.   Joelle, excellent complexities.   And yes, very real.

Something ain't smeeling right and fish isn't it either! More like barf and ish! Somebody is playing a bad game and is gonna get burrrrrn (boldly barfra oops my bad Barbra i...think) Jamison or how ever you say his name (smdh) if you don't want karma back tenfold I sugesst you to hop on out like a plane ticket to Florida going to see Mickey mouse and the gang. 

It finally dawn on me where I have read about Jamison... In a book titled 'Stalkers'---numerous examples of men unable to take no for an answer.

 I can't wait for her to start making wedding plans with the future milaw, while he and Barbara do the secret wink.  Barb is not happy in her marriage and does not wasn't Nat to be happy.  I know her mom had to notice the girl was not happy at the surprise dinner.

Talk about dodging a bullet!!! Whew!! I need a drink!

Jamison...if he knew ahead of time that Barbara and Natalia haven't spoken in 9 months why would he think it would be wise to listen to her advice, go ring shopping with her in tow of course, and propose when instead he should have conferred with the person he's in an actual relationship with? How would Barbara know what kind of state of mind Natalia is in? Yes, they're sisters but sisters don't know and share everything with one another, and he knew they hadn't talked and by his actions decided to not care about that small, huge detail because he's ready to make a commitment although knowing Natalia is not emotionally ready. I just want to wring his and Barbara's neck. 

I feel like them keeping their broken engagement a secret will backfire. If he can't handle her taking the ring off, sorry that's a personal problem. Natalia will be the one bombarded with wedding questions and what not, but if she wants to continue wearing it as a symbol of their commitment why not switch it to her right hand? And this may not make sense, but I feel like her continuing to wear the ring is still a lie. She's not in love with this man, is waiting to fall in love with him, but wants to remain exclusive. For her that's progress, but at the same time, the ring keeps her tethered to a promise I'm not sure if she'll be able to keep. 

The last two lines I found interesting. Will it end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy or will Natalia discover that as awesome as Jamison is, how easy it is to fall in love with him its not so easy for HER? We can convince ourselves we want something because of what we didn't have in our prior history, and we'll stick it out hoping our inner feelings will line up with what we know we need, but its not what we want. We shall see. 

Thanks for updating!

The Parent Trap, indeed. I was warming up to Jamison, I really truly was because he appeared to be so understanding of Natalia and realizing, emotional wise she's still in the infancy stage of shaking off all the hardships and losses she's experienced, but that everyday she was getting better than she was the day before. And then he had to hit her with a proposal when they just became exclusive like literally two seconds ago, in front of his family and hers, he just shoved her between a rock and a hard place. That's something you just don't spring on someone, especially someone you're not completely sure how they truly feel about you. 

I could smack Barbara because she straight up lied, but again I'm not really surprised by her shadiness since she has a weird obsession with wanting to run her sister's life. 

I can say that I'm happy Natalia did go through with the introvention and sat through a profanity laced tirade from Uncle Dale because she never really processed her divorce, her plot to seek revenge, losing the baby that wasn't there, potentially screwing up Anthony's life etc...and she was still carrying all that emotional baggage and scarring around. 

I read your author's note, but first I just want to thank you for taking the time to respond to each reviewer. I understand that it was hard for Natalia to communicate with Anthony because of all she's been through, my frustration stemmed from the fact it seemed like she wanted to brush it aside completely and not deal with it. I see myself in Natalia in that its hard for me to talk openly about things that are weighing heavily on my heart, and I get frustrated with myself at my own refusal to talk, get things off my chest.

Again, don't know where things are going, but I'm down for the ride either way. Thanks for writing and sharing your imagination with us. 

Where Barbara is aggressive, Jamison is passive aggressive.  He used her pity to get some mercy sex.  If she is willing to settle, then she should marry Smotherson...I mean Jamison.