The one thing that shattered their happiness was when they told her father the next day that they had gotten engaged; he had been furious. To his way of thinking, she was wasting her life on a womanizing pop star, that would get rid of her as soon as he got bored.
When AJ had tried to explain that he loved Jessica and that he would never do anything to hurt her, her father had not wanted to listen & ordered them both to leave. Jessica had been allowed to take as much as her car would hold, then told that she was never welcome back in the house.
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When they got back to the hotel, Jessica went directly to the bathroom, locking the door behind her, hiding her tears from AJ.
While she was in the shower, AJ called Denise, his mom. She was very happy that he had found a woman to make him truly happy. She was excited to know that they were also on their way back to Orlando, so she could finally meet this wonderful woman. “So, last night was the last show, sweetie?”
“Yeah, mom. We’re heading to Orlando tomorrow morning.”
“That’s great. I can’t wait to meet her!”
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Two weeks later, AJ came into the kitchen with a letter for Jessica. “This came for you, Jessie,” he said as she took the small envelope from him.
She turned it over & found the return address on the back. Denise saw the confused look on her face. “What is it, Jessie? Is there something wrong?”
“No, Mom,” she said, then looked up at AJ. “It’s from my dad.”
“You want me to open it?”
“No, call it morbid curiosity, or a need to feel humiliated,” she said sarcastically, as she opened the envelope & read the note enclosed. After reading the note, she looked up at AJ & Denise, “He forgives me & hopes that everything works out. But he’s sorry that he can’t be here, because of a ‘prior obligation’. Yeah, right,” she said acidly, as she wadded the piece of paper up, throwing it into the trash on her way out of the kitchen.
AJ started to follow her, but was stopped as his mother grabbed his arm. “Alex, I think you better leave her alone right now. She’s under a lot of stress, sweetie. We’ve had to do a lot in a very short amount of time.”
At dawn on New Year’s Day, Alex & Jessica were married in a small private ceremony at Howie’s Florida beach-house. Since her cousin David couldn’t get to Florida on short notice, Jessie asked Kevin to give her away; Howie & Kat stood as Best Man & Maid of Honor.
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Somehow, even with all the careful arrangements, a picture of their kiss at the end of the ceremony appeared in the Society/Gossip section of the paper. The caption read: ‘Backstreet bad-Boy AJ McLean weds secret sweetheart in private ceremony two months before European leg of BSB tour.’
