“Thanks. It’s amazing what paying off the mortgage does for stress load.”
Fear shot through her. She leaned in. “Mom, please don’t mention it—remember our deal?”
Maria sighed. “Ok, honey. I’m just so grateful and it feels strange not to say something.”
“Mom!”
“Fine, my lips are sealed.” Her mom gave her a quick kiss and readied the tray of antipasto.
Alexa plucked a green olive from the tray of appetizers. “I’ll bring it out.”
“Don’t eat them all on the way. Where’s Nick?”
“Talking with Dad in the living room.”
“God help us.”
Alexa smiled and joined her husband. He reached for a black olive and popped it in his mouth. Typical, she thought. He liked black olives, she liked green. So many ways they were complete opposites. In other aspects, they were perfectly in sync.
Her niece raced down the hall. Honey blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders, and her legs and feet were bare underneath her green party dress, a rich velvet with a frothy skirt that made her seem like a fairy princess. Taylor hurled herself into her arms with a leap, and Alexa caught her with ease. She slid her around to rest on one hip. “Hey, squirt.”
“Aunt Al, I want ice cream.”
“You can have some later.”
“Okay. I want an olive.”
“Green or black?”
She made a terrible face only a toddler could master. “Green is yucky.”
Alexa rolled her eyes at her husband’s look of triumph. Nick took a fat black olive and stuck it on the end of his finger. “The child has great taste. Here you go.” He offered it up and watched her chew in delight. “Good?”
“Hmmm. Now can I have ice cream?”
Alexa laughed. “After dinner, okay? Go tell Mommy to finish dressing you.”
“Okay.” Taylor scurried off and left the adults together amidst drinking and munching and frequent bursts of laughter.
Alexa noted her husband took her advice and started drinking early. He held his Scotch and soda with tight fingers. He nodded at various conversations, but retained an air of assessing distance that caused her heart to ache. Then his gaze broke and lifted to meet hers.
Fire.
The air lit and charged around them. He raised his brow in comic wickedness and motioned toward one of the bedrooms.
She shook her head and laughed. Then spun on her heel to go find her cousins.
…
Nick watched his wife enjoy the closeness of her family. He remembered his own holidays at home. His mother drank while his father made passes at all the other attractive female guests. He remembered being able to sneak in bottles of liquor and cigarettes because nobody cared. He remembered the overstuffed turkey for show, cooked by the maid, and the Christmas presents his parents never stayed around to watch them open.
The McKenzies seemed different. Genuine warmth beat beneath all the usual chaos. Even Jim seemed to fit in again, and it must have taken years for Maria’s sister to finally forgive him. Alexa’s family may have been broken, but they had weathered the storm and now seemed even stronger.
Nick struggled to play the part of the newly married husband and not get sucked into the ruse. The tiny glow of belonging grew to a strong flare, but he snuffed it out with a decisive blow. This was not his family and he was only tolerated because he’d married Alexa. He needed to remember that. A dull ache pressed against his chest but he ignored it. Sure, they seemed to accept him, but only because they believed their marriage was real. Like all things, acceptance would end, too.
He might as well get used to the idea early.
Jim thumped him on the back and called over his brother. “Charlie, did you hear what Nick’s doing down by the waterfront?”
Uncle Charlie shook his head.
“He’s one of the few firms up for a bid to completely renovate all the buildings. We’re talking big time here.” Jim puffed up with pride. “Now I got a doctor and an architect to brag about. Not too shabby, huh?”
Uncle Charlie agreed and they threw a bunch of questions at Nick regarding his career. Inside, something shifted. He gave his answers but the strong wall around his emotions rumbled in warning. Jim spoke like he was no son-in-law, but a real son, comparing him to Lance. Maria made note of his favorite foods and pointed them out, smiling with pleasure when he almost blushed under her attention. Uncle Eddie invited him to his house to check out his new flat screen television and watch the Giants, seeming genuinely pleased to gain another male in the family.
Needing a break to get his head clear, he excused himself and walked down the hallway to find an empty bathroom. On his way, he glimpsed a bunch of giggling women packed in the small spare room. Alexa held a baby in her arms, her cousin’s he presumed, and rocked the infant back and forth with a natural feminine grace. The women spoke in hushed whispers and he caught the tail end of “great sex” when he paused in the doorway.
The mass stopped and stared at him in silence.
Nick shifted on his other foot, suddenly uncomfortable with the blatant looks of all Alexa’s cousins. “Hi. Um, just looking for an empty bathroom.”
They nodded but kept taking inventory. Finally, Alexa spoke up. “Use the one in the back bedroom, sweetheart. And shut the door, will you?”
“Sure.” He closed the door on the tail end of another giggle, then the whole group broke into hysterics. Nick shook his head and headed toward the back.
He was stopped mid-flight by the three-year-old.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” he said back. Her wide eyes were serious, and he swallowed hard, wondering if he had to make conversation with her or if it would be acceptable to just step around and move on. “Uh, I’m just looking for the bathroom.”
“I have to go potty, too,” she announced.
“Oh. Okay, why don’t you get your mommy?”
“She’s not here. Have to go bad. Come on.”
She reached out a tiny hand and he panicked. There was no way in hell he was going to take a toddler to the potty. He didn’t know what to do. What if there was a problem? He backed off a few steps and shook his head. “Uh, no, Taylor, why don’t you get Aunt Alexa to take you?”
Her face screwed up a bit. “Gotta go now. Bad.”
“Wait here.”
He turned and knocked on the door where the women were. Again, silence fell past the wooden barrier. “Who is it?”