“Oh. Well, that was nice of him. ‘Tis the season, I guess.”
“Your dad’s not one to hold a grudge,” she says. I hope she’s right.
“Yeah, but he had a pretty bad day yesterday.”
“Aside from the hearing?” I just nod solemnly. “What happened?”
“I’ll fill you in later. It’s a big mess.”
“Okay.” She embraces me again. “Jackie and I will be downstairs. I can’t wait to catch up with you! It’s been too long!”
“Same here. I’ll be down in a few minutes.” I re-read Jon’s text messages and respond quickly before getting in the shower, letting him know that I miss him and love him. After I’m finished getting ready, I go downstairs where even more of my family has arrived. Everyone is eating from the catered brunch my parents provide every year. I grab a bagel and some fruit and sit down next to Maddie, Jackie, Lexi and Clara in the breakfast nook. Since Maddie and Jackie have moved away, it’s rare that we’re all together anymore. Maddie’s telling everyone about her new job in Chicago. She and Jackie had been roommates in Seattle where they both had chosen to go to college, and this week is the first time they’ve seen each other since Maddie took the job in August. They were always so close, and I’d heard that Jackie was having a hard time without her older sister nearby. She was already planning to transfer to a college in Illinois next year.
“Morning, Tessa,” my dad says when he enters the room. He puts his arm around my shoulder and kisses the top of my head.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Mom wants to know what happened to your coat.”
“Paint,” I tell him simply with a shrug. “I was going to ask her what to do last night, but you were already asleep.” It’s not entirely true, but I push out the memory of what was actually going on.
“Okay. Well, it’s not too obvious,” he says.
“Cool.”
“Do you think you could straighten up your room a little this morning? We need to set up some air mattresses in there so your cousins have a place to sleep tonight.
“Sure. I’ll do it right after breakfast.”
“Okay,” he says with a smile before leaving.
“So, what happened yesterday, Liv?” Maddie asks.
I tell her first about the horrible argument between Brandon and Dad. Maddie and Jackie’s oldest brother had apparently confessed everything to his parents last night because both of the girls knew about the young child, as well as the baby boy that was on the way. “Honestly, we’re not surprised,” Jackie says. Their brother had long been the black sheep of their family.
“How are your parents handling it?”
“Better today,” Maddie says. “Now that things are kind of out in the open. I don’t think Dad and Brandon had talked to one another in a few months, so maybe things will start getting better now. I just hope he does the right thing. Everything hinges on that.”
“Yeah,” I agree. I then tell them about my family’s Christmas celebration with my boyfriend. I’d turned the ring around on my finger so that the diamonds were hidden from my cousins, but when I get to that part of the story, I turn it around to show them.
After they gush about it–mainly about its meaning, and not the actual ring itself–I tell them how Dad completely flipped out. I try to remember the conversation between him and Jon, but everything happened so quickly, I’m sure I’m leaving out details. I do tell them they actually discussed my sex life. Lexi drops her fork, mid-bite.
“I would have died,” she says.
“Somehow, I survived,” I tell her.
“Your poor dad.”
I stare at her. “What? I haven’t done anything wrong!”
She looks at me. “No, I know. It’s just...”
“What?”
“You don’t remember what he was like with you, when you were little.” Maddie and Jackie nod in agreement. “You were his world, Livvy. You still are, I can tell. I know he feels like he’s losing his little girl. I could tell from the little interaction I just saw between you.”
“No, you couldn’t,” I argue.
“Yeah, we could,” Maddie agrees with Lexi. “He seems sad. Jacks is rarely sad.”
“Not since Emi came along. And especially not since you came along.”
“Things kind of suck between us right now,” I finally admit. “We’re just so different.”
“It’ll get better,” Maddie says. “My dad and I had a rough time, but we’re fine now.”
“I learned what not to do from her,” Jackie says as she nods to her sister. “Dad still adores me.”
“Mine, too,” Lexi says.
“Yeah, but you’re the saint in the family,” I joke with her, but the rest of my cousins nod in agreement. We all look at Clara, who’s remained silent through the entire conversation.
“I don’t talk to my dad,” she says simply.
“But what about Brian?”
“He always thought I was a hellion.” She laughs, acknowledging that her step-father was right. “But he’s accepted me from day one. It’s my mom I have trouble with.”
“Well, you’ve got my mom,” I remind her. Until Clara graduated from high school, she was very close to my mom and would come to our house all the time.
“I know. She’s awesome.”
“Yeah, she is,” I agree, still feeling remorseful about the conversation we’d had about Nate the other night. “Hey, Clara, do you remember Nate?” I ask her. I knew she did, because we used to talk about him when we were younger.
“A little,” she says with a smile. “We always did these craft days together. That’s what I remember about him.”
“Did you have fun with him?”
“Totally. He let me do anything I wanted.”
“Do you think he would have made a good father?”
She shrugs her shoulders, barely giving my question any thought. “I guess so, yeah. He was kind of a kid himself, from what I remember. He never seemed like a grown up to me.”
“Sounds like Brandon,” Maddie says as an aside. “I’m not sure that makes a good father.” She looks around pensively. “But we’ll see, I guess.”
“I hope,” Jackie adds.
“So tell us more about Jon,” Maddie suggests. After I give them a brief rundown of our relationship, they tell me that he sounds like someone my dad should like.
By mid-afternoon, all of my parents’ siblings and their families have arrived with their kids in tow, except for Brandon. I’d overheard my dad apologizing to his twin sister and her husband about his altercation with Brandon, but my aunt Kelly assures Dad that everything he’d said were things that her son needed to hear. She thanks him for being hard on him.
It’s a beautiful, cloudless day, and the guys of the family spend most of the afternoon outside playing sports or grilling in preparation for tonight’s dinner. Kelly spends most of the day cooking. She’s always been the one in the kitchen on holidays, but she loves to cook and volunteers every year. Anna and Mom’s sister, Jen, typically help her out while Mom and Steven’s wife keep watchful eyes on the younger boys who tend to roughhouse a little too much. They keep the first-aid kits nearby, and use them often.
That night, Clara and Lexi sleep in my room with me. It’s like having the devil and angel on either of my shoulders. Just as I’m starting to doze off, Lexi whispers to us, checking to see if either of us is still awake. “I’m awake,” Clara answers quickly.
“I’m up,” I respond with a yawn.
“Clara?” Lexi asks. “Can I ask you a question without you getting mad at me?”
“Of course,” my younger cousin answers.
“You’ve had sex, like, a lot, right?”
Clara laughs out loud. “Um, yeah,” she says. “Why?”
“I just have some kind of personal questions, and–”
“Out with them,” Clara encourages her, sitting up in bed. “My life is an op
en book.”
Lexi hops out of her bed and pulls the comforter off of it, moving over to Clara’s mattress. “We’re not going to keep you awake, are we?” Lexi asks me.
“Well, yeah, you are. I’ve gotta hear this.” I lean against my headboard and listen intently to the questions I wasn’t brave enough to ask, and to some answers I simply wasn’t prepared for. The last time I check my phone before we finally settle in for the night, it’s three o’clock in the morning.
CHAPTER 11
The next morning, our parents make their final trip into town before Christmas, picking up last minute items. They do this every year on Christmas Eve, leaving the kids alone to wrap their presents or finish making their gifts, which somehow became a tradition in our family many years ago. The older kids help the younger ones, but with my artistic background, I always seem to be the consultant to everyone.
Enjoying the sunshine, we set up shop in the cabana outside and the large open space around it. Before he left, my uncle Chris had made us a campfire, and we’ve all been stuffing ourselves with s’mores in between projects. This is another tradition, when the weather’s nice.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I’d been waiting to hear from Jon all morning. I had been texting him during our girl-talk last night, hinting at things we were discussing. He finally stopped responding to me when he realized I was just teasing him, and unwilling to provide answers to the slightly inappropriate questions he was throwing my way.
“Where are you?”
“At the lake house...” I respond quickly, although he knows where I am.
“Is there more than one? I’m out front, but no one’s answering the door.”
I hit the button to call him, tossing away the blanket I’d had wrapped around my shoulders. I stand up quickly, confused.
“What’s wrong?” Lexi asks.
“It’s Jon,” I answer, holding the phone to my ear. He answers on the third ring.
“You’re at my lake house?”
“I sure hope so, or else your dad’s had me taken to the middle of nowhere.” I take off running across the backyard, past the large house and around the front drive until I see Jon on the porch.
He turns around at the crunching sound of dead leaves under my heavy steps. “What are you doing here? Dad’s gonna kill you!”
“I thought that at first when no one answered the door. But now that I see you, I think his intentions were good.”
“He invited you here?”
“Yeah, just for the day. Are they not here?”
“Not right now, no. All the parents are gone. We’re out back–”
I barely get my answer out, and he’s pulling me into his arms and kissing me. “My god, Liv, you’re freezing. Your nose is so cold. I mean, your lips are, like, blue.”
“We’ve been out back all morning, working on projects and messing around.”
“It’s below freezing!”
“But it’s sunny! There’s a heater in the cabana, and a campfire.”
“Well, I’m freezing. Can we go inside for a bit and warm up?”
“Sure,” I tell him. I hold the door for him and follow him inside, shutting it quietly behind us. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I can’t believe I was even invited.”
“Do you want some cocoa?” I ask him. “I could use some.”
“Sure.”
I lead him into the kitchen and pull out a stool at the bar for him to sit on. After putting a kettle of water on the stove, I have a seat next to him. He takes my hand in his, inspecting the ring and kissing me again. “You’re still wearing it.”
“Of course I am.”
“I was worried he’d forbid it entirely.”
“He hasn’t said anything more about it.”
“I wonder why he’s had a change in heart? He was pretty adamantly opposed the other day.”
I think back to the conversation I’d overheard two nights ago. “They’re not threatened by you anymore.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.” He smiles and pushes the fur-lined hood off of my head.
“They think we’re a joke.”
“Huh?”
“They don’t think we’ll last. Mom suggested Dad just let it play out. She says it’s puppy love. Dad calmed down after that.”
“So it’s not that they’re not threatened by me, they actually don’t take me seriously at all.”
“Pretty much.”
He looks sad as he processes my answer. “Well, I’m here to prove them wrong. Are you?”
“Please don’t start anything with him today–”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m already overwhelmed by his generous invitation to bring me here today, and his promise to have me home in plenty of time to play Santa for my brothers tonight. I just mean in general. Let’s prove them both wrong.”
“I’m game.”
“I’m serious,” he tells me softly, moving in slowly and pressing his lips against mine once more.
“So am I,” I whisper back, taking a momentary break from the kiss.
“Everything okay, Liv?” Lexi asks as she barges into the back door. “Oh, sorry.” She blushes as she sees Jon and me together.
“No, it’s okay. Lexi, this is Jon. Jon, this is Steven’s daughter. She’s the one getting married in England this summer.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” she says as he approaches her to shake her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.” She looks at me curiously. “Um, what’s your dad going to say?”
“Jack invited me,” Jon says. “He sent a car and everything.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“What else did he say?” I ask him.
Maddie and Jackie push Lexi into the house, following her in. “What’s going on?”
“Sorry, Jon,” I say before he answers, getting up and preparing our hot chocolate in two separate mugs. “Why don’t I introduce you to everyone first? Or else we could have about twenty-three more interruptions. This is Maddie and Jackie. They’re Kelly and Thomas’s–Brandon’s sisters.”
“We heard you were there for the big fight.”
“I was,” he says. “I don’t want to be on Jack’s bad side.”
“Rarely does he have one,” Maddie says. “I heard it was epic.”
“Nah,” Jon says politely.
“Let’s go out back,” I encourage him, handing him his drink, and then his gloves that he just took off. He nods and follows all of us outside. My cousins look up to inspect the stranger.
“Jon!” Trey yells from across the yard. He’s got an assembled wooden car in his hand. “Look what I did!” He waves it wildly over his head.
“That’s great,” Jon says with a smile. “All by yourself?”
“Dad helped, but almost all by myself.”
“Is it fast?” my boyfriend asks.
“So fast!” My brother kneels down and tries to push the car through the grass. It stops after a few inches.
“We’ll try that on the driveway later, how’s that?” Jon asks.
“Okay,” Trey says. Jon pats him on the head as we walk by him.
“Ready?” I ask him.
“Alright.”
“Everyone? This is Jon.”
“Hey, Jon,” a few of my cousins answer.
“Okay... so, that’s Clara, Eli, Daniel, Stevie, and Andrew. You’ve met the rest.”
“We missed you,” Andrew says, his tone mocking. I realize quickly he’s referring to yesterday morning’s text message.
“Ignore him,” I tell Jon as Andrew laughs and waves at my boyfriend politely. “He’s your age, by the way, but you’d never figure that out by his behavior.”
“Hey!” my cousin argues with me. I wink at him to make sure he knows I’m kidding.
“Whose son is Andrew?” Jon whispers in my ear. “He looks like a younger version of your Dad.”
“Kelly’s. She’s my dad’s twin sister.”
“W
ow. The resemblance is uncanny.”
“I know.”
“And Clara was your mom’s sister’s, right?”
“Right.”
“The hair’s a dead giveaway. She and Trey could be sister and brother.”
“And I look like no one,” I say sarcastically.
“You look kind of like me,” Lexi says, joking with me.
“Right.” She and I look nothing alike, but had always bonded over our adoption into the Holland family. “Lexi’s not blood-related, either,” I tell Jon.
“But we still love you both,” Maddie says as she throws her arm around our shoulders.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Jon says. “I hope you don’t mind me crashing the family gathering. You’re making s’mores?” he says as he sits down in one of the empty chairs. “Mind if I have one?”
“Be my guest,” Clara says as she nudges his shoulder and hands him a stick and the bag of marshmallows. She wastes no time turning on the charm. I know she’s harmless around my boyfriend, though. He doesn’t even look twice at her.
“Would you like one, too, Olivia?”
“Sure!” He pats his thigh, suggesting I take a seat in his lap, which I gladly do. He puts two marshmallows on the end of the stick, and hands it to me to hold over the fire.
“I like mine burned.”
“Me, too.” He puts his arms around my waist and pulls me closer to his body, holding on tight. After lighting our snacks on fire, I pull them to my lips to blow out the flame.
“So tell me what my dad said to you. When did he invite you?”
“I got a call early yesterday morning. He just apologized for our Christmas celebration being cut short, and said that he’d like me to come out for the day. He said it would mean a lot to you.”
“It does,” I tell him with a smile.
“Your dad’s not so bad,” he says softly. I nod as I put the marshmallows back on the fire.
“So why does your boyfriend get to come, and mine can’t?” Clara asks.
“We couldn’t accommodate them all,” Andrew answers her. We all laugh a little as she throws a graham cracker at our cousin.
“It’s my house,” I tell them.
“Kyle was invited,” Lexi speaks softly with a shy smile. “He was celebrating with his family, though.”