“Can she have babies? Does she have good hips?”
This was not a conversation I wanted to have with my mother. Ever. “We haven’t even been together for two months yet. Babies haven’t come up.”
“You’ve been seeing this woman for almost two months and you haven’t brought her home?” Mom gasped. “Is she ugly? Does she have warts covering her face? Why are you keeping her from us, Tonio? I know I raised you to be proud of your family, so it must be her you’re ashamed of. What’s wrong with her, Tonio?”
That did it. “Nothing. She’s perfect. I’ll see if she’s available Sunday night.”
“Good. I’ll have Rosalie set an extra plate.”
Knowing I had been outplayed, I hung up and texted Jessica to make sure she was free Sunday evening.
Then I spent the next few days dreading the upcoming family meal. By the time Sunday rolled around, I was more nervous than Jessica. My family could be overwhelming, and I didn’t want them to scare her off. Hoping I’d given her enough reason to stick it out with me despite them, I knocked on the bathroom door.
“You almost ready, Jess?”
She emerged wearing a short-sleeve mid-calf length floral dress that bunched at the waist, managing to make her look both modest and sexy as fuck. “Is this okay?” she asked, turning so I could take her all in. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a complicated French braid, and she wore a pearl necklace and matching earrings.
I suddenly wanted to give her a different type of pearl necklace.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go,” I replied, reaching for her. “Maybe we should stay home and see how fast I can get you out of that dress.”
She grabbed my hands, preventing them from snaking around her body to attack her zipper. “We’re going. I’m excited to meet your family.”
Her gaze met mine and I stared into her big brown eyes, seeing all the love and determination I’d grown accustomed to from her. Right then, I knew she was it for me. “I love you,” I blurted out. I’d known I loved her for a while now, but finally felt like we’d reached the point in our relationship where divulging that information wouldn’t make her run for the hills. This woman was everything I’d ever wanted, and she needed to know how I felt.
Besides, if my family scared her off, this could be my last chance to tell her.
Her eyes softened and started to water. “I love you, too, Antonio.”
Hearing her say the words unleashed something wild and carnal inside me. I wanted to take her right there and then. I didn’t care that we’d be late if we didn’t leave in three minutes, I wanted to claim her and make sure she knew she was mine. I kissed her lips and she opened her mouth to me, inviting me in. My hands enveloped her and roamed back to the zipper of her dress.
Laughing, she pulled away. “Think you’re slick, don’t you?”
“I know I can makeyouslick. It’s not too late to stay home and fuck like rabbits.” I waggled my eyebrows at her.
“Tempting. But I want to impress your family and make them fall in love with me, not piss them off by bailing.”
“Fine.”
Since Jessica was dressed up, we took her car. Some song came on the radio and she turned it up, singing along to the lyrics. She was slightly off-tune, and laughed as she got tongue-tied and fucked up the words, but she didn’t seem to care. Once again, I marveled at how far her confidence had come since we’d first gotten together. She’d always been this amazing, incredible, sexy woman, and I felt honored to be the man standing by her side as she was realizing it.
Just driving with her was a blast. I swear, it was like every moment together was better than the last. Although I was nervous about her meeting my family, I was also excited about taking this next step in our relationship. It felt monumentally right.
Then we pulled up in front of my parent’s house and everything went to shit.
Jessica
IDON’T KNOW what I’d been expecting when Spade opened his parents’ front door and ushered me inside, but chaos was what I found. Over the past few days, Spade had been telling me about his family to prepare me for this visit, so I knew the teenager with tears streaming down her face as she latched onto him was Rosalie.
“It’s Tio!” she cried to her brother. “He fell. Mom called nine-one-one, and Dad’s giving him CPR.”
Spade’s expression went blank. Patting her back and holding her against him, he asked, “Where are they?”
“The den.”
The two of them took off. Unsure of what to do, I followed. We hurried past the kitchen and living room down to a small sunken second living room set up like a studio apartment, complete with a bed, television, dresser, and recliner. The space was crowded with what appeared to be Spade’s entire family. A girl who had to be Abril was hugging herself and rocking back and forth on her heels beside Maria who was clutching a rosary and muttering prayers. Felipe and Miguel stood on the other side of the girls, their eyes full of worry and anguish at what they saw.
Between the legs of the siblings, I could see a body lying on the floor.
