I shake my head, supporting Dom's denial. "I'm not pregnant, Mom."
She nods. No emotion on her face. She's either wearing a mask, or she's a robot. "We'll throw you a reception then."
Clearly that's not going to work. "No, Mom."
"Annulment," my dad demands. "If you want to marry, fine, but do it the right way. It's bad enough you've embarrassed this family by refusing to be a part of it, but now you've gone and married without anybody knowing. Do you know how that looks? Before this I could pass you off as the rebel child. The one who needs to see how difficult the world can be before she settles down. Wayward, but expected to return. Now?" He scoffs. "Now you're married to someone we've not only never met until today, but never heard of either. He could be a con man, Cecily. Haveyou thought about that? Plenty of people would love to get their hands on our money."
Dom frowns. Crosses his arms. Does he have super human self control? He must. If the situation were reversed, I'd last half a second under this level of scrutiny before I'd be telling my verbal attacker where they can stick their head.
"Lucky for you, I'm gainfully employed." Dom doesn't sound upset. He has that unruffled tone, the one he used on Saturday morning when we woke up and realized we married the night prior. "I don't want your money."
Dad directs a rigid finger at me across the table, stabbing the air with each word. "You're getting an annulment. Immediately."
I hear this voice in my head. His, but from more than a decade ago, when I was fifteen. We'd argued, and he told me I am not business-minded, like Duke, or easygoing and pliable, like Kerrigan.You are opinionated and stubborn. You make it difficult to love you.
I've tried to forget those cruel words, but I've never been successful. They weighed too much, cut too deep. They are likely the impetus for so many of my defiances.
Years later, they are the reason for this defiance, too. I refuse to be told what to do by someone who does not want the best for me, but cares only for the family image.
"Not happening," I say evenly. "I'm married and that's that."
"Cecily." It's Kerrigan, speaking between clenched teeth. "Can you please let Mom and Dad host a reception?" She looks at me imploringly.
I glare at her traitorous face. She knows this marriage was an accident. She knows we plan to get an annulment today. I told her on the phone on Saturday at the pool, sitting beside Dom, and then again last night when she called, after she knew I'd returned from Vegas. "It's just a party. Who cares?"
My dad has always thought of Kerrigan as agreeable, but that's not accurate. She is a peacekeeper, someone who flits around on the periphery of family strife, managing emotions.
Duke sighs. "Can you please choose the easy route for once in your life, Cecily?"
Growing up, this is how it always was. I make a fuss, and my siblings beg me to capitulate. They were never willing to meet my father in the proverbial boxing ring, whereas I was willing to go round after round with him. Until the day I escaped Olive Township, putting enough physical distance between us that I could breathe.
I look at my big brother. "Oh, are you siding with Dad? That's hardly headline news. It might as well be the Phoenix weather forecast. Predictable, boring, the same every day."
Dad says something else, but I can't hear. Kerrigan is speaking, then Mom sits back in her seat and disappears into whatever realm it is she retreats to when the family becomes too much for her. Duke cuts in with a scathing remark. I'd be embarrassed this is how we're acting in front of Dom, but what does it matter? We're pulling an Uno reverse on our marriage in a couple hours. No need to be on my best behavior.
Insults are flung. There are assertions, declarations, stinging snubs. It's every man for himself, and it's ugly.
And then, in the midst of the verbal rumpus, a quiet voice slices through it all.
"I have end-stage heart failure."
The words perched on my lips tumble off. My grandma sits serenely, hands folded in her lap. The voices around the table recede.
The shock brings me up short. Cuts out the noise. "What? You...what?"
There's a soft press to my lower back. A supportive hand.Dom.
"Grandma." I step around the table, crouching at her side. She smells so good, so familiar, like Red Door and cinnamon gum.
"It's ok, my girl." The corners of her lips pull into the saddest smile. "It'll all be ok."
But it won't be. It's not possible, not now. Grandma is the only person in this family who is squarely on my side. Even Kerrigan, who I know loves me, splits her loyalty. But not my grandma. She is independently wealthy, beholden to nobody, and gave no fucks before it was cool.
When she is gone, I'll be more alone than ever.
"Mom?" To my dad's credit, he sounds appropriately gobsmacked.
"End-stage sounds so final, and I suppose it is." She pats my forearm. Shouldn't it be me comforting her?
