“Yes… Again, I’m sorry.”
Seri glanced at him, seeing the regret in the man’s eyes, he smiled. “It is what it is. I know you wouldn’t have kept it from me on purpose.”
“I really wouldn’t have…” Severo swore.
Bella tsked. “Severo always did get easily distracted.”
“Mamma!” Severo whined.
“AMMA!” Skya squealed.
She chuckled at Skya mimicking him, before saying, “Well, it’s true, dear. Seri, I’m afraid you may experience this more than once. Severo, as a child…” Bella tsked again. “He’d get all excited to say something, march right into a room intending to do it, but then someone would start to talk before he could. He’d get so mad because he would forget what he wanted to say.”
Seri giggled. “He didn’t.”
“Oh, he did,”
“Okay, let’s not let this become an ‘expose all of Severo’s embarrassing moments from the past’ type of meet the parents,” Severo huffed.
“Aww, but that’s the best type of parent meetings,” Killian said with a laugh.
“You all are doing more talking than eating. Eat before things get cold,” Emiliano grumbled.
Severo’s mother rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, dear. So sorry our conversation is interrupting your meal.”
“No, no, feel free to keep talking,” the man drawled, before adding, “I’ll just eat it all myself.”
“Last time you did that you were so sick to your stomach, our children had to carry you out to the car. But, I suppose, since we are staying here, at least Cyrus and Severo won’t have far to roll you. So do as you please,” she hmphed, and took a bite of her baked potato.
Seri eyed Severo when the two continued to bicker. Trying to ask with his eyes if this was normal.
Severo shrugged and kept eating, so Seri was going to guess the answer was yes.
Suddenly a cackle silenced the room. He glanced at Skya in horror as the creepy laugh continued. She blinked, the sound cutting off. Skya giggled and clapped her hands. He turned a glare on Severo, fighting with all his might to stop the flush Seri felt spreading across his face.
“Wow, I don’t think I've ever heard an infant make that sound before,” Cyrus mused, speaking for the first time since they sat down. He was pretty sure the man had been trying to pretend he wasn’t there before this.
“I do, however, know that look Seri is giving you, Severo,” Bella stated stiffly.
Seri glanced towards her, and found her now glaring at her husband, who appeared to be trying to look smaller, if he was judging his hunched shoulders right.
“Look, just look at the trouble you caused, old man! And don’t even try to deny that this is your fault.” She pointed a finger his way. “The THINGS you taught our children over the years! I could fill a whole book about the times they’ve scared the heck out of me with the noises that came out of their mouths.”
Emiliano winced. “Aw, my sweet, must we bring up the past?”
“YES!” she growled, before a full-blown lecture spewed from her mouth, that sounded well repeated and practiced.
Severo sat down,drink in hand, beside his father. The man had Skya sitting on his knee, and he was feeding her some lemon meringue, with her going ‘mmm-num-num’ with each bite.
“So…what do you think?” he asked, eyeing Seri and his mamma as they talked across the room.
His dad chuckled. “Will what I think change anything?”
Severo looked over at him and said without hesitation, “No.”
“Then why even ask?”
He glared. “Can’t you praise me for getting a super adorable and amazing boyfriend?”
