“And just what does that mean,boy?”My father digs his fingers into my arm, not allowing me to back away from him before this turns into a brawl. That’s when Andrew steps in between us, providing a much needed buffer.
“Guys, that’s enough.” Andrew turns so he’s facing me. My father’s face is red and the vein in his forehead is throbbing so furiously I start to worry that the old man is going to kick over right here on my mother’s pretty Persian rug. “Tony, why don’t you take off? Head over to my folks’ if you want and we’ll be there later. Okay?”
“That’s ridiculous,” my mother protests. “Why would Anthony spend Christmas day with your family rather than his own? He and Robert just need to cool off for a while. There’s no point ruining a family holiday over something so petty.”
Figuring there’s no time like the present, I push past Andrew and my father. I kiss Cara on the cheek before doing the same to my mother. “Mom, Andrew’s right. It’s time for me to be around people who will love me for who I am and that won’t happen here. Dad and Marco have both made it abundantly clear that this house is not a place where that’ll ever happen.”
I suck in one final deep breathe before pulling the pin. “Gus and Mama both know who I am and love me for it. And right now, they’re entertaining my boyfriend while I sit here and listen to this poison.”
“GET OUT!” my father yells, charging at me. “You get out of my house this minute and don’t come back until you’re past this depraved phase of yours.”
There isn’t a second to react before I’m lying on the floor, my lip bloody. The room erupts into screaming women and crying children as my brothers work to pull my father off of me. He gets in four blows before Peter is able to jerk my father to the other side of the room. As tempting as it is to charge at him, to take one blow for his five, I take Andrew’s proffered hand and allow him to hoist me off the floor. If I touch my old man, I have no doubt he’ll call the cops and I don’t want that. I just want to get out of here before I say something in front of the entire family that I can’t take back.
“Dad, that was completely uncalled for,” Cara screams. “He’s yourson, for God’s sake!”
“Cara, don’t bother. I knew when I woke up this morning that something like this would happen,” I concede, taking a damp washcloth from Amy. She rubs my arm without saying a word as I dab the blood off my face. “If I knew it’d be this bad, I would have listened to you and Andrew.”
“Youknewabout this, Caroline?” my mother screeches. “I can’t believe you allowed him to embarrass our family this way and didn’t try to stop him.”
Cara looks around the room, looking as disgusted as I feel. “Mother, it seems to me Dad is the one who did that. Tony may not have had the best timing, but I can’t blame him for setting Aaron straight. You preach about treating people with respect and dignity, but what you really mean ispeople like you.”
“Caroline, don’t speak to your mother that way,” our father scolds. I can almost see him reaching for his belt buckle, ready to take my sister over her knee for such a display of disrespect. “Your brother chose to come in here and spout his queer propaganda—”
“Robert, that’s enough.” Andrew’s voice nearly shakes the room. “Cara, Tony, if you want to sit here and have it out with your family, that’s on you. As for me, I’ll be out in the car for the next five minutes. After that, you’ll have to catch a cab.”
We watch him stalk to the door, coats tumbling to the floor as he yanks his off the hook. Cara grips my hand tightly, pulling me to follow. With the adrenaline already starting to flee my body, I’m left dazed and in pain, both physical and emotional. I pat each of my nieces and nephews on the head on the way out, scared that this will be the last time I see them.
“Don’t bother coming back until your head is out of your ass,” my father warns as I open the front door.
I turn to face him, fire one final salvo in his direction. “Today is the first day I’ve done the right thing. I’m not about to cave to your threats simply because I’m in love with a man instead of a woman. So, I guess you’d better take a good look while you can because Iwon’tbe back.”
With great flair, I turn to make my exit, slamming the door on whatever my father’s sputtering inside.
“You don’t do anything halfway, do you Bobo?” Cara laughs as she rests her hand in the crook of my arm. I’m fairly certain she’s going to be collateral damage in my little battle, but I don’t think she’s as worried about it as I am. Of course, she has the security of a sane family to fall back on.
“Nah, if they want to disown me, there’s no sense in me keeping from saying what’s on my mind. You know you might as well be a lesbian at this point because I’m pretty sure you’re just as guilty as me in their eyes.” I kiss my sister’s temple as we walk to the car. She didn’t have to stand by me, but I’ll owe her forever because she did.
“I could, but our love of dick is one thing you and I have in common.” If I had anything in my mouth, I’m pretty sure I would have choked. Never in my life have I heard Cara say anything remotely vulgar. So much for the debutante persona.
Chapter Sixteen
Dom
Tony wasn’t even gonethis morning when I started feeling sick to my stomach. Not flu-like sick, but that ominous feeling that something very wrong is going to happen today. And knowing what Tony was talking about yesterday, I don’t need to jump very far to the nearest logical conclusion. The stubborn ass wouldn’t listen to me when I tried telling him he shouldn’t ruin the little bit of time he has to spend with his family. And he definitely shouldn’t do it for me because we have less than a week left before we go our separate ways.
“Dominic, something is wrong today,” Nona notes, sitting down beside me on the worn sofa. Gus and Mama could afford to replace it, but I’m glad they haven’t. Everything in their home is a sort of time capsule to the life they’ve worked decades to build. The eldest member of the Rossi family neverasksif something is wrong because she always knows. I didn’t believe Andrew at first when he told me that there’s no point in trying to avoid telling Nona because she’ll press until she gets the answers she wants. “You seem out of sorts. Did something happen last night after we left?”
Hell yes, something happened. It’s called a night filled with mind-blowing sex and the comfort of a man I could see myself falling in love with. We connected in a way that I’m not sure I ever have in my life, not even with Brandon, and I’m scared out of my mind right now.Okay, not the type of thoughts you share with your adoptive grandmother.
“No, nothing bad happened last night.”There, hopefully that’s close enough to the truth for Nona.
“Then why is your brow knit so tightly?” she asks, tracing a frail finger along the deep ridges of my forehead. Her hand drops to my lap as she silently wills me to open up to her
There’s nothing saying that I have to share my concerns, but holding things close to my chest hasn’t turned out well for me so far. Plus, the entire family rallied around me last night, reminding me that they really do see me as one of their own, even if I wasn’t born to them.
“I’m worried about Tony,” I admit. I stare at the dregs in the bottom of my coffee mug, wondering how his day with the family is going, feeling foolish that I’m upset because Tony never responded to my text message. My insecurity is going to get the best of me if I keep thinking like this. “He was talking—”
The front door slamming cuts me off. Nona and I both turn to see Andrew storming straight into the kitchen, oblivious to the fact that we’re there. I quickly excuse myself, knowing this is going to be really, really bad. Not once in all the time we’ve known one another have I see Andrew this furious; not even the night he tracked me down in Rhode Island, so that’s saying something.
