She was having such a good time that she didn’t even object when Leo excused himself to make the rounds with some of the family that he hadn’t seen in a few years. His spot next to her on the couch was swiftly claimed by yet another cousin from New Jersey.
“Hi,” the woman said. “I’m Rachel. Do you mind holding her while I eat?”
Without warning, Rachel plopped an infant on Faith’s lap.
“Um…” She looked around for some place to set her Solo cup and settled on gripping it in her teeth so she could wrap both hands around the wriggly creature.
Jessie laughed. “Look at that. A natural.”
Faith tried to smile around the cup, but she didn’t take her eyes off the baby for long. The tiny human was objectively adorable in her ruffled dress, but she also felt extremely breakable, and Faith wanted to hand her back as soon as possible.
After the longest six minutes in history, Rachel finished her plate and set it aside, reclaiming her child. As soon as her hands were free, Faith took a long gulp of her drink and thanked her child-free stars.
“Sorry,” Rachel said as she adjusted the baby on her lap, “I didn’t catch your name.”
She sat up straight. “Faith, but I think you can also call me Fea?” She offered up the name she’d heard Leo’s sisters use at the fairgrounds, hoping to show how well she could fit in with his family.
What she got instead was a moment of shocked silence and then an explosion of laughter from everyone on the couches.
“Oh no!” Jessie wailed as Cecilia slowly slid down the couch and onto the floor in a human puddle.
“What?” Faith looked around in confusion. “That’s what you guys said at the fairgrounds, right? Fea?”
The word prompted another gale of laughter that left her bewildered until finally Rachel took pity on her. Wiping her streaming eyes, she gasped out, “Oh my God, blanquita. Fea means ugly.”
“What?” she shrieked, mouth stretching wide in shock.
“We couldn’t help it!” Vanessa hooted. “It was too good to pass up!”
Faith raised her hands in confusion, unsure just how offended she should be. This time Jessie was the one who stepped in.
“Fe means faith,” she said. “And with fea sounding so close…”
Faith gasped as she finally got the joke. “You absolutebitches!” she howled. Then she was struck by a horrible, hilarious realization. “That’s how I introduced myself to your grandma just now!”
That just made everyone in the room shriek some more. Cecilia in particular lay twitching on the floor, too overcome with laughter to stand.
“What did I miss?” Leo came strolling back over and wedged himself next to her on the couch.
“Your sisters”—she swung a finger over all three of them—“have been calling me ugly!”
Leo closed his eyes with a groan. “I begged you guys not to!”
“We didn’t!” Vanessa said. “She brought it up!”
Faith was doubled over with laughter now too. “I just wanted to fit in!” And somehow being the butt of the joke accomplished that.
“Good Lord, duchess. You do know how to make friends, don’t you?” Leo slid his arm along the couch behind her, and she leaned into him, still giggling. After this sisterly harassment, she deserved to cuddle up against his nice, solid chest.
Once the laughter died down, Rachel shifted the baby to her other knee and turned to Leo.
“So tell me all about your new job,” she said. “It’s all your mom talks to my mom about. ‘Leo’s off saving the world, Leo’s teaching college kids how to save the world, Leo’s moving back home to save the world some more.’” Her tone was exasperated, and Leo chuckled.
“It’s not quite that dramatic, but I did a lot of projects around the Amazon that I hope will be helpful to the people living there for years to come.” He relaxed against the arm of the couch with a drink in one hand, wrapping his other hand around Faith’s shoulder.
“So modest.” Faith smiled up at him, and he gave her hair a playful tug before continuing.
“As for the college kids, yeah, some of them were amazing volunteers.” He shrugged, sipped his drink, gave her hair another pet. “But way too many were just there to spend daddy’s money on a résumé builder. It’s part of the reason I wanted to move here and work in the community. So many worthwhile projects I can tackle locally.”
