She was about to comment that - given half a chance she'd more than happily tell the man herself. Along with several
other things she'd like to say. And then Hector mentioned her family and she got that cold feeling in the pit of her
stomach. Her hand against his chest stopped moving and flattened as she shook her head, eyes going wider.
"No. Oh no." She told him. "You can stay here. I'll deal with them. It shouldn't take too long. They showed up for a
reason. I just have to find out what it is and tell them no." She didn't want them anywhere near him. Not him. Not ever
again. It was like letting harpies with unsheathed claws at the very center of her heart.
"What?" He said, sitting up a bit. "Oh no is right. If I suggested going to the christening alone, you would have ripped
me a new one, and you know it." He pointed out. "I can handle your family. I can handle warlords, militias, terrorists
and my family. I think I can handle yours. And if not, I'll feign food poisoning and we'll leave early. Got it?"
Her lips shifted upward slightly. In for a pinch, in for a pound... She'd known the second she'd seen him pull up in his
car and her family had still been there... One of her shoulders shifted helplessly.
"You're so - precious to me. I don't want them - touching you." It wasn't that they could taint him. It was hard to
explain. As if she'd found something surpassingly rare and precious and now the grubby people want to take it away
from her and tell her it was just cheap glass. It wasn't. And their words wouldn't change how she felt. But - they
shouldn't have a right to say the words in the first place. She exhaled and leaned forward to rest her forehead
against his shoulder. Shaking it as she tried to find words. "They're so - crooked. Inside. They don't deserve a
chance to be around you again."
"It's just dinner. In a public place. Not here, which means we can leave." Hector said. "At any time. And if they show up
here, I'll call the cops, that's all. Or sic Paige on them or something." He chuckled at that thought then put a finger
under her chin to make her look at him.
"We're in this together, remember? Even with our awful families. You are not going to see them alone, anything they
have to say about me, they can say it to my face."
Her lips shifted upward.
"You should actually be more worried with what they'll say about me." She answered and then sighed out a long
breath. Slipping over to slide into his lap. Tucking close.
"I love you. I do. And I'm sorry you have to do this after your 'visit' with the doctor. They instinctively seem to know
what days to pick for things like this."
"Families have that knack. Even the good ones, so I hear." Hector said. "And don't worry about them, believe me, if I
have any questions, I'll ask them. As long as you're not married a couple of times, we're in the clear." He said and
kissed her. "Take a deep breath and try not to worry. Do what I do, stare at them and not pay any attention."
That had her laughing and she wound her arms around his shoulders, leaning in to rest her forehead against his.
Muscles relaxing.
"No marriages. Not before and not currently." She assured him with a bright smile. "Though I might have one
pending. At least that's the rumor." A strictly kept rumor of course considering she hadn't even told her Mum and Da
yet. But that was all right. It made it a sweet secret she could hold close and gloat over herself for a little while. She
kissed him again, gentle and soft. "How do you make things right inside me?" She whispered. And then gently
brushed her nose against his. "And - do we need to call your sister to tell her its safe to come back or will she come
back on her own?"
"I don't." He said. "I just point out what you already know. As far as Cassie goes, the kids are basically in a candy
shop, she'll eventually call us for extraction, guaranteed. Especially since Jo loves to sugar up other people's kids."
She laughed softly against him. Kissed the tip of his nose. He underestimated what he did for her down deep in her
soul. Then she slipped out of his lap.
"We've still got some time then." She shifted his legs up onto the couch and then took off his shoes. "Especially if you
never remembered to turn the ringers back on on the phones." She added with a smile, settling back down on the
couch now that she could lay down next to him. Tucking in close, arms winding around him. She just needed to hold
him. And be held. Gentle she pressed a kiss to the edge of his jaw and then tucked her face against his throat.
"Have I mentioned how dashing you look in full uniform?" She asked, lips curving.
He chuckled. He'd never really been described as 'dashing'. "Could be worse, I could have looked as uncomfortable
as I felt." The dress uniform was heavily starched, could have stood at attention all by itself. Whereas his daily work
uniform was comfortable, lived in, and by the end of the day, completely rumpled and often dirty.
"See? Everything is fine. We survived my family, we'll survive yours." Helped that he actually didn't turn on the ringers
again, doing his honest best to avoid any over the phone confrontation from his family.
She nodded against him, sighing out a soft, slow exhale and closing her eyes. It wouldn't be the first time she'd faced
her mother's family. She'd lived with them when she'd been younger for 'vacations' sometimes. But it was the first time
she'd ever faced them with someone else. And that felt so - warm. She brushed a hand down his chest.
"I suppose I should tell you that you carry off 'uncomfortable' very well then." She told him. "And you're right. About
our families. We'll manage about that persistent psychoanalyst of yours too. Maybe we should let him meet my family
for dinner instead. You know, two birds with a single stone."
Hector laughed. "As much as I love that idea, I don't not like your family enough yet to sic the good doctor on them.
We'll keep it in mind, though." He rested his head on a pillow perched on the arm of the couch and closed his eyes.
"Wish they'd come tomorrow though..."
She made her humming noise against him. More than content to stay here for the rest of the day, perhaps the week.
She'd expected - something - from Cassie but the other woman hadn't even blinked about the family christening and
whatnot. Maybe that was the way things ran in this family and right now that was all right with Andi. Her family arriving
had made up for her unexpected reprieve though.
"I wish they'd come when we were already on a plane back to Africa." She murmured.
"Hmm." He said. "We can still jump on one now if you're inclined. After all they don't expect us to really show up, why
disappoint them? Or maybe it's just me they don't expect to show?" He asked.
"You" she answered quietly. "They don't expect you to show. They know I know if I don't show they'll just come back
here. You've actually got an out." She exhaled again without opening her eyes, shoulders starting to curl slightly. "I
just wish I knew what they wanted."
"Well, Robert handles accounts and stuff, right? So no doubt he'd noticed an awful lot of activity on your bank card,
spoke to your dad, and found out you were in the uncivilized backwoods of the Western world. Mentioned something
to others, and here they are. They're curious." Hector said logically. "Then I show up, at my own house," he had to
chuckle about that one, "quite unexpectedly, and add a whole other wrinkle to it. You know, me being the Ugly
Uncivilized American, military to boot...just don't know Cole's part in it. Maybe he's supposed to be your savior from a
life of damnation. Wonder if he knows that....."
He held her close as she tried to sit up and opened his own eyes. "Oh no." He said with a chuckle. "We're going to
the dinner, and we're going to lord it over them. Make it clear that no interference from their part is necessary at
all...just keep cool and let them run their mouths, and we'll make them pay for the meal at the end of the night."
She settled back down against him, partially because he was right and mostly because she knew if he wanted to hold
her there all night long he could. But she still muttered a few invectives darkly under her breath she would have liked
to use on her family as she pressed her face back into his shoulder. Closing her eyes.
The sudden fury wasn't over Hector and the fact they thought she could or should be with someone different. They
had no idea who Hector was and for that matter they didn't know who she really was either. People like that would
never understand people that weren't like them. She wasn't upset over that. If anything it was sad the only
relationships they understood were either the kind Liselle played at or the kind Bea and Robert had negotiated. Sad
that they couldn't even imagine a man like Hector. And it wasn't even, at its heart, over the fact they were trying with
her what they'd done to her mother all those years ago over her Da. She'd grown up with the White spine and
stubborn streak of independence. They couldn't hurt her the way they'd hurt her Mum. No. It was over the fact that all
these years they'd ignored her. They'd done their damage and moved on with their lives. Bea knew exactly why she
hadn't seen her cousin in so long despite the babble otherwise. And now - now! - that she finally had something
wonderful, someone wonderful, in her life, now they showed up deciding they needed to care. She'd never been this
happy before. Her life had never been this perfect. And as if they'd sensed it, they swept down from their ivory
towers, determined to suddenly take an interest in directing her life. As if they had a right. As if she'd actually show
her throat and let them! It was insulting. On so many levels.
"I feel a bit bad for the new guy." She finally murmured. Tucking closer into Hector. "It can't be enjoyable being
expected to measure up to you."
"He's definitely shorter." Hector agreed. "Feel bad for the guy, course if he becomes a problem all sympathy goes out
the window and then he'll see what dealing with a career soldier is like. Plus I got even bigger friends!" He said with a
chuckle.
At the moment he was willing to view Cole as a pawn in this whole game machinated by her family. The minute that
changed, he'd see a whole different side of Hector. He wasn't without fangs of his own. He didn't fear Andi leaving
him, she'd had plenty of chances to split, he'd given them to her, and she'd chewed him out over that. But the
audacity of a third party coming in, that built up a fury no one really wanted unleashed.
She laughed quietly against him. Starting to relax again.
"If I wasn't so intent on posting them off in a nicely wrapped parcel after this with a firmly stamped 'rejected' mark on
them, I would suggest we invite them over for a barbecue next. And invite your friends as well. You men could play
your 'football' and I could release the girls in the neighborhood on my female relations."
She slid her arms back around Hector. What her family apparently failed to realize if Cole was what Hector suggested
he was, was that no man was a temptation to her. They hadn't truly been before Hector and they certainly didn't
stand any chance now that she actually had what she hadn't realized she'd always been looking for. No one else
stood a chance because no one could outmatch God when it came to setting the exactly right person in your life.
Hector wasn't perfect. But he was perfect for her. Everyone one else just ranked as a vague 'nice'.
"Do we have to nicely wrap it?" He asked. "I mean the package we're going to send them in. Why don't we just shove
them in a refrigerator box with a handful of styrofoam peanuts and a bottle of water and bid them adieu," which was
about as much real French as he knew, greetings and good byes.
"But wow, siccing the neighbors on them." He laughed. "That will improve their opinion of Americans all right.
Probably try to drag you off with the fear that I'm corrupting you. Then again, they've never heard you swear when
you've stubbed your toe in the dark..."
She laughed at the image of her family in a refrigerator box getting shipped overseas with only a bottle of tap water
between them. And then laughed harder at his assessment of her moral character.
"Now that's hardly fair." She protested. "I wasn't used to the set up of your bedroom yet and I was still half asleep."
"I've never even heard sailors curse that much." He said with a laugh. "And believe me, I've heard them do more than
stub their toes! Wow...you could have given them lessons. All I could think about was my poor innocent ears..."
She pressed her face into his shoulder. Laughing. Equal mixes of proud and vaguely embarrassed. Her mother
considered cursing vulgar, her Da considered it useful. Andi tended to forget herself and slip sometimes. Coming
back to bed in the middle of the night, still half asleep and having it suddenly, painfully bloom that her foot was in pain
and her having a detailed grasp of easily three languages...
and Hector had laughed at her!
"Your bed moved while I was up." She muttered. "That leg wasn't there when I'd left."
Hector laughed hard. "That bed hasn't moved in nearly fifty years..." He said. "Nice try though, I like that one. The
bed moved. With me on it." He chuckled. He had laughed because, strangely enough, he had thought it cute. And the
fact that she could swear and hop around told him that despite stubbing her toe, she was okay.
She loved the sound of his laughter. And loved the fact she was hearing it after he'd been through the wringer with
that doctor too. But she still wiggled around until she could rest her arms on his chest and look down at him. Giving
him a look.
"I'm going to sic Mr. Snuffles on you if you keep that up." She warned, eyes laughing.
"Oh god. now there's a threat." Hector said, face entirely serious, but his own dark eyes gave him away. "Guess I
better behave then...since he's currently enjoying the inside of a drawer, would hate to interrupt his beauty sleep.
God knows he needs it."
She leaned down to touch the tip of her nose to his, her loose hair falling around them both.
"It's not his fault he was born looking that way." She chided. "It's mine. And I still think they're very beautiful colors."
Though - possibly - not all together at the same time. She grinned. "Though I'd like to see any threat, or anyone for
that matter, try to make you behave."
"I'm perfectly well behaved. watch talk like that or you'll ruin my reputation. People might start to think I'm evil or
something." He said with a chuckle. "What time did we say that idiotic dinner was going to be?"
"Mm. Reputation." She stated in a tone that indicated exactly what she thought of that. Tipping her head to kiss him
with a smile. And then he mentioned the dinner and she slid down him a bit to pressed her face against his throat
again.
"Seven." She answered with a sigh, fingers curling against his chest. "We might want to look into borrowing a car
again. And we do have to go deliver Cassie at some point too if she doesn't come back on her own." She paused.
Suggested mildly. "We could just try heavy snogging of course. That's generally a guarantee that someone's going to
walk in on us."
"Oh we're definitely taking the bike." He said with a laugh. "The last thing I want is to come back after this thing and
have to face questions from Cassie." He shook his head, but chuckled about it. "So let me get this theory straight. I
kiss you and people will come running. I don't and people stay away. What to do, what to do?"
She raised her face and looked down at him. Eyes laughing.
"Oh the difficult positions I put you in." She agreed with a grin. Lowering her head but not - quite - meeting his lips.
"How you ever manage to put up with me..." she murmured with a smile.
"It's a tough job but someone has to do it." He said with a grin. "Pretty hard to put up with yourself by yourself, believe
me, I know that one." But he chuckled as he stole a kiss from her as she leaned over him.
One stolen kiss turned into another and Andi let go of the tension with a pleased exhale.
He really did look quite dashing in dress uniform...
She missed entirely the sound of the back door opening and closing but picked up on the fact they weren't alone
anymore when first one and then another small body landed on top of her. Who was already on top of Hector's.
"I don't know why you even have one of these!" Cassie was shaking the phone, ringer turned off, at Hector. And Jo,
standing to the side, was grinning like the cat that just swallowed the canary.
He laughed. "Why do I bother having doors? No one knocks." He said, quite incapable of moving right now, with Andi
on him, and Josh on her, and Marcella on him. And Jo looking quite like with a moment's provocation would hop right
on the top, just for the hell of it.
"Did you bring me something?" He asked Jo.
"Does it look like I did?" She asked, stretching out her empty arms. Of course, by coming through the back door, they
had also passed through the kitchen.
Laughing Andi maneuvered herself a little bit upright as best she could, well aware of her body and careful she didn't
accidently dig anything pointy into Hector. At least enough so that everyone wasn't talking to the back of her head.
"Well," she asked the children, turning her head to look at them over her shoulder. "Did you bring the special bread?"
Cassie snorted but Josh bobbed his head.
"Three kinds!" He exclaimed. "Something white, cinnamon swirly and - " his brow wrinkled and he looked over at Jo.
"Five grain." She supplied and Josh nodded again.
"Five grain." He repeated and Andi chuckled.
"You have no idea how much sugar they've eaten." Cassie hissed at her brother as Josh's head bobbing went on
longer than was strictly necessary. But the other woman shot Andi a speculative look that had nothing to do with the
fact she'd found them in the position she had. Or rather, there was plenty about that too but more to the point, there
had been mysterious strangers at the door that weren't anymore.
Andi pretended she hadn't noticed and looked at Jolanda.
"Is that all I ended up with?" She asked and Jo started to grin. There certainly didn't appear to be any bad feelings
being harbored because of their last meeting. For that matter the slim woman's eyes didn't have that struck sadness
look in their depths anymore either. Of course, a good make out session could do that to a girl...
"Maybe. Maybe not." Jo admitted to nothing and Andi laughed. Leaning in to kiss Hector one last time to the delight of
the children before she started to slowly roll off him. Giving the children plenty of time to giggle and swarm into better
positions on their uncle in Josh's case and to start clinging to her back in Marcella's.
"Hey, I wasn't even here when you decided to take them off to diabetic hell." Hector said, referring to Jo's bakery.
"Can't blame me at all." He looked at Jo, who put on an innocent expression.
"I was making brownies. Lots and lots of brownies." She said.
"And fudge, and taffy, and cake, and lollipops..." Cassie filled in.
"Cherry!!" Marcella piped up, obviously having sampled more than one of the sugary treats.
"And SO many different kinds of fudge!" Josh said as he rolled over on his uncle, who immediately sat up and placed
Josh on the couch, having spied fudge smeared fingers.
"Not on the uniform, buddy." He said with a chuckle. "I'm going to go change. Especially if they're sticky."
"Well, I think Josh is more on the gooey side." Jo said. "Marcella, now she's sticky."
Andi was laughing as she stood up.
"I'll agree." She commented on Jo's 'sticky' comment since the little girl was still clinging to her back. Andi slipped an
arm around behind to secure her in place a bit more.
"Come on." She directed the children. "Everyone to the kitchen for some hand, face, behind the ears washing." Her
lips curved. "You can show me what else you brought back with you too."
It was met with enthusiasm - though, possibly, anything at this sugar high stage might have been met with enthusiasm
- and together they trucked off to the kitchen to make good on Andi's threat.
Hector chuckled and ducked up the stairs before Cassie could start. Cassie was a whole lot easier to dodge than
Beth was, that was for sure, picking up his tie and hat on the way to the stairs. "Be back in a minute." He said, still
laughing under his breath.
Cassie watched the two divergent paths. And shook her head in amazement. She proceeded to follow everyone into
the kitchen, the kitchen door didn't have a lock on it after all, and poured herself a glass of sweet tea.
Jo was unpacking her treasures, familiar enough with Hector's house and Hector himself to know where everything
went, something Cassie was sure would be threatening if Jo wasn't a lesbian.
"So who was that in the driveway earlier?" Cassie asked, point blank as she leaned against a counter as Josh took a
wash cloth and started scrubbing himself with zeal.
Andi arched her brows at the question. She was starting to realize that Hector's family enjoyed being blunt but only
over certain subjects. Others they ignored as long and as often as they could.
"That was some of my family." Andi answered, voice inflectionless. Then she set Marcella down on the counter next to
the sink and started the water running for her as well.
"So did you nosh all the good stuff or did you leave some for us?" She asked the little girl with a smile. Wetting down
another cloth to start the clean up process on this one. "You know your Uncle Hector loves sugar."
Jo made a coughing laughing noise and Andi shot her a grin. Josh chirped.
"And tabasco sauce!"
"And sometimes combined." Jo said with a laugh. Cassie smiled at the comment and turned back to Andi.
"Your family? They're not exactly....local." She pointed out. She loved her brother, and she was well aware of what
their family did to him. She didn't want another family doing the same thing, or worse, but wasn't sure how to express
that fact. So she just drank her sweet tea.
Andi glanced over at Cassie. Considering the way the woman had her own family issues no one was dealing with, she
hardly thought she had any right at all to go prodding in other people's. She didn't actually have much right to even
ask for that matter.
But - the other woman had warned Andi about the family a bit before she'd met them. And she had, while not run
interference, at least given her a safe place to sit at the christening.
"None of my family is from the States." She answered mildly. Lifting Marcella to spin her before she set her back down
on the floor where she sat down with a giggle. Smiling Andi took the cloth from Josh and rewet it. Starting to scrub all
the spots he'd missed despite, or perhaps because, of his best attempts. "That particular branch is from France. I
also have distant relations in England that I don't see. And my Mum and Da are in Africa."
"Where they eat bugs." Josh wiggled against Andi's persistent ministrations but he was fighting a losing battle.
"Okay." Cassie said and Jo shook her head.
"That's the nice lady's way of saying mind your business." Jo said. "The whole people in glass houses concept."
She'd known Hector long enough to know about his family, and the general wear and tear it had done to the man.
"But, see, I live in a titanium house. My family is good, my girlfriend is perfect. So if I wanted to throw stones, I so
could. And I don't even throw like a girl." She looked at Andi. "But I'm not going to. I only shoot my mouth off at
subjects I know a bit about." She said with a quick grin, in reference to their first conversation.