Cassie started to look around for Josh and Hector laughed, having seen his oldest nephew's escape tactic.
"How about you go change, and I'll go wrangle Josh?" He offered Andi.
Andi laughed softly, reaching up to lightly touch Hector's cheek.
"I think I can manage the ribbons in reverse." She agreed. He was so careful with her. So protective. But what he didn't
understand was it was all right. She'd take the interrogation and the gauntlet and whatever else she needed to.
Because she was going to be a part of his life now. And his family was already a part of his life. And if that was what it
took to let two parts of his life exist comfortably for him than that was what she would do. It was nothing compared to
that. She gave him another light kiss and then gave her temporary goodbyes to everyone before picking up her pack
from the seat she'd left it behind and heading for the bathroom. Elizabeth waited until her brother was distracted with
his nephew and then followed.
Hector watched her go, then as Cassie scavenged the opposite side of the church, he took off his jacket and got down
on the floor, crawling beneath the pews with practiced ease to the middle of the church where Josh was laughing
because no one had found him. "That was pretty sneaky." Hector said. "How long do you think we can hide here?"
Beth followed Andi into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. "Here, let me help." She said and started untying
the ribbon. "So..." She said, nodding. "You've gotten yourself quite attached to my brother."
Josh's eyes lit with delight when he saw his uncle approaching and he immediately wiggled over so they were almost
head to head. He'd known his uncle would be good at crawling under pews!
"Until Mommy uses our middle name when she calls us." He informed Hector seriously.
Andi stood still while she was unlaced. Thinking - absently - of the story of Snow White where the witch offered to lace
up her corset and then laced it so tight she couldn't breath anymore. It was probably not the thing to be thinking or at
all appropriate but it did make her feel like laughing. Not necessarily in an entirely calm, rational way, but laughing all
the same. It helped.
"Thank you." She stated as the woman let the ribbon slip looser and then she smiled.
"Yes." She agreed, voice a bit warmer. "He's a very easy man to grow attached to."
"Uh oh." Hector said and laughed. "I don't have a middle name. Guess that means I get to stay. You wouldn't leave a
fellow soldier behind, now would you?" Not that his long legs wouldn't be a clue, a certain give away for sure.
"No he's not." Beth corrected, going into her purse for her lipstick and reapplying it in the mirror as she watched the
other woman. Giving her the semblance of privacy to change, but keeping an eye on her all the same. "He's hard to
get attached to because he's hard to get to know. Unless you don't know him?"
Josh had to give it some thought. Both that his uncle was lucky enough to get away without an embarrassing middle
name and that he was a fellow soldier now. Josh liked the thought of being a fellow soldier. It sounded important and
even at his age he understood a bit of what that meant. He looked at his uncle very seriously as his mother started
calling for him. But she was still keeping her voice low because they were in a church and she was all the way on the
other side so it was okay still. Face serious, Josh shook his head.
"I won't leave you." He promised.
Andi, suspecting the woman was going to see if she could count her ribs or not went in to one of the stalls to change.
She had to be careful with this. Had to be nicer than she was to the women on Hector's street. So she couldn't just say
'why don't you ask him?' the way she wanted to. Because this was one of his sisters and she wasn't allowed to have
teeth when dealing with his family.
"That's what everyone keeps saying." She agreed comfortably instead, pulling the dress over her head, voice
conversational. "But he hasn't been that way around me. Not after the first few days at least. Though I'll admit, I'm
learning new things every day."
"Okay, 'cause that's the rule." Hector said. "Never leave a man behind. So we're in this hiding thing together." Josh
nodded, eyes wide with responsibility, then his uncle reached over and mussed his hair up.
"Joshua Daniel! Where are you?" Cassie called out. She hadn't gotten to the other side of the church yet, but she did
noticed someone else missing. "Hector!"
"Okay, we're going to crawl to the end of the pews, way in the back, and sneak around to one of those coat rooms."
Hector said, laughing. What were uncles for if not covering for their nephews?
"Really?" Beth said, blotting her lipstick. "Hector doesn't 'chat' and he doesn't do 'small talk.' And it’s highly unlikely
you got him drunk to spill. So which one of us is delusional?"
kewl!
Josh nodded, eyes narrowing in concentration now that they had a 'mission'. Sure his mommy had used his middle
name but he had Uncle Hector with him and you couldn't get into real trouble when you were with Uncle Hector.
Especially not with his mommy. Uncle Hector did this thing with his eyes and she always caved. One day Josh was
going to figure out what it was so he could learn how to do it too and stay out of trouble. But for today they had a
'mission' to accomplish. Determined he started his crawl.
Andi had to discard the first three responses that popped to mind. And yes, that did include the straight faced joke
about going on a bender and waking up in his bed without even knowing who he was the next morning. Instead she
pulled her shirt on over her head.
Not answering the question the way she wanted to. Instead she kept her voice agreeable and innocent as she
answered helpfully:
"I don't know that there was a great deal of 'chat' involved. He slept in my bed, we played a game of basketball, and he
offered to make me gumbo. By the end of the week we were writing letters."
They made it to the end of the pews, and continued their crawl all the way to the coat room in the back, slower than
usual for Hector, but Josh was littler and less experienced at it. Then they came out of the coat room after
straightening their shirts and ties out. "What are you hollering about, Cassie?" Hector asked, innocently as Josh
watched raptly. He wanted to learn how to do that eye thing.
"Where have you been?"
"The coat room helping Aunt Jean look for her coat."
"Aunt Jean was wearing her coat the whole time."
"Yeah we know. But you know Aunt Jean." Their elderly aunt had a touch of dementia. She didn't drive anymore, was
escorted everywhere by a family member, and had the tendency to forget everything five minutes later. Of course
sometimes she was still as sharp as a tack. Luckily for Hector and Josh, Hector knew this wasn't one of Aunt Jean's
sharper days.
He considered this payback for years of pruning rose bushes and weeding vegetable gardens.
Beth, meanwhile, was flabbergasted in the bathroom at this latest bombshell. "And somehow, in all of this, you ended
up back here in the States." She said. It was obvious it wasn't where Andi was from. "So, again, how exactly did you
accomplish that?" Her brother didn't pursue. Then again, he never had to.
Josh, watching in rapt attention, knew better than to offer anything as well. Instead he just stood next to his uncle and
nodded when he was supposed to.
He really did like having Uncle Hector home.
Andi opened the stall door, completely changed down to her laced up hiking boots, pack already over her shoulder,
and peered at the other woman.
"Well, it wasn't easy." She agreed. Entirely serious. Walking over she washed her hands. Not that she'd touched much
but - doctor's response. "It took a lot of planning." She let it hang while she dried her hands and than looked over at
the sister, voice still helpful. "First we took a bush plane to Cairo. Then a commercial to Paris. Then New York. Down
to Baton Rogue and then caught a taxi home." She shook her head. "I'm still not sure how we pulled off all those
changes and time zones without losing ourselves somewhere along the way." Then she gave a bright smile. "Got to
go. Hector will be waiting. But I'm sure I'll see you at the gathering." And then she let herself out the door and, while
not running, did use her long legs to advantage again with long swinging strides. Not bad. Not at all bad, she thought
to herself. If they kept being polite and she could continue being slippery she might just make it through this entire
thing in one piece. Of course - her eyebrows went up as she walked back into the church and saw Hector and Josh,
little mimic having Hector's entire posture down exactly, standing in front of Cassie her smile went real as much as she
tried to stifle it - she had just dropped quite a bit and she doubted Elizabeth was going to keep it to herself. They'd be
better prepared by the time she made it to the family meal.
"Wotcher, Josh." She greeted, scruffing his hair as she joined Hector and gave Cassie a smile. "Thanks for watching
him for me." She told the other woman with a smile. As if Josh and Hector were the same age and Cassie had been
keeping an eye on him while the adult was out of the room.
Cassie laughed. "Next time I want to get paid mondo bucks." She said, smacking her brother on the chest. "He's a bad
influence."
"Shouldn't talk about your son that way." Hector said with a wink. "We'll see you over at Dee's."
"Uncle Hector, did you bring your motorcycle?" Josh asked, looking up at his uncle as Hector rested his hands on the
young boy's shoulder.
"Of course." Hector said with a chuckle, knowing what was coming next. "Tell you what, once we all get to Aunt Dee's,
we'll tear up her lawn a bit, how's that sound?”
"Cool!" Josh's eyes were big and bright with the thought. His Uncle Hector was the coolest! Even better than Billy
Martin's dad who was a firefighter and had let them all try on his helmet at job day at school. "I've got play clothes in
the car." He added. Just so Uncle Hector would know that they could play dirty and his mom wouldn't be able to get
mad about him ruining his 'dress up' clothes.
Cassie laughed as she came back from collecting her daughter from her step-mother. Marcella had already kicked off
one of her shoes and was swinging the stocking foot cheerfully.
"Cutting donuts in her front lawn. Dee's going to love that." She teased. But her eyes met her brother's and the look
was much more serious than the words. Dad was going to be at the meal and she knew he at least wasn't going to
hold back. It was amazing he had here as much as he had. And, she loved her brother but... he didn't usually bother
hold back either. It was almost like both of them went into it looking for a fight. And than there was Andi. Cassie hadn't
missed Beth's exit or the fact that her sister was now standing ramrod straight at the church doors waiting for her.
Arms cross across her chest which meant she wanted to talk to her. By the time Hector's girlfriend got to Dee's place it
was going to be like throwing her to the sharks. Cassie bit back a sigh. Why did it always end up this way with their
family? Why couldn't everyone just play nice? Even once? "Come on, bub." She put a hand on the back of her son's
shoulder and started steering him toward the door. "You can play with Uncle Hector once we get to Aunt Dee's."
Marcella looked over at her mom.
"I have to go the bathroom." She stated clearly.
Andi chuckled as the trio headed for the door, slipping her hand into the curve of Hector's arm.
"He really does adore you, you know." She murmured with a smile.
"Of course he does. Because I'm 'cool.'" Hector said with a laugh as they headed out of the church themselves. "If
nothing else, I let him get away with everything. Just wait until they dump all of them over at the house, and see how
tore up the place gets."
He handed her the helmet and put his own on as he got on the bike. "But seriously. Feel free to say you don't feel
good at anytime." He said seriously, knowing....just knowing he and his father were going to go at it at the party. It was
either they went at it, or Hector took everything silently and let it fester until the next time, and that was what he tried
never to do.
He used to, when he was a kid, and it ate at him something bad. He'd rather disrupt a party than feel like that ever
again.
She slipped onto the bike behind him, holding off on her own helmet for the moment as she settled in. Than she
reached around him and rubbed her hands slowly against his stomach through his shirt.
"How's this?" She asked, resting her chin on his shoulder. "We leave whenever you want to and we can say I have to
call my parents before the time difference makes it too late." Even though she didn't. They'd talked to them yesterday.
But she didn't mind being the excuse in the least. She knew he was tense (if that wasn't far too mild a word for it) about
his father but she also didn't know what was normal in that area for them and what was it slipping too far. And - she
didn't think she was a good judge of when to leave either. This was his family's chance to take their shots at her and
find out what kind of creature it was Hector had brought home. She owed them that. She wasn't supposed to call a
retreat until they were satisfied. If she ran before they were... she'd just have to do it all over again the next time they
got together.
Because... if she was going to be in Hector's life... there would be a next time. And a time after that too...
She pressed a light kiss to his throat and than sat back enough to pull on her own helmet. Her arms slid around him
again.
"Then we'll go home and curl up in bed together, yeah?" She asked with a smile in her voice.
"Are you trying to give me incentive to behave at the party or skip it entirely?" He asked with a chuckle. Not that he
could skip it now, not after he promised he'd help Josh tear up Dee's lawn. Now he had to go and be civil for a while.
Some always wondered why he played with the kids at these gatherings rather than hang out with the adults. They
guessed he was either a big kid, or was trying to make up for not being that constant physical presence. It might have
been a bit of each, but if he kept himself occupied with the kids, in the backyard or the front yard, or wherever, it
meant he wouldn't be there for his father to bitch at or insult, and he wouldn't have to at least make the attempt to hold
his own temper.
Andi just chuckled and didn't answer as Hector brought the motorcycle to life and pulled out of the parking lot. She
didn't know about him but the thought of being able to retreat into their own private world was the carrot she was
dangling in front of her own nose to help her make it through whatever was waiting for her at the other end of this
short journey.
She didn't like talking about the details of her life. She didn't like sharing what was private and precious to her with
anyone but those that were very closest to her. Vaguely or passing stories were fine but not what she liked to keep
locked close to her heart. But she owed his family, particularly the women of it, who were his self appointed protectors,
something. They loved him and were worried about him and she wasn't sure how to be reassuring and yet find a
balance where she could keep her privacy to herself. Her slim hands spread against his chest and she watched to the
side, enjoying the small town scenery and pretending this was just another of their road trips.
So she had a carrot to lure herself down that road and she'd simply do what needed to be done until she reached the
end of it.
Who knew? Maybe it wouldn't be half as bad as she was making it to be in her head?