"Is there anyone in particular I should watch out for?" Because - strangely enough, she wasn't worried about Hector's
attention drifting. He'd had years if he'd wanted anyone else. And - he held her too tightly for her to think there was
room for anyone else. But that didn't mean that she wasn't aware that the women left behind might not have fangs.
Cassie laughed, liking seeing her normally unflappable brother in the middle of a mess he didn't even know he
created. "Well, there is my sister in law. She comes to more family gatherings than my husband."
"I go to more family gatherings than you husband, and I have a better excuse to miss them." Hector pointed out, but
Cassie let it roll right off her.
"Let's see. There's Betsy at the corner store, Julia at the deli, Olivia, married to the man with the yapping dog."
Cassie listed even as her brother kicked her under the table. But he was barefoot so it didn't really affect her.
"There's a widow across the street kitty corner..."
"Mrs. Johnson?!" Hector said, shocked. The woman was eighty if she was a day.
"Maybe, but I was thinking more along the lines of her granddaughter Barbara." Cassie said. "Then there are always
my friends, who are oh so curious as to how you're doing on any given day."
"You need new friends." Hector said with a roll of his eyes.
"Ooh! There's my teacher! Remember when you picked me up from school?" Josh volunteered.
Hector chuckled and leaned his head back, his hands resting on Andi's arms. "Now they're stretching to either make
me look bad or like the greatest stud the South has ever seen since Rhett Butler."
"Come to think of it, Rhett was something of a mysterious scoundrel, leaving broken hearts wherever he went..."
Cassie teased.
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a .....darn." He said, correcting at the last minute for the kids. "They're making this up."
"You got shingles to replace, right?" Cassie said. She was used to it. In fact, even in high school, she had 'friends'
who would try to sleep over just for the chance of catching her brother in his skivvies. "Dare to challenge that?"
"Well, so far, only the merry widow sounds like much of a threat." Andi teased. "Those older ladies are terribly crafty."
She was relaxed against Hector. Enjoying the teasing at his expense. And strangely - thinking of the first time she'd
stood just like this. All those nights ago when shadows had strayed into the Red Cross camp and he'd come inside
the clinic to watch over them...
"I love you." She told him softly, apparently out of the blue and pressed a kiss to the edge of his ear before exhaling
and focusing on the present again.
"I suppose I should get a hose. Spray every woman that 'happens' to wander into the yard." She commented and set
the children giggling. "Especially Mrs.Johnson." Her eyes narrowed in thought. "She's most likely very spry." Starting
to smile, she added: "In a few days, when we're rested and you start on that yard work and we put your roof back
together I will be counting the number of visitors of the female persuasion that 'happen' to stop by. We can keep a
running tally next to the door. How many times they stop by and what baked goods they bring."
"How many times they sigh." Josh added with a bright grin.
"I suppose we'll need a very big chalkboard." Andi allowed, teasing.
"Not sure if you'd be a deterrent or a catalyst." Cassie said thoughtfully. "You could scare them off, or they'd come in
droves. Women are funny like that."
"Will you people stop it?" Hector said. "Mrs Johnson is NOT lusting after me."
"What does lusting mean?" Marcella asked.
"It means to think he's 'hot'. Like Aunt Nikki." Josh said wisely. "Mrs. Johnson brings you cobbler...." Since Paige
brought him cookies, it was the same thing, right?
"And she has since I was your age." Hector said.
"Well, when you go to get your mail in nothing but your underwear, you have to expect these things." Cassie said
patiently.
"I wasn't aware there was a postal dress code." Hector said.
"I don't let Danny go outside in his underwear." Cassie pointed out.
"That's because no one wants to see that much jiggle outside of Hooters that early in the morning." Hector said,
making a face. The Hooters comment got a napkin thrown at him, making him laugh. "Hey, they've got good wings!"
"Well, now Andi has learned her lesson and she'll expect you fully dressed in bulky clothing next time you set foot
outside." Cassie said with a grin. "Before you give Mrs Johnson a heart attack."
Andi's chuckle was soft.
"On the contrary." She clarified, "I'm going to encourage shirtlessness." Her eyes, tawny and surprisingly catlike,
looked at Cassie from over Hector's shoulder. Completely aware of what she was doing. "I expect I shall bring women
out of the woodwork no one even knew lived in the area."
Hector was hers. If he'd wanted anyone else he would have had them by now. It was simply time to clarify things to
anyone left with doubts. His family was enough to send Andi into nerves. Other women interested in the same man
that was interested in her could hardly hope to match that. He would already be with another woman if he'd wanted to
and Andi never would have been more than a passing face in his day. And she never would have fallen in love and
remembered who she was. And he never would have come looking for her when she - when she went. And she
wouldn't have had him to hold onto when she'd been rescued. If she'd been rescued... She shook her head slightly
and her arms tightened around him in a brief hug.
"Besides, I rather like him without a shirt on." She stated cheerfully, earning giggles from the children.
"Cause you think he's hot." Josh announced and Andi grinned.
"Clever boy." She agreed.
Hector shook his head. "See what you started?" He said, looking at his sister, who looked perfectly innocent, her
expression a perfect feminine mirror of her brother's own 'innocent' expression.
"Me? Hardly." Cassie said. "We might as well get going, got dinner back home I should start to make." She said with a
smile. "Good lord knows these kids will be starving by then!"
Andi's eyebrows went up at the quick visit and then she had to remind herself that here, it didn't take days for family
to travel to visit you. Cassie and the children could literally stop by within any given hour.
"You'll come back and visit?" She asked. Meaning it. Yes, she wanted Hector entirely to herself. But she also was
used to people. Everywhere, always there. The quiet was paradise but she liked people too. And she liked Cassie.
She still wasn't sure if the woman liked her or not but she seemed like she was being more open. And Andi adored
the children. "For longer? If you call and give me enough warning I may even have real food available next time."
"I always visit. As will the rest of them." Cassie said, dark eyes twinkling. "You'll see. When Uncle Hector is home, that
means free child care."
"Yeah, yeah I know." Hector said. He looked at Andi. "I get guilted into it. The whole I'm not here all the time."
"And you love it." Cassie said.
"We'll walk you out." He said, standing up and scooping the children up which made them giggle. But honestly, the
two of them weight slightly more, not too much actually, than his normal gear he'd run around wearing under a hot
sun.
The sun hit her face when they walked out the front door and she shuttered her eyes against it even as she raised
her face to feel its warmth. Two days inside the house with only cool, dry air and dimness had been paradise after
living in a Red Cross camp on the African desert. But she enjoyed the touch of Louisiana sun now too. As much as
she enjoyed the feel of grass under her bare feet and the feel of the cool breeze. She wondered absently how often
it rained here. All she knew of Louisiana was that it had swamps. Which she knew must involve rain. But she thought
that might be a little bit closer to the coast.
If the neighbors hadn't seen her before, they would now.
"Which neighbor called?" She asked curiously as she walked next to Cassie behind Hector and his riders, who were
calling directions on how to get to the car. She didn't think for a moment that Hector hadn't noticed quite a bit that
had happened when he was and wasn't in the room. He always noticed the things she didn't expect anyone to notice.
It was something that might have made things a bit more difficult but that she found hopelessly reassuring as well.
For a first visit from family this one had gone surprisingly better than she could have hoped for. She was too nervous
to hope but it helped all the same. Which didn't mean for a second that she didn't know the woman next to him wasn't
going to get on the phone as soon as there was one available and call all the other siblings to give them the run
down. If they didn’t call her first. The thought made her stomach knot painfully again, thinking of the kind of
impression she'd probably given, but there was really no hope for it. She would have had to start this process
eventually.
"Ta, my darlings." She leaned in for kisses and hugs from both of the children and incidentally gave Hector and his
sister time for their own private goodbyes. "Perhaps next time you come we can see if we can try our hand at making
cookies that Uncle Hector will actually enjoy eating, yeah?" When it was Cassie's turn she kissed her cheek and
offered a smile.
"I did mean to see you again. Please come again."
"I think you already know who called." Cassie said with a laugh, glancing pointedly across the street. "So she should
be making an appearance any time now." She laughed even harder. "I mean, he's my brother. I don't really get it, but
I guess objectively I can see it. But you are going to be the cause of some broken hearts and dreams." She said as
Hector put the kids in the car and got their seat belts on.
Then, as Andi said her own goodbyes to the kids, Hector and Cassie gave each other a big affectionate hug.
"I still think you're a jerk for not calling." Cassie said into her brother's shoulder. She'd never let on, but seeing him
relieved a lot of anxiety. Anxiety she now realized her son carried as well....because he'd overheard more than he
should have at any given time.
"And you're a brat. What's new?" Hector said. "Drive safe, got it?"
"I always do."
"No you don't."
"I was sixteen."
"Got me there." Hector said with a laugh.
Cassie looked at Andi with a smile. "It's really not that often that he's on American soil outside a base." She said. "So
now that the secret is out, I'll be back."
"Good." Andi answered with a smile and then stepped back against Hector as Cassie got in the car. Waving to the
children as it pulled out of the drive and onto the quiet street.
Not at all sure how she should feel about what had just happened.
She wanted to feel hopeful. She didn't think it had gone badly. Of course family, at least her own extended one, were
well known for letting you think things were going well when they really weren't at all. And it was always the women
that played the games. The men, if they gave you any problems at all, were only concerned with getting you into bed.
Andi knew how to deal with sibling in laws that were interested in getting you into bed. Female relatives... they had
levels of spite and gleeful maliciousness she still couldn't fathom. She thought Cassie had seemed to like her. Or at
least accept her. Tolerate her? But she'd thought things like that before and been wrong.
How long did she have before the other sisters starting showing up now? And what about the mother Cassie had
warned her about? Hector said they lived in Texas but they must be here for the christening.
Oh God, how am I supposed to walk though this without causing any harm? she silently prayed.
Exhaling she softly teased Hector:
"I warned you not to go outside without clothes on."
"You both are being ridiculous." Hector said with a chuckle as they headed back into the house. They were, after all,
in their sleep wear, even if Andi had compensated for it with one of his shirts.
He thought the visit went well. At least Cassie hadn't said anything to him. "So..." He said in a leading way. "What did I
interrupt in the kitchen? Looked like you and Cas were having quite the conversation about something." And it could
be so many things, his sister tended to know everything that went on in the family and beyond.