by Evelyn Sola
“I can’t do this.” Mom abruptly pulls away from Dad and takes a step away from us all. “My daughter has betrayed me. How many times did you listen to me complain about him? All this time I was telling you about Pretty Girl, you never said a word. You had so many opportunities to tell me. You two take me for a fool. How stupid you must think I am. Hell, I caught you two at the mall together and I was too stupid to put it all together. I bet you had a good laugh. You want to be with him? Fine! I’m sure he’s the reason you’ve been crying but go ahead! You,” she says, pointing at Nick. “I quit! I want you out of my house.”
“Mom, it wasn’t like that!” I yell, but she doesn’t acknowledge my words. “We don’t think you’re a fool. Please, don’t blame Nick. I’m the one who wanted to wait to tell you.”
She walks out of the room, the sound of the front door opening and slamming behind her. We all stand there, stunned at the turn of events.
“Why the hell didn’t you come to me with this, gal? We could have come up with a way to avoid this disaster,” my dad says as he opens the coat closet and pulls out two winter coats.
“That was the plan, Dad.” I run a hand through my mangled hair, fighting back tears. “I don’t want to have to choose between my mother and my boyfriend.”
“It won’t come to that, sweets. I’m going to fix this. I promise.” Nick turns me around and kisses my forehead. I open my arms and wrap them around him, taking solace in his embrace.
“I’m going to go after her.” That’s all my dad says before he too leaves the house, slamming the door with more force than ever before.
“It will be okay. I promise.” Nick kisses my forehead, and for a few seconds I believe him. “I’m going to fix it.”
“It’s not for you to fix. I’ll give her a few days before I approach her again, but this might be the first Christmas I don’t spend with my family. This is new territory. We’ve never fought like that before. It’s all my fault. We should have told her weeks ago like you wanted. I fucked it all up.” For the first time today, the tears I’ve been fighting fall.
“It’s no one’s fault. I understand why you wanted to wait. If we’re going to blame anybody, we can blame me. If I didn’t act like a child, I wouldn’t have had to come to your house. You wouldn’t have been upset, and she would not have come home to check on you. It all starts with me.” He wipes my tears and when I close my eyes, he kisses me on both eyelids.
“No, it doesn’t. I should have known she’d show up. Mom can’t handle it when anyone she loves is upset. She’s a fixer, and I should have remembered that, but enough about her. There is nothing we can do about it tonight. Let’s just be together. Make love to me.”
He kisses me and rubs his erection on my pussy, but the sound of my stomach growling interrupts our foreplay. He breaks the kiss and smiles at me.
“Food first.”
I wrap my arms around him and hold him tight. “Don’t go.”
“Okay, pretty girl. Take out it is.”
CHAPTER 32
NICK
After nearly freezing my balls off walking Sadie, I slide my now naked body in the bed and pull Miranda’s back into my chest. I squeeze her nipple and kiss the back of her neck, but she doesn’t so much as stir from the feel of my touch.
I should leave her alone and let her rest but feeling her bare skin has turned me from semi to rock-hard. I grab her hand and put it on my cock. That finally gets me a stir and a moan. Encouraged, I pull down the sheet to find her stiff nipples. My mouth waters at the sight, and just as I’m about to put one in my mouth, her phone vibrates on the nightstand on her side of the bed.
With a disgruntled groan, I reach for it to silence it when I see Best Dad Ever and a picture of her dad flashing on her screen. Instead of sending the call to voicemail like I originally wanted, I decide to answer.
“Mr. Moore,” I say, hopping out of the bed and stepping out of the bedroom.
^^^^
The phone calls just keep on coming, I think to myself. This time, it’s my phone that’s the source of my irritation. His call does not come as a surprise, and I refuse to avoid him or anyone else.
“Hey, Uncle Joe. How’s Florida?” I ask.
“It was great until I received an email from Mona resigning from the position she’s held for almost thirty years. As you can imagine, that was the last thing I was expecting. I managed to get her on the phone for her to tell me she found you naked in her house, taking advantage of her only daughter. And to add insult to injury, you’ve now taken that daughter from her two days before Christmas. Her words, not mine. When I told you to handle it, I didn’t mean like this, son. I told you not to piss her off.”
Sadie barks, and I throw a doggie snack at her, but she follows me all the way to my office. Taking a seat behind the desk, I lean back against the chair. It’s only ten in the morning, and this has already been one of the longest days of my life.
“I did not steal her daughter, Uncle Joe. That’s absurd. Miranda is an adult. Do you think I want to come between her and her mother?”
He stays quiet, likely waiting for me to say more, but I don’t say anything else. There’s too much on my mind as I think of the conversation with Nigel Moore a couple of hours ago.
“But the rest is true? She found you naked in her house?”
“Let’s just say, we never intended for her to find out the way she did. That situation was unfortunate, but I’m going to fix it.”
“Unbelievable. For fuck’s sakes, Nicky, you have a huge house to be naked in,” I hear him mutter. “Well, I told her I did not accept her resignation, and I told her she could take the next three weeks off. Thank goodness Mona didn’t ask me if I knew about you two.”
“Okay. I’ll take care of the rest. Listen, Uncle Joe, I love Miranda. I didn’t set out to. This isn’t some ploy for me to annoy Mona. I fell in love with her daughter, and she’s going to have to accept that because that won’t change.”
“I believe you, Nicky. It’s not me you need to convince. I want to have you two and the entire family over for dinner when I get back. I like Florida, but eighty degrees two days before Christmas feels unnatural.” We talk about work for a few more minutes, but he hangs up when his grandkids get his attention.
As soon as I end the call, the source of everything good in my life walks into my office. She’s wearing the silk pajamas and matching robe I bought for her the first time I went to her job. She crosses her arms as she leans against the doorframe. The second I open my arms for her, she’s crossing the room and taking her place on my lap. I engulf her in my arms and squeeze her to me as I lay my chin on her shoulder.
“Good morning, sleepy head. I was just about to come upstairs and wake you.” I kiss her neck and inhale her. She smells of sleep and sex. Images of us from last night flash through my mind. After making love to her on the couch, we had dinner only to end up in the bedroom immediately afterward. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we’ve been outed, but we were both insatiable well into the early morning hours. Even now she’s slowly grinding on top of my hard dick.
She turns to face me, and she cups my face with both hands and looks into my eyes.
“I love you, Nicky. And I’m sorry I’ve caused so much trouble for you.”
“You didn’t cause any trouble, and even if you did, your love makes it all worth it. And I love you, too.” She smiles and leans in to kiss me, but instead of the passionate kiss I know she craves, I only give her a chaste peck on the lips.
“No time, sweetness. We need to shower. Your father called, and I asked him and your mom here for brunch.” Her eyes bulge and her head jerks back at my words. She tries to stand up, but I hold her on my lap.
“My dad called you?”
“No. He called you, and I answered your phone.”
“Okay.” She raises a hand and runs her fingers through her hair. “Did my mom agree to come too?” I can hear the hopefulness in her voice, and I wan
t nothing more than to tell her yes.
“I don’t know. When I was on the phone with your dad, she had a lot to say in the background about me. None of it good. Apparently, I’m a daughter stealing degenerate, and that was the nicest thing she had to say about me. Your father said he would do his best to get her here.” She exhales, and her shoulders sag at the uncertainty. I pull her closer and put my chin on her shoulder again. “We’re going to fix this, but whatever happens, I’m not letting you go.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and strokes the base of my neck with her hands.
“That was never an option, Stinky Nicky. Now, kiss me.”
“I’m not stinky,” I growl right before our lips touch.
^^^^
Of course, they would be early, I think to myself as I walk to the front door. Miranda just ran back upstairs to change after getting sauce on herself. Now I’m left to let her parents in by myself.
The door opens, revealing my two unsmiling guests. I stand to the side to let them in. No words are exchanged as they hand me their coats. I take my time hanging them in the closet, but I notice Mona checking out my house. I’m not sure what I possibly could have done to displease her even more, but her face is pinched in disapproval.
Miranda comes walking down the stairs, holding Sadie in her arms. The minute she puts her down, Sadie saunters over and starts to sniff at Mr. Moore. When Mona sees her daughter, she smiles for the first time. Both women run to each other, both hugging and crying as if they hadn’t just seen each other yesterday. I look at Mr. Moore, and he rolls his eyes at me, but when he turns back to his daughter and wife, he smiles.
“Baby girl,” Mona says, looking at Miranda up and down, “we’ve come to take you home. Let’s go.” She starts to walk her toward the coat closet, but Miranda shrugs out of her mother’s arms. Her father takes her and hugs her.
“I thought you came for brunch, Mom. Nick spent a lot of time cooking.”
Mona finally looks my way, her face tight and her lips pressing together. Nigel opens his mouth, but Mona speaks over him.
“This is what’s going to happen. You’re coming home, and we’ll forget about this whole thing, and we’ll never have to see his face again.” She speaks rapidly as she reaches for Miranda’s hand, but I don’t miss the dirty look she throws my way.
“Jesus, woman, that’s not what we talked about,” Nigel says.
Miranda yanks her hand from her mother’s and comes to stand next to me. I put my arm around her waist, lean down, and kiss her on the cheek.
“Mom, I love you, but I love Nick too. I’m not going home and forgetting this ever happened. We’re together. I’m sorry you found out the way you did, but that was my fault. He wanted to tell you right away, but I wanted to wait. I regret that, but we’re a couple. I hope you can accept that and get to know him, Mom, because he’s amazing, but that’s up to you. That’s the only thing that’s up to you, though.”
I smile at my girl, so proud of her words. I intertwine our fingers together and lift her hand to my lips.
“You live under our roof,” Mona says. Miranda’s eyes widen as she stares at her mother.
“Are you saying I’m no longer welcome at home if I don’t break up with Nick? You’re putting me out because I fell in love?” she asks, incredulous.
“No, she will do no such thing,” Nigel says, looking at his wife. He looks at her, his eyes wide until she finally looks away. “Our daughter has always been free to love whoever she wants, and that ain’t about to change, woman,” he says, pointing at his wife.
“Miranda, you never gave Glen a chance.” She’s frantic now as she looks around. I’m two seconds away from kicking her out of my house. “Nigel, Glen is half Jamaican. You’ll like him.”
“Woman, it don’t matter if this Glen is half superman. Our daughter don’t want him. She’s with someone else.”
“I don’t like it!” Mona says. The tone of her voice causes Sadie to growl at her. “After everything I told you about the way he treated me?”
I try really hard not to roll my eyes, and I’m proud of myself when I succeed, but her words still upset me. Before I can say anything, Miranda speaks up.
“How has he treated you? By asking you about your role in the company? Because he broke a mug? You told us he apologized for that, by the way. Or was it because he was rude to you the first day? Do you ever consider that maybe he had a bad morning? Maybe he had things going on in his life that had nothing to do with you, but things that hurt him? No! It’s always about what he’s doing to you, but you never consider he might have his own problems. You know what? Fine! You don’t have to accept us. I was hoping you would, but you’re entitled to your feelings, and I’m not going to beg you to accept my relationship.”
The tears start as soon as she says the last word. She buries her face in my chest, and I kiss the top of her head.
“Don’t cry, sweets. It’s okay, baby. I promised you we’d fix this.” She lets out a tearful sob before pulling away from me and running upstairs.
The three of us stand there, looking at each other. No one saying a word.
“Mona,” I say, my voice calm even though I’m fighting for every ounce of control. “The morning we met, I had just found out my ex-girlfriend, the woman who stole fifty thousand dollars from my business, would not serve any jail time. So, excuse me for acting like an asshole. And I sold the business, by the way. It did not tank, and I didn’t need my uncle to give me a job. He asked me to take the job as a favor to him. The mug was a damn accident.” I stop speaking long enough to take a deep breath. “I don’t care how you feel about me. Honestly, that doesn’t matter, but I won’t have you upsetting Miranda. She’s done nothing but stress about telling you, but the cat’s out of the bag now. Deal with it or not, that’s up to you.”
She looks at me, her eyes holding mine, and I don’t back down. I hold her stare.
“I won’t have you disrespecting my wife,” Nigel says.
“No disrespect meant, Mr. Moore. I would never disrespect anyone that Miranda loves.” This time I hold Nigel’s hard stare, neither one of us willing to back down.
“She’s my daughter,” Mona says, eyes like slits as she takes a menacing step toward me. I stand my ground and hold her gaze. “For the past twenty-three years, she’s been mine. Don’t think after less than a month of this so-called relationship, you can waltz in here and tell us how things are going to be. You think you can just take her from us?”
This time, it’s me who takes a step closer to her.
“That’s the last thing I want, but whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, she loves me.” I point to myself before I continue. “And I love her too. Do you know how much? Sometimes I wake up in the night just to watch her sleep. Whenever her hand brushes against mine, I lose my damn mind. I live for her smile. I’d lay down and die for her if I had to. That’s how much I love her. I’m not going to let her go, Mona, so we have to come to some accord, otherwise Miranda will be stuck between us. She’s the one who is going to get hurt, and I’m not about to let that happen. I’d like a truce.”
Mona doesn’t say anything. Her eyes don’t soften at all as she shoots daggers at me. I don’t look away, refusing to be the one who breaks the stare first.
“Let me speak to my wife alone,” Nigel says. I direct him to my office, and he takes Mona’s elbow, practically dragging her down the hall. Sadie barks and follows them until I hear the office door open and close.
Several minutes later, I decide to go find Miranda upstairs, but she comes down before my foot hits the first step. The tears are gone, and I can tell she’s washed her face. The second I open my arms, she runs into them.
“Did they leave?” she asks against my chest.
“They’re in my office.” I pull back and look down at her face. “Are you okay? I don’t want you upset, so if you want them gone, just say the word and they’re out of here. I know
I promised I’d fix this, but maybe today is not the day for that.”
“Let’s see what they say when they come out. I’m over it, actually. I miss our little bubble where it was just us.” She wraps her arms around me, and I rest my chin on top of her head. “Let’s just leave for The Bahamas tomorrow. I can’t believe how my mom is acting.”
“What?” We both turn around to find her parents standing in front of us. Sadie is now in Mona’s arms as she looks at us, mouth agape. “You’re taking her out of the country at Christmas?”
“We were supposed to go after Christmas, Mom, but seeing how tense things are between us, maybe it’s best if we don’t speak for a few days.”
Mona puts the dog down and looks at her husband. They have a conversation with just their eyes. In the end, Nigel nods slightly and points his head toward us. Mona takes a deep breath and a tentative step in our direction.
“Baby girl, I want you home for Christmas. You’re an adult.” She raises both hands in surrender. “I can’t tell you what to do, but you’re still my child and I only want the best for you.” She cuts her eyes at me and forces a fake smile on her face.
“I hope you mean that, Mom.”
“Of course, but it’s just that he’s so much older than you. I’m worried that you’ll end up getting hurt. A man like him has been around the block, if you know what I mean. But I’m your mother and I’ll be here when this blows up in your face. And there’s the added complication of—” She stops talking, leaving the sentence unfinished. She looks me up and down and looks at Miranda and waves her hand at both of us.
“What do you mean by that, Mona?” I ask, offended by her words. “Please, tell me about my life.” She purses her lips again, but she juts out her chin. Nigel takes a step closer to me, his eyes having an edge to them I didn’t see before.
“Watch it,” he warns me.
“There are only so many insults I’m willing to take in my own home,” I say back to him. “With all due respect, Mona, but you know nothing about me or my life. And the only person making things complicated is you.”