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Then everyone laughed and we were surrounded by his family … his mom and dad, two brothers, and his sister. Pearce was right. They made me feel perfectly welcome and I totally forgot that I had ever been nervous.
We were pulled into the living room, where a giant flat screen was playing one of the many football games we’d be watching that day. I was handed a Bloody Mary, and a tray of appetizers was passed around while everyone conversed about this and that.
Pearce had me tucked into his side, with his arm around me the entire time. One of his brothers, Justin, who was two years younger, cracked a joke about it.
“Justin, if you had a girl who looked like Alexia, would you let go of her for a second?”
“Not a chance,” was Justin’s reply.
My face grew superhot as I blushed furiously.
Pearce’s mom, Susan, winked at me. His dad, Henry, laughed and said, “That’s right. That’s exactly how it was when I met your mother. Isn’t that right, Susan?”
“Eww! Dad! We don’t want to hear about that!” Pearce’s sister, Ava, exclaimed.
“Ava, ours is a beautiful story. I wasn’t going to tell any deep secrets. I was just going to say that she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and I wouldn’t let her out of my sight for anything. That’s why I asked her to marry me after knowing her for only three days.”
“That’s right,” Susan said. “My parents were not happy, but they got used to it after they met Henry, and the rest is history.”
As I looked around the room, I noticed how much all the guys in the family looked like their father, who was dark haired and gray eyed like Pearce (except Henry’s was peppered with silver now), while Ava looked exactly like Susan, who was blond. They were all exceptionally attractive, but Pearce stood out in my eyes.
Susan came over and asked if I’d like a tour of the house. I felt Pearce give me a gentle squeeze as I got up to follow her. We went from one beautiful room to the next and I followed with my mouth hanging open like an idiot. I could hear my mother saying how I’d be catching flies if she could see me. It was almost impossible to take it all in.
After we completed the tour of the main level, we headed for the huge staircase. When we reached the top, Susan stopped and grabbed both of my hands. “I know this place can be quite intimidating the first time around, but I hope you don’t feel that way. It’s just an old pile of bricks, Alexia. We’ve tried to instill that in our kids. I come from very humble roots myself. My folks are from North Charleston and my daddy worked for the paper mill all his life. I hope you can feel at home here.” Then she smiled at me, and the weight lifted off my shoulders.
I smiled back and squeezed her hands. “Thank you, Susan. You’ve made me feel so welcome. Pearce told me about how you and Henry met, but I’ll admit I was still nervous about coming here. I envy your family and how close you all are.”
“Thanks. I wish you had that with your family. Pearce didn’t say much, but he did say you don’t have much of a relationship with them. Honey, I’m sorry for you. I don’t know what I’d do without my kids. I could never let them go.”
I gave her a watery smile. I wished my parents felt that way about me, but that wasn’t going to happen. I shrugged and said, “Something happened between us that they blame me for and maybe it’s justified but I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident, but they don’t see it that way. They decided to turn their backs on me. I’ve learned to deal with it though. I won’t say it doesn’t hurt, especially on holidays and birthdays. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. I’ve learned to move on.”
She nodded in understanding and then hooked her arm through mine and showed me the rest of the house. When we made our way up to the widow’s walk, which was much bigger than Pearce’s, she told me how much she loved it up here. It was an incredible view of the Charleston Harbor. You could see the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse, Fort Sumter, and Castle Pinckney. We lucked out on the weather again. The sky was a flawless blue and the water sparkled like diamonds. I even spotted some dolphins in the distance.
“That grin on your face is priceless. I’m going to have to get Pearce to bring you up here more often.”
Her words brought me back to earth and I giggled. “Sorry, I was ...”
“Honey, don’t be sorry. I know what I was like the first time Avery brought me up here.”
“Avery?”
“Avery Miles Middleton. That would be my mother-in-law. You’ll meet her shortly. She doesn’t usually come down until early afternoon.”
“Come down?”
“Yes, honey. She claims it’s age, but she’s as sharp as a tack and don’t let her fool you.”
I laughed and we went back down to join the rest of the family.
Betty brought in more trays of different appetizers and another round of drinks appeared. This time they were Bellinis. They were delicious. We toasted and then Justin, Andrew, Pearce’s youngest brother, and I started talking about my job.
“How do you like working at MedSoft?”
“I love it. I’m working on a proposal right now for the hospital system up in Greenville. They’re looking into switching the entire software package for their physicians offices and the electronic medical records.”
Pearce looked at me and said, “Wow, Alexia. You didn’t mention this. That’s great news.”
“Yeah, I guess I sort of forgot.”
