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The reason I never leave during the nights is definitely not because I don’t think Ethan can handle it. I know that he can. I just prefer to handle things myself most of the time. And really, what else do I have to do but be here?
Except tonight. Because tonight I need to go see my family.
I’m not surprised to see my sister and her family there when I arrive. I’ve long known that the group of them get together without me all the time.
Tonight that’s a convenient thing because it means I only have to go through this once.
So I stride into the house and straight to the living room where everyone is gathered.
“Oh! Christian, we weren’t expecting you.” Mom makes it sound like she’s happy I’m there, but there’s no reason that she should be. Not after the way that we left things earlier.
“It’s good that you’re all here together. There’s something we need to talk about,” I reply, ignoring her comment. I grab the small bell off the counter and ring for Carrie, which does seem to confuse all of them. But once the maid comes, they would rather do anything than let on that they don’t know what’s going on. “Carrie, could you take Margie to the kitchen and get her a snack?”
“We’re going to be having dinner,” Wendy protests but I shake my head.
“It’s going to be a few minutes. And it’s better if Margie isn’t here for what I’m about to say.” I’m barely reining in my irritation at the lot of them. Because I could already catch snatches of their conversation when I walked up. And it was all about Emma.
Which means this wasn’t just Mom sticking her nose in where she didn’t belong.
It was the whole crew of them.
Once Margie is out of the way, I turn back to them. It’s obvious they know what is coming. Or at least, somewhat of what is coming. Because they’re all sitting together, staring back at me.
“What you did was out of line,” I tell my mother, but I’m directing it at all of them because I’m sure everyone was involved in this mess. “You had no right to go snooping in Emma’s private business. And there was no reason for you to.”
“Did you know? Did you know that she was … poor?” Wendy says the word like there’s something wrong with it. Or like it’s contagious.
“I never asked her about her financial situation,” I reply, because I didn’t. I never cared. I knew what she made. Or at least, in a general sense I know what the waitresses make. But even that never really occurred to me.
“It’s important, Christian. She’s obviously after you just for your money.”
“That’s something that you’ve assumed. It’s not something that I agree with. I don’t appreciate you digging into her life like this. It was a huge invasion of her privacy and it was over something that doesn’t matter to me.”
“We were looking out for your best interests, Son,” Dad pipes up and I frown, shaking my head at all of them.
“No. You were looking out for your best interests. Having your son date a girl who comes from a poor background isn’t a good look for you, right? It’s not something you like. What if word got out at the country club?” My sarcastic tone isn’t lost on them.
“That’s not fair, Christian,” Wendy insists. “The family reputation is good for all of us. It’s something that you should care about too.”
“I don’t give a damn about the family reputation. I care about the way you are treating Emma. Digging into her life like that. And trying to convince me to shove her out the door, is that it? Never mind the fact that I care about her and she’s having my baby.”
“Keep the baby, Christian. You’d do much better with it than she’ll be able to afford anyway.”
I grit my teeth at my mother’s flippant tone. “She’ll be able to afford to take care of it just fine because she’s not going anywhere. She’s staying with me. And that means she’ll have all of my money to help take care of the baby.”
“Christian-”
“No. I’m done. I came here to tell you all to leave Emma alone. And to make sure that you understand that her financial situation or the financial situation of her family not only doesn’t matter but it’s none of your business. So either you get on board with the fact that Emma is a part of my life, no matter how poor her family may be, or when I show myself out today that’s going to be the last you see of me.”
With that I turn and stalk out the door.
And not one of them tries to stop me.
But it’s too late for that anyway.
Now that I’ve sorted things out with them it’s time to sort everything out with Emma. This whole day has been ridiculous and I’m glad to put the whole thing behind me. Behind both of us.
I get back to the house just as she’s pulling in the driveway and it surprises me that telling off my family actually took that long.
