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Tricia chuckled. “Who is so big-headed, he may not fit through my parents’ front door.”
“Thought you said they had patio doors? I don’t mind going around the back. Actually, it’s one of my favorite moves, going in from behind.”
“You can be so smutty sometimes,” she chuckled, swatting my ass.
“Smutty? I’m insulted, baby. I won’t accept anything less that filthy dirty where you’re concerned.”
“All right, I know you. I expect nothing less from the regular Don Juan you were in your day.”
“I agree, I was a womanizer… once, but I’m reformed, you’re the only woman I want to backdoor with these days.”
Tricia chuckled again. “Is that so? Then let’s just concentrate on getting through the day. If I don’t feel like I’ve already been shafted by the time I leave my parents’ place, we’ll come back to this subject again.” I grinned, loving that despite her nerves she still had enough sass left to joke.
Breaking away from her, I opened her car door, kissed the top of her head, and waggled my brows. “This day needs to be over already,” I teased. Chuckling again, Tricia shook her head and slid onto the passenger seat. I closed the door and prayed the visit wasn’t too harrowing for her.
* * *
“This place reminds me of Ohio. Same set up as before, on the edge of town, off the beaten track, but with more land.” As soon as Tricia explained the similarity of where she grew up to her parents’ current property, I understood how the rural setting would have helped her to conceal her pregnancy. Apart from school, Tricia wouldn’t have come into contact with that many people unless she’d wanted to.
I imagined a skinny teen back then because she had maintained her slender appearance, and with her tiny frame and a few clever clothing choices it would have been easy to conceal her pregnancy. Bradley had told me she socially withdrew after the party, so it made sense how no one knew since she had told me the truth.
Their family homestead of around thirty acres was situated on the outskirts of Hammonton, New Jersey, enough to give her family some status even if the wealth wasn’t there. However, it hadn’t taken much to note there had been many upgrades and changes to the single storey brick house and outbuildings in recent years. There had been a lot of expensive upgrades and I guessed Tricia had probably been behind those.
Her father was just a few months shy of his eightieth birthday, yet like mine, he had no plans to retire. The difference between them was that her father’s work was physically demanding.
As we approached the house her sister, Marnie, ran out to greet us and I only had to look at her to sense her excitement at seeing her sister.
“How long has this been going on?” she asked when she’d released Tricia from her embrace and wagged her finger between us. Tilting her head, she scrutinized me from head to toe. “James, right? From Sawyer and Billie’s wedding.” I was somewhat taken aback that she appeared not to know much about us, but it made sense since Tricia had compartmentalized her home life from everything else.
“A while,” was all she replied, turning to slide her hand into mine for reassurance when I walked around the car hood and stood beside her.
“A while? Hm, sounds serious, Tricia,” she teased, like she was used to her sister not having a partner.
“A year,” I said, amending Tricia’s answer because I had wanted them to understand I was serious about her. I thought Tricia had looked embarrassed to admit we had been together that long and not to have said anything, or perhaps she’d felt afraid to admit what we were aloud in case it fell around her ears.
Marnie eyed me suspiciously for a few long beats then turned back to Tricia. “A year with a guy like him, and you’ve never wanted to boast about it to us?”
Tricia smiled, glanced coyly at me through her lashes, and chuckled softly. She looked younger than her years when she did that. “Maybe I wanted to keep him all to myself.”
“Damn, my little sister is finally smitten.”
“Is there a point to all of this besides embarrassing me?” Tricia asked, the sassy side shining through for the first time since we’d arrived. “Yes, James and I are together. Yes, I love him and no we haven’t set a date. Now we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, what say we go and find Dad?”
Marnie grinned and winked at me like she was confirming she’d gotten a rise out of her sister. “He’s on the patio flipping burgers,” she informed us and rolled her eyes. “Mom is probably ironing the pants she’s wearing. You know what she’s like. As soon as she heard you were bringing someone with you, she went into overdrive. She’s already changed out of the linen dress she had on as it had gotten too creased while she waited for you to get here.”
Both of us chuckled, but my hand tightened protectively around Tricia’s because Marnie’s point about her mom confirmed what Tricia had told me. It would appear her mom hadn’t changed her ways and was as eager to make a good impression to people from outside of their household. My blood boiled that her mom’s flaw had caused her daughter so much distress over time.
When we’d set out for our visit, I had wondered if Tricia would be able to keep her temper together and not be pushed into a situation that may put all the therapeutic work she’d gone through in jeopardy.
However, after hearing Marnie’s remark about their mom, I wondered if I would be able to quell my irritation if her mom tried to belittle Tricia. I had met the family before but briefly around the time of Sawyer and Billie’s wedding. However, being at their family home was my first opportunity to learn who each of them was on a more personable level, and their relationships with Tricia.
We followed Marnie into the house and through to the patio, and I noted she still walked like she was on parade. Tricia smiled and tugged me over toward her father when she saw him and reintroduced me. I warmed to him immediately and thought he and Tricia’s characters where very much alike.
“You remember my husband, Franco?” Marnie asked, gesturing toward a muscular guy with a buzz cut I knew to be a drill sergeant of thirty odd years, according to Tricia. Franco rose from his chair and shook my hand, firmly.
“So you’re the guy who’s tamed my wild sister-in-law,” he joked, swiping the beer bottle he’d placed on the table beside him, retook his seat, and glanced first to me, then toward Tricia.
“Patty isn’t wild, she’s just a very independent girl,” her mom stated stiffly, as she stepped onto the patio looking completely prim and proper. “Elizabeth, but family call me Betty.” Holding her hand out to me she flashed me what I believed was her best winning smile, but in my opinion, it wasn’t a genuine one.
