Cousins: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance(20)

"This baby looks like me." I yell downstairs so that Juliette can hear me.

"Yes. I know." She smiles as she suddenly appears at the doorway of my new bedroom. "You were about six months old there. I loved that age. You were just learning how to sit up on your own and you smiled a lot. So sweet."

"Did you see me a lot when I was a baby?" I ask with surprise.

"Yes," she says in a pained voice. "Before I married your uncle."

"Where were we in this picture?" It doesn't look like her house or even this neighborhood.

"I was visiting a farm in Bucks County about thirty minutes from your house. Some crazy friends of mine bought a farm out there after they got married. They wanted to raise sheep or something. Needless to say that didn't work out." She chuckles.

"You took me to the farm by yourself?"

"I wanted you to get some fresh air and give your parents a break."

"Was I a difficult baby?" I remember my mom mentioning once or twice that I was colicky.

"Not at all. They were new parents and a bit older. They just needed some down time. I'm not sure if you know this, but your mother and I were really close once upon a time. She even did my hair and makeup for my prom."

Really?

"Well what happened between you and Dad?" It's the elephant in the room. I have to ask.

I place the frame back down and start unpacking my things to keep busy, while she contemplates how much of the truth she is going to tell me.

"Does he ever talk about me?"

I notice a small quiver in her voice. I think this may be a bad topic choice for my first hour in my new home. Is she going to cry? Please no.

"No not really, but to be fair, I never ask him about you."

"Well it's nothing earth shattering. No big family secret. It's just something that happens in families all the time I guess. Your father and I were once very close. Much of that changed when I met your uncle."

"Where is Uncle Joseph?" And what does he have to do with their rift I wonder.

"He's working in his office where he always is."

She quickly changes the subject. "So let's find you something to wear for tonight."

"Tonight?"

"The dinner I'm having for Joseph's birthday. You didn't forget did you?"

Actually I did. "Oh I didn't know if that was definitely happening."

"Yes it is. I hope that's not a problem."

"Absolutely not." I try to sound convincing.

"What do you like? Chicken, steak or fish?"

"I'm flexible. Anything is fine."

"I'm going to have all three entrees available then." Juliette whips out a cell phone the size of my head and swiftly types some sort of note to herself. Probably about the menu.

"I didn't want to overwhelm you your first day here," she continues. "But I've been planning this dinner for months."

"It's fine Auntie. Really. So what time is this party?" I ask with faux enthusiasm.

"It starts at seven tonight at one of my favorite restaurants," she smiles. "Just a few family and friends."

I pray that Roman won't be there. While I know it's been a hundred years, and we were just kids, my aunt is right. I've been known to hold a grudge. Plus I heard that the kid has only grown worse with age. I think he even did jail time. At least that's what I overheard my father saying.

"What should I wear?"

I'd always assumed that one of the issues between my aunt and my dad had something to do with money. My parents did well, but Juliette and my uncle are loaded, and I think my dad may have a problem with it. My father comes from a long line of Philadelphia lawyers, but he is the rebel in the family. Something about not selling out his soul to the establishment, blah, blah, blah.

My father's grandfather, father, and two brothers are all lawyers. Even Aunt Juliette graduated Villanova with a law degree, although to my knowledge she has never used it. But my father ditched law school to become our township's sole courthouse bailiff, where he works everyday, never calls out sick, and gets an occasional thrill stopping local families from getting into fist fights. He loves it, but it isn't exactly what my grandparents consider a profession. To them it is just a mediocre job at best, and I'm sure their disapproval has never set well with my father. No child wants to disappoint their parents.

I'm not exactly sure what Uncle Joseph does, I just know that he owns his own company and makes a shit load of money. So I'm thinking that maybe my dad and aunt were once close, and when she married my uncle, she for lack of a better term, "sold out." I don't know. Maybe dad just doesn't like him and there is no real reason. I never cared enough in the past to find out the whole story. It wasn't an issue. We never saw them, and I only spoke to Aunt Juliette at Christmas and on birthdays. Maybe I'll find out the real story now that I live here.