“And trying to buy off Aly’s affection for your grandson by an arranged marriage? What fraking century are you living in? Hunter is mine now, and nothing you do or say is going to change that. Matty’s mine, too. And if you ever want to see your grandson again, you better change your attitude, or you’re going to be one lonely bitch for the rest of your miserable life.”
Crickets.
Then, “Bad word! Sera, said a bad word!” Matty jumps up and down at my side, doing a little dance for the quarter he’s going to get later. God, I love this kid.
The Duchess stares at Hunter, and I feel him draw himself up to his full height. And a considerable height it is. “Are you going to let her talk to your mother that way?”
“Fuck that. I know Matty, just gimme a second.” The kid’s victory dance stops immediately at his Dad’s tone. “You cut me out of your will. I’m alone, just like I’ve been since I was diagnosed. And that’s fine, Mom. You made your choice, and now I’m making mine. You’ll never see us again.”
Hunter tugs on my shoulders, and we’re headed outside, Matty unusually quiet. Just in time to be stopped by Aly’s she-claws wrapped around my man’s bicep.
I’ve been possessed by Xena: Warrior Princess ‘cause I’m pulling out of Hunter’s arm around my shoulders and letting go of Matty’s hand and stalking towards her. I don’t care if she’s got three inches of height on me and two cup sizes in the boob department – I will knock her the fuck out.
“Let go of him. Now.”
Aly sneers at me, turning her pretty features and twisting them into something ugly. She now looks like a harpy. “Bitch, what makes you think a man like that would want you when he can have me?”
I can’t answer. I’ve asked myself these kinds of questions many, many times. The truth is, the doubt will always be there, and I’ll need my bestie to talk me off that ledge when I need it. It’s going to take time, to be fully confident in myself, but I’ve already starting believing Hunter and what he feels for me is real.
Now I’m actually living, all thanks to the big bastard next door whose sugar dropped that day and I had to drive him to the hospital. Hunter MacLaine hasn’t erased all my doubts and fears, but he’s made the voices quieter, and if they sneak in and whisper in my ear, I know Hunter will be there to kiss them away.
So I do the thing that seems to be my back-up plan when people say mean things to me. I let my right fist fly forward and impact with her nose with a nice crunch.
“You fucking bitch!” Aly shrieks, covering her nose with her hands, but blood still seeps through her fingers. A hundred points to Gryffindor!
“Come near my family again, and I’ll make sure a broken nose is the least of your worries. You get me?” I’ve never heard myself sound like this before, so menacing and dangerous. My inner badass isn’t so inner anymore. Yes.
“You fucking whore! I’m going to fucking kill you!” I ignore her, and wiggle my fingers once I turn back to Matty. The kid gets it, placing his hand in mine, and I tow him down the stairs, Hunter behind us.
I strap Matty in his car-seat and get a sloppy kiss on my cheek. When I close his door, Hunter hauls me back into his body. Matty’s head swivels toward us, looking through the window.
“That was fucking awesome. A little more practice and you’ll have a meaner right hook than Rocky Balboa,” he laughs in my ear.
“I’m more badass than Rocky Balboa any day of the week.”
Hunter laughs and lets me go, only to open my door for me. “Yeah, baby. You are.”
We’re at Tripoli again, and I’m popping back calamari like this is the last squid mankind will ever find in the ocean. Hunter checks his sugar discreetly under the table, and I watch out of my periphery as his glucometer lights up and starts its five second countdown. I pass Hunter a napkin to wipe the blood off his finger, and I get a smile in return.
We both wait for the number to be displayed, and I lean in and kiss his cheek when he’s at a ten. Matty runs to us from the dance-floor having danced his little bon-bon off with Katie who’s taken off her stilettos to twist and shout with him. His cheeks are flushed red, and if I didn’t know any better, I think he just told Katie that he’s going to marry her when he gets to the age of seven (which is big to a little guy of almost-five). I watched him painstakingly wrap a napkin into a ring and place it on the correct finger - to his mind, a done deal.
Josh and Tommy are trailing behind the line of shoulder-to-shoulder dancing where Alex and Eli are leading, doing the zorba and trying to keep up with the increasing beats. I expect total meltdown in three point six seconds. Teresa joins in, her huge wedding gown getting caught between everyone’s legs as the group goes round and round in time with the music.