Tio leans back in his chair and pats his swollen stomach. "Sorry, mijo. We couldn't wait any longer."
Marie looks up at us with a scowl. "What took you so long?"
Marie is a few years older than me. She's, pretty, with large chestnut eyes slightly tapered and thick, wavy hair cut in a bob just below her chin. It always seems like she's in a pissed off mood. I don't know if she's normally a bitch or if she doesn't like me. Either way, she makes me uncomfortable, but since she'll be my family soon, I guess I'll need to learn to put up with her.
"I had to finish the timesheets." Andrés groans as he rolls his eyes at his cousin.
She answers with another sneer. Then she focuses her eyes on me, and I shift uncomfortably while she gives me the once-over before looking away.
Okay, she definitely doesn't like me. What the hell did I ever do to her?
"You're piling too much work on him." Tia arches a trimmed brow and then points a fork at Tio across the table. I like Andrés's aunt, whom he affectionately calls Tia. Andrés told me she has had some plastic surgery, but nothing I'd call excessive. Just a little tightening around the eyes and mouth. She looks to be in her early forties though she's almost sixty, and she carries herself like a confident woman. She raised four boys mostly by herself while Tio worked late hours, and her love for her boys is obvious. I hope I can be half the woman and mother she is.
"What are you talking about?" Tio shrugs before taking a swig of his longneck beer. "He took all morning off."
I have to remind myself to keep my tongue in my mouth as Tio swallows the cool beverage. No more beer for me for at least another eight months.
"Slacker."Marie laughs as she reaches across the table and stabs a steak with her fork.
I try not to get upset when I see she's taken the last steak off the platter, and she's already got a clean T-bone on her plate. I settle my hand over my hollow stomach as it growls in protest. I could have so gone for a steak right now.
Andrés squeezes my hand and leads me to the end of the table, next to Tia and across from the bitch cousin.
"He had to go to that military shrink," Tio says loudly and then belches into his fist.
I tense as I look up at Andrés. I think I feel his hand shake before he tightens his grip.
"Andrés, what's wrong?" Tia gasps as she drops her silverware onto her plate. "Are the nightmares back?"
Just when I think Andrés is about to crush my fingers, he releases my hand and pulls out a chair for me. "It's nothing, Tia," he mumbles.
"Christina." Tia looks at me with fear in her wide eyes. "Is he having the nightmares again?"
Andrés stands behind me and settles his hand on my shoulder. I look up at him and place my hand over his.
Tia screeches so loud I think she's ruptured my eardrums. "Omgiod! The ring!" She squeals as she jumps from her seat. "She's wearing the ring!"
She throws herself into Andrés's arms, jumping up and down as she squeezes him to her chest.
My chair is pulled back as Tio pulls me up for a hug. Before I know it, the rest of his family is hugging me, too. By the time Tia grabs me in a vice grip, her eyes are red and swollen from crying. After several more tearful congrats, Andrés and I sit down.
Marie gapes at us from across the table. "My cousin's getting married," she says in a monotone, cold and devoid of emotion, before she stabs her meat with a knife.
Andrés doesn't seem to be phased by her reaction as he scoops some enchiladas onto my plate.
"Have you set a date?" Tia pops open a bottle of champagne and fills our goblets to the top.
I warily eye Andrés as he smirks at me and pushes my goblet to the side. He hands me a glass of ice water.
"We think February first but we're not sure yet." Andrés piles my plate with guacamole and sour cream. My mouth waters at the heaping chunks of avocado and tomato. Andrés knows how much I love toppings.
"Why so soon?" Tio asks with a note of accusation in his voice.
I feel my face flush ten shades of red as I avert my gaze and reach for my water.
Andrés clears his throat as if to speak, but when I look over at him, he's got this deer-in-the-headlights expression I've never seen before.
"We were going to wait until spring, but we've had to adjust our plans." His voice cracks at that last part, and I am embarrassed for him. For us. I fight the urge to crawl under the table.
I knew telling his family I was pregnant wasn't going to be easy. I never planned for it to be this uncomfortable.
Tia clears her throat loudly, waving her champagne glass in the air. "The sooner the better. I've been bugging them to get married, anyway." She winks at both of us.