Paul gave Nita a murderous look. “I’m genuinely disturbed for the family.”
Nita and Tally’s gazes met. Nita rolled her eyes and Tally sighed.
“Why are you disturbed, Paul? I see no reason to be worried,” Grandma Kate said.
“With all due respect, Kate, your granddaughter is making a spectacle of herself with these two men she’s brought to the wedding.” He huffed.
Connor let loose a soft growl and Paul took a step back.
“Why are her dates any of your concern?”
“I’m worried for you, madam,” he stated. “I would not like to see your good name and that of your family spoken of poorly due to Tally’s sexual deviance.”
“My what!” Tally screeched. She’d kill him. The jerk had actually had the guts to talk shit about her in the middle of a packed dance floor.
“You heard me!” Paul threw back loudly. The music stopped and everyone listened to the argument. “You’re sleeping around from one guy to another but that’s not enough for you, is it? You have to bring them to a family event. To show the rest of polite society what kind of life you lead.”
Tally lifted a hand to slap him, but Connor was quicker. He grabbed her arms and pulled her back. “He’s not worth it.”
“Let her hit me,” Paul instigated. “I’ll have her arrested for assault.”
“You asshole!” Nita hissed. “You think we’d take you over Tally?”
Paul turned to Grandma Kate. “I’m sorry to say this, but your granddaughter is a whore!”
The crowd gasped. Grandma Kate took a step closer to Paul, raised her sixty-five year old hand and slapped him so hard it resonated around the hall.
“You listen and you listen to me well,” Kate said softly. “This is my family. Talia is my granddaughter. You’re nothing. Get out of here before I find my cane and shove it up your uptight ass.”
Paul’s wide eyes and shocked face was one look Tally would never forget.
“I—”
“Get out!” Kate yelled. “I’m too old to put up with crap. Others might have let your assholery slide, but I won’t. I don’t want to see your face at any other family functions, or believe me, my cane will find a new home up your ass.” She turned to Tally’s uncle. “Get him out of here.”
Tally’s uncle nodded. “Whatever you say, mom.”
Connor released Tally. She started to move away from the dance floor when her grandmother stopped her.
“Talia, come here, please.”
Tally turned back to Grandma Kate and stopped next to her. Kate grabbed Tally’s hand in her own and glanced around the hall. “This is my granddaughter. She’d had a poor excuse for parents, but she’s got me.”
“She’s got us too,” Theron yelled.
“And me,” Nita added.
Kate nodded. “So if anyone here says anything about my Tally, they’ll be seeing a side of me anyone rarely sees. She’s not alone.”
Tally’s eyes filled with tears. She never needed anyone to protect her or stand up for her. But there she was, surrounded by her grandmother, Connor and Theron and Nita, all showing her how truly special she was.
“Put the music back,” Kate said to the DJ. “We’re not done dancing over here.”
* * *
Tally giggled again. “Theron if you keep pressing that same spot I’m not going to stop squirming.”
He lifted her foot to his face. “What spot? These feet are so tiny.”
She giggled again. His attempt at a foot massage had started well, but had turned into a tickle Tally session. She laid on the sofa, her torso on Connor’s lap and her feet on Theron.
“My feet are not tiny. You better stop saying that.”
“They really are,” Connor agreed, brushing curls away from her face.
“Are you two blind? Didn’t you see how swollen they are?” She glanced into Connor’s laughing eyes.
“You decided to dance the night away.”
She groaned. “I know, but how could I dance so much with you and then not with Theron?”
Theron snorted. “I was more than happy to watch you dance. I told you that.”
She shook her head, watching him rub circles over her ankles. “I felt guilty. I want you both to feel my time is spread evenly with you.”
“Tally, we don’t suffer from insecurities. We’re united, not competing,” Theron replied.
If only she could remember that. Most of the time she was too worried about not making one feel less wanted than the other that she sometimes overdid it.
“I had fun tonight,” she said. Thinking back to all the family events of the past, none came close to her cousin’s wedding.