In Your Arms

Chap. 57: Meeting The OTHER Family (2/2)

(Picture of Katie's cousins)
*Katie's POV*

           "And who are you?" My Papa growls at Chris.
            Chris's hand tightens in mine. His blue eyes narrow and his jaw tightens. Anxiety eats at my stomach.
             "Marco, Darling, this is Katie's novio Chris Eaton." My mama smiles, "Welcome him."
My papa gives her a shocked expression. "You want me to welcome the man whose ruining our innocent baby girl?"
"Papá!" Mama and I hiss at him.
Chris nods and looks down at his feet, putting his hand behind my back. "No, no. It's fine. I understand."
"I bet you do. You probably have a little girl of your own." Papa gets right in Chris's face, anger boiling to the surface. "But I won't let you ruin mine."
"Mr. Morgan, I am madly in love your daughter." Chris stares him dead in the eyes, "And I'm not here for you. I'm here for Katie, to be her emotional support."
Mama quickly jumps between them. "Katie, take Chris in the kitchen and fix him a plate of my famous tamales. Your Papá and I are going to have a talk outside."
"Y-Yes, Ma'am." When my mama is about to give somebody a chewing out, you will know it and I will advise you to get as far away as you can.
I quickly nod, grabbing Chris's wrist. Aunt Carmen is passed out drunk on the couch, of course. Chris laces his fingers with mine, his hands shaking. If there's one thing I've learned about Chris, you don't get in his face or say/do anything to tick him off. I kiss my Baby's muscular bicep sweetly, he puts an arm around my waist. He's still shaking.
"I'm sorry for my behavior, Katie." Chris apologetically says to me, being soft. "I came here for my sweetheart, not for her badmouthing father. I'll apologize to your mother if I get another chance."
I kiss his chest, his warmth seeping through his plaid shirt. He's so gosh darn cute! When we step into the kitchen, I can hear silverware clanging on my mother's red and yellow floral plates in the dinning room. My nerves eat at me. I haven't seen these people in 5 to 6 years! I tell myself to be cool and keep my head held high. THIS used to be MY house. I was raised in THIS house. When my parents decease, THIS will become MY house. The thought makes my tear up. I now own my deceased Aunt Barbára's house and I don't know how I'm going to depart from those memories.
"What are these, Honey?" Chris says in my ear.
"Tamales, Chris." I say with a smile, "These were my favorite growing up. Funny story, my mama is part Spanish and my father is part Italian. They were both heavily influenced by the biggest heritage. So, when the married, my mom made tamales as their first meal as husband and wife. My father refused to eat it because it was NOT Italian. So, my mama put sweet Italian meat inside with even sweeter spaghetti sauce, and WALLA! Tamales have been cooked at least one a week since that day."
Chris smirks. "That's a cute story."
"We're not much," I put two tamales in my plate "but hey, it's home."
Chris kisses my cheek. "It's more than enough."
He fixes him a plate and I put a side dish of mama's Mexican rice beside my sweet Italian beef Spanish tamales. It's a culturally diverse dish, I know. Chris does the same. I can't help but notice that he puts very little on his plate. Why can I already hear Mama order him to eat more and then gripe at me cause I'm not feeding my hombre (man) properly. Pffh, typical Spanish/Italian/Southern mothers. My mom was partly raised in Georgia by my Spanish Grandmama, Claudia, and Mexican-American Grandpapa, Julio Martinez, before moving to Texas. My Grandmama was born and raised in the South while Grandpapa was raised in Mexico by his grandparents before MY grandparents (Spanish Grandma and American Grandfather) took him back to America. It's a lot, I know. It took my until my junior year of high school to actually understand the whole family tree...on my mother's side. On my father's side is a WHOLE new, longer tree.
With one last breath, Chris and I walk into the dinning room. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, of my family is here. They all turn to us when we walk in. They mainly stare behind me at the only other Gringo in the room besides Logan. And Logan looks more Spanish now than he did when he first knocked Carmella up! The only pasty pale person in their entire house is the one standing behind me.
"Hola?" I wince.
"HOLA!" My cousins scream, Paulina, Julio, Javier, Penelope, and Logan stand up and walk over to greet me.
I set my plate down on the table and each give them a hug. When I turn around, they are hugging Chris as well. All but my Aunt Paula and favorite cousin Carmella. I can't help but notice how Paulina lingers her hug with Chris.
"Hola, I'm Paulina." My oldest and sleaziest cousin flirts with my boyfriend, pissing me off. "Are you Aunt Carmen's new amante?"
             Chris looks to me behind Paulina, slowly nodding. "Oh, Paulina."
Burning hot heat rushes to my cheeks. Something plummets to my stomach, I think it's either my heart or my throat. I let go of Javier and Penelope. I cling onto Chris's arm, glaring up at Paulina. My sleazy cousin and I exchange narrowed eyes.
            I give her a cold smile. "Chris, here, is my fiancé. So paws off Cougar!"
The room goes quiet. Everyone looks between Chris and I confused, Chris looks at me even more confused. Paulina scoffs, crossing her arms.
"If your engaged, where's the ring?" Paulina moves only to cause her gigantic, fake bosoms shake in her leopard dress. What a whore!
          Nerves unraveling, I try to think of an answer to shut Paulina down. But everything goes blank. Alarms go off inside me. Paulina gives me a smug look, one that says she's about to call my bluff.
            "It's at the hotel." Chris says beside me, giving me relief. "We wanted to surprise everyone at a better time."
             Paulina rolls her eyes and sits back down next to her mother, Aunt Paula. My Aunt is staring at Chris and I with disapproving eyes and tight maroon lips. I drag Chris along so we can sit next to Carmella and Logan. HOLY CRAPORITO!
             "Carmella! You're—" My eyes pop out of my head at the sight of her round belly.
             "Pregnant? Yeah." Logan winks at me, "I did that."
           Carmella blushes down at her enlarged belly. Excitement fills me and leaves me giddy. Logan rubs her big, round belly happily.
         "What is it? Do you know?" I say excitedly, "Besides that it's a baby."
           Carmella cackles at my humor. Paulina and Aunt Paula roll their eyes at me.
            Logan takes a bite of his tamale. "Its a girl!"
            "Hey Katie," Paulina says snarkily "are you engaging cause a Gringo knocked YOU up?"
             "Hey Paulina, where's Abel? Or is it Luis this week? Tyrone? Your bisexual roommate Diego? Or how about that girl from that parade you posted on Instagram a few months ago—" I say with a Devilish smile, getting under Paulina's skin. "Olivia?"
             "¡Mi hija!" Aunt Paula exclaims harshly at Paulina, her eyes as wide as her big mouth.  
             Paulina gives me a death glare. I can't help but smirk as I cut a corner of one of my tamales. Carmella, Julio, And Javier gives me a smirk smile, slowly nodding to me. We all can't stand Paulina and it's hilarious when she gets in trouble. Chris takes a small bite of his tamale, trying to ignore everybody.
           "So, have you picked out a name yet?" Chris says to Carmella and Logan.
         Suddenly, my parents walk into the dining room. My Papa lingers at the door. From the sight of my mama's red cheeks and my papa's red eyes, he got a HUGE chewing out. I wonder what she said but I wouldn't want to be visible so she wouldn't move from him to me. Chris tenses up beside me. I put my hand on his lap to calm him.
             "Camilla Rose EuBanks." Carmella glows, "Carmen Rose, Carmella Rose, and now Camilla Rose."
             "Beautiful." I say, not meaning it. "I always thought you said you would name your daughter Karen?"
              "Well, maybe the next girl." Carmella cackles her laugh, beaming up at grinning Logan.
             "OH CHRIS!" Mama exclaims loudly, shushing everyone up. "You don't have enough tamales and rice! Here, let me get you some—I made plenty for everyone!"
             Chris starts to argue but I grab his upper thigh tightly. He jumps with blushing red cheeks. Mama takes his plate and walks happily into the kitchen to pile on more than I know Chris can eat. He'll have gained 60 to 70 pounds before we leave for California in 5 days.
            My papa hesitatingly walks over to the opposite side of the dinning room table, sitting at the very end. He and Chris have a stare down.
            "So, how long have you two been—dating?" My papa says coldly.
            "Mmm, Marco! Haven't you heard?  Katie and this man is engaged." Aunt Paula says with a bitter smile.
               My papa gives us a horrified expression. "Oh, really? Where's the ring?"
             "How did you propose...Chris is it?" Carmella asks giggly.
          My cheeks flush red, remembering Chris's steamy shower proposal. I can't help but notice how pink Chris's cheeks are as well.
           "We wanted to surprise everyone at a better time, so it's at the hotel." Chris explains cooly.
              Mama walks in with a huge pile of food on Chris's plate. She sets it in front of Chris, leaving him speechless. I can tell he is not going to be able to eat all of that, or he'll get a tummy ache.
              "So, Chris, how did you meet mi hermosa hija?" Mama says with a bright smile as she sits down next to Papa, "I bet it was romantic!"
              "And you never answered how you proposed, Chris." Papa says coldly, a bitter smile. "I'd love to know when you proposed to mi hija, before or after you violated her."
            "Papa!" I hiss at him angrily.
            "Marco!" Mama smacks him over the head, "Would you like some wine, Chris? Maybe a beer?"
               "No, but thank you Mrs. Morgan." Chris says politely, chuckling to his next sentence "I'm getting too old for beer but still too young for wine."
         "Good, because we hardly drink." Papa says annoyed, "Wouldn't want to inconvenience us."
         "Please continue, Chris." Mama glares at Chris as I do, "I really want to hear about this—ENGAGEMENT?!"
           I chuckle. "Mama!"
           "Well, we met at a club." Chris says slowly, "I thought she was pretty and so I walked up—"
            "—and asked where the bathroom was." I finish his sentence giggling.
            "It was awkward, I can't lie." Chris looks to me, "We has a rough beginning though. The first four dates either started or ended in a mess. On our third date, it took us 30 seconds before I had to take Katie to the hospital. Her chin hit the dinner table and the knife cut her—"
            "Yup." I cut him off quickly. "But it got better. We got better."
             "Well, that's...different?" Mama smiles confused, "How did you propose?"
              Chris and I remain silent. I frantically think of a way out of this conversation. I can't tell my parents that Chris and I were having sex in his shower when he begged me to marry him! Especially not in front of the entire litter of cousins in the room and Aunt Paula.
                   "Chris...was walking me to my apartment after a disastrous date and he just looked up at me and said 'so when are you going to ask me to marry you?' " I say quickly, chuckling nervously.
            "But then I promised to ask again in a more romantic setting." Chris reminds me, "But we haven't had the time for me to be romantic."
              Mama beams at us happily. "Well, I think you're awkwardness and humor is charming Chris. If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?"
             Alarms go off in my head, my heart pounding. They shouldn't but they are. I look to Chris, hoping to not look so embarrassed when I know I shouldn't.
            Chris smirks. "I work at a position for two multibillion dollar companies that helps feed starving children and their families and also builds the homeless homes and helps them get jobs to support themselves or their families."
        Mama gushes. "How wonderful! Those are some of the biggest problems in America today."
               Papa rolls his eyes, grunting. "What's these companies names? Are they real? Or are they blood sucking vampires like the rest of those fake companies that want tax payers bottom dollar?"
         My mouth gaps open at how rude my Papa is being. I rush red with embarrassment, tears surfacing. I can't even look to Chris, I'm so embarrassed!
       "Tell me—Chris, is it? Yeah, tell me what you do for this company. Do you call and ask for money? Try to convince suckers that your saving lives?" Papa says crudely, "Or do you take out the trash? I did that too before I became a successful carpenter with a successful reconstruction business. I didn't even need a worthless degree in whatever your boss is in."
            I slowly look to Chris, whose quiet. He slowly chews on the tamales, cooly shrugging. I want to apologize to him for my father's disrespectful behavior. Slowly, I put my trembling hand on Chris's knee.
           "It's called The Starving Children's Program and Homes For The Homeless, both run and funded by Christopher Eaton Enterprises. The companies has helped over 40 hundred families so far but we're hoping to increase that number." Chris says cooly, cracking a small smirk "And what do I do? I write checks, arrange and host events to fund both companies, I have helped build a few houses, I monitor the workers so they DON'T cheat the system like they do in other companies—I guess you could say I'm a very active FOUNDER, PRESIDENT, and CEO of both real, life-changing companies with nothing much but a couple business degrees in Non-Profit Organizations and Human Resources."

I don't know if you can actually get a degree on those things but the internet is telling me NOTHING!