Mollywood (23 page)

It wasn’t until dessert was served that I started to relax. After multiple awkward introductions, I was ready to no longer be the focus of attention. I could feel James’ judging eyes on my body art, and it wasn’t long before I borrowed a light sweater from Tamryn under the guise of being chilly. In reality, I was boiling, but I just wanted Joe’s parents to like me and everyone to get along.

It turns out I had nothing to worry about on that front. Granny and James hit it off immediately. As soon as they were introduced, she beamed at him like a groupie, “James Jensen! I had no idea Joe was your son! I should have seen the resemblance. I voted for you. I probably would have anyhow, since you were a republican. But let me tell you somethin’: you were the best looking one of the bunch!”

I blinked at Joe in horror, and he simply snorted. I glanced around and was relieved to see that his mother was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, James seemed flattered by her proclamation and the two of them fell into conversation about foreign policy, immigration, and impeaching the president.

Thankfully, no one complained about dinner, even though Tamryn decided against a traditional Thanksgiving. Tamryn excelled at playing hostess, and she picked the perfect menu to please all ages and walks of life. What can I say? We’re from the south and fried chicken done well is a crowd pleaser. Following it up with peach cobbler and real whipped cream was a slam dunk.

“Tamryn, you throw one mean party, sugar.” Granny H. praised over her second helping of cobbler.

“Why thank you, Miss Elizabeth.” Tamryn grinned, topping off Granny’s cup of coffee.

“Joe, can you come help me with something in the study?” His mother called. Joe looked up from his conversation with my brother and nodded. He clapped Mason on the back, picked up his glass, and followed his mother out of the room. I noticed Tamryn dart out after them, and glanced at Robin. My sister in law’s eyebrows smacked into her hairline so I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought they were an odd bunch.

Curiosity gnawed at me, and after of few minutes I wandered in the direction of the study. I was a few feet away when Robbie intercepted me.

“Hey, Molly. Are you ready to run off to Galveston?” He asked, and I smiled.

“I really appreciate you helping me out, Robbie.” I responded. His dimples appeared as he smiled shyly. “I’m pretty lucky to have an Intellectual Property Expert on speed dial.”

“It’s your concept and recipes they want.” He shrugged. “You need to be compensated accordingly. You have one shot at this. It’s vital that no matter what the offer is that you don’t agree to anything before we talk. I want to make sure that we get the best deal we can.”

“I’ll call you if he makes an offer.” I nodded. Normally, I’d have cringed at the thought of negotiating with Dan’s brother, and taken any halfway decent proposal he made as long as he promised me quality control. I had a rep to protect, after all. But now I had my babies to think about. The phrase ‘financial security’ had a much louder ring to it these days.

“Be sure to email me any paperwork he asks you to sign. Make no promises until you hear back from me. Deal?” Robbie’s voice was firm, and his eyes narrowed. It was a side of him I’d never witnessed, and I had mad respect for this bold new Robbie.

He pulled a bottle of wine from the massive wall rack housed in the entryway we were currently standing in. He held it up as if toasting me and I gave him a thumbs up. I turned back in the direction of the study just as the door swung open and Tamryn and her mother came out giggling. They both froze when they saw me, and exchanged a knowing glance. Joe appeared a few moments later, his face pasty and pale. When he saw me, he practically flinched. That was a bit of a blow to the ego.

“Baby?” I stammered, truly disturbed by the look he wore. I hadn’t seen him look so troubled since the night he showed up on my doorstep the year before, covered in grass stains and damp with tears. “Are you alright?”

His only response was a curt nod. He looked nervous, and a little irritated. I reached out for him, but he didn’t seem to notice as he headed back into the kitchen.

I trailed after him and he took a seat by Mason at the bar. All the kids had apparently sweet talked my mom, Robbie and Robin into taking them back out to swim some more, because the kitchen was blissfully quiet. I decided it was time to grab some dessert. I’d dished it up for all of the kids, but hadn’t had a chance to taste it, and nothing relieves my tension like a bowl full of sugar.

“Careful of that sweet tooth, Molly.” Granny called from her seat at the table. “You’re already too big and you’re only halfway into this business. It’s not like Joe’s got a ring on his finger. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a fat ass and lose that fine man. “

Mac’s laughter rang across the room and Mason joined in. I felt the blood rush to my face as I fought back the words that wanted to spill out of my mouth. Fighting with Granny was a no win situation, a bit like pissing into an industrial fan. Ever since I was little, the only thing I had been able to hope for was to distract her. This was not the first time her well-meaning advice left me emotionally battered and bruised. But something had changed that she hadn’t calculated into her lesson plans. Joe.

The sharp scrape of a bar stool on the hard wood floor sounded like fingernails down a chalkboard. It snapped everyone’s attention to Joe, who rose to his feet. No, that’s not quite right. He came up out of his seat like a monster stepping into the room. Somehow the anger radiating off of him made him seem bigger, almost superhuman. Red flushed his face, and when he spoke I expected to hear him yell. Angry Joe had a commanding presence that made even the strongest person present quail. When he opened his mouth though, the calm and measured delivery of his words was somehow far more frightening than if he had yelled.

“I’m sorry Elizabeth…what did you just say to Molly?” I had never heard Joe use Granny’s given name. The wide eyed, startled way that she gawked at him would have been priceless in any other circumstance. Mac and Mason both rose reflexively and took a step to place themselves between Joe and Granny.

“Joe,” I sat down my untouched bowl and started to tell him to leave it alone, but he chopped his hand down in the air, as if directing a symphony. I felt my stomach give a flip flop as my jaw clicked shut. Joe had never made a gesture like that to me before, and it was as much out of surprise as the force of his gesture that made me slump back against the counter.

Well, you did say you wanted him to stop bottling things up.

Joe’s fixed gaze never left Granny and I saw fire flash in her eyes.

“I told her that if she was
smart
she’d worry about marrying before those babies get here and less about dessert.” Joe gave a humorless grin and shook his head.

“That’s not quite right. I believe you said that if she wasn’t careful her fat ass would cost her a fine man.” Dead silence reigned as Granny squirmed under Joe’s heated glare.

Tamryn looked from Joe to Granny and then reluctantly stepped forward.

“Joe, is this really the time? Molly’s grandmother was just trying to help.” Whipping his head around in her direction, Joe glared at Tamryn. She actually took a couple steps back from him.

“Really, Tamz?” His tone hadn’t changed and the chillingly calm way that he was speaking made my skin crawl. It was like watching a volcano smoking silently right before it erupts. “Trying to help.”

Each word was annunciated distinctly and Tamryn took another step back. Joe turned his entire body in her direction, and this maneuver had a decidedly aggressive feel to it. I felt my pulse racing, and couldn’t decide what to do or say. He spoke again, and she actually shrank back at his words. “Kind of like
you’ve
been trying to help?”

“Joe,” his father called from the far end of the room, his voice as commanding as his son’s. “Can we step outside and talk?”

“Dad, you really don’t want to join this conversation right now. Things are about to get unpleasant. Shouldn’t you and mom scurry off to Florida about now?” His parents both reacted like he’d just slapped them across the face. His mother had tears welling in her eyes, but Joe turned away from them as if they didn’t exist.

“Joe, that’s enough!” Tamryn had recovered her footing and crossed to him, standing directly in Joe’s face. It was a comical sight, seeing her facing off against her gargantuan brother. Like a Chihuahua standing up to a St. Bernard. “I realize you’re under a lot of stress with everything going on, but you are way out of line.”

“Am I?” His head tilted slightly, and a malicious smile crept onto his face. “I can never tell. You know, with everyone giving me unsolicited advice on marriage, childbirth and how to run my life, I guess it’s hard for me to figure out where the line is. After all, everyone else seems to be able to say whatever the hell they want. You lecture me on how I should have a house by now when it’s about the biggest, most important purchase we’ll ever make. Granny says all sorts of awful shit to my girl…her own flesh and blood. She should be supportive to her but instead she gives her nothing but hell. It’s no wonder Molly ran off to school and didn’t come back for a decade.”

My mouth fell open and I gawked at Joe as if he’d just sprouted a tail. Evidently he’d bottled up his feelings for so long that the pressure had finally popped his cork.

“Now just a damn minute, boy!” Granny slowly rose from her chair and shook a gnarled, bony finger at Joe. “This little girl is the light of my life! I may not always do the best job of showing it, but the only reason I’m hard on her is that I want her to have a better time of it than I did.” The admission shocked me as much as anyone in the room. I never thought that Granny hated me, but I never would have considered myself all that important to her.

“You do a piss
poor job
of showing it.” Joe snapped. “I always envied my friends who got to know their grandparents. Now I think maybe I should count my blessings.”

Gran flopped down in her chair as if he’d kicked her in the chest. Actual fucking tears were swimming in her eyes. Mason and Mac stepped forward like two sides of the same wind-up toy.

“Hey! You can’t talk to Gran like that,” Mason scoffed.

“Where the hell do you get off talking to Granny like that?” Mac rasped out at the same time, their words tumbling over each other. Joe turned on both of them, seemingly unimpressed. Both twins stopped mid step as he unflinchingly met their gaze.

“You,” he spat, pointing to Mason’s hat. “Either get hair plugs or shave your head. You look ridiculous. And you…”

He turned to Mac. “Shit or get off the pot. If you like that girl, you should tell her. God knows you aren't getting any younger. And like it or not, your Grandmother is talking shit to the woman I love. No one does that...
no one
, without answering to me. Got it?”

I was shocked when both of them looked at each other, then at Gran and nodded. They moved back toward Gran’s chair but didn’t move to comfort her. They just stood uncertainly. Men…

Tamryn shoved Joe hard and he took a small step back. “All right. That’s it. Get out front. The girls are out back swimming and I don’t want them exposed to you right now. Are you drunk?”

Joe shook his head and gave a humorless laugh. “I haven’t touched a drop. Maybe if I was, I would be able to put up with all of this better.”

Tamryn shot him a withering look that made me cringe. It seemed to roll off of him like water.

“Oh, because it is just so damn taxing to get together and spend time with family. Jesus wept, Joe. What exactly is your damn problem?”

“You want just the highlights? Hmm….let’s see. For starters, you regularly wake me up at 3 A.M. with a fucking text about the ideal house for us, all under the guise of ‘helping’. Then mom and dad show up to play the perfect parents and expect me to totally disregard the shit shaft they have given me over the last few years.” His voice caught just a tad and he took a deep breath before continuing. “Like they didn’t abandon me when I needed them the most. And on top of all that I’ve got this beautiful pain in the ass who’s the love of my life. She helped pull me out of hell and just when it looks like we might get to be happy, we accidentally get pregnant and she doesn’t want to marry me. She’s high risk and I’m terrified that I am going to lose her one way or another.”

It was more truth than I had heard out of Joe in months. His raw honesty was one of the things I loved most about the man. Seeing the pain flash across his face as he spoke nearly brought me to my knees. It was obvious to me that this was what he’d been holding in since we found out we were pregnant. I hadn’t realized how much my response had wounded him, even though I stood behind my rationale for not jumping into a wedding on the heels of the babies.

Pushing myself away from the counter, I crossed the room and put my hand on his shoulder. Turning him toward me, I cupped his jaw in my hand, forcing him to look into my eyes. For the first time since his tirade began, I saw him look unsure…hesitant.

I pulled him into a hug and held him. I felt his tension melting, and his musky scent fired my imagination. I was tempted to ditch them all and drag him away to bed. An urgent need simmered within me, spurred on by the decisive way he’d stepped forward in my defense. But now wasn’t the time. Instead we needed to deal with the elephant my lovely man had just dropped into the center of the room. Intertwining my fingers with Joe’s, I turned to face our combined family. Before I could say a word, Joe stepped in front of me and spoke once more.

“Molly’s mine. I don’t care if we’re married or not. She’s mine and I’m hers. I will not stand for anything less than each of you being respectful to her. Now y’all can be as pissed at me as you want. I can take it. But each and every one of you is going to make sure this little girl has the least amount of stress possible for the next few months. Or you can say goodbye until after the babies are born. Any questions?”