“Let me get a picture of the two of you,” his mom Ana called, coming down from the house. “You’ll want to remember this time.” I wiped off my face on my t-shirt and we stood obediently, César with a smile that was brighter than the Florida sun, still carefully cupping my tummy.
His dad had made a big lunch and we all sat on his sister’s patio to eat, the beautiful ocean rolling in as our backdrop. His mom and grandma had a lot of questions for me and I did my best to appear like a sensible, stable, non-gold-digging woman. Neither César’s dad nor his sister talked very much, and Valeria appeared to be taking some notes on what I said. The two of them reminded me a lot of being at work, actually—their level of unhappiness with me was very similar to Euna’s. I redoubled my efforts to be friendly and charming, but they never softened.
“César, ven,” his dad told him after lunch. They both stood and César trailed his hand across the back of my neck as he headed toward the beach. I grasped at his fingers, not at all happy that he was going off to get yelled at and that I was going to be left here, with his disapproving sister and mom and grandma who approved way too much.
“Let me help clean up,” I said, and stood, but everyone said no.
“Now that they’re gone, we want to hear more about you!” his mom said, her eyes sparkling. “The good stuff!”
I warily resumed my chair, feeling like I had already said more than enough, but no. They had a lot more to talk about, and now César’s sister joined in. Their questions, in English and Spanish, were even more detailed than César’s old questionnaire. It didn’t help that they were all so smart, that Valeria was a trial lawyer, and that César’s abuela Miriam had been a police detective. I was dead in the water. They wanted more about my family, my job, my education, my politics, my everything. Especially more about me and César, and I deflected, deflected, deflected.
“Is your sister very excited? My son said that you had a sister,” Ana said, smiling.
“I haven’t mentioned it to her. Not yet.” Ellie and I had been talking some, about her job and her marriage, about dumb stuff, and about everything I could think of besides César and my expanding stomach.
Ana translated for Miriam and then translated a question for me. “Oh, you’re not very close with your sister?”
“We are…we were. We’ve had some family, uh, upheaval,” I tried to explain. I saw Valeria frowning as she tapped away at her phone as I answered. It seemed like Ana and Miriam were curious and interested, but Valeria was clearly pissed about me and my situation with her brother.
Now she looked up from her phone, glaring. “How long had you and César been dating before you got pregnant?” she asked me.
“Valeria—” her mom interjected, but Valeria had already hit me with a follow-up.
“We had never heard about you, so it couldn’t have been very long. Were you not aware of the common, inexpensive, and readily-attainable methods of birth control?”
“I’m very aware of birth control, thank you,” I told her coolly. “I’m assuming you plan to ask your brother that as well? He was also involved here.” I gestured to my stomach.
She ignored that. “So, you are familiar with how to prevent pregnancy? Are you also familiar with my brother’s salary, his income from endorsements, and his net worth?”
I stood up, as did Ana. She grabbed her daughter’s arm and started on a string of Spanish which my lessons hadn’t prepared me for. I left them to it, more than happy to leave Valeria’s house and sit outside on the beach. I flung myself down on a lounge chair and simmered. This was one of the many reasons why it was better to stay away from families. Things like this never worked.
César and his dad came up the sand a long while later. His father said hello to me but went immediately into the house. César looked after him, then picked up the end of my heavy wood chair and dragged it and me into the shade of a palm tree. “There. You’re going to burn if you stay in the sun.” He sat down on the foot of the cushion and put his face into his hand.
“That bad?” I asked, sitting up and scooting closer.
“That bad,” he echoed. “Calmer, but so disappointed. I mean, I am in myself, as well, but he went into it quite a bit. Be prepared for some questions from him tonight over dinner.”
“Oh, great,” I said, and threw myself back against the cushions. “Great, because I didn’t get enough from your sister. Love her, by the way. We’re going to have a sleepover and do each other’s hair.”
“What did Valeria say to you?” he asked angrily.
“What do you think she said?” I retorted, just as mad. “She thinks the same things your dad does.”
“No.” He scooted up the chair and stretched out next to me. It was really not made for two, especially if one was as big as he was, so we were very close. “My dad isn’t mad at you, only me. He mentioned that he liked you at lunch.”
“So he shows his approval with glares and silence?”
“If that were true, I’d be the on the top of his favorite child list.” César
