“Into the lion’s den we go?” she murmured playfully.
“Good God, I hope not. But if the claws are out, you can handle it. That’s for damn sure.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nina
I wasn’t sure I had ever been so nervous as when I followed Matthew, his five sisters, and his grandmother into the ramshackle house just a few blocks from the church. Not when I told Grandmother I was getting married. Or when I was pregnant with Olivia. Not even when I prepared to ask Calvin for a divorce.
In that moment, nothing was more terrifying than facing that formidable clan of women who loved Matthew more than anything. I could only cling to the fact that we had that in common. I was fairly certain it was the reason why I was being invited to their home in the first place.
I wasn’t sure what had happened in the church, exactly. One moment Matthew and I were being attacked by his sisters, and the next, I was ready to rip a stranger’s eyes out just for looking at Matthew wrong. I did know that my beloved walked with a renewed bounce in his step all the way to his grandmother’s house, and I was somehow buoyed by the exchange as well. For the first time, it felt as though we were really and truly a team of sorts. Or at least on the way to becoming one.
And I liked it very much.
I understood his family’s concerns. From their perspective, I was just another girl, like Sherry, who had already broken their beloved Matthew’s heart. But I wasn’t. More than anything, I wanted to protect and love him, just like they did. Maybe, if it were possible, even more.
I just had to prove it.
“Where are the children?” I wondered as Matthew took my coat and hung it on the rack near the door amidst the shuffle of his sisters shucking their own coats. The last time I had been here, the sounds of children’s feet running up and down the stairs had sounded like hail on a tin roof.
“Mike took them back to our house,” Lea said shortly. “So we wouldn’t be interrupted.”
She didn’t wait for my response, just followed her grandmother and the rest of her sisters into the dining room at the end of the narrow hall that ran the length of the house.
Matthew hung his hat and jacket alongside mine, then dropped a kiss on my cheek.
“It’ll be fine,” he told me. “Once they get over the shock, they’ll be pussycats, I promise.”
“If they get over it,” I grumbled.
But my beautiful man could only grin. “We’re here, aren’t we? Baby steps, beautiful. We’ll take them together.”
He took my hand and guided me to the back of the house. The lightness I had detected outside of the church only seemed to persist the closer we came to his grandmother’s home. Similar to when he had kissed me on the street in Florence, it was clear that Matthew was thrilled to be open with his family about his life. About me.
I took it as the compliment it was.
“Can I help with anything?” I asked Lea as I found her walking into the kitchen with a large empty platter.
The last time I was here, Lea had been enormously pregnant. Now she was as petite as her grandmother, but more solid somehow, with her sleeves rolled up and her hair pulled back in the no-nonsense bun of an infant’s mother.
Her mouth tightened. “No, that’s fine. We’re just putting some antipasti together. And then we can all…talk.”
Matthew tugged me over to the table, where we took our seats as his other sisters remained clustered near the back window, talking amongst themselves. Frankie turned and faced us.
“Thanks for ratting me out, by the way,” Matthew said, as if he were talking about spilled milk. “It’s not like I would have wanted to talk to them myself about losing my job, Frankie.”
“I don’t know, would you?” Frankie said. “You’re about as proud as it gets, Mattie. It took you weeks to even tell me when you started taking shifts at Envy last fall.”
He scowled. “Still. How would you like it if I dropped the bomb that you ran into Xavier a few months back and didn’t tell anyone, huh?”
“Xavier?” Kate’s head popped out of the kitchen as she shuffled in carrying several wineglasses, followed by Lea with a tray of appetizers.
“Thanks a lot,” Frankie said.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Joni broke in. “Isn’t Sofia’s dad named Xavier?”
“Brilliant,” Marie said. “She really cracked it this time!”
“Shut up, Marie,” Joni snapped.
“It’s really none of your business,” Frankie informed all of them.
The other four immediately burst into argument.
“Jesus Christ,” Matthew muttered.
“Who is Xavier?” I asked him, taking advantage of the temporary commotion. “Other than Sofia’s father, I mean. I gathered that.”
“He charmed Frankie’s socks off before leaving her high and dry with a kid on the way and no one to contact,” Lea said from behind us. “He’s the kind of man who leaves people in the lurch. Sound familiar, Nina?”
I couldn’t help but flinch. Was that really what they thought of me? I wasn’t sure I could fault them.
“Hey,” Matthew snapped at her. “For real, should we just go? I told you in the church, Lea, I got no problem walking out of here.”
Lea just grumbled, then went back to the kitchen to help her grandmother.
“Xavier was at Jane and Eric’s Christmas party,” Matthew said as he turned back to me. “Tall guy. British. Black hair. Deep voice.” He shrugged, clearly unable to recall much more. “To be honest, doll, I was more focused on finding you that night.”
I, however, stared at him wide-eyed. “You don’t mean Xavier Parker, do you?”
On my other side, where she was being interrogated by her three younger sisters, Frankie stiffened.
Matthew frowned. “Why, do you know him?”
“Not well, but we’ve met a few times,”
