Cousins (Cousins #2) (27 page)

"Roman and I are together." I say.

"WHAT!" My father slams his hand on the table. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Please calm down." My mother tries to shush my dad. "Let her finish."

Uncle Joseph is sipping his mug of black coffee quietly watching the whole scene he's orchestrated unfold and it's pissing me the frack off.

"What the hell, Uncle Joseph? Why did you start this on my birthday?!" I demand to know.

He stops mid sip. "I told Roman to leave you alone and he didn't listen. Maybe he'll listen to your parents."

"You knew this shit was going on?" My father asks Uncle Joseph practically spitting across the table.

"I suspected."

"So did I." Aunt Juliette interjects.

Both of my parents look at Juliette aghast.

"I can't believe I took a chance and trusted you with my daughter this one damn time, and you allow some incestuous bullshit to go on in your own house." My father says. His words laced with venom.

I swear Aunt Juliette's about to cry.

Uncle Joseph slams his hand on the table, stands up, and then Roman also pulls back from the table but still holding onto my hand.

"Don't you ever fucking speak to my wife like that again. These two would have to be related for this to be incestuous, and you and I both know that them being cousins by marriage has nothing to do with this shit. You never thought I was good enough for your sister and you don't think my son is good enough for your daughter. End of story."

"Your damn straight!" My father barks.

"Everyone shut the frack up!" I yell. Roman squeezes my hand tighter.

"I got this, Duchess." He says.

"Not this time," I tell him. "I got it."

"I am twenty-four years old, this is my birthday, and you all are arguing over a moot point. I am with Roman. I love him. That's it. That's all.
 

Dad, whatever your issues are with the Mastersons has to stop. You've missed years of your only sister's life already, and you may lose some of mine if you keep it up."

"They're murderers, Elizabeth."

"Oh fucking please." Uncle Joseph says.

"Do you know that for a fact or are you holding onto some high school gossip about my father from a million years ago?" Roman asks.

"Do I know for a fact that you've probably buried a couple of bodies in your lifetime and that your father has ten times more than that? No. But I don't need evidence to know the truth."

"Really, because I thought that's what you deal with on a daily basis at your job." My aunt interjects. "Lawyers working hard every day to gather evidence to prove their version of the truth for their clients."

"Juliette." My father responds.

"I miss you." She says. A few tears rolling down her face. "I just want my brother back. Let this go." She pleads.

The silence in the room is deafening.
 

My father's face looks almost haggard as he considers everything that's just transpired in this dining room. I know he wants to end this. He's just so stubborn.

"I'm sorry, Juliette. I take back what I said about Roman and
him
." He's referring to my uncle. "But I can't cosign this thing between Elizabeth and the boy. I won't."

"That's fine." Roman says curtly. "Lucky for us we're grown, and we don't need anyone's approval."

"We're leaving." My father says to my mother. "Get your things."

My mother doesn't say much. She gives me a long hug, tells me she loves me, and happy birthday. I suppose it's how she's always dealt with my father. How she keeps the peace. He pretty much runs the roost. I'm going to try really hard not to turn out like that.

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad." I give my father a brief hug.

"I still love you. I just don't approve of all of your decisions kiddo."

"Can't we agree to disagree?" I ask.

"Maybe in time. I just can't do it now. Hell, maybe in a month you won't even be with him. Then this would have all been for nothing."

"Maybe, Dad, but I seriously doubt it."

After my parents leave it's time for round two.

"Are you happy now old man?" Roman challenges. "You've ruined Elizabeth's birthday dinner. Is that what you wanted?"
 

Juliette has been unusually quiet for the last fifteen minutes. I don't like it. I'm not use to it. I don't like that my father has made one of the most positive and loving women I've ever known look like she's just lost her best friend … again.

"I warned your ass. This is your fault. Now you're going to have to find your mother all on your own."

Both Juliette and I whip our heads around.
 

"What did you say?" She asks my uncle.

"Oh he didn't tell you?" Roman interjects. "He told me he knows where my mother is, has known for years, and would only tell me if I left Elizabeth alone."

"What." Juliette says in a hushed tone. One dripping in disappointment and sadness. "You knew where his mother was this whole time, Joseph?"

He sighs. "Yes."

"And you failed to mention it to a boy who has been hurting for years over his mother?"

Roman begins to shift back and forth between his feet. This conversation about his mother is making him antsy. I grab his hand again in hopes that it will calm him or at least to let him know that I've got him. Just like he had my back.

"I made a judgment call."

"You made the wrong one." Juliette responds.
 

"Excuse me you two but I don't feel well. Happy birthday Elizabeth. Why don't you go out and try and salvage what has turned out to be one of my greatest dinner party and family reunion failures."

"Julie." Joseph calls out to her as she goes upstairs to the master bedroom and slams the door. He follows her upstairs. I've never seen him move so fast.
 

"Juliette, open the door."

She doesn't.

I sit and stare at the dinner table full of food, dirty dishes, and desserts and I start to feel a little sorry for myself.

"Happy frackin' birthday to me!" I slam myself down into my chair, cross my arms and sulk. But Roman is standing in front of me with the widest grin on his face.

"What could you possibly be so happy about?" I ask in my pouty voice.

"You love me, Duchess?"

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

ROMAN

The most interesting metamorphosis is taking place inside of my body. For once in my life, I'm actually fucking happy. I once believed that happiness was an overrated emotion, one reserved for children and idiots, but I think I know differently now.
 

Elizabeth makes me happy.
 

What started out as a lustful attraction in the middle of a club, and then grew into an unexplainable need of possession, is now a full blown wonderful fucking thing that puts a smile on my greedy face every single morning.
 

Elizabeth: Good morning.

Me: Duchess.

Elizabeth: You haven't called me yet.

See, I'm grinning already.

Me: No I haven't.

Elizabeth: Well what were you waiting for?

Looks like the both of us are getting a little greedy.

Me: I'm calling you now.

"Finally." She blusters on the phone.

"I literally just cracked my eyes open."

"Well I've been up working for over an hour, and now I want to talk."

I grin to myself.

"What do you want to talk about nerd?"

"I don't know … whatever."

"Juliette hasn't come out of her room yet?"

After Juliette and Joseph argued about him holding back critical details on the whereabouts of my mother, Juliette's been holed up in their bedroom for the last few days while he's been relegated to sleeping in the guest room. I take great pleasure in the old man's temporary pain. Joseph hates to sleep apart from his precious Juliette. Serves him right.

"No, she's surfaced, but now she's never in the house. Always meeting a friend for lunch, going to an exercise class, or meeting someone for this or that fundraiser."

"So basically what you're saying is that you don't have your buddy in the house to talk to, so you're waking me up instead?"

"Am I bothering you?" She asks in a voice laced with irritation.

"Well baby, this would be a whole lot easier if you were right here in this bed with me instead of still over there. Then we could have talked all night and this morning. I mean since you love me and all."

"Oh good grief. Would you shut up about that. I was just trying to make a point that night."

"Oh and you made it loud and clear. I should have recorded it on my phone for posterity; that way we can always remember how adamantly and convincingly you made your point."

"I don't want to talk to you anymore." She grumbles.

I can't help but let out a hearty laugh.

"Why don't you bring your sweet little ass over here, and I'll fix you one of my famous lattes and a bagel. Then we can talk all day if you want."

"You don't have to work?" She asks in a whiny voice.

"Oh stop it. I'll pick you up in thirty minutes Elizabeth. Be ready with an overnight bag."

"Hey sexy." I say as Elizabeth slides in the car.
 

She smiles at me, and I can't help but grab her gently by the neck and pull her in for a good morning kiss.
 

This is what happy looks like.

"Let's not go back to your house yet." She says. Now I'm curious.

"Why?"

"I want to take you to one of my favorite places today. You showed me the boathouse, and I'm going to show you my place."

"All right where are we headed?"

"Let me drive."

"You can't be serious right now."

"Come on, you never let me drive."

"Because I don't want you crashing the Rover."

"I can drive, Roman."

"You've been taking buses or walking everywhere for the last six years. When's the last time you've driven a car? Let's be honest here."

"Ethan let me drive his car."

It's official. I know that I'm turning into a straight pussy, because a comment like that normally would have set me off. Today I just find it only slightly annoying.

"Ethan almost got you killed, but let's not split hairs." I say.
 

And then I grab a couple of M&Ms from the center console, make my way around to the passenger seat, and then tell her to, "Drive."

She looks at me for a moment as if she's considering the error of that comment but wisely decides not to address it any further.
 

"Just sit back and relax. I've got the wheel."

In about fifteen minutes, Elizabeth drives close to Penn's campus to a large playground that's nestled in a West Philadelphia residential neighborhood. It's a pretty big and well-kept city park, with lots of towers to climb, maze-like tunnels, sliding boards, and plenty of swings. Quite the opposite of the only small playground in my old neighborhood where you were lucky if there was even one working swing. Most had been vandalized by the punks and corner boys from the block.

"So this is your favorite place?" I ask as she finds us a parking space on a small side street diagonally across from the park.

"Yep."

"Interesting."

"There's a community center over there in that building. Penn funds several programs in there, and I use to work at one of the student-run computer labs there while I was interning."

"Oh that's cool. Bet the kids loved you."

"It was really cool. Sometimes their time with me was the only time the kids would get a chance to use a computer to finish their homework. I felt really useful there. Then when the day was over, I'd come out here and swing for a while, while I kept an eye on some of the kids who were waiting on their parents to pick them up. There were always a few parents who were late."

"Yeah that's normal for a lot of city kids. Parents work, sometimes they work far and long hours. Public transportation sometimes increases that commute time as well. It's hard for them. I kind of had an advantage over some of those kids though. I learned early never to wait on my mom. I just got myself places and got myself home, and if I couldn't make it happen then I just didn't go."

Elizabeth takes my hand and we walk to a set of swings.

"Push me." She orders.

She looks ridiculously beautiful and almost way too young for me as she swings, hair flying all over the place, a smile on her face so bright that it could give the sun a run for its money.

It's in this moment that I know.
 

Recognition finally clicks in.