Dancing in a Hurricane (31 page)

She giggled. "I really should write it down."

"Uh uh." He pointed to her chopping block. "Keep cutting."

She sat at the counter dicing what must be her millionth vegetable. He stirred a gigantic pot of
sofrito
: a sauté of onions, green peppers, garlic, oregano, and bay leaves that he cooked all day. It smelled heavenly and her empty stomach complained. She bit into a yellow pepper strip.

He turned. "Are you eating or chopping."

"Both?"

He strolled to his big birthday pan on the stove and stabbed a chunk of chicken with a fork. Holding his hand under it, he blew on it and walked to where she sat. He leaned over the counter, holding the fork out to her. "How does this taste?"

She took the fork and smelled it. "Mmm!" The soft spices and herbs made her mouth water. She took a bite of the chicken, closed her eyes, and chewed slowly, savoring. She looked at him, "Wow. Fantastic."

She handed the fork back but he leaned over and opened his mouth. It was the first time she fed him and the decadence of putting the food into his mouth, watching his lips close around it and sliding the fork out seemed very intimate.

He chewed and watched her.

Heat rose in her cheeks, and a shimmy-shake of desire fluttered in her chest.

Reaching out toward her, he murmured, "It tastes better when you feed me." His fingers lingered on her hand as he took the fork and walked back to the stove. If those steamy looks meant anything, she would hear him telling her how wrong he had been. How he couldn't live without her in his life. Tonight. After the birthday party, they would talk. She closed her eyes and made a wish.

"One more time," she asked. "Please, go over your family for me?"

"Okay." He sliced the bread he'd warmed in the oven. "Cheena is 37, she's married to Estefan Ayans de Ureta. Their son Mateo is 12, daughter Asata is 10, and son Damason is seven. Laline is 35, she's married to Tom Hochstead—"

"The gringo."

He waived his knife in the air. "Don't talk about it in front of Dad. He's still torqued at Laline."

She raised her right hand. "I promise. And their kids?"

"Havana is seven, she's a princess. Juan-Carlos is six and the twins are two, Carmen and Claudia."

"Okay so far."

He looked at her, doubt written all over his face. "Yeah." He went back to slicing the twenty loaves of bread. "Marisa is 34 and has never been married. Yelina is 31, she's married to Julio Guilizasti and is due with their baby girl around Thanksgiving."

"I can't wait…" She blinked, surprised that she'd said that. It almost sounded like she considered herself part of the family.

He glanced at her. "Me either. It will be nice to have a baby around again. The twins are at the curtain-climber, break-everything age."

She looked around the living room. "We put everything breakable away." She looked at the big cardboard box on the floor by the couches. "And Uncle Sixto—sorry—
Tio
Sixto will share his toy box to keep them occupied."

He shrugged. "It's saved me a lot of grief. And I like walking through the toy aisles at Target."

She found it adorable that big, strong, truck-driving Sixto spent time buying Barbies and GI Joes for his toy box.

He pointed his knife at her. "Stop grinning and start chopping."

Bree sliced another pepper. "How old is Dayami?"

"She's 29. She got married at about your age and divorced last year."

"Really? I didn't know that. Anything I should be aware of so I don't say something stupid?"

He sliced bread for a minute. "He was sleeping with her best friend."

"Oh Lord! For how long?"

"On and off since before they were engaged."

"What? And she never knew?" Her heart clenched in pain for the poor woman.

He set down the knife. "It's worse than that."

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sixto leaned a hip on the counter and took a swig of beer. She was sleeping around, too." He looked down at his bare feet. "With his sister."

Her brows drew together. That didn't make sense. "What do you…" Then the significance hit her. On a long exhale, she said, "Ohhhhh."

He glanced up at her and then back down. "Yeah. She's always welcome at family gatherings, but Mom and Dad have asked her not to bring her dates."

"It seems unfair, but I can understand how a traditional family like yours would find it difficult to accept at first. Maybe in time—"

"No. I don't think so." His tone sounded final.

"Sixto? Is that how you feel?"

He looked at her levelly. "It's hard to say. I think if she had been open about her choice from whenever she became a lesbian, it would be easier. But the whole giant wedding, then his screwing around, then hers." He drank more beer. "What the fu… Sorry. What the hell is next with her?"

Bree could understand his hesitancy. Dayami could just be going through a phase. "Thanks for telling me. I'd hate to blather out something embarrassing."

He winked. "You like to do that, don't you?"

With her knife, she pointed to the bread. "Shut up and slice."

Grinning, he finished his beer and followed her orders.

As the family arrived, Sixto introduced Bree and she got hugs from everyone: men, women, and children. The meal took an hour-and-a-half and Bree, amazingly at ease, felt accepted by everyone, as if she had always been one of them. After the meal, she sat with the twins and played dollies, Sixto took the boys, the older girls, and some of the brothers-in-law, out on the front lawn for a football game while the women cleaned the kitchen and collapsed on the couches with margaritas, sangria, and beer.

Dayami sat on the floor with her, playing with the twins. Bree hadn't found time to talk to her at the bar two weeks ago and enjoyed getting to know her. Dayami put on a gruff demeanor, except around her nieces and nephews. To them she was a loving aunt. A loving
Tia
.

She almost asked about her relationship with Élian. The way he stared at her in the bar, her tugging him out onto the dance floor that night. She bit back the question. She didn't know Dayami well enough.

Sixto Sr. came in the house with Yelina's husband, Julio. "Bree, do you have an ice pack?"

Julio held his lower back.

She scrambled up and went to the refrigerator, pulled out a softpack, and wrapped it in a towel. "Would you like some ibuprofen too?"

Julio nodded, evidently in too much pain to say anything. His wife patted the couch next to her, but at eight and a half months pregnant, didn't offer any other help. He sat, slowly and delicately.

Sixto Sr. got himself a beer and turned a kitchen stool around to keep an eye on his family.

Bree brought Julio a glass of water and three ibuprofen. "Is this the first time you've injured your back?"

He shook his head. "It's been a couple of months. I've been going to my cousin the chiropractor, but it's not helping."

"If you'd like, I can show you a stretch that will realign your spine and maybe take some of the pain away."

Julio's gaze met hers. "Yes, anything."

His pleading look made her miss her career.

"Oh no you don't, Julio," Yelina said as she winked at Bree. "You're not going to have a massage by a beautiful blonde when your wife is suffering with sixty extra pounds and a squashed bladder."

"Yelina," her father scolded. "Such talk."

Estella waved her hand. "If you do not want to hear woman talk, Papa, go outside with the men."

Bree looked at him, expecting a curt response.

He chuckled. "Women talk is much more interesting."

The family laughed and teased Sixto Sr. Sixto had warned her that his father was very traditional, but he was a sweet man.

Bree looked at Yelina. "Actually, this stretch is wonderful for you, too. But you need to do it with someone holding you from behind, so maybe when Julio's back's better, he'll anchor you."

Yelina giggled. "He's always been like an anchor around my neck—"

"Ignore her, Bree," Julio cut in. He handed the ice pack to his wife and gingerly stood. "Show me the stretch."

Estella stood. "I will learn too, if that's okay."

"Of course." She looked at the twins. "Carmen, Claudia? Do you want to learn a stretch?"

"Si," they shouted and stood on each side of Bree.

She couldn't resist and ran her hands over their heads, smoothing their hair.

"Okay, take the balls of your hands…" She demonstrated where that was by hitting the bottoms of her palms together. Everyone did what she did, even Sixto Sr. "Feet shoulder-width apart." Julio and Estella positioned their feet, and the twins jumped their feet about a yard apart.

"Place the balls of your hands on the top of your gluteus."

"On top of what?" Estelle asked.

Yelina pointed. "Your butt, Momma."

"Oh. I've got one of those."

"You sure do, Momma," Sixto Sr. said.

Estelle glared at him then winked and smiled as everyone laughed at their banter. Bree loved to see older couples so much in love.

Bree said, "Now slooooowwwwwwlyyyyy tip your head back and lean onto your hands. Hold this for as long as you can. I've seen chronic back patients hold it for ten minutes. Breeeeath."

"That's you, Julio," Yelina said. "Chronic."

"Don't make me laugh, baby," he groaned. "It hurts too much."

"If the pain is worse than when you were sitting, Julio," Bree instructed. "It might be too soon to do this."

He made some deep noises and said, "I think you're a miracle worker. It's feeling better already."

"I can feel it too," Estella chirped and asked the twins, "Carmen, Claudia,
e tu
?"

"Si, Abuela." Bree loved how they chorused everything in stereo.

Bree heard the kids charge in the front door, followed by Sixto and the men bragging about their spectacular plays. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the kids run into the kitchen and Sixto walk into the living room. "What are you looking at?"

"A spider," Bree said.

"Gaeaaa." Sixto jumped back a yard and looked up.

Dayami laughed. Sixto Sr. and Estelle joined in, and then the rest of the family was laughing.

Bree eased out of her stretch and looked at Sixto.

He was smiling, but she saw embarrassment in his eyes. "Sorry," she mouthed and grimaced, wishing she hadn't teased him.

He shook his head. "I'll get you back for that. Be afraid. Be very afraid."

Bree felt a warmth surround her heart. His words hinted at a future.

Marisa had been quiet all afternoon, but through her laughter, she said, "Remember the time we put those plastic spiders in his bed?"

"Oh, right," Laline added. "We thought he was one of the girls screaming."

Bree frowned. "You girls picked on poor little Sixto?"

"He was fifteen when he developed his fear of spiders," Cheena said. "We didn't have anything to do with it."

Bree looked at him. "Really? What made you afraid?"

He looked at his mother and shook his head.

"Time for birthday cake!" Estelle called.

The screams erupting from the children deafened her. She made her way around racing children and into the kitchen to help with plates and silverware. She glanced at Sixto who stood next to Julio as he stretched. One more mystery about Sixto. Spiders.

After cake and ice cream—which was an hour-long production accompanied by gallons of coffee and chocolate milk—Sixto Sr. sat on the couch to open gifts, surrounded by his family. Bree sat on the floor by the patio doors, playing tea party with Claudia.

Each grandchild had made and wrapped something for him: pictures in crayon and macaroni, a hand-crocheted scarf, a wooden birdhouse that leaned slightly left. The adult gifts were appropriate to the patriarch of the family, ties, a pen set, theater tickets, and Marlins tickets.

"I hope this isn't overstepping," Bree said as she handed Estella a small bag with a seedling in it.

Estella passed it to her husband and everyone grew silent.

Bree panicked. "I…saw it last week and thought you might be able to find a spot for it." Had she made a faux pas? She raised her eyebrows at Sixto who stood in the kitchen holding a beer bottle.

He smiled and nodded.

Sixto Sr. read the tag. "It's a Cuban mahogany tree. Very rare. They're hoping to plant them in Florida to revive the species."

Sixto Sr. looked at her, stood and walked to her, held out his hand, and helped her up. He looked into her eyes. His were the same warm brown as his son's.

"Bree, thank you. It is a truly thoughtful gift." He pulled her close and squeezed. Into her ear, he said, "You are a welcome addition to our extended family."