“It was a grown man standing WAY too close to you in a furry bear-dog costume. He was lucky I only used my words. And that it was me and not your mother.” He grinned. We both knew he would have found whatever my mom would have done hilarious.
Declan and Coraline, my parents, were the very definition of over-protective. When Darcy and I were little, it was the most embarrassing thing in the world. But now looking back on it was funny and sweet. They loved us, and Grandma always said Callahans love irrationally, obsessively, and completely.
“Thanks for taking me, Dad,” I whispered. He didn’t reply because we were already at the dining room. But he did look down and give me a small wink.
“Good Morning, Nana.” I moved to the head of the table, where she sat dressed in a deep velvet green sweater with white pearls around her neck and a long black pleated skirt. Her hair in short loose curls. Kissing her check, I hugged her from the side, saying, “You look beautiful, as always.”
“Good morning, and thank you, sweetheart. I’m glad to see you this morning. I missed you last night.” Her voice was sweet and gentle, but I knew from the look in her eyes that what she really meant was, ‘Good morning, and thank you, sweetheart. You skipped family dinner when I told you I wanted everyone here. I forgive you, but don’t do it again.’ Yes, one look said all that. Evelyn Callahan had raised me just as much as my parents…and unlike my parents, she very much believed in the family code. How Ethan ever got his way with her proved just how strong he was.
I gave her a pout and the best puppy dog eyes I could muster. “Nana, forgive me. I won’t miss dinner again, I promise.”
She stared briefly before the corner of her gracefully wrinkled lip turned up into a small smile. “Good. You must be hungry. I know you probably only ate junk food all night.”
“Me? Never!” I gasped, moving over to the other side of the table near my mom.
“Morning, dear.” My mom smiled so wide it looked almost painful, even though I knew it wasn’t. She sat at the left side of the table, now two seats down from the head. She was dressed in a solid dark red, one shoulder, tied-waist culotte jumpsuit and diamond earrings. Her hair straight and pulled behind her ears.
“Mom, you look hot,” I said as I moved over to her and kissed the side of her cheek, too. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I told you I booked a spa date for us.”
My eyes went wide. “Today?”
“What spa?” My father stood by me, behind her chair, kissing her cheek as well before taking a seat ahead of her. “Because you don’t look like you need to go the spa.”
“Urgh, Dad!” Darcy cringed as he came in after us, though I was sure he’d already been here. He said good morning to our grandmother before moving to sit beside me. “Could you not give Mom eyes while I’m trying to get food? I’d like to have an appetite this morning.”
“I’ll give your mother eyes whenever I damn well please, and you’ll live with it.” He smirked, sipping his water from the glass. “Be lucky I’m not—”
“Declan,” Nana called out to him.
He looked to her and smiled. “Yes?”
“Please spare us the details. We get it. You love your wife.”
“Apparently everyone is just jealous of us this morning, Ma Beauté,” he said to my mother, making her laugh and shake her head at him.
“Morning!” Uncle Neal’s voice boomed as he came in with his family. Aunt Mina was holding Saura in her arms. But when Mina got closer, she set Saura down so she could say good morning to Nana. She was still sleepily rubbing her eyes as she did.
“Morning, Na-Nana.”
“Morning, Precious,” Evelyn replied, kissing Saura’s forehead before she walked back to Nari, who sat opposite of me. Her hair was slicked back into a ponytail, and she wore a deep orange sweater and brown trousers. Evelyn glanced to the door, wondering where her husband was. “Where’s Jason?”
“He got called into the city. Apparently, the market is going a little crazy,” Nari replied, taking her seat on the other side of Sedric. Uncle Neal sat at the head, to the right of Evelyn.
I noticed that, because Ethan and Dona weren’t here, the table seating had changed.
Ethan normally sat at the head. His wife would sit to the right, Nana to the left, and Dona beside her. Wyatt was never here, but he would have sat on the right, next to Ethan’s wife, until…Nana wasn’t here, then he’d sit on the left of Ethan.
The Callahan family table was a hierarchy. And Evelyn enforced it strictly.
So while Nari was older than Sedric, she actually moved down and Sedric up after she got married to Jason. I knew the same would happen to me eventually, but it was kind of weird now because I always knew I could count on Dona breaking the rules and sitting near me just to chat because she was “bored.”
If I was married to Wyatt, I’d actually end up sitting ahead of my father—What the hell was I thinking? That was impossible. It’s wrong..Helen. Don’t cause any more problems than you have already.
“Is it about last night’s shootings?” Nana asked before looking to O’Phelan to start bringing out the food. “Have they announced who died?”
“Governor Orton’s wife, Brigitte Orton. Major Gutpa’s wife, Fatimah Gutpa, along with his grandmother. Commissioner McCoy lost his two teenage sons, and Chief Mataka lost her granddaughter,” Wyatt answered as he came in, and I immediately looked away, picking up my water as he moved to his seat ahead of my father. Evelyn most likely sat in the head chair to remind everyone, even the staff, that Wyatt was not the head of this family. That spot was for Ethan…knowing Wyatt, he probably preferred it that way.