Tristin turns her eyes to me as soon as I am seated, the baby in her lap looking up at me curiously. “Hello, Fay,” she says, her face cold. But hey, at least she’s talking to me.
“Hi,” I say, giving her as bright a smile as I can manage. Romulus peaks around her to give me a happy wave, which I return.
My father, on Romulus’ other side, turns to me as well. “We wanted to apologize, Fay, as a family. For the events at our house yesterday.”
“Oh, please,” I say, waving a hand to dismiss it. “Don’t worry about it. I understand that it’s…awkward. That I’m sort of a new addition, and that I screwed up some of your plans. I’m…sorry about that, by the way.” I look into Tristin’s face as I say it.
“Not a new addition, Fay,” my father says, looking at me steadily. “A love one returned to us after a long parting.”
“Yes,” Tristin says, her voice low and rehearsed. “You are a member of this family.” Her eyes flick to Kent and Daniel then, and I wonder why.
The rest of the dinner proceeds a little blandly. The food is good, the chitchat a little dull. I get a lot of family history, then, with Alden showing me pictures of my grandparents and telling me about their journey to America from Italy.
I look at the old photos curiously, trying to see pieces of my features in their faces. I’ve never really considered, before, that I’m actually Italian. I never thought much about my ethnicity, but with my red hair and pale skin, Italian had never popped into my mind. I glance quickly at Kent and Daniel – with their dark skin, thick black hair, and roman noses, they look Italian.
“Thank you so much for showing me these,” I say to Alden, handing the pictures back to him. “I’m learning so much about myself these days.”
“And you have so much more to learn,” he says, giving me a warm smile, which I return.
The party goes quite late, with everyone drinking and chatting. At some point, a DJ comes out and begins playing the oldies that this crowd apparently favors – lots of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. It’s not a bad time, overall – even Daniel is laughing and chatting around.
Only Kent seems to be having a poor time – or, at least, not a good one. He’s very stern, always glancing around the room, looking over everyone who comes to say hello. I purse my lips, considering him as he looks critically over an old woman who introduced herself as my great aunt. Does he ever have a good time?
Kent feels me watching him and turns his attention to me, raising his eyebrow.
I shrug at him and shimmy my shoulders, encouraging him, without words, to try to loosen up and have a good time. He smirks at me and then looks away, continuing his surveillance.
Too serious, I think, getting up to get another drink. Kent stands to go with me, but I put out a hand to stop him.
“Really,” I say. “I’m just going to the bar for a glass of wine.” I indicate the alcove in the wall where the bar is stationed, only a few feet away. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
He hesitates and then settles back in his chair. “I’ll be right here,” he says. I nod and briskly step away.
A younger set of people are standing by the bar chatting. They raise their glasses to me as I sidle up.
“Welcome to the family, cousin,” a tall guy with closely-cut black hair and broad shoulders says to me. “We’ve missed you.”
“Really?” I ask, nodding to the bartender who hands me a glass of wine. “Um, are we really cousins?”
“Sure,” he says, laughing. “I’m Michael, this is Chris,” he says, indicating the slightly smaller version of himself next to him, “and our sister Amy.”
“Oh,” I say, raising my brows. “Wow, it’s really nice to meet you.”
“Not quite cousins,” Amy says, leaning in familiarly to talk to me. Her words are just a little bit slurred – not sloppy, but I can tell she’s had a couple of drinks. “We’re second cousins! Your dad is our mom’s cousin, which means,” she screws up her face in thought, thinking, “we have great-grandparents in common.”
“Wow,” I say, taking a sip from my glass. “Um, my family – I mean, the family I was adopted into – we didn’t pay a lot of attention to that sort of thing. So to find out I have great-grandparents and second cousins all in one day…” I raise my eyebrows in emphasis and they laugh, nodding.
“Yeah,” Michael says. “It must be a lot, to go from nothing into a big Italian family like this.”
“We remember you, though!” Amy says with a big smile. “Because you were our little redheaded Baby Fay –“
I blink, suddenly, at the way she says that. Baby Fay – only one other person calls me that –
“We used to play with you at family parties,” she continues, “like I remember one summer, our other sister Fiona –“
“Hey,” Michael says sharply then, nudging her with his elbow.
“Oops,” Amy says, lifting her fingers to her mouth. She rushes to continue, then, trying to move the conversation on. “Yeah, anyway, I remember you when you were so little on the slip-n-slide –“
“Wait,” I say, putting out a hand to stop her. “Fiona? Is that –“
Suddenly, though, Kent is by my side. “Fay?” He asks, looking sternly at my new cousins. “Did you have some trouble getting your drink?”
Michael, Chris, and Amy stare at Kent, maybe a little star-struck. “Kent,” I say, gesturing towards them. “These are my cousins –“
“Come on,” he says, ignoring them and taking me by the arm. I look back at them and grimace a little, shrugging as I let him pull me away. They all give me a little wave. As I walk away I see Michael say something sharp to Amy, who cringes.
“What’s the big deal,” I murmur to Kent when we’re out of earshot. “They were nice –“
“I don’t know them,” Kent says, bringing me back to the table. “And if I don’t know them, they’re a liability.” He glances back at them and shakes his head. “We can’t take risks like that, Fay.”
I sigh at him. “Kent, if I’m going to come to these things to meet my family, you have to let me, you know. Meet my family.”
He just glares at me and turns away to survey the room again.
People are starting to filter out, I notice – it’s definitely a smaller crowd than it was before. Even when I glance at our table, I notice that my father and stepmother are gone, which seems a little odd.
Daniel sees me looking for them. “A problem with the baby,” he says, shrugging. “They all left a minute ago.”
Kent stiffens next to me, though, and I turn my eyes to him. He’s looking very closely at the people left in the room now, who have, indeed, grown a little quiet. There are very few children left, mostly men in suits standing quietly at pairs.
Looking, largely, at us.
Kent reaches out a hand then and just as he grips my arm –
BAM –
The sound resonates through me and I can’t help my little yell of surprise – god damnit, it sounds like a firework has gone off in the room –
BAM BAM BAM –
The sounds echo throughout the space and suddenly Kent has thrown himself over me, blocking me with his body, pushing me towards the far wall –
Daniel is next to us as an instant, crouching down, pulling me away with him –
I hear a few more pops and bangs and then the room starts to fill with a grey fog –
“Was that,” I gasp, trying to see around Kent, who blocks me, “was that gunfire –“
Kent he ignores me, turning to Daniel. “Smoke grenades!” he yells, looking around to our left and our right, trying to see the source, “you know what to do –“
Daniel turns to me, taking my hand and looking me seriously in the face. “We’re under attack, Fay!” he yells. “We’ve got to RUN!”