We step inside the house, fake smiles plastered on our faces.
"Aunt Karen, how nice to see you." I offer. We do the awkward cheek kiss, the stench of wine attacking my nostrils.
Someone's definitely had some more work done. Her forehead is tight and her lips look like pool floaties. She had her boobs done a long time ago but I think she may of gotten them done again. Unless someone knew she was my mothers identical twin they would never guess it. Karen's spent good money to ensure she shares no facial features with our mom.
By this point I feel she's more injections and plastic than human. At least she'll float if she falls in the water.
"I'm sure it is." She says before turning and strutting down the hall.
That was it. No glad you could make it. Welcome in. Nothing. She's still wearing black pumps with her dark green pant suit so we leave our shoes on. Saffron grabs my hand as we walk towards our family. Passing portraits of ancestors hung on the walls I'm reminded that there is no personal touch to the house. It was all empty and cold.
Just like Karen's heart.
I think about my house that is full of pictures and artwork, messes and sports equipment everywhere. It's a much happier place to be. It's a home. We enter the living room jammed full of antique furniture that she knew no history about. A waste, honestly.
Nothing screams having money more than buying useless things.
My grandfather, Earl, smokes a cigar propped up in a chair. He eyes us dismissively before blowing out a puff of smoke. A lovely thing to do since it affects Saffron's asthma.
My grandmother, Edna, walks over. "Hello, children, how nice of you to try to be on time." Her voice is so nasally, I know exactly where Avery gets it from.
It was one freaking minute. We can leave if it's truly that big of a problem.
"Grandmother." Sage greats her with a peck on the cheek. He's always been the better asskisser, there's no way in hell my lips are touching that wrinkly old hag.
Avery sits in a chair, her red dress more than showing enough for a family dinner. Her brother, Conner, sits on the piano bench playing on his phone. Our Uncle Rob offers a stiff nod from his spot behind grandfather.
We stand there awkwardly, not really wanting to move.
"Well, sit down or do you children not have common courtesy." Grandfather speaks through another puff of smoke.
We all sit on the empty sofa that's probably older than both my grandparents combined. Although, I have no idea what sitting down has to do with manners. Well, this is fun. Not even five minutes in and they've already insulted us. That's got to be a new record, I think at Easter it was seven.
I study the people in the room. They all look the same: pale skin, straight blonde hair, blue eyes. Out of the five of us Sterling's the closest one to fitting in, a fact that he hates.
"Dinner should be ready in a few minutes." A maid informs us politely before quickly exiting the room.
Thank God, we can dine and dash.
"Scarlett, have you put on weight?" Karen asks, earning a chuckle from my cousin and grandmother.
Sage tenses beside me but I grab his hand. "No, Aunt Karen." I say politely, stopping myself from making a comment about the pudge hanging over her pants. My weights always a topic of discussion, not that I've gained any. In the last two years I've lost more than I should of due to stress, but I'm no longer the bag of bones I was a year ago.
She scans my outfit. "It must be the dress."
I kiss my teeth while flattening the skirt of my violet dress. It was long sleeved and loose fitting, I choose it specifically to hide my figure.
I will not be rude. I will not be rude. I think after tonight I'm going to get those words tattooed on my body.
They make more jabs at us before the maid comes to collect us for dinner. We're seated around the dining room table, a standard Thanksgiving meal laid out in front of us. She didn't even try to be creative this year.
The table was adorned with pumpkins and leaves, fake of course. Heaven forbid anything living enter through Karen's front door.
For a few minutes the table is silent while we eat the food. A real treat. Grandfather clears his throat and I hold back a groan. The real questions are about to begin.
"How are your grades?"
The questions directed at all of us but I know I'm supposed to answer.
"We're doing well, I currently have a 4.9 gpa. Sage isn't to far behind with a 4.3. Sterling is currently enrolled in high school classes while Silver's taking algebra. Saffron is in first grade and already showing promising results." Despite the obvious tension I can't help but feel proud of us.
I watch as they process the information, there's nothing they could possibly say. I know Avery's grades aren't that good.
Grandfather chews a piece of turkey, turning to Sage. "How could you possibly have that good of a gpa if you can't read?"
My fork clatters to the table. Sage stops moving, his facade failing. Avery watches with a cruel smile.
"I can still read grandfather, I'm dyslexic not illiterate." Sage finally says, smiling faintly.
If anything he could read better than most people. Sage has worked his ass off to be where he is today and he sure as hell doesn't deserve comments like that. He touches my hand underneath the table, a signal that it's ok. We have a deal if anything ever gets too bad we'll leave no matter what agreement I have with Karen.
Earl doesn't lose a beat, turning to Silver. "What about you? Are you still using pills to help you be normal."
Silver looks at his plate while Sterling sends the old man a look telling him to pack sand. "Yes, I am still on my ADHD medicine."
Grandfather grunts, taking a sip of his whisky. "Your mother never disciplined you, that's your problem."
No, mom just wasn't a shitty excuse of a parent like you were. I will be good. I will be good. I bite down in my tongue so hard I taste blood.
Silver doesn't reply, only returning to his meal with a defeated slump in his shoulders. The grip on my steak knife tightens just a little. Silvers a perfectly normal child.
Earl just doesn't quit, focusing on Sterling. "Can you still not see colors?"
What kind of question is that?
"Yes sir, there is no cure for color blindness." Sterling says, his ears turning bright pink. It's Silvers turn to send the man a dirty look.
Can no one else see how uncomfortable they are? Or even care? They're twelve years old.
"I blame your father for that unfortunate trait." He mutters.
That's it. "Well my father couldn't really help something he was born with." I say.
Grandmother glares at me for speaking out. "No, but he was impure." She says the word as if it was scandalous.
Sage lets out a dry chuckle. "You mean he wasn't white?"
"Of course, dear, people like that aren't right." Edna informs him, a very serious look on her face.
They blame my father for everything because heaven forbid we get any impurities from their genetics, which we did. Sterling's color blind trait came from both sides of the family. Damn racist assholes.
Grandfather turns his attention to me, this should be good. "Do you still get all upset for no reason?"
Leave it to Earl to refer to anxiety as being upset. I hear Sage inhale a sharp breath, clearly thinking of my last panic attack. Avery's eyes gleam wickedly, she knows what happened at that party.
"Yes, I still have anxiety. Just like I did at Easter and just like I still will at Christmas." I snip. Honestly, screw manners.
So what, Sage had difficulty reading, he's the reason we started at Riverview in the first place and it was the best thing we ever did. He's so smart and his reading level is tied with my own. Silver may have struggled in the past but he finally has a great medication and his ADHD has gotten so much better. Sterling might be different because of his color blindness but he hasn't let that stop him from being an artist.
We weren't perfect in their eyes but to me, we're pretty great.
No one says anything for a hot minute so I turn to Avery, who's clearly enjoying the show. Time for payback.
"So, Avery, no boyfriend for dinner? That's a shame because I sure do miss James."
Her enjoyment quickly ends, looks like someone didn't talk about the break up. She opens her mouth but closes it again.
"Sorry, did I bring up a sore subject?" It's my turn to give her my bitch face.
"Yes, where is James, Avery? He's such a nice boy." Edna asks.
The entire table is waiting for her reply, even Conner looks up for this. He usually spends the entire time on his phone, something we could never get away with.
"Oh." Avery says, clearly trying to come up with an excuse. "We broke up. He was... becoming very clingy."
I scoff underneath my breath, remembering how she begged for him to stay with her. They choose to ignore me.
"Good for you, darling, there's always someone better." Grandmother says. But dear Edna I thought you liked James?
Avery nods her head in agreement, relieved they bought it.
"And richer." Karen adds before looking at me. "Besides, Scarlett, at least boys are willing to date Avery."
Leave it to Karen to turn everything into an insult.
I debate whether or not to even comment back but Sage beats me to it. "She has a boyfriend, actually."
"She does?" The entire table asks.
I do?
I kick him underneath the table and he sends me a pointed look. "Yes, his name is Ashton, he's our new quarterback."
They all look at me for confirmation. Oh, hell no, I'm so not doing this.
I get kicked on both legs, one from Sage and the other from Sterling. Why does everyone feel the need to kick me?
"Yeah. We aren't official yet, still in the talking phase." I offer. Man, I hope my smile is more convincing than my voice.
Avery stares daggers at me, she so isn't gonna let this go. Monday morning I'll probably become the target of her torment. Our conversation from practice still fresh in my mind.
"Well, show us a picture of this young man." Edna declares, putting on her glasses.
I grab my phone and select a picture from the collection Ella gave me, landing on the one of us at the pep rally. My favorite.
They snatch my phone away and evaluate the photo. I see my grandmothers eyes widen, not expecting him to be so good looking. Karen looks at it then back at me in disbelief. I smile wider.
That's right folks, I got a hot fake boyfriend.
"That's from the pep rally, you had to take that photo." Avery calls out triumphantly.
Wow, you're so clever Avery.
"Swipe left and you'll find more pictures." I reply with a challenging raise of my eyebrow.
I watch as she takes the phone and vigorously scrolls through the photos, her face turning redder with every swipe. To say she's pissed would be an understatement.
Grandfather looks at Sage, "Are you still fooling around with that girl?"
Yay, this topic.
Every dinner, no matter the occasion he brings up the topic of Sage's love life. They hate Ella, probably because her dad tends to go against my grandfather's firm in court when ever he gets the chance.
"Yes, Ella still is a very big part of my life." He says, unhappy they refuse to move on from this topic.
Earl scrunches his nose in disgust.
"They aren't official though." Avery chimes in. Does she ever stop talking?
The adults all look back at Sage in displeasure.
Sage glares at Avery, "I see on reason to label our relationship. I'm 16 and she's 17. I've known since I was seven I was going to marry Ella and I have no plans to rush into that."
Avery rolls her eyes. Hoe you're single, stop talking.
Karen laughs bitterly, "You sound just like your parents, hopeless and in love. Pathetic."
Like that's a bad thing? At least his marriage won't be loveless and shallow like hers. I think I've seen Karen and Robert kiss twice in the last 17 years. I don't even agree completely with his decision but that doesn't give them any right to judge.
Grandfather looks down to Saffron who's kept silent the entire dinner, almost on the verge of tears. "It appears that you're the only normal child to come from your family."
*****
After a splendid dinner, we're ushered back into the living room for coffee and dessert.
And a special concert from Conner on the piano.
We're only thirty seconds in and my ears are bleeding. The kid had no sense of what he was doing. he's maybe had three classes. Sage and I keep our composure. However, The twins are fighting back laughter while Saffron keeps her ears plugged.
Karen snarls her lip at our displeasure. "Do you think you could do better?"
"Actually, yes any of us could, we all play piano. Sage even composes." Silver offers, still not done laughing. Proud boasting from the kid who hates piano but I can agree he plays better than this.
Instead of asking any of us to play, Karen just changes the subject, "It doesn't matter my boy's a better athlete than musician."
Now that's some funny shit. I have nothing against Conner, honestly he's the best one here, the kid just doesn't have an athletic bone in his body. Or a musical one for that matter.
"He sure is." Grandfather agrees, clapping Conner on the shoulder proudly. "We watched his team win districts." He boasts .
Douchey grandfather say what now?
"We're on that team too." Sterling says flatly.
"Yeah and we actually played." Silver adds.
My grandparents share a look, "Yes, we heard your sisters little outburst from the bleachers."
But you couldn't say hi or good game to your grandchildren. Ok. I take a bite out of my pumpkin pie to keep myself from saying anything.
"Avery, how's modeling?" Grandmother asks excitedly.
She sits up a little straighter, sending me a bitchy smile before answering. "Wonderful, actually, I have a call back next week."
"For who?"
Her smile widens, "Walmart."
I have to take another bit of pie to keep myself my laughing. I can see it now. Avery's face in Walmart's all across America. I honestly never imagined her career taking off, but this is the best form of payback I could've ever asked for.
They take notice of my face stuffing, "Scarlett what exactly is it you do?" Edna asks.
I swallow my pie. "I'm on the cheer squad and I have art and music." And you know the whole fact that I'm raising four children.
They all eye me with disappointment.
"Look at the time, we really should get going," I start, setting my plate on the table. The boys follow suit, Sage scooping Saffron up into his arms.
I turn to our aunt, "Thank you for the wonderful food and conversation but the roads are busy and I don't want to be on them too late."
The boys mumble goodbyes and we start to walk out of the room.
"At least they have more common sense than their parents." Grandfather says, just loud enough for me to hear.
I stop walking, Sage running into my back. I've never felt so sad and angry in my life. My first instinct is to turn around and slap the shit out of him. I don't though. He's only trying to get a rise out of me, anything to give them leverage. But to talk about your own daughter like that. Does he have no remorse for his own child?
Sterling grabs my hand, giving me a tight squeeze. I head to the door again.
I really hate this house.
The car is silent as we pull onto the interstate. The roads deserted. Most people are probably still surrounded by loving family making memories.
We made memories all right.
What was there to say after being insulted to the very core? We probably would've been ok if it wasn't for that last comment. It shook us, especially so close to-
Sage's ragged breathing snaps me from my thoughts, his hands are shaking as he grips the wheel. The twins look out the window so I can't see their faces. Saffron looks like she's close to tears and honestly, so am I.
"I want you to know that nothing they spoke about tonight matters." I say, my voice barely a whisper. They hear me.
Sage tries to stop me but I hold my hand up, this needs to be said. I won't let a year and a half of progress be tarnished by their words.
"You four are so special. They might not see that but I do. You have nothing to be ashamed about because you are perfect. Mom and dad would be so proud of you guys. I know I am."
Fuck, I'm crying. So is Sage.
He reaches out and grabs my hand, resting on the center console. A few moments later another hand joins the pile, than another. We reach our hands back for Saffron to hold onto.
"I love you guys." Silver says.
"I love you too." More than they could ever know.
*****
You just gotta love Earl...
I cried writing this chapter so I'm sorry. A lot of revelations are made in this chapter so I hope you guys enjoyed. I had subtle hints for a lot of these things but never fully addressed them because from Scarlett's viewpoint they don't define her family. They just are a part of her life so please don't say that I just threw them in there.
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I love you all
Xo-Mo
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