Chapter 39 : Family
Chris looked at Jim with a challenging look. She knew he was testing her and she was delighted to show him how committed she was.
"Call them right away. Uncle Sarzo must be at home having lunch."
She got up from her seat and went to look for her phone. He was surprised she was so enthusiastic about his sudden idea. In less than a minute, she was back. Already talking to her auntie. Speaker on.
"Auntie, this is Chris. I was wondering if I could come to see you soon. I really miss you guys and I'd like to introduce to someone…"
"Oh is it a she or a he?" Elena asked with curiosity. Chris let out a laugh.
"He's a he, Auntie."
He loved the connivance she shared with her family. They were her rock, they brought her stability and warmth when she was alone and lost. And for this, he will be eternally grateful to them because they had madeof Chris the wonderful person she was today.
"What about tomorrow? Do you work? Your uncle is on a construction work near home, he could come to join us for lunch?"
"Tomorrow sounds perfect. I… We don't work. What time? What do you want for us to bring?"
"Nothing, just bring you and your friend! I take care of the rest!"
"Auntie!" Chris tried to sound threatening but she failed.
"Chris, I say nothing. And your cousin, Thomas will be there. He works on the sameconstruction work than your uncle."
"Ok. Let me at least taking care of the beverage. What about home made ice tea and lemonade?"
"Ok then, but just this, I see you coming, Chris!"
Listening to their conversation, he knew where Chris's stubborn side was coming from. Chris said goodbye to her auntie before hanging up. "So tomorrow, it is."
He grinned, with his Cheshire cat smile. "What about our lazy day, now?"
She ran to the sofa to sit in the corner and stretched her legs. She looked at him with a satisfied smile on her face. "Come and push me now."
"Thought you'll never ask." He walked till the sofa with his mischievous look. He took her legs and lifted them to sit and put them over his. "Better like this, no?"
She nodded and turned the TV on. She selected the documentary she had talked about earlier and pressed play. For the new two hours, they drifted between fancied gold diggers, having chosen this path by choice or just opportunity and their wives, all more eccentric than the others.
Street chose the following program, a movie about aliens and a road trip. To be honest, he didn't know why he had selected such a program but the thumbnail looked funny.
"Really, Jim? This is crap!" Chris complained after an hour.
"No… Not so much…" He tried to justify his choice while Chris looked at him quizzically with her big brown eyes. "Ok this is crap but it's funny…"
"Ummmmm"
"Ok this is terrible, you're right. But I'd like to see the end…"
"Ok but you do the dishes for the rest of the week."
"Sold!"
Jim ended the movie while Chris spent the rest of the movie to play on her phone. When it was finished, he let her choose the program. She selected Space Jam. Not the greatest movie but at least it was a solid value.
"Michael Jordan was THE man." Street enjoyed, watching the basket ball player playing against Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
"He was! Look at this dunk! Another world, really!" Chris commented at her turn.
"This man is a legend!"
She looked at him, he was enjoying so much the movie at the moment, it was funny to look at him like this. And she realized once again how deeply she was in love with this man.
"What about making some pizza for tonight?" Street announced all of a sudden, forcing Chris to come back to the reality.
"Yeah, yeah, great."
"You're alright?"
"Yes, just lost in my mind. But ok for pizza. We have everything? "
"We do, made sure of it when I went food shopping last week."
They spent a part of the evening to prepare their dinner. Street cooked the pizza while Chris prepared a salad to go with it. So was it this the recipe of happiness? She let her mind wander watching at Jim throwing mushroom, ham, cheese and olives over the pizza base. For her, it was. Definitively.
They ended their day, eating and watching new documentaries on TV. Tomorrow will be emotionally strong. Today needed to be calm and fun. As they pressed play for the last program of the day, Chris came closer to Jim and placed her head over his chest, her legs above his, her arm surrounded him. He appreciated the move. She was not the demonstrative kind. So letting her be so vulnerable next to him was the ultimate proof she loved him.
He took the blanket near them and covered both of them with it. When it was done, he placed one of his arms around Chris's shoulders and back, while he stroked her legs with the other. She didn't move. She just remained nestled against him. What was the documentary about? They didn't know because they felt asleep there from the minute they were stuck to each other.
[…]
"Hurry, Jim, we're gonna be late. " Chris was a little anxious since she was up this morning. Despite the fact that she knew her family will love Jim. They already met and they had a good feeling. Thomas often asked about Jim and Auntie Elena said numerous times he was a "very handsome man".
"Calm down, Chris. It's 10 in the morning. We are not expected before noon. We'll leave in one hour to be sure to be on time."
"It's just…" She was unable to continue her sentence.
"Just that you're stressed. I know I can feel all over the room."
"Sorry… Can't prevent me from…"
"They are cool people, I like them and I'm pretty sure they like me too. Nothing can go wrong, right?"
Chris nodded, pinching her lips. Proof she was still nervous about it but processing the information Street was giving to her.
"And I think your auntie finds me very attractive." He said, winking at her.
"Don't flatter too much… But I think she did." She let out a shy laugh. She was letting the pressure go down.
Street hurried to finish to prepare the ice tea and the lemonade while Chris put everything in a big bag.
At 11, they were both in the car ready to leave. Sarzo and Elena lived at the other side of the city and they would rather be careful when it came to LA traffic. As predicted, they were stuck in traffic for more than 30 minutes. Jim parked the car in front of Chris's family's house at noon exactly.
"Guess it's time." She said as she watched fixedly the house where she had spent a large part of her childhood, even before her mom had died.
"We go when you're ready…"
She turned to Jim with a smile. "It's not that I'm not ready… I am… It's just…"
"You're anxious… I get it. Not bad not having family anymore." He told with a nostalgic tone.
"You've got one now…" She answered shyly.
"I do… The best I could hope for."
"Time to make your family grow now." She dropped before getting off the car.
He soon imitated her and walked by her side up to the yard of the little white house. He was surprised when he felt her hand made her way till his.
"Really?" He asked, surprised. She was not the demonstrative type, usually.
"I've the right to hold the hand of my husband right. Almost till the door, need all the strength possible right now."
He pressed her thin hand in his to send her all the courage he could. She was not alone in this. It was their wedding, their life. She knocked on the door. It was time.
"Auntie Elena, Uncle Sarzo, It's Christina. Are you here?"
Surprisingly, she didn't let go of Jim's hand. It was a safe place there after all.
"Mi cariňa! Estoy tan feliz de verte ! Te ves tan hermosa! Mírate ! Estas radiante ! "
"Gracias, tia." She was embarrassed to receive all these compliments.
Elena raised her head to look at Jim and gave a faint smile. "Jim, benvenidos aqui! Esta bien? " This was when she noticed Chris and Jim were holding hands. She looked at Chris, with a big smile on her face. "Finalmente volviste a tus sentidos! Bien jugado, me gusta este hombre ! "
"Tia !" She scolded Elena, before ending laughing. "Uncle Sarzo is not here? "
"Still working on his construction site. Should be here any minute. He needed to end some things before taking his lunch time. And Thomas comes too as far as Diego."
Elena passed in front of Chris to go to see Jim and hugged him. "Benvenidos en la familia!"
Street let go reluctantly from Chris's hand to embrace Elena who held him in her arms. She finally released her embrace. "Since when are you hiding this from us I mean your uncle and I and also Thomas had very great suspicions from the day you brought this man at the food truck, maybe four or five years ago."
Chris then remembered Hondo asked her this day to take Street with her to show him what the word "family" meant. "From this day? But I only know him for a couple for days then?!"
"Mi cariňa, some things are obvious. You two were from day one. Even your uncle asked you why you didn't meet someone good at work once." She notice they were feeling a little awkward by what she had just said.
"Don't worry, kids. It's a good thing, really good thing. Our Chris finally found someone who deserves her and we know she's in good hands with you, Jim."
"Gracias, Tia Elena…" Street tried to speak some words in Spanish. Not the easy thing for him who skipped Spanish classes when he was a teenager to go with Nate watching bike races.
"Lo sciento, voy tarde! Oh Chris, esta qui! Con Jim. How are you?" Uncle Sarzo arrived in the living room when Elena was with Chris and Jim.
"They come here to tell us something, but let's wait for Diego and Thomas."
"Oh they're coming, they're parking the truck right outside."
"Time to sit at the table, then. You two first." Elena winked at them before walking to the kitchen to bring food.
"Thomas, Diego, go wash your hands and come to help me in the kitchen!"
Like two kids, they listened to her and walked till the bathroom. Five minutes later, they reappeared in the living room, hands clean and full of food.
"Hey Jim, glad you're here! "Thomas told as soon as he saw him sit at the table.
"Hey Thomas, you're right?"
"Thanks, fine and you? Hey Diego, meet Jim, Chris's teammate at SWAT."
Street nodded at Diego who immediately smiled at him. "Nice to meet you, I'm Diego. Chris's other cousin."
"Please everyone, sit at the table." Elena sprang suddenly from the kitchen. They all listened to her and sat quickly. "And now listen to Chris and Jim. They have something to tell you." Elena was excited enough for the both of them.
Chris swallowed hard before being able to articulate some words. She felt the pressure of Jim's hand over her leg to encourage her.
"I ask Auntie Elena to come today because I wanted to tell you something really important…"
"You're moving?"
"You're pregnant?"
"You're leaving SWAT?!"
Uncle Sarzo, Diego and finally Thomas all asked questions at the same time. A little scared of what was about to happen.
"No, no, no." She gave them a faint smile, moved by their sudden worry. She shared a conniving look with her aunt.
"Come on, tell something Chris, the suspense is killing us." Thomas finally begged.
"Jim and I are together."
First stunned by the news, they eventually screamed at the same time. "So we're bro, man!" Thomas got up and hugged Jim. The two men had become friends over the years.
"Congrats, lil cousin." He now hugged Chris.
Diego came after, shyer. He hugged his cousin first, whispering some words to her ears. She smiled peacefully. It must have been nice. Jim loved to look at his wife and seeing her so appeased.
"In my arms, man. We're bro, now." Diego embraced Jim at his turn to congratulate him.
Uncle Sarzo was the last one to come and congratulate Chris. He was the one she was fearing the most... In her mind, he was synonym of rightness, of authority. He raised her, even before her mother died. She was so drunk, so drugged than she was not able to take care of a child. She spent most of her days out of school, here playing with her cousins. They fought, ran, laughed. He and Auntie Elena were the ones who saved her from becoming like her mom.
"Come here, mi cariňa." She came closer to him, a little scared of his reaction. "I'm proud of you. I hope you know that. And I'm proud of Jim too." He took a moment to look at Street, keeping away. "Come here too, son."
Street walked carefully till Sarzo who hugged him before pinching his cheeks making his dimples even more visible. "Thanks for making my hira happy."
"My pleasure, sir. She makes me happy too…"
"But don't play with her feelings or…." Sarzo's tone became threatening all of a sudden, making Street freeze. "Kidding, I know you won't do anything to her except drive her nuts and making her laugh. It's ok for me. And don't let yourself be pushed around. She can be a pain in the ass sometimes!"
"Tio!" Chris yelled. "Not that much, just enough to handle three noisy cousins, an overtalkative aunt and a hyperactive uncle."
"See what I was talking about." Sarzo told , watching Street, maliciously.
Having his blessing was what mattered the most. From now, telling the whole truth didn't scare her. She took a deep breath and spoke in a loud voice which surprised everyone, including her.
"And there's more." Her aunt made her big eyes. "Auntie Elena, you don't guess everything earlier. Jim and I got married the day before yesterday."
"You, what?" Elena stumbled on words. The others remained wordless for a moment. Chris grabbed Street's hand, pressing it as a way to let the stress get out of her.
"But this is amazing!" Sarzo eventually let out. "Let's celebrate twice, then!"
"But when did you do that? " Elena asked quizzingly.
"The day before yesterday, we caught a man we were running after for almost two years now… The one that almost killed Jim…" She added, a lump in her throat.
"And then I told myself it was the perfect timing, she was full of mud, kneeling on the ground, handcuffing this man who rotted our lives for two years and I asked her to marry me. What was even more surprising is that she agreed to do it right away. So we borrowed a patrol car and went to the city hall to get married, dressing in uniforms."
"Hell of a story, bro!" Thomas answered energetically.
"Quite an anecdote!" Diego added.
"And now we eat! " Elena ordered. "And you give me all the details of the ceremony! Auntie Elena needs to know everything."