Family Matters
The day finally came; Christmas. We nearly slept through it however because no sun came with the morning. Erik woke first; there was a sound that was imitating some beast ripping through the very foundations of the hotel. It only took Erik a moment to realize it was the wind. As he looked out the window, all he saw was a blur of white.
"Olivia," He nudged me slightly,
"Mmm?" I never wanted to wake up in the morning; I just wanted to lay there next to him,
"It's snowing,"
"It's Rochester! Of course it's snowing," I grumbled, forcing myself to raise my head and look out the window, "Oh wow…" It was really coming down, "I hate to say it but we should get moving before this gets much worse,"
Erik agreed. We both set ourselves in motion; quickly dressing and gathering together the presents we were brining to my mother's house. I turned on the television set and found the weather channel; apparently this storm was going to last all day and only get worse as the night came.
When we stepped outside it was as though we had entered the Alaskan tundra. By the time I reached the car I was shivering,
"I miss the city!" I cried; a place that got snow, but not that much snow,
"I know, so do I," Erik said, and he felt incredibly tense. The weather conditions were making it difficult to drive and Erik was reminded that the last time this had happened, he had ended up in a hospital.
This time he was luckier. We made it to my mother and father's house without accident, although I had not gone over forty miles an hour the whole way there. Judging by the cars already there, we were one of the last ones to arrive.
As we walked to the door, Erik felt a fresh set of nerves wash over him. What with meeting Andy and then getting engaged, he had not had much time to worry about meeting the rest of the family.
Now the moment was upon him; I would open the door and then he would be faced with all my relatives. Erik took a deep breath. I suddenly noticed how nervous he was; I squeezed his hand and smiled,
"You're going to be fine darling," I opened the door. Immediately I heard Andy squeal,
"Olivia!" She rushed over to me, embracing me tightly, "I didn't tell anyone else about the engagement, except Leo, so that can be your surprise," She whispered to me. I had only told Andy, Rebecca, Susan, and Jackie that I was engaged. I wanted to announce it to my family all at once. I had spun the ring around so that no one would notice until I wanted them to.
"Andy," I beamed at her, but soon there were others swooping around. My mother shrieked and came at me, practically shoving Andy aside to get her turn. Erik watched as this happened, awkwardly closing the door and wondering what he was supposed to do.
"Let me look at you," My mother, Elaine, cupped my face in both hands and looked at me, "You cut your hair again," he said with a sigh,
"It's been short for years mom," I told her,
"I know, but I always liked it long better," she said with a sigh,
I rolled my eyes and shrugged. I shifted me gaze to the man standing behind my mother, "Daddy!" I embraced the big man tightly. My father, Daniel, was a big man with an even bigger heart.
"I think your hair looks great Liv," He said to me, "But I think we are being rude," he let go of me and walked over to Erik, extending a hand, "Daniel Moss," he said,
Erik took his hand, "Erik Duval," He hoped he kept the nervous awkward tone out of his voice,
"Well it's good to finally meet you!" My mother turned to him, "I swear, little Liv never brings men home…come in come in…"
Wincing at the fact my mother still called me "little Liv" even though I was in my thirties, we were herded into the living room. We put the bags which contained the presents under the tree.
Erik stared around the room. There were quite a few people in there; My parents, Andy and Leo, and then the rest he did not know, but all of them were coming at him and me.
"Oh my God I haven't seen any of you in so long!" I said as my relatives dutifully flocked over for the meet and greet, "Erik, this is my cousin Justin, and this is his wife Lisa..."
"Hello…" Erik shook hands with the first of them,
"And this is my other cousin Krista…
"Good to meet you…
"And her husband Nigel…
There were several other people he was introduced to and he was sure they would not remember him and he would not remember them…at least not yet. Unfortunately I was pulled away by my mother to look at her new curtains and Erik was left alone. People finally dispersed around him and he thought he was safe, but then he felt another tap on the shoulder,
"Can you talk to one more person?" Erik laughed; Leo had come up behind him,
"Good to see you again," Erik said, and he really meant it. Among all the new and unfamiliar he looked at Leo as a kind of ally even though he had only met him once before.
"They have quite a big family," Leo said, meaning me and Andy, "But they rarely get together like this,"
Erik glanced around the room. Most people were talking, glancing briefly at him and Leo, and then continuing to speak, "Is it me or are they all talking about us?" Erik questioned in French,
"They are," Leo spoke in french as well, "We are the mysterious foreigners," he laughed, "The French connection,"
"How'd you get that cast?" Erik looked down to see a young boy staring up at him,
"I was in a car accident," Erik said, eyeing the child. He looked to be about twelve and he had brown blond hair. It also appeared he was wearing a rather hideous looking Christmas sweater.
"Were you being chased by anyone?" he asked eagerly,
"Harry shut up!" An older girl had come over. She had short, blond hair and glasses. Tied around her waist was what appeared to be a sweater that matched the boys, "That only happens on TV,"
"No! Jake told me that…" the boy began in angry protest,
"Jake is an idiot," The girl cut him off,
"She's right, I was not being chased by anyone," Erik said, he would have liked to get away from the conversation but he and Leo were standing in a corner and there really was no avoiding it,
"You see Harry," the girl said, and then she turned to Erik, "I try to…" an odd look came over her face as she looked at Erik. He did not know what it was,
"Are you feeling alright Mademoiselle?" He asked confused. Normally he would have said "Miss" but speaking to Leo in French had put him in that mind set,
"Oh yeah," she shook her head, "I was just saying…" but she had forgotten what she had just been saying, "So are you French too?" she asked Erik, blinking several times very rapidly,
"Yes," Erik said slowly, wondering what was in this girl's head,
"I love French, and France," she said enthusiastically,
"Oh do you speak French?" Erik asked her, and he also scanned the room behind her for any sign of me,
"No," the girl admitted, "But I'd really like to learn…"
"Eww! Are you flirting?" the boy, Harry, laughed at his sister,
"Argh!" the girl turned bright red and rounded on her brother. Still laughing the boy tore out of the room, his angry sister hot on his heals,
"That was odd," Erik spoke to Leo again in French,
Leo nodded, "Lily's kids," he explained, "Harry and Andrea I believe is her name…and they always do act a bit odd," Leo shrugged,
I returned to them at that moment, Andy coming with me, "I am so sorry," I said, handing Erik a glass of chardonnay and sipping my own, "My mother ambushed me…and then there was this thing with fruit cake and…" I shook my head,
Erik laughed at me, "It's alright darling,"
"Aww I miss that part of the relationship where you are still basking in the sun of proposal and you call each other darling," Andy said enviously, but clearly not seriously,
"I still call you darling, darling," Leo said, sounding just as carefree,
"So when are you two going to announce to everyone else that you are," Andy looked around to make sure no one was listening, "engaged," she whispered,
"Dinner I think," I looked at Erik, "Do you agree?"
"Whatever you say darling," Erik took a drink from his glass,
"This is why I love you," I said, and my voice must have been slightly dreamy because Leo said,
"In the immortal words of Harry; Eww," Erik laughed but Andy and I were just confused,
"Harry Lily's boy?" Andy asked,
"That's the one; he came over and asked Erik about his cast," Leo said,
"Oh…" I looked at Erik, "I should have warned you he is a little odd,"
Erik laughed, "It was alright…he wanted to know if I was being chased when I got in the car accident,"
"Yes and then his sister…" Leo paused to drain his drink, "I think she was rather taken with Erik…"
Erik's attempts to deny this were drown out by our own laughter, "Well Lily will be thrilled," I said at last, "She is always worrying that Andrea does not act girlish enough," at that moment the two children ran past up shrieking about something,
"This is why we don't have kids," Andy said in a low voice, which caused us all to snort in the drinks we had buried our noses in, which was really quite childish.
I had thought that maybe since we were unusual guests in the house Andy and I would be exempt from the cooking, but I was wrong. Lily sought us out just after we had sat down,
"Girls," she addressed us,
"Oh Lily! Have you met Erik?" I motioned to him and he began to stand and extend a hand to her but she quickly nodded and spoke,
'We spoke on the phone," she turned her attention away from Erik, "Mother and I need help in the kitchen, and as you two haven't done anything…"
"Alright alright," Andy sighed, "We're coming,"
We ended up having to frost cookies, something we had not done in years. Erik and Leo had followed us into the kitchen and they sat down at the bar stools across from the counter where we were frosting. Standing there in the kitchen, it felt like I was a teenager all over again.
My mother turned around and watched Andy and I,
"Oh it's just like when you girls used to live here!" She squealed, "I miss you girls," Lily watched with cold eyes as my mother came and hugged us both.
Not surprisingly seeing as how we had consumed quite a bit of wine, our frosting activity turned into us eating frosting and then throwing the remnants at each others faces.
"Stop it! That's homemade frosting!" Lily shouted, "I spent a long time making the color just right!"
I laughed, "You could have just bought it,"
"Some people don't do things the easy way," I glared at her; I tried to make partner and she tried to make frosting and I was the lazy one.
"Oh it is just like old times," Our mother said, then she turned to Erik, "These girls have been at each others throats since they were little," she laughed, "Andy and Olivia were always the big dreamers; remember when you two though you would be on Broadway?"
"Oh God!" Andy managed to speak, but I simply dissolved into a fit of laughter, "It was after we were in that production of Chicago,"
"Remember when…" I was still laughing so hard, "Opening night…and your skirt fell off…" Andy started to laugh so hard she could barely breathe, "and you just…kicked it off the stage!"
Andy had to sit down to catch her breath, "I haven't thought about that in years!"
"I still have it on tape," My mother offered,
"Oh we absolutely have to watch it!" Leo moved to his wife's side, "Why didn't you ever mention this?"
"Because we were ridiculous!" Andy said,
"No, we can't watch it," I said adamantly, "it's too embarrassing,"
"I'd like to see it Olivia," Erik informed me smiling,
"Oh God," I muttered, but it was too late to stop the hurried procession of people into our living room. My mother was yelling at everyone to gather round; we were going to watch tapes of the girls.
I had exactly five minutes of my dignity left before my mom found the old tape. Andy and I protested but we both knew it was useless. Erik had seated himself in one of the large easy chairs and I resigned myself to sit down on the chair next to him, ready to bury my head in his shoulder as soon as the tape was on.
The next ten minutes were filled with the laughter of our family as they watched the younger versions of me and Andy singing and dancing in the finale of the show. I admit, I watched to. I was amazed at how young and carefree we both looked.
I remembered every detail of the show; it had been a wonderful event. Andy had always been in plays and musicals and I was usually in the pit. However, Andy convinced me to try out. She had the role of Velma Kelly, and I was Roxy Heart. It had been amazing; both of us, the stars of the show.
I laughed as I watched us in the old, slightly cheesy, high school production. Erik watched me with pride. He couldn't believe that once again, he found himself in love with a former performer. But as he watched the teenage figures of me and Andy dance across the stage, he noticed something that had nothing to do with our short, sparkling costumes or our wide smiles. He noticed something he could relate to much more.
Away from the crowd which had gathered to help in our humiliation, Lily stood in the doorframe of the kitchen where we had abandoned the food. Her eyes was dark, and Erik thought also quite sad. He assumed Lily had never been in the spotlight. Erik craned his head to see that the man who was married to Lily, James, was watching the tape along with everyone else and paying no mind to his wife's emotions.
As the one who was always standing in the shadows on the edge of the stage, never to share in the spotlight, he knew what it was to watch someone close to you win all the attention while no praise ever came your way. He could identify with that. So maybe he was not so different than everyone else.
We watched the full finale of the show, and then the following applause,
"Ok watch me right here," I said, I was enjoying this more than I thought I would, and I squeezed Erik's hand, "See, right there when we all turned around a little?"
"Yeah…" he said, a small smile on his face,
"There was a huge crash because Jim Whitbourne when backstage and cut the lights to scare everyone," I explained laughing, "He ran through with shaving cream right?" I looked at Andy for conformation,
"Yeah, he was a real hellion," Andy smiled, remembering,
"And your first love," I put on a ridiculous voice and batted my eyelashes at Andy,
"What's all this?" Leo asked interested,
"And there was a huge drama with this play and Andy…and Jim," Suddenly I remembered the whole twisted story and realized I had a captive audience; Leo, Erik, my mother and father, and everyone else but Lily were all staring at me,
"Alright, so Jim was the star of the football team…"
"Liv, do you have to tell this story now?" Andy blushed,
"Yes," I said quickly, "But he wanted to impress Andy so he tried out for the play; the part of Billy Flynn…and he was really good! But that prick William Roberts get it instead, because his father gave the school a "generous contribution,"
Erik considered the story; man wants to impress and win woman; man's place gets stolen by rich dolt…it all sounded very familiar…which lead him to believe that no, he was not so very different from everyone else; except for the fact that he was born in the 1800s…minor detail…
"So to catch her attention, he pulled this prank…" I continued, "And it totally worked, Andy was smitten," I grinned at her,
"I was not…smitten," Andy protested, her face turning bright red as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "I think dinner is read…it dinner ready?" she quickly made for the kitchen, Leo following her,
"Honey? So do you still talk to this Jim fellow?"
I laughed hard for another minute as I rose and stopped the tape as the crowd dispersed. I hit eject and turned to face Erik again, "So what did you think?"
"You were absolutely spectacular…a true diva," He said, motioning for me to come and sit on his good leg again,
"Where you ever in a high school production?" I asked him,
"No honey, I never went to high school, I am from the 1800 and I terrorized an opera house," he said in his mind; but he said to me, "Never in high school…I was in a show once though,"
"What was it?" I asked interested,
"You wouldn't have heard of it," He said slyly,
"Was it any good?" I asked,
"Well…it brought the house down," he said, choosing his words carefully,
"Did anyone catch it on tape?"
"I doubt it," Erik said with a smile, adding to himself, as they hadn't invented a video camera yet, "But I think it was in the papers,"
"It's fun though isn't it? Where there a lot of back stage antics going on during the show?"
"More than you know," Erik said mysteriously,
I looked at his quizzically for a moment, "You are very strange sometimes,"
"Yes and that's why you love me," Erik said quickly, and he took my hand and touched the ring on my finger,
"Of course it is," I leaned in and kissed him swiftly on his lips, which left me wishing for the hundredth time we had spent Christmas alone in New York,
"Dinners ready!" Our moment was cut short