Chapter 170

"Give me a minute, I need to fix my make-up," She manages before she disappears into the bathroom again.

Ryan follows her and stands in the doorway, watching her as she tries to get her eyeliner right. It doesn't surprise Alex, since she hardly ever gives her the privacy she wants. She just tries to ignore him as usual. She is always amused by the look on his face and the kinds of questions he asks when she uses different brushes and when and how she knows what to put on first. But she answers him anyway hoping she'll be able to get things done as quickly as she possibly can.

"You nervous?" he asks after a minute.

"No, I'm not nervous," she shoots back and winces as her voice rises an octave. "Right, maybe a little."

"It'll be fine, sweetheart. I'll be with you the entire time." Somehow that does make her feel slightly better and she shoots him a grateful smile. She looks at herself in the mirror again and decides that she looks fine. Or, as fine as it'll ever be.

"You look beautiful, by the way," He says in a soft voice as he eyes the elegant black and gold saree dress she's wearing that she managed to close somehow and he's not about to ask her how she managed it just in case she starts to get upset again and he won't be able to contain his laughter.

"Ready?" He steps back to let her out of the bathroom.

"Yes, let's go," Alex says with a sigh and grabs her purse from the bed.

The ride in the car is quiet, but not awkward. Alex marvels over the fact that they can just sit together without having to say anything. It's not often that Ryan isn't talking, but she doesn't feel the urge to fill the quiet with conversation when he doesn't.

"So... Is there anything I need to know about this side of your family that you haven't told me about yet?" he asks. He's been surprisingly quiet about the subject and hasn't grilled her on all the details of her long-lost family as she calls it, so she's more than willing to answer his questions now.

"Okay, you'll probably meet Savannah now, another cousin, but she doesn't want to be called Savannah anymore and insists that we call her Hannaha. She's my aunt Janine and uncle Robert's oldest daughter and has one brother called Tommy. Janine is a year younger then my father looks a lot like him. My other aunt is called Sophia and is married to Rajesh; they have a son and a daughter, Iranya and Grant. Tommy, Iranya and Grant all used to be pretty normal. So I think they still are. Iranya is a teenager so she'll probably have some mood swings every now an then." She pauses for a second, thinking. " Then there's Tommy's kid, Charlie. I've never met him, but he should be around four by now."

Ryan stares at her, his mouth hanging open a little. It takes him a minute to recover from the amount of information she just gave him, but eventually he grins and says, "So, basically, there's nothing to worried about, right?"

Right," Alex smiles. "Just don't ask about Charlie's mother.

"Okay, fine," he responds, then says, "Which Rajesh calls his son Grant? That's child abuse."

Alex chuckles. "Yeah, and Grant isn't even Rajesh's son. His father left during his first month and Sophia married Rajesh when Grant was three."

"This is getting more complicated by the minute," Ryan grumbles.

"Just don't mention Charlie's mom and everything will be fine," she says and she glances outside. "We're here."

Ryan takes a deep breath, gets out of the car and hurries around it to open Alex's door for her. "I wish I hadn't asked anything, because now you've made me nervous," he says.

"Relax, babe, everything will be fine," Alex chuckles as she takes his hand and drags him to the front door. It opens before she can knock and suddenly she's face to face with Lucy. Before she knows it she's being crushed in a hug.

"Alex! You made it! We thought you weren't going to come. Come to the kitchen when you've greeted everyone, I can't deal with your aunty. And Danika is on her second glass of wine, that she is hiding secretly somewhere." Lucy explains everything while Alex and Ryan are still standing outside the door.

"Where are my manners. Sorry Ryan nice to see you. Yassin and Malik are looking for you they're outside. Oh and uncle Rajesh will be asking you a lot of questions. Have you told him not to ask about Charlie's mother?" Lucy asked and Ryan nodded that he got the memo.

"Okay good. Then we just hope and pray this night continues without any glitches so we can all get on with our lives." Lucy said moving away from the door so they can enter.

"Welcome to the family." Lucy smiles and Ryan and Alex laughs.

"Guess you forgot to tell me that she's an Easter bunny on a sugar rush," he mumbles into her ear.

"Right, sorry, totally forgot about that," Alex apologizes laughing and he follows her into the living room, Almost everyone is already there. When she steps through the door she can hear the conversations and the laughter of everyone who was in the living room. Phoebe was the first one to notice her mother and father, where she got up from where she and Skye were playing on the floor and hurried towards them. "Hello bub. You look so pretty." Alex smiled as her daughter and Skye were dressed in the same pink and white saree, that clearly had her grandmother's handwork written all over it. And somehow Alex noticed that without it being discussed the men ended up wearing black trousers and white formal shirts, that were mostly rolled up to just above the elbow. After spending enough time on her mother's arm Phoebe made her way over to her father and he kissed her.

"Did you behave yourself while staying with Gigi?" Ryan asked and before Phoebe could answer Ramashni answered the question on her behalf.

"Of course she did." The great grandmother smiled and Alex and Ryan was certain that they'll have to fasten their belts in getting their daughter back in routine when they get back home, because they were certain she was poiled more than she should've been. Alex went around and greeted everyone and introduced Ryan to some of the family members he hasn't met yet. Anaiah was tucked away sitting in a corner on her own and Alex wasn't sure if she should greet her or not so she just nodded her head in that direction before leaving the living room where she would join her cousins in the kitchen while Ryan was looking for Yassin and Malik and found them at the back.

On their way through the kitchen Alex sees that not much has changed as most of the women were standing around doing the final preparations in the kitchen, Danika standing with a coffee mug in her hand tasting everything that has been put on the table and Alex assumed that the mug was a disguise for her secret wine. A cute little boy bumps into her while racing his car down the passage and he looks up at Alex with big brown eyes not knowing what to say.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you ma'am."

Alex was shaken by this boy's formal manners. "It's okay. I'm guessing you're Charlie." Alex said and he nodded his head. "Nice to meet you Charlie I'm Alex. This is my husband Ryan." Alex started and Ryan held out a hand as the little guy shakes hands with him and then with Alex.

"Hi, aunty Alex. Daddy says you're family, but why haven't I seen you before if you are?" The question surprises her and she's quiet for a beat.

"I guess I've just been very busy," she says as she glances at Ryan for help.

"Alex catches bad guys," he stage whispers to the boy and Charlie's eyes grow huge.

"Cool!" he yells and turns around to tell his father. "Daddy! Daddy! Did you hear? Aunty Alex catches bad guys! She's a superhero! Like superman!" The overenthusiastic boy gets scooped up by Tommy, who only looks slightly older then Alex remembers him.

"Yes, little man, I heard. She's more like Catwoman if you ask me. Superman's a guy remember?" he tells his son.

"Right, but then uncle Ryan is Batman!" the boy shrieks, and Tommy nodded setting him down so he can announce to the rest of the house the new superheroes the family has as Ryan excused himself walking through the kitchen after greeting all the women.

"Do not judge me I cannot get through this sober." Danika says and offers Alex the mug but then takes it away again as she remembers her pregnant state. "Have you seen the devil inside?" Danika asks and Alex nodded.

"I wasn't sure if I could greet her so I just nodded my head in her direction, but she was sitting in a corner all by herself." Alex explained.

"Alex!" a voice interrupts their banter. Kate turns around and sees Iranya coming her way.

"Hey Iranya!" Alex says as she hugs her youngest cousin. "How are you?"

"Great! I see you've already met Charlie! Isn't he amazing?" Iranya beams.

"Yes, he is," Alex says.

"You have the prettiest daughter, she's like a mini version of you." Iranya says when Phoebe walks into the kitchen and shows her mother the legos they have been playing with. Until she heard someone inside call her name and ran out the kitchen again.

"It's good to see you, Alex," Sophia says as she gathers Alex in a hug stroking over her belly as Alex blushes slightly. "And it's nice to meet your feel slike yesterday when you were playing outside with the boys and bullying girls at school and now you have your own family." she laughs.

"Please don't remind me." Alex laughed.

"Ah, I remember when Alex was seventeen. Isn't that when you got that tattoo your mother were so hyped up about?" Ramashni turns towards Alex, who has to stifle a grown. This is exactly why she didn't want everyone in the kitchen to start reminicing about the years that had gone by.

"At least she got an infinity tattoo, unlike my tramp stamp that i have yet to have removed." Lucy groaned laying her head on the counter as she just wanted it to go away already and cannot believe she is telling her aunts about all of this as everyone burst out laughing.

"Or having a tattoo of your husky on your left arm." Danika said proudly rubbing over the tattoo she has of her her dog on her arm, and Alex has to admit she really likes it although they were all thinking Danika was mental two years ago when she tlold them she's planning on getting a tattoo of her white husky who she named John Snow, on her arm.

Iranya and her mother came into the kitchen and Alex and the rest of the ladies in the kitchen heard them argue about something but they had no idea what it was about.

"I hate you!" Iranya said and came into the kitchen loking at her grandmother. "Grandma i don't ask for a lot but please just get mom to understand that we are no living in 1950 anymore and that missing one day of school isn't that bad." Iranya pleeaded while her mother leaned against the doorframe arms crossed over her chest.

"Do not involve your grandmother in this, this is between the two of you. You're grounded for the next two weeks." Sophia said and heard Iranya groan. "Drop the attitude or it becomes four weeks."

Sophia walked into the kitchen and took a swig of Danika's wine in the mug and shrugged when Danika looked at her in surprise. "Yes I knew about it. I'm a mother, I have my ways of knowing some things."

They all looked at Sophia for an answer on what just happened and she sighed heavily, adjusting her maroon saree over her shoulder. "She skipped school this whole week to attend some motorbike rally. And emailed the principal pretending to be me and making an excuse on her behalf that she is ill." Sophia started seeing the smiles appearing on their faces, none of them noticing that Anaiah has entered the kitchen at this stage. "And as if that wasn't the worst she faked a doctor's note diagnosing herself with mumps so she can be of for the week. "Mumps for goodness sake!"

By this time no one in the kitchen had a straight face anymore as they all started laughing. "That girl is going places." Lucy laughed seeing the look on Sophia's face.

"Phoebe and Skye has to get there as well and then we'll see how funny it is then." Sophia warned the young mothers.

"But didn't Alex, Lucy and Danika pull a similar stunt like that?" Anaiah asks from where she was standing surprising everyone since no one knew that she was even present and heard that part of their conversation, or when she entered the kitchen for that matter.

"So they were how old ? Fifteen?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Great, so imagine a fifteen year old Lucy calling me in the morning from school. You told me you had a test you hadn't studied for. What was it?"

"Trigonometry."

"Right, so she calls me asking if I could call the school to say she's sick. I asked her why she didn't just call her mother to do that, but she said that she's tried that but keeps getting her voicemail. So I don't see the harm in it and call the school to tell them she's sick. Later that evening Johanna called me to ask if I knew where Lucy was. Turned out that she had lied to me and didn't have a test at all, but there was a concert that she really wanted to go to and she needed a place in front. So she'd been in line since morning to get in."

"Which concert?" Iranya asks when she entered the kitchen again standing as far away from her mother as possible, with Phoebe and Skye on both her arms.

"Guns 'n Roses," Lucy shrugs, "I had done so much trouble for getting those tickets. I needed to have a good spot."

"How was the concert?" Iranya laughed not having imagined her cousins going to a concert like that.

"Amazing," Kate grins. "Got three months house arrest afterwards, but it was worth it."

"So your two week house arrest isn't that bad Iranya. I was grounded for three months and had to do dishes every single day. And I promised myself after that once I get my own place and I have a steady income, I will buy a dishwasher. And guess what I bought with my first paycheck?" Lucy asked and Iranya smiled.

"A dishwasher." Iranya replied and the two of them air fived as they continued to set the table for dinner. Through all their talking they managed to get the dinner preparations done before they called everyone to the dining room so they can sit down and start eating at the very long table. Dinner goes surprisingly well as everyone was on the lookout for something that might go wrong with Anaiah at the end of the table but she seemed to behave herself making all of them at ease as they have light flowy conversations during the time. The little ones seated on their mother's laps as they are being fed by their mothers in between bites. Everyone laughing when it came to eating vegetables and Phoebe and Alex were fighting about it until Alex eventually gave up and decided not to force her to eat it.

When everyone was done eating and dessert was served they cleared the table and laid the little ones down since they became fidgety and it was past their bedtime. The ladies were doing dishes while the men were somewhere in the house talking sports. Alex was packing the dishes away and, when the space in the kitchen became limited they decided to put some of the plates and crockery in the dining room on the table. Alex walked out of the kitchen with some of the things in her hand when she stood still in the doorway listening in on the conversation her grandmother and Sophia and Anaiah had inside.

"I don't know how to tell Alex about it. I don't even know if Sita knows, but she's going to find out about it sooner or later." Ramashni said and Alex took that as her queue and walked inside.

"Don't know how to tell me what?" She asked putting the plates down that she was carrying. Ramashni an Sophia looked at each other and then at Alex.

"Well are any of you about to tell me what I should know?" She asks and they mention for her to sit down and she takes a seat reluctantly.

Anaiah was sitting with her legs crossed swinging one leg in the air. "My brother would've been better off if he had married Hazel. And who knows he might still be alive today. I don't even know if Luca knows his father aside from pictures that has been shown to him." She continues and Alex looks at her with a frown.

"Anaiah…"

"No Ma, it's time someone tells her the truth even if it means she has to hear that she's not as special as she thought she was."

"Can anyone just tell me what's going on!" Alex said frustrated as they have been talking in circles and there is no way she is able to connect the dots and paint a full picture based on what she is being told.

Ramashni handed her a picture that had a name written on the back and an address. "Your father cheated on your mother, during their marriage with Hazel Kumar, and Luca was born. He's in his twenties now if I'm correct. Your mother knows about it, but we've agreed to keep it a secret until you were old enough to understand what's going on. Ales it wasn't intentional that we've kept i…

Alex held up a hand in her grandmother's direction to keep her from talking any further. "I cannot deal with this right now. I… I don't even know what to say." She got up and left the picture on the chair while she walked away towards the door.

"He would've been much better off with Hazel. And if you were the bastard child I don't even think we would've cared if you were alive or not. Wouldn't have gone through all the trouble to look for you." Anaiah shrugged and Alex felt her insides explode.

"I've had it with you patronizing me. Yes I exist I'm here deal with it. If you can't stand me just don't show up or don't talk to me. Everyone else have forgiven me for what I've done why can't you do the same?" Alex asked exasperated not knowing what else to do. "Hating me everyday of your life is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It's making you such a bitter person and makes that no one want to be around you and your negative energy. I'm sorry if life has dealt you a bad hand, but you're going to learn to play with it." She concluded and walked out to the kitchen to help with the last bit of cleaning.

After the last bit of conversation it was finally time to go home. Ryan gets up to get Phoebe who was extremely sleepy and had trouble keeping her eyes open so she can say goodbye to everyone. She walked around but bumped into everything as her vision was still blurred with sleep making her rounds to say goodbye to her family.

"Don't be a stranger." Sophia said when she hugged Alex tightly. "And I'm sorry that you had to find out this way." She whispered the second part and Alex nodded her head.

"I'm not mad at you guys, I just have a lot of unanswered questions I need answers to. And Grandma I'm sorry for the things I said to aunty Anaiah maybe I was out of place but she keeps belittling me around every corner and it gets really irritating."

"You have nothing to apologize for. Thank you for making this trip it really means a lot to me that all of you were here." Ramashni said as she walked them out. "We'll see you tomorrow to come say goodbye before we leave."

Hey guys! I hope this met your expectations, I had limited time to write this as I'm about to play chef and had stuff on the stove and in the oven that I constantly had to check up on so I really hope I met some expectations here. And I wanted to add some drama like always. I know I haven't added too much conversation when they were seated for the actual dinner but I didn't really know what to say about that or what conversation they would have around the dinner table that is mainly he reason why I cut it short (I'm sorry if you were actually looking forward to that part). Hope this was satisfactory.

Lovies-S