Supernova
Two
Families can be normal.
That was your first thought when you shared dinner with the Delko family for the first time four years ago. It'd been a few weeks after Marisol's funeral, and Eric had to practically drag you with him. Apparently, you'd somehow made an impression on his mother between serving finger foods, tea, and consoling Horatio. You were nervous, unsure of what to expect because for one, you clearly didn't fit in on his parents' side of town. A petite, blonde haired, green eyed, fair skinned Southern girl in the middle of a mostly Cuban neighborhood? Kind of hard not to be noticed, but then again, you are certain now that those very attributes that you possessed caused you to be noticed by his family.
His other two sisters thanked you for being one of the few genuine best friends he had. That was the first time Eric ever held your hand; well, not exactly held, more like took your hand in his and gently and showed you around his childhood home, guiding you through memories, through pictures, rooms, pasts, futures...the spaces Marisol took up until she left home, left them altogether.
You remember keenly the feel of your soft hand in his, how your heart, despite the ache you felt for Eric, had fluttered and raced for a few minutes at the sight of the contrast of his darker skin against your fair skin.
"Oh, you just work with Eric," his mother sighed with relief when you met Clorinda.
"Yes," you said solemnly. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Delko. I didn't know your daughter very well, but if Marisol was anything like Eric is to you, to me, and the team...then you were so blessed to have had her."
"Thank you, mijita."
The ease with which that term of endearment slipped from his mother's lips astounded you, and when you looked at Eric, you knew that something had changed between the both of you, changed for him...because you felt it too.
You grin a bit, fast forwarding to when you deepened your relationship and to the first evening you had dinner with his family as his girlfriend...officially, and a new kind of nervousness struck you. Sure, his sisters liked you well enough as their little brother's dear, close friend...but as his girlfriend, and a potential mate? For the first time in your life, you actually had sweaty palms and you wrung your fingers under the dinner table. Eric took your hand in his, squeezing gently, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles.
His family welcomed you with open arms, and you know that Eric was glad.
Now you are used to dinners with the Delkos, but you still find yourself in awe of the way they talk about anything and everything, share memories, laugh at the ones being made…you became addicted to the openness of it all, and the closeness. There were no intense, heated arguments, no accusations, no one in separate spaces eating their dinners and no TV either. It's interesting how it's never considered a burden, or awkward for Eric's family to be around each other. It's something that they want and look forward to. It's the most important thing in the world to them.
And now it is to you too.
But you are nervous all over again because now you are having dinner with Eric's parents...as his wife. It doesn't help anything that you don't have the buffer of his sisters and their families. Clorinda had been none too happy to hear, as you and Eric were in the airport about to go on your honeymoon, that you'd gotten married and were leaving for a month.
Now, tonight is the night of reckoning.
Your nuptials have become a little family controversy on both sides, and you are starting to think that your father might be a little more understanding than Eric's mother.
Eric pulls up to the house and he gets out then he goes round to the passenger side and opens the door for you.
"Babe, it's going to be okay," he assures you.
You walk up to the front porch hand in hand, and he opens the door and you step inside first, then he follows. As soon as the smell of dinner surrounds you, your stomach starts growling and you're ready to sample and help finish up the cooking. You always volunteer to taste the food before sitting down and stuffing yourself with homemade tortillas and delicious marinated chicken, and black bean soup. Eric always tells you that you turn into a greedy little thing whenever you have dinner at his parents' house. You only laugh and tell him to find some containers and pack up some food for later.
"Hey, we're here," Eric calls.
"In the kitchen, mijo," Clorinda calls.
You make your way into the kitchen where his mother is just finishing up with making dinner. He kisses his mother's cheek.
Clorinda looks at you and Eric rather scornfully.
"Well, if it isn't my only son and his wife that I didn't get to see him marry."
Her capacity for bitterness surprises you.
"Ma, again with this?"
"Yes, again, Eric," Clorinda frets as she pushes past both of you with a steaming pot of marinated chicken mixed with guilt and dramatic despair.
You look over to Eric's father, Pavel, who is sitting in the living room, ignoring his wife's tirade and nodding and humming his agreement on cue like a pro.
Pavel Delko is a man of very...very few words. He's not distant by any means, it's just that he's more of a man of action, and when he actually does speak, he doesn't mince words, is always to the point, and has wisdom to impart. Like his father, you found that Eric is a man of his word, and a man of action, though a little more talkative than his father.
"And you," Clorinda huffs, turning to look at you. "I never expected this out of you...you're the level-headed one!"
"Hey," Eric frowns, offended.
"And what about your parents?"
You shrug. "I'm sorry," you offer meekly.
Clorinda mutters a lamenting prayer under her breath before setting the table.
Once dinner is ready, you sit down at the table in the dining table.
You blush when Eric kisses your cheek.
For a few minutes, you eat in silence, and as soon as the food gets in your stomach, it immediately rebels, making you queasy because of the anxiety you feel.
"So," your mother-in-law begins, cutting through the silence. "How has the new marriage been?"
You both look up from your plates.
"It's been good," Eric answers.
"Really good..." You add with a slight smile. "We're um...right now we're in the process of moving in together. Eric decided to sell his condo, a-and h-he wants to move into my house."
"You see? This is what I'm talking about," Clorinda sighs. "You two just rushed into this without any forethought whatsoever. Marriage is a big responsibility."
"We know that," Eric sighs.
You take a sip of your wine.
"Your sisters and I all are so sad that we didn't get to see you and Calleigh get married...You don't know how hurt I was, hijo."
"It's not that we didn't want you there," Eric begins.
"We were just going to get married on our own," you shrug.
"So you were going to elope?" Clorinda asks you incredulously.
"Yes."
"Cal..."
"Well we were. For heaven's sake, Eric, there's no point in lying."
"Eric, you always said that you wanted to get married in the church," his mother reminds him. "With out priest. Ever since you were a little boy..."
"I said a lot of things when I was little," he says defensively. "I also said that I was going to build a house entirely out of those orange lollipops you used to give us...you gonna hold me to that too?"
Clorinda glares at Eric and she throws a curve ball and mutters something in Russian, and you can't understand a lick of Russian, which is probably a good thing right now, because by the look on her face, and the shocked look on Eric's, it was something just down right offensive.
"Ma..."
"The only reason why our close friends were there is because one of them walked in on us talking about it," you explain quickly.
She sighs, shaking her head. "All I could think about was Marisol...we didn't get to see our daughter get married...and we didn't see our only son get married."
There's the guilt.
You bite your bottom lip. "We didn't mean to hurt anyone, that wasn't our intention. We apologize if we did. We just wanted it really to be about us, and make our commitment to each other."
Clorinda nods.
"Do you think that you and Calleigh would be open to having a real wedding?"
"Ma, we're not having another ceremony. We like the ceremony we had."
"We can't recapture that moment..."
"Yes you can," Clorinda presses.
"Mami we're not having a second wedding," Eric insists. "We...we didn't want to wait."
Clorinda nods. "Yes, I understand, hijo. But I am your mother, and...you don't know how much it would have meant to me and your father to have been there."
"I know," Eric says.
"It would have been nice to celebrate some good news," Clorinda says tentatively. "Especially after...the baby."
Your stomach lurches at the mention of the baby, but you fight it, and you feel Eric's hand on your lower back, caressing softly.
"Mami..."
"I am sorry," she says regretfully, looking to her husband, who is giving her a look. "I didn't-"
Pavel holds up his hand, and she quiets, and you look over to your father-in-law.
"This is long overdue," Pavel begins in his accent, raising his glass. "Eric, my son, I am proud of you, and I congratulate you. For your happiness, we will pray, and may God bless your life together in every way imaginable. Calleigh, mija, моя дочь, welcome to our family."
All of you raise your glasses.
"Salud," Clorinda says happily.
"Salud!"
You touch your glasses together.
After you try and finish dinner, you talk with your in-laws for a bit, then you and Eric prepare to leave, but all of the anxiety, plus the mentioning of the baby, which is still a touchy subject for you, has unraveled you a bit, and you need some air.
You go out to the front porch, arms crossed over your chest.
"Babe, you okay?" Eric asks, coming out and checking up on you.
"Yeah, I'll be a minute," you smile over your shoulder before sitting on the swing.
On top of anxiety, you are now experiencing sudden feelings of grief. You know that Clorinda meant no harm, she didn't mention the baby to hurt you, but it still stung because it reminded you of the physical pain, and the emotional pain of everything that came after it.
You sigh as you swing lightly for a few minutes longer, then you go back into the house.
You stop just short of Eric's old room on the way to the bathroom; you realized you left your makeup bag in there, and you wanted to retrieve it. You back up a few steps and listen to the hushed voices of Eric and his mother.
"Ma, from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry. It's just...when Calleigh was in the hospital, we both realized that we couldn't wait. Time waits for no one."
"I know, I know," Clorinda agrees.
You grin a bit, glad that she's coming around.
"But hijo, you've been through so much already, and Calleigh, too. Everything just...happened so quickly between you two. I worry that it's too intense, Eric, that once this uh...happy phase wears off, that you and Calleigh will..."
You furrow your eyebrows.
"Calleigh and I have endured worse...I'm in love with her, she's my wife now. We have a commitment. We're not going to walk away from that. Ever. You don't have to worry about us."
"It's not you I'm so much worried about, mijo. I love Calleigh, but...since the baby, then almost losing her life again, she's been different..."
"Mom Calleigh are okay," he assures. "Cal and I will be fine, trust me."
"I know, hijo. I know that you will take good care of her. And if you two need anything..."
"I got it Ma," Eric chuckles.
You quickly go into the bathroom and close the door softly.
"Thanks for dinner, mami," he says appreciatively. "Love you."
"Love you too, mijo."
You flush the toilet, and run the water in the sink.
You exit the bathroom, and you smile when you see Eric standing at the door with his parents.
"Thanks so much for dinner," you say as you hug Clorinda and Pavel.
Clorinda smiles tearfully at you.
When you arrive home, you both sit on the couch, and Eric gently pulls you to him.
"Eric?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you..." You hesitate, gently biting your bottom lip before continuing. "Am I...different to you now? Do you see me differently?"
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"Since..." You look away, blinking away tears.
"Cal-"
"I overheard you and your mom."
He sighs. "She was just...concerned."
"About if we're going to make it...if I'd leave you."
"I told her that's not gonna happen," Eric assures. "And that neither of us are going to walk away now."
You shake your head. "What if she's right? What if everything falls apart again?"
"Calleigh, look at me," he says softly.
You look at him.
"I love you," he says, kissing your cheek. "You're...everything to me, my world, Calleigh. I love who you are, and...I guess I do see you differently. You're my wife, and I see you as my wife, the woman I'm so proud of, the woman that I'm insanely in love with. I'm here to stay, babe, and...just because things haven't really been going our way lately, doesn't change the way I feel about you, how I see you."
You kiss your husband softly, and you settle back into him.
You both sit in comfortable silence for a few moments before you sit up a bit to look at him.
"Hey..."
"What?" He asks, looking at you.
"Your dad talked."
"I know..." He marvels, furrowing his eyebrows.
You giggle as you slink your arm over his abdomen again.
You and him.
Mr. and Mrs. Delko.
You are simplicity and complications and certainty...you rush toward it.