Chapter 15
I have met Carlos' parents and his sister Celia before, but not as his fiancée or even his girlfriend for that matter.
"Deep thoughts Babe?" Carlos asked me as he pulled me out of the car. "Just thinking about talking to your parents. I know they like me and have always made me feel welcome, but I'm not sure how they will feel about me as part of the family. I mean I'm not Cuban and my mother and grandmother are full fledged nut cases. Who wants that for their son?"
I had worked myself up into quite a frenzy. Carlos had both of his hands on my shoulders looking at me with a bemused look on his face. I expected him to say something but he just pulled me in for a panty ruining, toe curling kiss. Right there in front of the Bond office.
As he pulled back I saw Lula and Connie pressed up against the window with their mouths open, fogging up the windows. I grinned and gave them a finger wave with my left hand.
I saw Lula's eyes go wide when she saw the ring. I saw Connie slapping her on the back while Lula gasped for breath. I saw Connie looking confused and Lula pointing at my hand on Carlos' shoulder.
Connie's eyes got wide and her jaw dropped before I saw her roll her eyes and turn gesturing with her hands. I knew Vinnie must have been yelling at them.
I smiled up at Carlos and said "Lula spotted the ring and started to hyperventilate. Vinnie's yelling so I guess we should go in for a minute. Or kiss made them fog up the window. I have to admit it made my panties rather damp. I might have to take them off to be more comfortable" I said walking past him towards the door, hearing him growl.
He caught me around the waist pulling me back against him as he said "playing with fire Babe." I gave him a cheeky smile and pushed the door open.
Our ears were assaulted by Lula's high pitched squeal. "White girl what the hell is on your finger? How come you didn't tell me? Is that real? Damn girl he must really love you! Wait til I tell my Tankie. Well don't just stand there, start talking" she finally ran out of steam.
"It's an engagement ring, it just happened this morning, yes it's real, yes he loves me and I love him. Don't be bad but Tank already knows. He was sworn to secrecy. Is there anything else you want to know?" I asked after my rapid fire answers to her questions. I could feel Carlos silently laughing behind me.
I leaned back into his arms, soaking up his quiet strength. "I hate to cut this short ladies, but Steph and I have one more stop to make before we head to Miami I'm sure as soon as Steph and I work out the details of when and where, she will be sharing. Now if you'll excuse us we have to get going" Carlos said as he steered me back out the door.
Oh how I love this man. If I had been by myself, I would have been held hostage til they had pried every last detail out of me. Before I know it I'm tucked into the car with the snap of my seatbelt and a hard kiss from my fiancée. I love the sound of that. Who knew?
Previous thoughts of being engaged to Joe had given me hives. Huh guess it was the thought of being tied down to Joe and not the thought of marriage I was opposed to.
I must have chuckled out loud because Carlos looked over at me with that damn eyebrow lifted in question. Smiling as I squeezed his hand, I told him "I just had an epiffany. Seems all this time I thought I had an aversion to marriage, but now it seems it was merely the man trying to push me into marriage that I had an aversion to."
I smiled at the look he gave me. "Good to know Babe. I'd hate to know you had an aversion to marriage since you said yes and you're wearing my ring." He said this as he gave me a 200 watt smile.
I pulled our clasped hands up to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. "Oh no Batman I am all in. You are stuck with me for the rest of your life. Last chance to back out before we get to your parents house" I half joked.
He pulled our hands to his mouth and kissed my ring hard while looking at me with an intense look. "I'm all in too Babe, don't EVER doubt that. You are suck with e for the rest of your life so get used to it" he growled the last part while squeezing our hands together tightly.
Ok I get it. No more doubts. "Babe" he said with a tender smile. Oops guess I said that out loud. Oh well for once I'm glad I did. I smiled back at him as we sped towards Newark.
The Cayenne ate up the miles between Trenton and Newark and before I was ready, we were pulling up in front of Carlos' childhood home. He turned to me and pulled me across the console for a tender kiss.
"Relax Babe they already love you and my dad has known for awhile that I was going to ask you to marry me, just like your dad knew" he said with a straight face but I saw his beautiful brown eyes shining.
Wait what? "My dad knew? But how? When? What?" he kissed me quiet and said "Babe I've known for several years that I wanted you. I had your ring made over a year ago. I spoke to your dad the day you broke up with Morelli to get his permission to pursue you for the purpose of marriage. He gave me his hearty approval. Seems he was never to fond of Morelli" he said this with a laugh.
He got out and came around, opened my door and pulled me towards the front door. I looked up to see Ricardo Sr and Maria standing there with hue 200 watt smiles on their faces. Ahhh now I see where Carlos got his from. They opened the door so we could enter "Carlos, Stephanie it's so good to see you" Maria said as she gathered us up in her arms for a bone crushing hug. Ricardo clapped Carlos on the back and pulled me in for a hug as he whispered in my ear "welcome to the family my dear."
I pulled back in question as he nodded his head towards my hand on his shoulder. Before I could respond, Carlos pulled me back against his chest and said "Papa, Momma, Steph has agreed to be my wife."
Maria squealed and pulled me in for another warm hug. "Oh my dear it's about time my son got his head out and made you an official member of our family" she said smiling warmly at me. I felt tears pricking the back of my eyes.
Ricardo hugged me again and smiled warmly too. Carlos whispered in my ear "I told you Babe, nothing to be worried about. They love you already." This made me really tear up.
Maria noticed my tears and asked in a concerned voice "Stephanie dear whats wrong? Did we say something to upset you?" I shook my head no as she pulled me in for a hug. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you Maria. These are happy tears. I guess I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome into your family. I wish I could say my mother reacted as well but unfortunately Carlos didn't get near this warm of a welcome from her" I told her sniffing.
Carlos hugged me from behind to calm me. "She'll come around Babe. Besides your dad and grandmother have been more than welcoming, especially your granny" he said with a smile in his voice. This brought a small smile to my face.
I turned around and gave him a kiss and a hug as I whispered in his ear "thanks baby you know just what to say to make me feel better." I snuggled in his warm embrace, just soaking up his warmth and love.
"Anytime Babe, love you" he said while kissing the top of my head. I heard a throat clear and turned around blushing. I had forgotten all about Ricardo and Maria being in the room. Carlos still had me wrapped up in his arms so I felt the rumble of his laughter in his chest. I punched him lightly as I turned around.
"Babe" he growled trying to sound menicing. I smiled and batted my lashes at him "yes Carlos?" I asked feigning innocence. He just smiled and gave me a light kiss as he walked us further into the house.
"Have you had lunch? I have some leftovers if you're hungry" Maria asked as we went into the living room. "No thank you momma, we ate lunch with Steph's parents so we could tell them about our engagement. We are actually on our way to the airport to fly down to Miami. Some stuff has come up and I want to get there as soon as we can" Carlos explained regretfully.
"Maybe we could come for supper when we get back" I told Maria trying to soften our leaving so soon. Carlos squeezed my shoulder in thanks.
"Oh Stephanie that would be lovely" Maria said happily.
"Carlos is everything ok with Julie? Why are you in such a hurry to get to Miami?" Ricardo asked him in a concerned voice. "Julie's fine papa. Just some business regarding the ending of my government contract" he assured his father with a tight smile and a squeeze to my shoulders asking me not to comment.
I put my hand on his and squeezed back while I leaned back into his war embrace letting him know I understood. Ricardo gave us a knowing look, but didn't say anything else. I knew he didn't want to upset Maria.
Carlos reluctantly said we needed to get going. I was pulled into another warm hug from my future mother-in-law as she said "Stephanie I'm so glad you're going to be my daughter. I know Carlos has loved you for a long time. You are good for him. I know things don't always run smooth for either of you, but just love each other and the rest will sort itself out" she told us both as she pulled Carlos into our hug.
"Thank you Maria for such a warm welcome to your family. I love Carlos with every fiber of my being. I plan on loving him for the rest of my life. It took us long enough to get here, I don't plan on letting anything or anyone get in the way of our happiness" I told her as I was pulled into a bear hug from Ricardo.
"You're good for my son carena. Take good care of each other" he whispered to me as he let go.
"I promise" I told him with a kiss on his cheek. He grinned as Carlos shot him a raised eyebrow. Damn how does he do that! I heard the others laugh and I blushed cause I knew I'd said it outloud.
After promises of getting together when we got back we were back in the Cayene heading for a private airstrip outside of Newark. Carlos called Tank to let him know we were on our way.