Giving Aunt Rose the Reader's Digest version, I quickly explained the 'mission' I had been put on, and what all had been involved on my part. The others added in a bit, but then the conversation lulled.
"How are you two related?" Zach asked.
His sudden question made me choke on my fried chicken, trying to cough up the little bone lodged in my throat. Warren gave me a whack on the back just hard enough to force the bone forward.
I coughed and cleared my throat, everyone looking concerned at me. "Why don't you just ask why I'm white?" I asked, my voice hoarse from the strain.
Zach blushed, taking a drink of his water.
Aunt Rose just looked at me, obviously not wanting to explain the story.
I sighed. "Ok, so Aunt Rose is my mom's sister. My family kind of has a record of bastard children." I said and raised my hand to stop Aunt Rose as she opened her mouth. "Which is the dictionary description of a child of illegitimate birth! I wasn't using it as a cuss word!"
Aunt Rose just gave me the look saying 'don't use that word in my house again.' I nodded and continued my explanation. "Aunt Rose's parents, my grandparents, are African-American by birth. My grandfather had a fling with a white woman and bam! There's my mom."
Shaking her head, Aunt Rose obviously didn't approve of my uncouth description. "Then you should have told the story." I said, sticking my tongue out to her as I gave Emma another spoonful of peas. Zach and Layla giggled at my behavior.
"So, my mom and Aunt Rose are technically half-sisters. Aunt Rose was… five?" I asked and she nodded. "Five years older than my mom. So when Aunt Rose turned eighteen, she came to find my mom, which is how she is now involved in my life now."
Will, Magenta and Ethan took this as an acceptable answer.
"What did you mean a record of bas-" Zach froze halfway through his question, receiving a glare from Aunt Rose. "Illegitimate children?" Zach finished and Aunt Rose nodded her approval.
I shifted awkwardly in my seat, seeing six sets of eyes on me. "Uh… That's definitely a story for another dinner." I said, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly before standing to take my dishes into the kitchen.
Why had I opened my mouth? All I had to do was keep quiet. But nooo. Not Cora. Gotta go spilling the family's skeletons. I sighed, leaning over the sink.
"He was just curious, child." Aunt Rose said, making me jump.
"I know. I don't know why I feel the need to start talking about things I don't want to talk about." I said. My sentence sounded stupid to me and I was about to rephrase it when Aunt Rose smiled and came to hug me.
"I'll get the dishes, darling. You go sit with your friends. And in Jesus's name, let the boy hold Emma." She said, giving me a pointed look that told me not to argue.
"Aunt Rose, I have no earthly recollection of to what you're referrin'." I said, putting on my mock-Georgia accent for her. She was born and raised in Georgia, but ended up in California for my mom, and me.
Mostly me, but still.
She gently tossed the towel at me, telling me to wipe off the table before I went about maxing and relaxing. I walked out into the dining room to see everyone but Warren moved to the living room.
Warren looked up at me as I entered the room. He had Emma on his lap and she was laughing up a storm. It made my heart fall a little bit as I wiped off the table. I didn't know where I stood with Warren. I could tell he'd forgiven me.
But I didn't want to forgive myself. So maybe I was trying to make it up to myself in the end. I just wanted to know how to handle Warren. He was nice; nicer than his friends gave him credit for sometimes. And he was gentle with my baby girl, when every guy to even hold her before him had bad intentions.
I realized I had stopped wiping off the table to watch him blow kisses as Emma. He'd blow her a kiss and she'd giggle and try to imitate him. "She's like a sponge." He commented, glancing up at me.
"Yeah. She takes after her great aunt." I called towards the kitchen.
"Hush now, child. She takes after her momma and don't you forget it." Aunt Rose said, coming into the dining room as I finished wiping off the table, pointing at me.
"Yeah, yeah. She's gonna be a little mind reader like great aunt Rosy. Aren't you, baby girl?" I asked, gently taking her from Warren, who handed her over to me. I smiled and kissed her little cheeks. Emma's screaming laughter covered the house like a blanket.
Warren laughed, for the second time since I'd known him. He just beamed, like he couldn't get enough of me or Emma. Then I glanced over and Aunt Rose was giggling to herself, hand to her mouth to keep the noise quiet. It wasn't good when she giggled.
It meant I was going to make a fool of myself and she was going to just laugh and say 'I told you so!'
"Tell me." I said, moving towards her with narrowed eyes.
"I have dishes, darlin'. Go to the living room." Aunt Rose said, moving back towards the kitchen.
I narrowed my eyes at the woman as she walked off. "I'm about to make a fool of myself and she's going to laugh at me." I said, turning back to Warren. He just smiled.
"Knowing you, that's not hard to believe." He said, heading into the living room.
My mouth hung open. Oh sure, make fun of me now. But I followed them into the room. Will, Layla, Ethan, Zach, and Magenta littered the couch and recliners. Ethan offered me one of the recliners, but I declined it, sitting on the floor, so Emma could play at my feet.
Warren sat next to me, his emotions lulled because of being around his friends. He was always more passive around them then he was with me. But I ignored it. Aunt Rose came back into the room and smiled as she leaned on the wall. Ethan stood to offer her his seat and the glass of water in his hand tipped dangerously sideways.
I dived to lean over Emma as the freezing cold water splashed onto my back. I'm sure I made a noise similar to someone doing a cannon ball into a frozen pond. Ethan started spurting out apologizes I never heard. The muscles in my back all froze up and Emma just laughed at the look on my face.
I slowly moved to sit up and Ethan's little glass of ice water had covered me, Warren, and most of the rug. Layla got a little bit on her pant leg. "What the flying cupcake, dude? Did you fill the freakin' glass full of ice and just let the water fill the in between?" I said a lot louder than I wanted.
Ethan looked sorry and I felt Aunt Rose's hand on my shoulder as my teeth started chattering. I looked over to Warren, who had steam coming off him. Yep. He just lit himself on fire and I was soaking wet, freezing to the bone.
Aunt Rose giggled, despite the chattering teeth sound that hung in the room. "So, so cold." I murmured, trying, and failing, to stand up.
Warren's hands took hold of my arms, pulling me upright. Without a word, he helped me up the stairs and into the bathroom. He sat me down on the toilet as he grabbed a towel out of the hall closet and a set of clothes out my dresser, per my directions to the items. "You ok?" He asked.
I nodded, struggling to fight through the cold. He gave me a little smile as he left the room. I stood and turned on the hot water of the shower. I slowly peeled off the cold, wet clothes and tossed them aside.
Thinking was all I could do as I climbed into the shower. It felt like it had been weeks since Warren and I had been sitting at the park, talking. Or months even, since I first saw him at the Shopping Center, my can of tomato soup rolling down the aisle and hitting him in the foot.
I wasn't sure how long I had been in the shower, but when there was a loud knock, I jumped, almost slipping in the shower. Aunt Rose yelled at me for 'hiding in the shower.' I tried to explain my being a space cadet, but she disregarded me and went back down stairs.
I climbed out of the shower and dried off enough to get my clothes on. I wiped the fog away from the mirror. I just leaned over the sink and sighed as there was another knock. "I'm out of the shower." I said, emotionlessly as I went to open the door.
But Aunt Rose wasn't standing there. Warren was, with my daughter. "Hey baby." I said as Warren held her out to me. "She kept calling for you." I nodded, bouncing her on my hip.
As Warren and I stood there in the doorway of the bathroom, he gave me a look. I couldn't explain it, or put a title on it. But I found myself wondering if he had even given this look to anyone else. I stood there, watching him watch me, and I found the answer is his eyes. No. Whatever this look he was giving me, whatever was behind it; I caused it. No one else had seen this expression from Warren.
"Momma." Emma said, gently patting my cheek and bringing me back to Planet Earth. I blushed, taking her little hand and kissing it, making her giggle. I gently moved around Warren, heading back down the stairs.
"Not gonna dry your hair?" I heard from behind me before I started my decent.
"Nah. It's too hard when Emma's in the bathroom. She gets too curious." I said with a smile.
"Well, turn around." He said, stepping closer to me.
I looked at him for a minute. "Excuse me?" I almost had a bad feeling about this.
He just gave me that sideways smirk. "I'll dry your hair for you. Turn around."
The look of dawning must have shown over my head in light bulb form as I turned to face the stairs. His hands tangled themselves in my hair, moving around every few seconds. It was a comforting feeling and Emma just smiled at the look on my face.
"Who's a pretty girl? Emma is!" I said, kissing her cheek. She smiled at me like I was the greatest thing to be in her life.
"Done." I heard from beside me and Warren stood next to me, motioning for us to continue down the stairs.
"Thank you." I said, giving him a peck on the cheek as I moved down the stairs. He paused for a second from my action, but just a second, because he followed closely behind me.
Aunt Rose was sitting in the recliner Ethan had occupied before the cold water bath. She was sitting there, just chatting with the gang. She smiled up at me as soon as I hit the bottom step. "Have a nice shower, child? Ya should, for as long as you were in there."
I made a talk-talk-talking motioning with my hand and the others giggled, making Aunt Rose smile more. "I forgive you."
"Thank you. Because that was the top thing on my list of things to do before I die. Get Aunt Rose's forgiveness for taking a long shower." I said, as if checking off an item on the list.
"Don't sass me." She said with a serious tone that contradicted the humor on her face.
I smiled as I returned to my seat on the floor. I didn't remember the water until I sat on the carpet in the same place it had fallen, but the carpet wasn't wet.
Apparently, Will noticed my confusion. "Warren got rid of the water."
I just nodded, still not completely understanding how his whole fire thing worked. But I bounced Emma on my knee as Aunt Rose slowly stood up.
"I'm goin' to bed, child." I handed Emma to Warren, who didn't complain upon receiving the baby. I hugged Aunt Rose and smiled at her. "Now, the boys will be staying in the spare bedroom and you girls can bunk with Cora. And I do not approve of any hanky-panky in this house. So if you're gonna do it, go to the car." Aunt Rose said, looking each one of us in the eye, then pausing on me.
"Hey now! That was once! Five hundred years ago!" I said in my defense.
Aunt Rose's gaze narrowed at me a little. "It was twice, three years ago."
"Fine, but seriously, Captain America and Flower Power should be getting the look too!" I said, pointing in their direction, making the two both blush.
"No. Hanky-panky." Aunt Rose enunciated to the whole room.
"Goodnight Aunt Rose." I called as she left the area and headed for her bedroom at the back of the house.
"So you gonna tell us?" Magenta said out of the blue.
"Tell you what?" I asked, holding Emma's hand while she was on Warren's lap.
"The hanky-panky." Zach said, rolling his eyes and I felt my cheeks go bright red. "Ah. Um, just an ex-boyfriend. She just caught us making out."
The flower child was the only one to accept this answer. "Righttt." Magenta said, dragging the word out.
I just sat there blushing as Warren handed me back Emma. She was getting sleepy-eyed. "Time for bed, baby girl?" I asked her and she gave me a little nod, snuggling into my neck.
"I'll be back. I'm just going to put her to bed." I said, standing up.
"You want some help?" Layla asked and I gave a little smile.
"Yeah, sure." I said, carrying my near-asleep child up the stairs. Layla followed close behind. I walked into the nursery and set Emma on the changing table. I quickly changed her diaper, despite not having done the task in a solid six months.
"It's one of those things you don't forget. Like riding a bike." I answered Layla's look of admiration. She just nodded, following me over to the crib. I knew she wanted to help, but there was nothing I could have her do. Besides, I was used to all this stuff. None of the Captain America Crew had experience with babies.
Well. Not that I knew of anyway. I guess Ethan had a six year old brother, but that's a lot different than a baby.
I laid Emma down in the crib, smiling at the little one that was long gone. Layla looked like she wanted to ask me something, but just… didn't. "Just ask." I told her gently, turning to face her.
Her face went red and she shook her head. Before I could tell her again, she turned and high tailed it back down stairs.
[Author's Note: Alright. So I hadn't updated in forever and I know the few of you that actually read this were probably sticking needles in a voodoo doll with my face on it, so I figured, why not post three more chapters? And I did. So I hope somebody appreciates it, since I have the worst habit of forgetting this... But anyway. Hope everybody had a great Christmas and hope you have a rockin' New Year.]