Beside You

“Okay turn here” I flail my hand right in front of Tom’s face. He turns left after briefly crossing his eyes when he looked at my hand.

“Keep going, keep going, keep going, STOP!!” I yell.

“Ow Mommy!” Keevie screeches from the back seat.

“I agree” Bill says, “Ow Mommy!” “

I roll my eyes and pretend to ignore them.

“Come on Avy, I can’t stay parked in the middle of the road” Tom looks at me, impatient, “That is unless your grandma lives in the middle of the road?” He smirks at his own “joke.”

“Turn into this driveway right here” I put my hand in front of his face again, this time on purpose.

All of a sudden I hear a deep growl and then Tom moves his mouth forward. He opens it and then snaps it shut. All the while my reflexes were screaming at me to withdraw my hand I kept it there to prove that I wasn’t afraid of him.

“Daddy!” Caoimhe giggles, wide awake after her nap, “Don’t bite Mommy!”

“Yeah” I agree, “Don’t bite Mommy!” I tap him on the nose and he bares his teeth and growls again.

“Heel Sparky” Bill says. I wish I could say the nap had put him in the same mood it did Caoimhe. He was also a touch grumpy because he had messed up his hair while he slept.

Tom put on his turning signal and started to crank the wheel. He stopped when I put my hand on his shoulder.

“The other driveway dear.”

“I knew that” he says changing his turning signal.

The large Escalade pulls to a stop in the newly paved driveway. As Bill starts to unbuckle Keevie I slide my hand from Tom’s shoulder to one of his braids. “Are you ready?”

“For what, to tell your entire family of over protective uncles that I;m the guy that knocked you up and now after four years I’m finally marring you?” he asks in a sarcastic happy tone/

“Yeah pretty much” I answer in the same tone.

“Then no, I’m scared shitless” he sighs and chuckles at the same time.

“It’s not gonna be that bad. The only one you really have to worry about is Uncle ivan. Once the others meet you and realize that you’re not an asshole they’ll cool down.” I reassure him. Bill opens the back of the car to pull out his bag which was buried under my huge duffel bag.

“What about your grandma? From what I’ve heard your dad say she’s pretty tough” he looks at me seriously.

“She’s the matriarch of the family; she runs it all and tries to run all of us.” My face softens as I continue, “But she’s got a soft spot for anything German so you should be good.”

“Are you two coming or what?” Bill asks from the driver side window. In the mirror I can see Caoimhe gripping his hand tightly.

“Sorry I open my door and step out. I head to the back but Tom beats me there.

“I got it” he says grabbing the duffel bag, Keevie’s small bag of clothes, and her larger bag of toys. I don’t know why she need her toys, she was going to be getting more tomorrow morning, abut when I told her no Tom told her yes and I didn’t feel like fighting with two children at the time so I gave up.

“Let me carry something” I hold my hand out.

“No, you still need to take it easy” Tom says referring to the doctors orders. He turns, hands full, and walks towards Bill.

I roll my eyes and turn on my heels. Something across the street catches my eye and I stop. The neighbor from the other side of the thin road is standing on her front stoop with a look of shock and slight disgust on her face. I hold up my middle fist and raise my middle finger. I hear her let out a gasp and smile to myself. I am sick of people being disapproving of my family, plus I never liked the lady anyway.

I didn’t bother to knock as I walked right through the door of my grandmother’s house. “Gram we’re here!”

“About time! I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to leave without yo-” she said in fast German, stopping abruptly when she laid her eyes on Tom, his arms full, and Bill with Caoimhe in his arms. Her face goes blank but her eyes burn a hole in my head, “Eibhlin can I talk to you in the dining room?”

It sounded like a question but I knew better. I turned to Keevie, who looked rather comfortable in Bill’s arms, and said, “Sweetie can you show Daddy and Uncle Bill to the living room?” My Gram’s eyes got wide as she heard me say daddy.

I follow her into the dark dining room, the only light coming through the doors was from the florescent kitchen and the lamp lit living room.

“Daddy?” she shrieked in a whisper, “Daddy…?!? You’re letting her call your boyfriend daddy? How irresponsible, I mean what if things go bad?” She’s speaking in German still and has her hands on her hips and even though I’m a good five inches taller than her petite frame the sight was still intimidating.

“Actually he’s not my boyfriend” I start to explain, a little sass in my tone.

“Oh really?” she cuts me off, “Then what is he, your fiancé?” She lets her hands drop to her sides.

“As a matter of fact” I cock my head to the side and hold up my left hand, palm facing inward.

She stares at the ring and her mouth drops open. “You’re not pregnant again are you?” she asks in shock.

“No!” I put my hands on my hips, “But do I really look pregnant?”

“That’s beside the point” she moves on quickly. “How long have you known this guy?”

“Um, about seven years, well unless you don’t count the four years I didn’t have contact with him; on purpose.” I look up talking almost to quickly to understand myself.

“Seven…? Four…?” Gram stutters trying to make sense of what I had just said.

“Gram” I put my head on her shoulder, stopping her before she has an aneurism, “That guy is Tom, Caoimhe’s real, biological, flesh and blood dad!”

“You mean the guy who abandoned you and Caoimhe?!” she finally raises her voice above a whisper.

“God!” I throw my hands in the air and turn away from her in frustration. Raising my voice I let it all out in two sentences, “He didn’t abandon me! I never freaking told him!” Out of the corner of my eye I see Tom walk from the living room to the dining room doorway. I continue to explode, “I left the same day he did and never frigging told him!” I’m yelling by this time and Tom decides to break in.