Wildflower (Chapter 19)

Chapter 19

 

            Evan was in his room getting dressed for this stupid party he didn’t want to attend, but he had to for his sister’s sake. It might not have been so bad if he didn’t have to wear a tie. He had a lot of things to think about and he didn’t want to be bothered by more snobby rich people. But this was going to be his new family now and that was not a pleasant thought. He missed his real family and them all being together but everybody was separated now and he hated that. Someone knocked on his door then it opened to reveal his brother Ivan.

            “I heard something about you,” Ivan said. “It amused the hell out of me so I thought I would ask you about it.”

            “What was it you heard?” Evan asked knowing that he probably didn’t want to know or talk about it.

            “I heard you were doing Sugar,” Ivan said. For a moment he just stared at his brother. Truthfully he’d been thinking about Sugar today but that was a bad idea.

            “Yeah, so?”

            “That’s all you have to say?”

            “What else is there to say? We had sex a few times; it’s not a big deal.”

            “And how the hell did you manage to get a girl like her?” Ivan asked, he sat down on the bed and obviously wasn’t going to leave.

            “You think I can’t get a pretty girl? Thanks you are such a wonderful brother.”

            “I didn’t say that I was just referring to that girl.”

            “We are friends and we were bored,” he shrugged. Why was it that big of a deal to everybody?

            “She your girlfriend?”

            “No, I don’t have feelings for her; do you care about all the women you have sex with? I’ve never once thought of having a relationship with Sugar.”

            “I’m just asking,” Ivan said looking amused. “When did it start?”

            “Don’t know a couple months ago or something. Doesn’t matter I’m not going do be having sex with her again,” he said. Hopefully that was true, he didn’t want to do it again with her but he did want to have sex.

            “Was she the first one?”

            “No, not even the second one if you want to know, why do you care?”

            “How don’t I know about this?”

            “Why would I tell you anything?”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “My business is my business I don’t need to share everything.”

            “What’s with you? You have a whole secret life none of us know about, aren’t we brothers?” Ivan asked. This was weird his brothers never cared to talk about anything with him. They all in fact teased him constantly because he was so close to Wildflower.

            “Ivan you have never asked me about any of this stuff before so why do you care now? It’s not a secret life I just keep things to myself.”

            “Calm down, I’m just curious and nobody would ask you about any of that cause nobody has ever seen you near a girl.”

            “What you thought I was gay or something?” Evan asked slightly annoyed.

            “I didn’t say that, I’m just inquiring about your life.”

            “Evan,” someone called and knocked on the door. It was Sugar; she peeked in and smiled at them. “Hey, I was wondering if I dropped my lip gloss in here? I looked everywhere for it and I think I had it the other day when Sam and I were in here.”

            “I haven’t seen anything, look around if you want,” he shrugged.

At least she hadn’t come in looking for panties. While she was looking around he saw his brother looking at her, he almost laughed. She probably just came in to get attention that was how she was. And she was bending over in front of him in her little dress, stupid Ivan was falling for her act. Evan knew Sugar and he knew when she was after a guy and she was clearly lusting after his brother. At least that would keep her occupied. He didn’t mind having sex with her and he had been tempted to call her in earlier but he had other things to think about.

“I found it,” she announced from the floor. She had been on her hands and knees, before she got up she gave Ivan a look and he was looking straight into her eyes. Looking Sugar in the eyes was worse than looking a gorgon in the eyes, at least with the gorgon you turned to stone. With her it was going to lead to sex. “Well I’m off to finish getting ready, people are starting to arrive.”  She waved and left and Ivan was still looking at her.

“She wants you,” Evan told his brother.

“Doubtful, that’s your bed buddy, maybe she wanted some,” Ivan said looking amused.

“Oh she definitely did but not from me, you better watch out she’s going to seduce you. And trust me when I say you can’t say no to her and she won’t let you,” he warned. There was something about Sugar; no man could ever turn her down.

“Yeah she’s 16 I would not do anything with her and she’s your playmate.”

“Not anymore, she’s been with guys older than you. You don’t get it brother; if Sugar wants you she will have you.”

“What makes you think she wants me anyway?”

“That look in her eyes, and you were looking at her too,” Evan shook his head. “You’re attracted to her, right?”

“She is 16,” Ivan said. That just proved his point.

“I didn’t ask that, admit it there’s nothing wrong with admitting she is pretty hot,” Evan said. The whole thing amused him, but he preferred Sugar distracted.

“I am not attracted to a 16 year old,” Ivan said.

“You don’t have to admit it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Why don’t you tell me about Sammie?”

“What you like them younger?”

“I heard you have some feeling for her,” Ivan said watching him.

“Where did you hear something like that?” Evan tried to remain calm and not to react, how could Ivan know?

“It is true, I thought so,” Ivan nodded. “If it helps she feels the same.”

“You were talking to her?”

“No, I was talking to Sugar and uh Lexy and they might have mentioned something,” Ivan shrugged but he kept watching him.

“Sammie just thinks of me as a friend and she would never want to be near me after she finds out I’ve had sex with her cousin who is also her best friend.”

“Why does she need to know that? If Sugar hasn’t told her then I don’t think anyone else will. I think you kids should try to date outside the family but whatever go for it,” Ivan said. It was weird for him to be giving Evan advice on this type of thing.

Evan had been pretty much in love with Sammie since the day he met her years ago. But Sammie wasn’t like other girls and that was what he loved about her and it was also a complication. He knew she’d never had a boyfriend and always insisted that she didn’t want one and that relationships were stupid. The other day he wanted to kiss her, they had been playing soccer and after they both laid in the grass. All he kept thinking while looking at her was that she was so beautiful. She wasn’t the type of girl that tried hard to get a guy’s attention and he liked that about her.

Every time she came to lay on his bed and talk to him he wanted to tell her how he felt, but he never could. It was funny that he had no problem saying things to Sugar and doing things with her but it was different with Sammie. He picked up his cell phone; the picture on there was of him and Sammie yesterday. She took his phone and took a picture of them together. Looking at her smile made him wish it was true what Ivan said about her. But she never acted like he was anything more than a friend. This was why he hated this stuff and he didn’t want to think about it. Sex was easy it didn’t require him to think or feel or care. He did care about Sugar, she was he his friend but he never felt anything more for her. Sometimes he wished he was with Sammie instead. And all of this was made worse by the fact that they were going to be family, she would never want him then. He never told anybody how he felt about Sammie because he never thought it would happen. If she felt the same then maybe there was some hope?

“Sam doesn’t think of me that way, we’re just friends,” he told hid brother. But how he wished that wasn’t true.

 

 

“Ready?” Nicolas asked, she stared at the mirror again.

“Should I wear my hair down?” Wildflower asked, she’d been nervous all day about this party.

“Wear it down,” he told her. “I like you hair down.”

“Only because you’re a hair puller,” she replied.

“You like it though,” he shrugged.

Earlier he gave her a gift she could wear for their party; actually he gave her a few gifts. He bought her a necklace with a butterfly pendant and earrings to go with it as a I’m-sorry-gift, but then he saw a necklace with a flower key pendant and he got that because he felt it was more appropriate. It was to be a symbol of how she owned everything in this family. She didn’t care about making that statement, even though that’s what he wanted, she just thought it was pretty with the little diamonds accenting it. Besides it went with her white gold hoops. Tonight she had on a simple white dress; it was a gift from Carmen from her ‘Greek Goddess” collection. And she was wearing her stiletto boots because she thought they were hot, even if her feet were going to end up paying for it later. She put on a white headband with a like silver butterfly on it to keep her hair out of her face.

“You are sexy,” Nicolas whispered in her ear. “Now let’s get this over with my queen, so that I can get you back in this bed.”

“You say bed, I say backseat of my SUV,” she said.

“Do you know how much I love you?”

“Lots I know, so let’s do this,” she said.

Today there were a lot of people in their home. There were ninety-six people in the Capriani family and all of them were going to be at the party. That also included children; Carmen thought it would be nice for all the kids to get to see each other. Then there was her family, all nine brothers were there which wasn’t hard because half of them were living with her anyway. Her sister and her husband were there along with their two kids, Christina was there of course and Ariela and Brooke and Cody. Nicolas’ friends Richard and Brian were coming with their wives Tara and Nadia. And his assistant Gloria was attending and Tammy got the night off for the party because she was like family. All together there would be at least 117 people at this party and 47 of them were children.

For the kids there was a special are so they could play together and their nannies could watch them. Everything was set up out in the yard, around the area where their wedding would be taking place. Carmen thought this would be a nice way to test drive the space for the wedding. Seeing all of their guests Wildflower finally realized it was not possible to have a small wedding, there was just too much family. Emilio had four sisters and one brother and they had kids and most of their kids had kids, the family was huge. In the Capriani family there were a lot of different ethnicities, no wonder they didn’t all speak Spanish, they were very multi-cultural. She should have known that since Delanoz’s kids were multi-cultural. It made everything interesting.

Wildflower was introduced to so many people there was no way to remember all of their names, but it wasn’t exactly necessary. A lot of the women glared at her and were whispering about her, but she expected that. She was after all marrying the man that most of their husbands worked for. The aunts Bella, Josephina, Mina and Lusa were all youthful women in their 50s.  They were the most polite and seemed to want to get to know her. And they told her to pay Rosa no attention and that she was just a bitter woman. That definitely won them points with her. The men of course were a whole different story; they were mostly suspicious of her. And most of them resented Nicolas and the power he had over the family so they just didn’t like her by association. If Nicolas wasn’t by her side then Carmen was to make sure she knew who was who.

“So you still want to be a Capriani?” Tara asked her.

“I don’t know, I didn’t know there were so many of them,” Wildflower admitted. She finally got to sit down for a second, which her feet needed.

“I blame you for this,” Christina said when she came over. She pointed to where Nicolas was talking to a few of his cousins and Ariela was perched on his hip.

“Didn’t I tell you she’s trying to steal him away?” Wildflower asked she loved having her family around; they seemed to be getting along with the massive amount of Caprianis.

“That just means you needed to get started on some of your own,” Tara said.

“We’ll talk about that after I’m married, I’m not getting married pregnant.”

“You won’t have a choice if you get pregnant,” Christina pointed out.

“Stop being logical, I just want to get married then think about babies.”

“I heard you are going to Brazil for a month,” Tara said.

“Indeed, I hate to leave when my teenage babies are all planning to live with me.”

“Can you imagine what they will be doing when you’re gone? They are going to have parties, that’s what kids their age do,” Christina said.

“They won’t be home alone Tammy will be here and Ivan and Jose,” she said.

“And of the three Tammy is the responsible one,” Christina said.

“True, but I’m sure Nick will threaten them a little before we go,” she shrugged. She probably would have a party if she was their age too.

“Teenagers can handle themselves,” Tara said. “It’s these adults here today you should worry about. Liam and Jose hate each other because Jose had sex with Cheyenne and baby Jonah could have been Jose’s. And let’s see Helen is a lesbian but the family don’t acknowledge that. Pandora’s husband just got out of jail for tax fraud, um Leighton was sent to a camp to be made un-gay. I love Capriani family gatherings.”

“How do you know all that?” Christina asked her.

“Gossip, honey, this is why people love the Caprianis always drama and scandals. They are very entertaining and I mean here we have Wildflower going from your everyday working girl to queen bee. The family is filled with business professionals and models, actresses, professional party girls, professional athletes, politicians and almost celebrities. Everybody in this family wants to be known for being rich and famous and have professions that are in the spotlight just to be known. This is why you are so going to have everybody want to get pictures of your wedding,” Tara told them. “And with Carmen she’s going to want Vogue for her fashions and the gossip mags and tabloids are going to be all over you.”

“That explains the people outside the gate,” Christina said.

“Oh yeah, when the Caprianis gather the world wants to know why.”

“Why can’t I just be a nobody that nobody cares about?”

“Because you are marrying Nicolas Capriani and that means you aren’t a nobody anymore. You are the queen and these people are your subjects,” Tara said.

Carmen had mentioned something about a magazine wanting to have the exclusive pictures from their engagement party and something about an interview. There was a team of photographers moving through the party documenting everything. The party was a bit overwhelming; there were just too many Caprianis. And she was thinking about what Tara said, she didn’t really want people in her business. Her family had enough issues and nobody really needed to know about that. With her mother sick right now was probably the absolute worse time for everything. But Tara was right, she was supposed to be a queen and this was her court. Then she saw Katrina coming in her direction, drama.

 

Sammie felt stupid, she hated dresses. Before Sugar and Lexy decided to inform her that she was wearing this dress and that they were going to make her up, she was going to just wear pants. Hadn’t she had enough of dresses when they forced her into one during their girl’s weekend? Skirts she didn’t mind so much but she just hated dresses. The dress in question was a white halter dress with black dots on it, it wasn’t an ugly dress, it was actually pretty. She just didn’t like dresses. Jordan had actually laughed when he saw her, and that was why she kneed him. If it wasn’t bad enough that they made her wear a dress they also made her wear her hair down and curled it. The worse part of all was the make-up.

            They said they were doing this for her own good, but why Evan was avoiding her? Her cousins confessed they knew her secret and she had admitted it. And since they knew what to do with boys she didn’t fight them too hard on this make over. But it just proved her point that Evan didn’t feel anything for her, they were just friends. She wasn’t a pretty girl like Sugar who could get any guy she wanted. Lexy was younger than her and she could still make boys like her. This was exactly why she just preferred to be friends with boys; you didn’t get hurt that way. It wasn’t Evan’s fault that he wanted a real girl and not her that was just how life was. But she hated that all of her cousins and sisters were pretty princesses and she was the tomboy. That wasn’t exactly her fault, her mother bought her girlie things, she just preferred hanging out with her brother.

            So she decided she was going to slip out of this party, the family portrait had already been taken so nobody needed her. Nobody ever needed her, especially not her stupid brother that was leaving her. How could he move to New York without her? He told her to just come, but she could leave, Sugar was here and Sugar needed her and she didn’t want to be away from Wildflower. Jordan didn’t want to be on the same planet as their mother so he wouldn’t consider staying. It was going to be the first time that they were really apart and she hated that. Why had her life become so complicated? All she wanted was for things to go back to normal, with her brother staying with her and with her having no feeling for Evan. But no she was going to be living just two doors down from him. That was cruel and unusual punishment.

            After dodging cousin Kavindra and cousin Fabia, she managed to get to the stairs, the house was mostly empty. When she looked back to make sure no one saw her she ended up walking into somebody. She fell on her butt very ungracefully. Then she realized she’d walked into Evan. He stared at her a moment before he held out his hand to help her up.

            “Sorry,” she said trying to avoid his eyes.

            “You look nice today Sam,” he said. That was when she looked him in the eyes. Did he really say that or did she make that up in her head?

            “Uh thanks,” she said. They both stood there, it was awkward.

            “Um can we talk?” He asked and I just nodded dumbly. I just knew he was going to tell me that he had no feelings for me and that he was in love with Sugar.

            “Sure, I was just headed up to my room,” she said and he nodded.

            The climb up the stairs and the walk down the hall seemed to take forever. They went into her room and he closed the door behind them. There was another door that connected her room to Sugar’s through a bathroom, they usually just slept in the same bed though. Sugar was like a sister to her, more so than her actual sisters. It was mostly because none of her sisters lived near her. She sat down on her bed and Evan start pacing; this was going to be bad.

            “Sam, why did you dress up like that today?” He asked, that was not what she was expecting him to say.

            “I would like to say it was because of the party but Sugar and Lexy forced me into it, why? I know I look stupid, why do you ask?”

            “Its just different,” he shrugged and kept pacing. “You don’t look stupid.”

            “Oh I do,” she said slipping her feet out of her shoes. She crossed her legs and watched him continue to pace. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?”

            “Yeah, but I have no idea what to say or where to begin,” he said. He stopped pacing and sat down on her bed. It was odd when he was looking down at her legs, then she realized he could probably see her panties.

            “Just say whatever it is,” she told him. For some reason she did not make an effort to hide her panties, maybe she was channeling Sugar.

            “Well um you and I, we’ve been friends for a long time,” he said. This sounded like it was heading somewhere bad.

            “Yeah, since we were little,” she nodded.

            “We’ve been really good friends all this time.”

            “Yes, we have.”

            “And we are going to be living in the same house and my sister is marrying your uncle in a few months.”

            “Yes all things I know.”

            “This is too hard,” he shook his head. He got up to resume his pacing.

            “Want me to make it easy for you?” She asked, this was drawing out too long and she couldn’t take it anymore.

            “You know what I want to say to you?”

            “Yeah, does it go something like: ‘Sam I know you like me but I don’t like you like that so quit trying to get my attention’, is that it?” She asked she wasn’t sure which of them was more surprised by what she said. He just stood there staring at her.

            “No, I wasn’t going to say that,” he said after awhile. Then he came to sit next to her again. “I wanted to tell you that I love you.”

            “You love me?” She asked staring at him, he just nodded.

            “I know it sounds weird but I do, I love everything about you.”

            “Are you serious?”

            “Ok maybe this was a bad idea,” he said looking embarrassed.

            “No, I’m just surprised. When you say love you mean like we’ve been friends forever and are going to be family soon kind of love?”

            “Uh no it’s more like a Samantha Capriani I really love you kind of love.”

            “You do?” She asked feeling like she had to be dreaming.

            “Yes I do and I always have, I just didn’t know how to tell you,” he said. He was watching her; she was mostly just in shock.

            “This is completely unexpected,” she said.

            “Well I never wanted to say anything; I thought it would freak you out. And that’s why I will never listen to a word Ivan says again,” he shook his head.

            “What did Ivan say?”

            “That I should tell you how I feel and that you felt the same.”

            “How would he know that?”

            “Um he said something about Sugar and Lexy or something. Wait you didn’t deny it, do you feel the same?”

            “Yeah I do, I just never thought that you could feel the same.”

            “How could I not love you? You are amazing and you’re beautiful and I don’t know how someone could be so close to you all these years and not love you. My life is always so messy with my crazy mother and our lack of money and just everybody being so chaotic. But every time I see you, every single time I swear I fall in love with you more,” he told her.

            “Evan, we’re 15 you’re talking like so serious,” she said. Her head was spinning, this could not be real.

            “I am serious, I love you,” he said. Then he leaned over and kissed her, now her head was really spinning. She had never been kissed before, because she always wanted Evan to be the one to kiss her.

            “I love you too,” she told him. They kissed and kissed and she didn’t have to think anymore.

 

            He knew better, he really did and he knew he should leave but he was following her. It was not ok to be in a 16 year old girl’s room. But she said she wanted to talk about something and somehow convinced him to follow her. So here he was following her to her bedroom, a place he didn’t belong. Evan was probably wrong about her, there was no way she was going to try to seduce him. At least he was almost certain of that until he entered the bedroom and she locked the door behind them.

            Instead of thinking about what she might or might not want he looked around her room. It was an average girl’s room, bed, dresser with a bunch of make up on it, a desk with a laptop and iPod. There were pictures mostly of her and Sammie in various places and there was one beside her bed of a teenage boy hugging a little girl. That had to be her brother Markus, nobody ever talked about him. But it was obvious that she loved him if she kept the picture beside her bed.

            “So what did you want to talk about?” Ivan asked Sugar, she had just taken her shoes off. That didn’t have to mean anything.

            “I really wanted to thank you for being so great when I was crying that one day,” she said.

            “It wasn’t a problem, so uh everything is good now?”

            “Yeah, I mean I’m still a prisoner in this house I’m not talking to my mom and my cousins are still b*****s,” she shrugged.

            “Why did you want to talk to me?” He asked, he was starting to worry because she was very close to him.

            “Because I am attracted to you and I know you are attracted to me and I’m horny,” she said as if it were nothing.

            “Sugar you are 16 and I’m way too old for you,” he said firmly. That however did not stop her from unzipping his pants and sliding her hand inside. The shock of it had him standing there but even thought his body was reacting he tried to move away from her.

            “You did not deny that you are attracted to me,” she said simply. She wouldn’t let go and she wouldn’t stop touching her. This had gone from bad to a crime.

            “It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t, you are way too young for me,” he told her. “Now I would appreciate it a lot if you would remove your hand.”

            “Why are you fighting me? It’s ok to be attracted to me, I feel the same. This is what us adults call consentual. I want you and age doesn’t really matter I’ll be 17 soon.”

            “You stepfather was just arrested for having sex with a 17 year old and you said he looked at you. Why would I do something that stupid?” He asked but she was still touching him and he was trying hard to not notice that it felt good. It had been too long since he’d had sex, but he was not going to do that with her.

            “Yeah that is a whole other thing, he was dumb and he got caught, I never get caught. Its discreet nobody has to know anything,” she said. Why was this so tempting? Her hand on him, stroking him, it was making thinking very hard.

            “This is a very bad idea, my sister is marrying your uncle, both of our families are outside right now,” he said. Not that any of that seemed like a good idea to tell her to stop. It was wrong but he was a man and if a beautiful woman was touching him and he was very turned on by her. But she wasn’t a woman, she was a girl and he needed to stop this before he ended up in jail.

            “See your mouth is moving and I hear words but you don’t mean any of them,” she said. “Let’s sit and we can finish talking.” She pushed him back to the bed and he sat, it was hard not to she still wouldn’t let go.

            “Why are you doing this Sugar? Even if I was ok with this, you’ve been having sex with my little brother,” he said. That made her pause; she was now on his lap straddling him. Maybe this would change her mind.

            “Sammie doesn’t know that, right? You didn’t tell her,” she asked looking worried. Now that was weird.

            “No, I didn’t tell anyone, my sister told me and I talked to Evan, that was it. Though I thought it was funny, nobody would believe that Evan isn’t a virgin,” he told her. Distraction was a good thing, but he saw that she almost looked scared.

            “She loves him, Sammie I mean she’s in love with Evan and I don’t want her to know what I did,” she told him. Surprisingly she pulled her hand out of his pants and laid her head on his shoulder.

            “Sugar, why do you want to have sex with me?” He asked because he couldn’t help himself.

            “Because I like you and I want you and I know you want me. You don’t have to admit it but I see the way you look at me, Lexy saw it too. Age isn’t really important, but if you can honestly say you are not attracted to me at all, I will leave you alone forever,” she said. Why did she have to look him in the eyes?

            “Maybe I am ok, but this can’t happen, you are way too young. I’m not willing to risk my life for this,” he told her honestly.

            “Kiss me and then tell me is it worth risking your life,” she said. Why was he compelled to listen to her?

            “Fine, I’ll kiss you and then this will be over,” he said.

            Somewhere inside him he had a conscience and it should have been telling him to get away from this girl. She was trouble and she had all types of issues. Maybe at another time in his life this would have been ok, but not now. So what if he was maybe a little attracted to her, it wasn’t his fault. This girl did not look like she was 16, but the trouble was that he knew she was. And she had a sexual relationship with his little brother. Maybe he should have listened to Evan when he tried to warn him. Even though he knew better and that this was a very bad idea, he kissed her.

            The kiss led to them making out because he just couldn’t stop himself. It had been way too long and she was right. He’d been trying to ignore it, but he did want her. With her grinding her hips into him it wasn’t helping him to do the right thing. His sister was going to kill him. Slowly he ran his hands up her thighs, and found that she was not wearing any panties. And she started to undo his belt and that was not good. He found himself wondering what was so wrong with this; nobody was going to find out. Nobody had to know, just like she said, it wasn’t like he was going to tell anyone. It was too hard to force himself away from her, the little seductress had him where she wanted him.

            “I like you with the dark hair,” he told her. He ran his fingers through it, she smiled at him.

            “Maybe I should show you something I can do,” she said. She finished undoing his pants then slipped down to the floor. Now how was he supposed to say no to that? It was pretty obvious that he wanted it, but before she could do anything else someone gasped. And he turned to see Sammie standing in the doorway of the bathroom and Evan was behind her.

            “S**t,” he hissed. This had now gone from bad to really very very bad. How could he let his desires lead him to almost having sex with a 16 year old girl?

            “It’s called knocking,” Sugar said. She didn’t get up from the floor she just sat there while he pulled his pants back up and got up from the bed.

            “I warned you,” Evan said leaning in the doorway looking amused.

            “Don’t start with me,” he said then he left the room. Ivan was the biggest fool there ever was and he was not going to go near that girl again. Even if part of him wanted to.

 

            “I wanted to talk to you Wildflower,” Katrina said and she stared at her a moment. It was the first time Katrina had been out since the story about her husband came out.

            “Sure, why not?” Wildflower got up, with Tara and Christina both looking worried. She started to walk with Katrina, even though she didn’t want to be bothered today.

            “I want to apologize for the things I have said to you and about you, it was childish of me,” Katrina said. Really? An apology, she was completely shocked.

            “Its all water under the bridge now,” Wildflower replied.

            “Do you know the type of person my brother is?” Katrina asked surprising her.

            “I think I know him pretty well,” she paused. “If you are asking if I know that it was him that put the story out about your husbands, then I do, he told me.”

            “He did?” Katrina was shocked and she didn’t hide it.

            “Yes he told me and I don’t understand how you can be that mad about it. Yeah it was embarrassing for you I’m sure, but shouldn’t your daughter come first?”

            “My daughter wants nothing to do with me and she tells more lies than truth, how could I know when she was telling the truth? I let her do what she wanted to because I do feel horrible about what happened to her. You may not think I do but if I could have done something I would have and I lost my son because of that. And I thought if I wasn’t so strict with her that maybe things would be ok one day, she’s still not over what happened or losing her brother. I know that but at this point I can’t help her, she won’t talk to me at all,” Katrina told her. “But she talks to you she wants to live with you. Perhaps I was jealous of you, my daughter hates me but she loves you.”

            “It doesn’t have to be that way, you are both here now, talk to her,” Wildflower said. Having an actual conversation with Katrina was very odd.

            “If only it were that simple, she thinks I betrayed her but I honestly didn’t know. She won’t forgive me.”

            “Talk to her Katrina, you know where she is,” she said. And giving advice to her? This was beyond bizarre.

            “Do you really love Nicolas?” Katrina asked changed the subject.

            “Yes I do,” she said honestly.

            “And money has nothing to do with it, at all?”

            “I do not care about money.”

            “Why did you quit your job? I use to think of you as someone who could take care of herself and wouldn’t rely on a man to provide for her.” That was a challenge and she knew by her tone.

            “Well if you want to know I didn’t have a choice in that, they wanted me to quit. Apparently the people I use to work for have something against your family so they suggested that I should leave. And I wasn’t going to work somewhere I’m not wanted. I can go get a job, I just chose to spend my summer here where there are a lot of teenagers in my home,” she said.

            “Was it your idea to become part owner of this house? This house that’s been in my family for years and a house that my grandfather did not leave to his own children, but entrusted to his favorite grandson. You had nothing to do with that?”

            “I’m flattered that you think I’m like an evil genius, I didn’t some how mastermind a plan. Nick did that on his own and that goes the same with his will thing that I had no idea about until your mother came to complain about it,” she paused looking her in the eyes. “You know your brother nobody makes him do anything he doesn’t want to. I don’t ask him for things in fact I tell him no all the time he just never hears that word.”

            “Well you have to admit it is suspicious all these things he’s been doing, for you. Nicolas does not date, I use to try to set him up with women I knew and none of them worked out. They had a lot more in common than you two do,” Katrina said. That was code for they had money, unlike her. “Then he just is suddenly dating you after months of just focusing on his work, he ends up with you. Would you not question that if you were me? I was looking out for my brother and for our family.”

            “See the difference between you and I is maybe I would I don’t ask? You just assumed things, when you could have talked to me. I knew you a long time before I met Nick and I didn’t think we were friends or anything but you could have asked. There’s no reason to lie, I had no idea who he was when I met him. And I didn’t even know he was your brother until Sammie and Sugar told me so,” she said honestly.

            “You are right, I could have do that instead of accusing you of things,” Katrina admitted. “But I would like to put all of that in the past, we are going to be family and it would be better if we all got along.”

            “I would like that,” Wildflower said. Miracles apparently did happen, because she never thought that Katrina would admit she was wrong and apologize. “Please go talk to Sugar; she’s probably in the house.”

            “I think I will do that,” Katrina said and then she walked away.

            “Was I eavesdropping correctly?” Carmen asked suddenly coming to her side.

            “Did you hear that too because I thought I must have heard wrong,” she said.

            “Katrina never apologizes to anyone, she just expects people to get over things. My sister has been abducted by aliens or something,” Carmen laughed. “So how are you doing with the Capriani crowd? Too much for you?”

            “It would be easier if everyone wore a shirt with their names on it, but otherwise I’m good. Small wedding dreams are thoroughly abolished.”

            “Just never mention fertility treatments, jail, taxes, business or politics, even if you are asked and everything should be fine. Oh and never mention Jose to Liam cause I don’t know if you saw but Cheyenne so still wants him. Oh another thing don’t talk about who owns the house or the business, you’ve seen how mom gets, the others would be worse. Besides I don’t think all of them know about Nicky’s gifts to you,” Carmen sighed. “I need to find me a man, I’m getting bored here, we are so going out tomorrow night. And if Nicky says anything I’m going to knee him.”

            “Don’t knee him, I need him intact,” Wildflower said and they laughed.

            Carlynn, cousin school teacher and mother of three came over to talk to them, she seemed pretty nice. All of the Caprianis were pretty gossipy. Apparently cousin Isaac’s oldest daughter Desiree was supposed to do med school and she quit when her boyfriend Ephraim got her pregnant. Baby Chardonnay was a year old but everybody was still talking about it. Cheyenne the baseball wife was definitely making eyes at Jose, but everybody knew that Jose was never going to settle down. One of the apparently many reasons nobody was allowed to talk about fertility treatments was because Carlynn’s brother Sedric’s wife Tamika was having issues. Cousin Caleb’s wife Keira was filing for divorce but the family was trying to talk her out of it. The lawyers in the family were trying to negotiate. Keira hadn’t signed a prenup because they got married one drunk night in Las Vegas after knowing each other a week. Kati, wife of cousin Enrick, mother of Ansley and actress on some TV show, came over to talk to them as well. She was bursting to talk about an upcoming movie role.

            Remembering key details about everybody was how Wildflower was able to keep up with the way too many cousins. Nicolas had 18 first cousins and most of them had spouses so she tried to remember couples. Amy-Lynn was easy because she was an infamous party girl and was always in somebody’s magazine hanging out with her famous party girl friends. Marie, cousin Luis’ son Cooper’s wife was a famous model and so was cousin Luigi’s wife Sharla. Cousin Persephone came over to complain that if someone called her half Japanese kids Chinese again she was going to scream. Brooke came over because she was a gossip herself so she fit right in. They learned more than anyone needed to know about the family. Everybody seemed to have a love/hate relationship with half of the rest of the family.

            Carmen start talking about going out tomorrow night and Carlynn, Persephone, Kati and Brooke of course wanted to go. Christina and Tara came to join them and they were going to come out to. Wildflower never really got a choice in if she wanted to go or not. She just hoped that Nicolas wouldn’t make a big deal about it. Thinking about that she realized she hadn’t seen him in awhile, and she still didn’t when she scanned the crowd. But since there were over a hundred people around and random catering staff moving around, it didn’t surprise her. Though she hadn’t seen Cody in awhile either, which she wasn’t sure it that was a good or bad thing. Usually Cody would be complaining and being a buzz kill. It was nice to get along with some of the women in her new family. They were all dying to tell her things about Nicolas. The party wasn’t over yet but at least she hadn’t any confrontations.

Reviews

[Katie]

I knew that girl would be trouble

[romancewriter09]

reminds me of 7th heaven a lil but not in a bad way

[deeps]

Wow! Interesting and quite the intriquing read. Realy enjoyable and full of wonderful imagery
and detail. The characters are full of drama and so lively. I like this alot,
Very well written and brought together. Very enjoyable reading.