He looked over at Carlos. “Are you my Tio Lalo now?”
Carlos crouched down. “I am.”
“What’s even better, Andre, is that we brought you a Tia Saoirse, a Tia Fiona,anda Tio Hale,” I told him, giving Saoirse’s hand another squeeze. She seemed a little uneasy, but there werea lotof people watching us.
“You’re all so pretty,” Andre breathed.
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you,” Saoirse replied.
His eyes went wide. “You even sound pretty.”
I leaned in conspiratorially. “She does.”
“Very pretty indeed. Come, meet everyone.” Mamma gestured for everyone to follow. Her hair was short and curly, though her black hair was starting to grey a little. She was my Italian mom.
The big kitchen opened into the living room and dining room. Everything was bright and welcoming. Delicious smells made my mouth water. Marcos was in the kitchen with Amà, one of his packmates, Mami, and Abuelita.
“Dusty’s here with his pack,” Mamma bellowed as we entered the kitchen. “Get everyone drinks.”
“We’re so happy you’re here.” Amá flashed her warm and welcoming smile, the one that always put you at ease. Her long, dark hair was up in a clip. Oh, she wore her nice earrings? Wow.
“Here, I brought flowers.” I handed them to Amá.
“Gracias. Oh, my boy is all grown up.” She hugged me tight.
“Dusty, Mijo.” Abuelita gave me a hug. She was a tiny, but fierce beta. I wasn’t actually sure who’s mom she was. She was justAbuelitaand had always lived here.
“This is my grandma, we call her Abuelita,” I introduced, and launched right into introductions ofeveryone, which included my moms, Marcos and his pack, my sister and her family, and my othersiblings.
“So nice to meet you all.” Hale tipped his hat.
Abuelita gave Hale an appreciative look.
I gave the short version about who was with who and what everyone did.
“Saoirse, so nice to meet you. I didn’t know Dusty was seeing anyone. How did you meet?” Mother replied. She was head of the pack, and I had her in my phone asLa Jefa, because she was the boss.
Shit. I didn’t prepare for this.
“We met overseas when we were working. After that, we kept running into each other, and then one day it became more.” Saoirse accepted a drink from Mami.
“To capture his heart, you must be incredible.” Mami smiled.
“I’d like to think so.” I pulled her to me.
“If he is not good to you, tell me and I will set him straight,” Abuelita told her conspiratorially in Spanish.
“I appreciate that. I’ll set him straight first and then I’ll send him to you for reinforcement,” Saoirse replied in Spanish with a laugh.
Iknewshe spoke Spanish, and I gave her a look. She smirked.
Yes.That’s my wife.
“Here, take this.” Amà handed me a platter of meat.
We got everything set up on the sideboard in the dining room. It was salvaged from a restaurant years ago and brought up piece by piece and we refinished it as a family project. Since there were so many of us, we often set everything up there.
Everyone got their food and sat down at the table, which had been artfully painted by Amà. She and Mamma were the two that had been friends with my birth mom. They met in art school.
