The Party

The next day drags by. I get a text from Victor right before I leave the house that says to call him for anything. He knows I am worried and a little scared. I told him that much. I dress casual and head out the door. I went to the store earlier so I have a big basket full of neutral baby items and a few things for my sister to help her through the end of her pregnancy. I even grabbed my mom a bottle of wine to celebrate her engagement because god forbide I don’t recognize that again EYEROLL**

When I pull in to the driveway theres about three more cars than normal there. I start to breathe a little heavy and feel a weird shaky feeling in my stomach. It will be ok, I remind myself. I get to the front door and I honestly don’t know if I should knock or just walk in. I just stand there for a minute and some guy finally opens the door.”Hey” He says

“HI” I say as I walk past him into the house

“ My name is Kristopher” He tells me “Dawn” I respond back as I set the basket on the table.

Theres another guy on the couch and one walking out of the bathroom I don’t recognize.

Where is my family I wonder. I look around for another second and head into the kitchen.

My sister is sitting at the breakfast table holding a guy I recognized from high schools hand. She is hugE!! She looks like shes ready to pop that baby out any second! I go up to her and give her a big hug from behind and tell her excitedly That I brought her something. I go to turn around to get the basket and Kristopher is standing there holding it with a big lopsided goofy behind grin on his face. “Looking for this” he asks.

I get it quickly from him and roll my eyes “geesh a thank you would have been nice” He says

“Thanks for grabbing what I just sat down for me” I tell him

I am not in the mood for some no it all nobody in my families home acting like he belongs here already and supposedly everyone is just meeting today.

I had my sister the basket and tell her congratulations and how excited I am. She gets teas in her eyes and stands to give me a hug and tells me she has missed me. I tell her I have missed her too and she goes through the gifts. After a few minutes I ask where mom was at and she tells me around back. SO I head outside to my car to grab her bottle and go find her.

I see a fire going about halfway through the back yard and head that way. She is sitting there with her man of the hour and they both look a little drunk already.

“congratulations on the engagement” I yell out as I walk up

She jumps up happily and gives me a big hug. It felt nice but threw me off for a second because this was not normal. Her man stands up and hes even bigger and gives me a big hug that strangles me just a little but it felt loving as well. I handed him the bottle and tell him congratulations again and my mom starts talking

“ did you meet his sons inside? Did you see you sister yet? Shes ready to pop isn’t she? It’s a boy! We cannot wait for him to get here. They renovation the back porch to make it a room and that’s where they are going to live. It is so exciting!” She tells me ninety miles per hour.

“Yes it all is and no I only meet Kristopher I believe” I say

“He is something, and your mother told me a lot about you.” Her fiancé says in response.

I just look at him then back to my mother who is going on about the three boys and how good they are I Think she was saying two were in the military but I lost track of it when I looked back at her fiancé. He was sat back down at the fire now and looking across it, staring at me with anger maybe in his eyes.

“what has she told you about me?” I ask

“just that you have a hard time listening, you think your grown. And she blames yourself because you don’t have a father figure in your life.” He says

“Oh no, I don’t have a hard time listening to someone who is not here’’ I tell him.

This causes my mom to stop talking and snap her head between us. “ I am here young lady, you choose to leave when you were not getting your way” She responds.

“That is not true and you know that “ I tell her

“well that’s something to talk about for later. You will not be ruining this night for me” she says as she stands and starts walking towards me.

She grabs my elbow and turns me to walk inside telling her fiancé they will be back in just a minute. I ask her what his name was again and she looks at me angerly for just a second then snips out Paul.

As we are rounding the corner of the house I hear the bottle pop as Paul opens it up.

When we get around the corner she stops and listens for a second then shakes her head. I ask her what is wrong and she just tells me not to worry about it and that alcohol is not a present to give to someone.

I looked at her confused And she kept walking on inside.

“What do you mean?” I ask her. “Paul is an alcoholic and we are trying to cut back so he doesn’t have as much. He has a hard time controlling his liquor. What you brought may be ok though” She tells me.