Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3) (14 page)

“Stay on point, honey,” I reminded him. “What apocalypse is coming?

“The Devareau family. It’s worse than zombies,
cher
. Batten down the hatches.”

“What? When?”

That was when he dropped another bomb. “They’re already on their way, baby. I’m sorry I didn’t give you more warning; I just found out myself. The old man waited until they were only an hour out before calling to let me know. He’s an asshole like that.”

I looked down at my ratty clothes and the state of the house. I still had a lot more that needed to be cleaned in order for it to be presentable to guests. I began my mental freak-out as Trevor continued to talk.

“I’m leaving the shop as soon as I can, baby. I have a client I need to finish up with, but I’ll be there as soon as I’m finished. I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to deal with them on your own. Especially not when it’s an ambush like this.”

They couldn’t really have been as bad as he made them out to be, right? I mean, everyone complained about their families. Hell, I bitched about mine on a regular basis. I tried to wrap myself around the idea that meeting Trevor’s family was going to go off without a hitch, and they were totally going to love me. But I couldn’t even buy my own special brand of bullshit.

This was going to suck. But I’d be damned if I made it any worse for Trevor.

“It’ll be fine, Trev. I can handle them.”

“God, I hope you’re right,” he muttered, not helping to make me feel any better. “They’ll be there in about an hour. I can tell you my father will be expecting a home-cooked meal tonight. If that’s not something you have time to handle, I’ll grab something from the diner on the way home. Just let me know what’s best for you. I’m so sorry,
cher
.”

“Trevor, just calm down, sweetheart,” I soothed, trying to stop his rambling. “It’s fine. I can get a home-cooked meal ready for them. I still have time to start everything.”

“You sure? I don’t want to put you out, baby. It’s not fair to drop all this on you—”

“Honey, stop.” I interrupted. He was stressed to the max and I hated hearing him so frazzled. “I told you, I’m right here with ya. We’re a team. I’ll get dinner handled and everything will be just fine. No matter how your dad acts, I’m here. Okay? You’ve got me.”

Having someone as strong and kind as Trevor beaten down by his own family broke my heart. I’d have done anything in my power to make him feel better. That was why I decided to surround Trevor with people he cared for and who cared about him. I might not have understood Trevor’s animosities toward his father, but I’d make sure he was surrounded by a loving family tonight. That was my job as his wife.

I got home about an hour and a half after I’d spoken to Lizzy, tension tying knots in my stomach the entire way. When I pulled into the driveway I saw the familiar Lincoln, telling me that my folks were already there, but surrounding the Lincoln were a bunch of other cars I didn’t recognize.

Walking up the path to the door, I could hear the sounds of loud voices coming from inside the house. There was no way in hell the Devareau’s would be so loud and boisterous. I pushed the door open and stepped across the threshold, not knowing what the hell to expect.

“Baby, you’re home!” Lizzy called, running up to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. She planted a passionate kiss on my lips, shocking the ever-loving shit out of me.

“Uh, hi?”

Before she could say anything else, people rushed in crowding the entryway.

“Hiya, honey,” Nana said, coming up to kiss my cheek.

What the hell
?

I looked over at Lizzy, trying to figure out what was going on, but I couldn’t read anything on her face.

“I’m sorry, can you excuse us?” Lizzy asked everyone, grabbing hold of my hand and pulling me up the stairs to our bedroom.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered after closing the door.

“What’s going on?” I asked, still at a complete loss.

“Well,” she began, wringing her hands in front of her nervously. “You just sounded so stressed about your family coming to visit that I thought, maybe if you had some reinforcements you wouldn’t be so tightly-wound. So I called up my family and invited them over, you know, as moral support,” she rambled. If I hadn’t already been in love with her, no doubt I would have fallen head-first right then and there. Christ, this woman undid me. She invited her entire insane posse to mingle with my stick-up-their-asses family just so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

I couldn’t stop myself. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her again. I made sure to keep myself in check and not take the kiss too far, but damn was that hard. After a few seconds, I pulled back, rested my forehead against hers, and gave her a peck on the tip of her nose. “Thank you for this,” I whispered. I couldn’t put into words how much what she’d done meant to me.

“You’re welcome,” she said just as softly. “Oh! I almost forgot.” She bounced over to the jewelry box on top of her dresser and pulled the drawer open. When she spun back around, the wedding ring I’d gotten her in Vegas sat on her left ring finger.

“I don’t have one for you,” she said, looking a little disappointed that I didn’t have a ring for my finger.

A slow smile spread over my face as I walked over to the drawer I’d been keeping my clothes in. I pulled out a velvet ring box and popped it open, pulling out the dark-gray titanium band. I handed it over and held out my left hand for her to slide it on.

“I kinda took it upon myself to get one a while back.”

She looked up at me with those big, green eyes. “You did?” She stared at me in disbelief, like she couldn’t understand why I’d want to wear a ring signifying my commitment to her.

“Yeah,” I spoke softly. “I’ve just been waiting for a chance to wear it. I didn’t want to freak you out.”

Her eyes widened a little more, sparkling with an emotion I wasn’t certain of as she asked, “Really?”

“Yeah,
cher
.” I smiled, pulling on one of her curls before placing another kiss on the tip of her nose again. When I pulled back, her nose was scrunched up adorably and she smiled that smile I’d fallen in love with when I first met her.

Something in that moment hit me like a Mack truck, and all I could think was that I wanted to tell her exactly how I felt. I had the strongest desire to tell her I loved her coursing through me just then. I opened my mouth to speak, but a pounding on the bedroom door interrupted us.

“Sorry, honey,” Lizzy’s dad said as he poked his head through the cracked door. “Don’t mean to interrupt, but Captain Ass-Clench down there is about to set Nana off. You know how bad that’ll turn out.”

“Oh, shit!” Lizzy and I spoke at the same time.

Turning back to face me, she jerked the ring from my hold and slid it on my finger before standing on her tiptoes and giving me a quick peck on the lips.

“Let’s go,” she said with a giggle as she grabbed my hand and began pulling. “I don’t want Luke to have to haul Nana in again.” Her father simply rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Wait. Again?” I asked in shock, pulling her to a stop.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Yeah,” her dad added. “Never let her near the eggnog at Christmas time. Damn woman gets lit and thinks she’s ten feet tall and bullet-proof.”

I turned and stared down at Lizzy before announcing loudly, “I love Nana!”

Once we were all sat around the table, things didn’t get any better. When I called my mom and explained the situation, she’d called in the cavalry. My mom, dad, Nana, Pop Pop, all three aunts and my uncle sat around the table with Trevor’s mom, dad, and his older sister, Coraline. We’d only been at the table for about twenty minutes and I already knew one thing: I couldn’t stand Trevor’s family. It took less than ten minutes for me to fully understand exactly why Trevor spoke so badly about his father.

I managed to put together a nice dinner of rosemary chicken, roasted new potatoes, and French-cut green beans with almond slivers. And I even pulled off a run to Virgie May’s for one of their famous chocolate silk pies. I personally thought everything tasted great. But when we all sat to eat, Coraline pinched her face together and began complaining about how she didn’t allow herself to eat carbs. Ignoring the new potatoes, she picked at the chicken and green beans, and every time she took a bite, her expression grew sour, as if the food tasted awful. Yeah, I couldn’t stand that stuck-up bitch.

When the Devareaus first arrived, it was quite obvious that Trevor favored his mother, all the way from the sandy-blond hair to the peculiar teal-blue eyes. Coraline took after their father. Both had mousy-brown hair, although Mr. Devareau’s had gained a bit of gray over the years. And both were unnaturally tall. It seemed the only trait Trevor got from his father was his height. Mr. Devareau and Coraline both had plain brown eyes, and although they held themselves like they were royalty, neither of them were really anything special to look at—not ugly, just…average. Not that you’d think they knew that with how they acted.

After Coraline’s comment about carbs, I had to bite my tongue to keep from making a snide comment about her skeletal frame needing the extra calories. Of course, my Nana was never one to keep her mouth shut.

“Darlin’, it wouldn’t kill ya to put some meat on your bones. Men don’t like a woman whose hip bones could slice cheese.”

Snorts and coughs sounded around the table as my family tried to cover up their laughter—Trevor and I right along with them—as Coraline let out an indignant gasp.

Trevor’s mother, Isabelle was a whole different story. The woman was quiet as a church mouse, and just as meek. She kept her blonde head down, staring at her plate through the entire dinner. She never said anything against her daughter or husband, no matter how distasteful their comments were. And believe me, they had some not-so-nice things to say. She never once bothered to defend Trevor when his father made a cutting comment. It was obvious within the first five minutes that this woman was spineless and weak. Normally I wouldn’t think so badly of a woman clearly beaten-down by her husband, but I lost all sympathy when she never once bothered to stand up for her son.

“So, Elizabeth,” Carlisle started as we began digging into our dessert. Of course, Coraline bypassed the pie in exchange for a glass of ice water.
Yum
. “Trevor tells me you have a little nail salon in town.” Everything he said reeked of condescension. My hands itched to smack him across the face so badly I had to keep them clenched in my lap through a majority of the dinner just to keep from lashing out.