Chapter 61
Coming back to this house always brought back bittersweet feelings, because it made me think of my brother and of what was, and of what could have been.
But this time, I was bringing my Pumpkin with me. And even if I still felt the absence of my brother, I knew I could make new happy memories with Lexi, and let myself heal.
I didn't have to always think about the bad. It was better to think of the good.
My aunt Andrea greeted us at the door, all smiles and hugs. "Welcome, welcome! You're right on time!" she announced.
My father had two younger brothers, Victor and George and one older brother, Damian. George had married Andrea.
Between the three uncles and their three spouses, I also had seven cousins.
Holidays were always a little hectic because of that, with the full house.
I was happy I would get to share this with Lexi. Another part of me. A happier one. Happy memories we'd create together.
We followed my aunt into the kitchen were many of my family members were already, sitting at the very large counter, or walking around with food to bring to the dinning room.
As soon as we walked into the kitchen, my grandmother's hawk eyes immediately spotted me, heading straight for me. "Oh Blake, my little boy is here. Come give your grandma a hug."
I complied instantly, a grin on my face, wrapping my arms around the short frame of my grandmother. She smelled faintly of her perfume and more of the food she'd been cooking. This was familiar, and comforting, being in her arms.
She smiled at me as she let go of me, and then her sharp eyes fell on my girlfriend.
She went for another hug, unsurprisingly.
Lexi looked a little surprise by the gesture, but quickly hugged her back, before my grandmother let her go, assessing her.
"Oh dear, you did not tell me she was so thin," Grandma said, looking at me pointedly. "Poor poor child, we'll feed you here. Why don't you feed her correctly Blake?"
I just knew she was going to say that. My grandmother was sadly predictable.
"He can't cook," Lexi pointed out, her voice teasing.
I couldn't exactly argue with that, so I gave a little shrug. "I made her soup once," I tried to defend myself in front of my grandmother.
"From a can," my girlfriend added.
That seemed to greatly displeased my grandmother. "Blake Eaton, we do not make soup from cans in this family!"
Josh would have probably said that I failed at even making something as basic as soup in a can. And I probably wouldn't even argue with him on it.
"Sorry grandma, I didn't get the cooking gene, only the good looks ones," I replied with a grin.
She grinned back, patting my cheek, while also shaking her head at me. "Young fool," she said affectionately.
My grandfather stepped away from the stove at that moment and came to greet us too.
He had the usual grin on his face, I was so used to seeing.
Sometimes I wondered why my father felt so distant or cold sometimes, when his own after had been so different. I'd mentioned this once during a visit with Dr Boseman, and he had pointed out that the way my grandfather acted with me had to be different than being raised by him.
And with some hindsight, I could see it now. My grandfather was more mellow now, but that was probably only after a life of being on edge.
My father hadn't had the carefree grandfather. He had the concerned father who put pressure on him and his brothers.
"How are you doing son?" he asked me, going for a hug.
The hug felt comforting, though it was odd now, being the same height as him. He'd always been this bigger than nature figure for me. It was strange now, to look at him in the eyes instead of looking up.
"I'm very good," I smiled back at him.
Better than I'd been for years, that was for sure. Better than he'd seen me be in so long. Too long.
"I can see that," he replied, and then turned his eyes to Lexi standing quietly beside me. "Nice to finally meet you, young lady."
She smiled back at him. "It's nice to meet you too," she said, offering her hand. That was quickly dismissed, trade for the usual Eaton hug.
I didn't know why my family always hugged people like that. They'd always done it, so it had always seemed natural to me.
"Sorry for being savages. We'll get you guys settled later. You've arrived at a very crucial time, my grandfather explained, and then went back to the oven.
My small grandmother followed him, kind of nudging him away with the wooden spoon.
"Come on, I'll introduce you," I told my Pumpkin, putting my hands on her shoulder and guiding her along.
My parents weren't here right now, so I was the only person she knew in the house and I didn't want her to feel left out or all alone if I had to go to the bathroom or something.
We went around the rooms. My aunts, Bianca and Noella were helping my grandparents in the kitchen, and they gave Lexi a quick hug before being whisked away.
My uncles George and Victor were sitting at the counter, giving their opinions on the food, purposely riling up everyone, my aunt Andrea chuckling at their antics.
My uncle Damian was outside working on the grill. He was the only one allowed to man the barbeque aside from my grandfather. Th only one my grandfather trusted around a grill, really.
For being so obsessed with foods, my grandparents hadn't produced that many children that were skillful in the kitchen. Maybe it was because any round in the kitchen often ended up in an argument.
"How's the gallery doing?" I asked, grabbing chips from a bowl on the counter.
"Same old, same old," my grandfather said and then snapped at one of my aunts, "NO! Don't put it in the oven right away!"
"Do it. Put it in the over right away," George said before cackling.
"Get out of my kitchen," Grandpa told him.
"Are you sure Josh is not actually related with you guys. He sounds just like Josh when he shoos you out of his kitchen," Lexi said, chuckling a little.
"How's Josh? Is he in India now? Or Thailand? I forget," Grandma asked, having hear Lexi's comment.
Everyone here knew Josh. He'd been here quite a few times.
"India," I replied.
"We should try video calling him later."
"You know what video calling is?" George asked with a mischievous smile.
Grandma glared at him, pointing towards the door with her wooden spoon. "Get out of my kitchen."
"Diane, that sauce is not ready," Grandpa suddenly said, playing with the dials on the oven.
Grandma turned and slapped his hand away with the wooden spoon. "Steven, you are not in charge of this kitchen."
"Babe, that sauce is going to be too thick," Grandpa replied, and we all kind of made a face at babe.
He always called her babe. It was disturbing.
"I know what I'm doing; I've been doing it for fifty years... Mi stai dando il mal di testa," my grandmother mumbled, annoyed.
I snorted a laugh, while Lexi asked me what she had just said.
Poor Pumpkin, if she hated me when I spoke in another language, she was probably going to be slightly annoyed this weekend.
My grandparents had actually met in Italy. My grandmother had been studying there and my father had been travelling.
They'd both assumed the other spoke Italian and on their first three dates had spoken in their slightly broken Italian, trying to hide how they struggled to the other.
When they'd both finally realized the other spoke English, it had been quite hilarious for them.
They'd both stayed for a while in Italy though, and still used the language often. Apparently when my father was still a kid, they spoke in Italian so he and his brothers wouldn't understand.
It was unfortunately not an effective way of secretly communicating anymore.
It was funny to see them bicker like this.
Lexi and I bickered a lot too. I enjoyed slightly annoying my Pumpkin. Her reactions were always entertaining.
While looking at my grandparents together, I was thinking about our own future.
Would we be just like them?
Lexi was smiling softly at me, and I smiled back.
I could imagine it so easily, our future together. Not the little details, but the big lines. The feelings.
The rest of my family was gathered in the living room, so I brought Lexi there.
"Oh! Oh! Blake is here! Blake, tell Logan that the yellow line on the screen that tells you were the 10 yards are is not actually on the field," Victoria, one of my cousins, that was about my age asked.
"What?" I asked, amused and confused.
"How else would they know? HOW ELSE WOULD THEY KNOW VICTORIA?" my younger cousin Logan yelled back.
"This is interesting. You were always making fun of me and my brother for yelling at the screen, but your family is just as bad," Lexi whispered with a soft little grin.
"WAIT! The girlfriend! The girlfriend is here guys!" another of my cousins pointed out, and Lexi was smothered in hugs and introductions.
We stayed with my cousins, Lexi getting acquainted with everyone.
I wasn't as close with them as I was with my cousins on my mother side, but I still had a lot of good memories with them.
Finally, it was time to eat.
My grandparents' house was huge, so they crammed two tables that fitted twelve people each all together.
There had never been a kids' table here. We were always all together.
My grandmother made sure to sit Lexi close to her, and took every opportunity she could to put more food in Lexi's plate.
I could see how delighted she was that Lexi was eating everything.
We all teased her about it.
When we were done eating, everyone that hadn't made dinner were on cleaning duties, so my grandparents and two aunts were right away in the living room, opening up the small bar there.
Lexi helped too, looking around, like she was studying every little detail, registering where stuff was supposed to go.
There was something so endearing about it.
About my Pumpkin not just being here with me, but getting ready for when she would come back.
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Happy Monday my little Pumpkins!
I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. You get more of Blake's family in it. I'd kind of rushed these chapters in Lexi's POV to get to the cemetery part of their trip, so I wanted to give you guys a bit more of their time with the Eatons here. Hopefully, you like it.
It's going to be my Wattpad birthday on Wednesday. I obviously have plans. Plans that seem to be slightly changing because I haven't been able to do everything I wanted, but plans never the less. XD My month of August hasn't been as effective as I wanted it to be, but I do think I've been writing more than last month. So hopefully, I can get into a rhythm soon.
I think I need to take another week off of work and juuuust write. That would be the dream.
Anyway! In the meantime you get this. And hopefully I'll have something fun for you guys on Wednesday! 14 years on Wattpad guys! 14 years!! 0_0
Byyyyyye! See you all next week! <3