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“Shit, Nadia…”

Caught in my own little bubble, I hadn’t realised that Mum was pulling the same bullshit with Frankie’s fiancé, but that made sense. She rode her daughters-in-law almost as hard as me.

“It’s OK, but I’m not marrying some mummy’s boy who won’t stand up for his own wife.” Frankie went pale in response to Nadia’s hissed words. “I asked him what he would do if we had a daughter and his mother started treating her like Majorie does you…”

All the chatter in the room faded away then, replaced by the sound of my thudding heart. Their lips kept moving, but I couldn’t hear it. Probably because at no point before this had any of my brothers felt the need to step up and defend me. Part of our family dynamic was the guys sticking together, keeping as far away from Mum as possible. Using the reasoning that what went on between the two of us was all women’s business, it’d left me alone and completely without allies. A counsellor had pointed out that perhaps my preoccupation with stuff men liked such as cars was an attempt to buy into the safe space they created for themselves. But to hear I was now being offered protection by my brother? I forced myself to smile.

“Well, I guess we need to get this over with, see what I’m dealing with.”

Because across the floor, I was conscious of one set of eyes boring into me. My mother sat at the table, people chatting, drinking, and laughing around her, but she ignored them all. It was me she was focussed on with laser-like precision, taking in what I was wearing in one long look.

“I’ll be fine,” I said as if those words were a magic spell I could cast, changing reality to suit myself.

“We’ll be fine.”

Hayden was close enough to kiss, his body forming a protective shell around me. To replace the one I used to erect, I realised. My eyes slid sideways, taking in each one of them, and like soldiers before a battle, we nodded to each other. We could do this.

“Have an amazing party,” I told the happy couple. “Don’t let Frankie drink too much or he’ll start trying to breakdance again.”

“I can pop and lock with the best of them,” he said, with all the confidence of a melanin-deficient person, the awkward dance moves he just did making us all shrink back. But once I took a step away, it got easier, turning around and striding towards the table.

“Hello, love.” Dad spoke to me first, looking up as soon as we got close. The skin around his eyes creased and his smile was tentative, but that’s not what caught my attention. It was where he was sitting. Amber and Steve were between him and my mother, her face sour as she wrapped her hand around her wine glass. “You look nice. Brock, Hayden…”

“This is Hunter, Hayden’s twin, obviously.”

He moved around then, Dad getting to his feet to shake his hand, right before he turned to my brother, Steve. I introduced everyone, but Steve paused, looking at Hunter’s hand like it was a dead frog or a live snake, before shaking it way too hard. Hunter grinned, his teeth shining like a shark’s, right before his bicep flexed, his fingers clamping down hard on Steve’s until my brother was forced to jerk it free.

“Twins, huh?” Amber purred, her slightly unfocussed gaze indicating she’d been making good use of the free bar. “So what’s that like?”

“Amber—” Steve growled.

“I wouldn’t mind being the meat in that sandwich.” She wiggled her finger up and down, indicating the guys.

“Should I be offended?” Brock’s voice buzzed in my ear as he leaned in close.

“Relieved,” I hissed back before turning back to my family. “Steve doesn’t have a twin, but I guess you could hit up Dave? Similar attitude at least.” My brother’s scowl grew darker. “Maybe you and Frannie could trade off.”

“Jamie—” Dad used a far gentler tone than I expected, but Mum, she was never one to hold back.

“That’s enough.”

She didn’t move, didn’t rise to her feet, and to anyone else walking by, they just saw an older woman having a quiet drink. But me, I saw something else. This was same woman I’d spent my childhood butting heads with, the one I tried to find peace with as an adult, thinking that one of us had to wave the white flag and sue for peace.

And much good it’d done me.

“Mrs. King—” Hunter said, moving to introduce himself to her, but she shot him a withering look, making clear she’d rather masturbate with a cheese grater than get to know my date.

“So you’re doing this.” She couldn’t clarify, her eyes taking in my suit, my dates, even my hair and makeup, her cat’s bum mouth pulling tighter by the second. “I tried to find you something suitable to wear.” Her eyes found Brock’s. “And an escort worthy of you, but you had to…” Mum’s hand rose, the slight shake worrying me for a second. “You had to?—”

“Marge.”

Dad could be harsh, loud, cutting if he had to be, because I’d seen him shout each one of his unruly sons down with just a word when we grew up. Never Mum though, Dad had that going for him. He’d never raised a hand, said a word against her.

Not even when I really needed him to.

So I just stared when he did just that now.

“That’s enough.” For any of us kids, that would’ve been the end of it. Mouths would’ve snapped shut and we would’ve found a way to move on, but Mum was never going to take that. As she jerked herself to her feet, he stared her down. “Let’s sit down and enjoy a nice night for Frankie and Nadia.”