LAUREN

 

After waking to a fully cooked breakfast delivered to our room, I dressed reluctantly, wishing my night with an undistracted Tyler could last forever. As soon as he woke—well, not exactly as soon as he woke, there may have been an extra round of play in there somewhere—Tyler’s phone began to ring. And this time he didn’t turn it off. The rest of the guests would be arriving not long after lunch, and Tyler was determined for the event to run smoothly. Already the hotel was filling with more staff on last-minute errands to make sure everything was ready for the opening night.

By the time we walked downstairs, ready to greet the guests as they entered the foyer, all the tension that had drained away from Tyler was back. He clasped the hand of every person that came through the doors and smiled, but his smile was too tight, his grasp too hard. No one else seemed to notice as they arrived in their finery, exclaiming over the exquisite beauty of the casino. Tyler had really done an exceptional job. And even though I had seen it all before, I appreciated it in a new light as I watched the guests look around for the first time. They noticed the chandelier dangling as a masterpiece in the foyer. They noticed each piece of artwork that adorned the walls. Each lavish shot of material, each extravagant decoration.

Most of the guests had already arrived by the time the rest of the Thornton family did. Billie had her ear pressed to the phone, already checking on Ollie’s babysitter. Both Gabe and Jake were dressed for the occasion and looked very stylish and handsome in their black tuxedos. When the three brothers stood side by side, it almost took my breath away.

But I was surprised by the last people to walk through the door. It was my family.

Tyler leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Surprise. I invited them. I hope you don’t mind. I just thought it would be nice to meet your family, and I figured now was as good of a time as any.”

“I—I—” I fumbled, struggling to find the right words. “I’m not sure this was a good idea.”

Already, Mother was looking around the foyer with a scowl on her face. But when she turned to see Tyler, she broke into a smile.

“Why Tyler,” she said. “There you are. I finally get to meet you!” She glared at me accusingly as she embraced him. Dad shook his hand and Morgan winked at me as she returned Tyler’s hug.

“Wow.” Alistair turned in a slow circle. “This place is amazing. You’ve done a fantastic job here.”

“Thank you.” Tyler stepped forward and shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet Lauren’s family. It’s been too long.”

“It’s nice that someone thought to invite us,” my mother replied.

“How—Why—” I couldn’t get my words to make sense.

Truth be told, I was a little disappointed they were here. Disappointed and annoyed. Of course, I wanted Tyler to meet my family, but I wanted him to meet them when I was ready. Not here. Not now. Not with my mother’s aversion to gambling, alcohol and enjoyment of life in general.

“Just head over to the front desk and Cathy will sort your accommodation.” Tyler pointed in the direction. “I’ve arranged for us all to have dinner together at eight.”

“Eight?” my mother exclaimed. “I will be near on ready for bed at that time.”

“Nonsense,” my father scolded her. “Eight will be fine, thank you, Tyler.”

Mother rolled her eyes and sighed, but kept her mouth closed after Dad’s warning.

“Did I not do the right thing?” Tyler asked once they were out of earshot. “I thought it would be good for everyone to meet each other at dinner.”

“And by everyone, you mean?”

“Dad, Billie, Jake, Gabe, your parents, Morgan and Alistair.”

I covered my face with my hands. “What have you done?”

Tyler laughed. “You’re being overly dramatic. You’ll see. Tonight will go off without a hitch.”

I shook my head. “It’s so obvious that you don’t know my mother.”

“She can’t be that bad.”

“You just wait.”

“But I thought you were worried that you hadn’t seen your parents in a while. I definitely remember a comment you made about your mother being displeased that she hadn’t seen you in months.”

“Yes, I was worried,” I replied in a hushed voice. “But that didn’t mean I actually wanted to see her. When did you even ask them?”

Tyler shrugged. “I called your mother a few weeks ago. We’ve kept in contact since.”

“You what?” His actions reminded me of Derek. My ex-fiancé had a relationship with my mother that was hard to break. Even after we had broken up, he still kept in contact with her. Or she with him. I still wasn’t sure which.

* * *

Eight o’clock rolled around all too soon. Tyler had been distracted by the various guests and media interviews from magazines showcasing the newly built casino. I followed him, hoping I nodded and smiled in all the right places, while my mind was distracted by all the possibilities of what could go wrong at dinner.

I’m not sure how it happened, but I found myself seated between Tyler and Gabe while the rest of our families looked at us from around the circular table. The room hummed with conversation. Tyler rested his hand on my thigh under the table. He meant it as reassuring, but the way his fingers gripped into my flesh spoke of the pressure he was under. He needed this night to go well. He had been involved in other projects, but this was the first he was fully responsible for.

“So,” Mother said, looking over to Billie after the introductions had been completed. “You’ve just had a baby?”

Billie’s smile filled the room. “Oliver. He’s gorgeous. Isn’t he gorgeous, Hamish?”

Hamish grunted in response and took a sip of his drink. Already his eyes were slightly glazed and I wondered how many he had consumed before he even got to the table. Hamish was usually rather reserved in his public drinking but tonight was different. Maybe it was the pressure of fatherhood getting to him. Maybe it was because it was Tyler’s project and not his.

“How old?” Mother asked.

“Almost three weeks. He’s beginning to smile and I’m almost certain that one of the noises he makes is ‘mum’.”

“Three weeks?” I noted a hint of disapproval in mother’s tone. “And who is looking after the wee fella tonight? Is he here?” She looked around the room as though someone would suddenly appear holding Oliver in their arms.

“Oh no!” Billie exclaimed. “This is my first night out since his birth and after being trapped at home I was nearly going insane.”

“You poor woman,” Mother drawled, her tone proving she thought nothing of the sort.

“He’s at home with a sitter,” Billie continued, lifting her glass into the air. “Hence.” She took a large sip.

“But who will feed him?” Mother appeared genuinely concerned, and completely oblivious that the baby could drink from a bottle.

Billie waved her concern aside. “The sitter has plenty of formula. Don’t you worry, he will be well looked after.”

Mother lifted her glass of water to her mouth, muttering under her breath. “If you can call feeding a baby with formula well looked after.”

I tried to kick her under the table, but I couldn’t reach and collided with Gabe instead.

His eyes flew to mine, eyebrows raised playfully. “If you want to play footsie, Lauren, all you need to do is ask.”

Dad muttered a warning, “Clementine,” under his breath, while Tyler threw daggered looks at Gabe.

But Mother wasn’t done yet. “Forgive my ignorance, but this family is rather confusing. Who exactly is the father of your son?”

The colour crept up Billie’s cheeks and she leaned closer to Hamish, looping her arm through his. “Why, this handsome devil, right here.”

“The father?” Mother exclaimed. “So this child, this Oliver is a brother to these other young men around the table?”

“A twenty-two year age gap between the two youngest isn’t all that bad, is it?” Gabe joked and Hamish threw him a withering glare, narrowing his eyes as he took another sip from his glass.

“Are you comfortable with the father of your son being so much older than you?”

“Mother!” I exclaimed.

“What?” She looked at me, eyebrows raised. “I was only asking the question. She doesn't have to answer if she doesn’t want to. I was wondering if it had occurred to her how old the father will be by the time the child is a teenager. Men aren’t the most helpful at parenting at the best of times, let alone when they’re elderly.” She leaned towards Hamish. “Sorry, no offence but you are considerably older than your wife. You two are married, aren’t you?”

“My god,” Gabe whispered in my ear. “This is like watching a really bad television show that for some reason you just can’t turn off.”

“Yes,” Billie said, a lot quieter now. “Yes, we are.”

The table descended into an awkward silence. Thankfully, the entrées came and we busied ourselves with eating and making flattering remarks about the food.

Once we were finished, and the silence became louder without the distraction of food, Tyler cleared his throat. “So Alistair, what are you working on these days? Lauren told me about the app you developed. Anything else in the pipelines?”

Alistair looked up, surprised that someone had spoken to him. More often than not, he was a head down, look at the ground sort of person that didn’t engage in conversation. Whether that was because of Morgan’s dominance or his personality, I wasn’t sure.

“I’m actually on the job hunt at the moment. In between things.”

“Really?” Tyler leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “What sort of skill sets do you have? Maybe we could find a position for him within the company?” Tyler turned to his father who scoffed.

“Like now is the time to be hiring more people.”

“You hired Gabe,” Tyler said.

“He’s my son,” Hamish replied gruffly.

“So is Jake, and yet I don’t see you offering him any positions.”

“Don’t drag me into this.” Jake held up his hands, tilting his chair back from the table.

“Where do you currently work?” Dad asked. He was sitting next to Jake and I had seen him giving the long-haired man curious glances. Dad had never been considered a small man, but sitting beside Jake, he seemed shrivelled and wrinkled. Old.

Jake flicked a glance Tyler’s way before answering. “I guess you could say I’m in the same boat as Alistair. I served in the army for the last six years though.”

Dad looked impressed, giving Jake a nod of approval. Being in the army deserved respect in Dad’s opinion. He had tried to get in when he was younger but was turned down after the medical.

“In the army with hair like that?” Mother asked, her voice rising to a high pitch.

Jake tossed the tail of his hair over his shoulder as if to rub it in Mother’s face. “There were times I needed to blend in. And believe it or not, this look,” he gestured to his hair and beard, “did the trick.”

A fork hovered in front of Mother’s mouth. “It won’t help your chances of gaining employment back here though.”

Hamish laughed and slapped his thigh. “I think I like you.” He raised his glass in Mother’s direction, saluting her, then drained the contents.

“Maybe you should slow down?” Tyler said, noting the way his father heavily clunked the glass onto the table.

“So,” Mother said exaggeratedly, looking over to Tyler as though it were her conversation topics that relieved the tension rather than created it. “How did you meet my daughter?” Pushing her plate away, she rested her chin on her hands, gazing adoringly at Tyler. I had never seen her quite like this before. She was clearly no fan of the rest of the Thornton men, but Tyler seemed to have woven a spell around her. For some reason it made me swell with pride at the same time as finding it annoying.

Gabe laughed.  “How did they meet? Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious, young man,” she scolded, refusing to use his name. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Gabe sat back in his chair and cupped his hands behind his head, using his infuriatingly charming grin to his advantage. “They met when I took Lauren to meet my family. You remember I dated her first, don’t you?”

Mother rolled her eyes, his grin clearly lost on her. “How could I forget? For a while there I was so desperate for her to get back together with Derek. He was so much…” she paused, searching for the right word, “so much better suited to Lauren.”

“Because?” Gabe prompted.

“I think we should change the subject,” I interjected. “What did everyone order for dessert?” It was a feeble effort and no one took the bait.

“Because you are barely more than a child.” My mother didn’t miss a beat, talking across me to answer Gabe’s question.

“So the cheating bastard was a better option?”

“There is no need for language like that, young man.”

Tyler rose to his feet. “I propose a toast,” he declared, startling the rest of the guests around the table. “To my father who taught me that it was hard work that would accomplish my dreams.” Tyler’s gaze bore into his father, who shifted uncomfortably under the glare.

We all lifted our glasses, echoing, “To Hamish,” as Tyler tossed the contents of his glass down his throat and signalled the waiter for another.

“Make that two,” Hamish added.

“Is everything okay?” I leaned in closer to Tyler so no one else could hear my question.

“Fine,” Tyler replied forcefully even though there was very little that could be defined as ‘fine’ about the evening. “Though I would appreciate it if Gabe stopped looking at you the way he is.”

I snuck a glance Gabe’s way but he was deep in conversation with Jake. “What way?”

“Like he’s dying of starvation and you’re the only food left on the planet.”

“Don’t be silly,” I dismissed. His jealousy of Gabe was starting to grate. Gabe was his brother. We should be able to have a meal together without the green-eyed monster rearing its head. He had promised me he would.

“Don’t encourage him,” Tyler warned, even though I had done nothing other than glance in Gabe’s direction.

I flashed him a warning glare. “Don’t.”

Tyler shook his head as though trying to relieve himself from the thoughts plaguing him and smiled tightly. “Sorry. There’s just a lot going on tonight.”

“And you dragged my mother into the middle of it.”

“I’ve already apologised for that. I thought you would like it. I was trying to be nice.” His words were tight and terse.

Gabe bumped my leg with his, attempting to get my attention. “Did you ever go back to that beach to take more photos?” I furrowed my brows, trying to remember which beach he was referring to. “You know,” he continued, “the one we went to that afternoon? I went surfing and you took those photos?”

The memory popped to the front of my mind. Gabe and his flatmates, as well as Haleigh and another girl whose name I couldn’t remember, were all there. Gabe had only brought it up to annoy Tyler.

“No,” I replied sharply. “I haven’t been back. But it was a beautiful place,” I added, attempting to reduce the sharpness of my tone.

Gabe nodded, hands behind his head once again. “A bit like that old house. Do you remember going there? We had that picnic on the floor and—”

“I think that’s enough.” Tyler's voice was little more than a growl.

“What’s enough? I’m just reminiscing with an old friend. Or can you not handle thinking about the men who came before you?”

Morgan laughed out loud. “That makes it sound as if you’ve been through hundreds, L.”

“L,” Billie repeated. “I forgot that people used to call you that.”

“You knew Lauren when she was younger?” Dad asked.

“Oh yes,” Billie replied. “We went to high school together, didn’t we L?”

“So you’re the same age as my daughter?” Mother’s eyebrows shot skywards.

“Yes,” Billie said. “Though I know I look a lot younger.” She winked in my direction.

“And yet you’re married to Lauren’s boyfriend’s father?”

“I think we’ve established that fact, Mother.” My voice was cold and flat. The night was draining me quickly. I couldn’t wait to get out of here and lock myself in the bedroom, away from all these people and wait for the night to be over.

“Well, I must say this is a rather confusing family you’ve chosen to involve yourself with, Lauren. And where is the older boys’ mother? Is she no longer with us?”

Covering my face with my hands, I shook my head, wishing I could sink below the table and hide.

Tyler cleared his throat again. His voice was more relaxed this time though. His vocal chords had been recently bathed in whiskey. “Jake and I have a different mother from Gabe. They were married to our father before Billie was. They aren’t here.”

“You’re onto your third wife?” Again, Mother’s voice rose to a pitch of incredulousness.

I looked to Morgan for help, wishing she would stuff a bread roll in Mother’s mouth, something, anything just to shut her up, but Morgan was staring gleefully at the people around the table, sitting in rapture as the drama unfolded around her. At least I never had to ask what was on Morgan’s mind. It was always very clearly displayed in her expressions. She was enjoying this. No doubt about it.

“So,” Gabe spoke the word with a long exhale of air. “Have you been back in the boxing ring since you’ve been home?” he asked Jake.

Jake scratched his chin. “Not exactly.”

“You’re a boxer?” Dad asked, once again turning to Jake.

“All my boys are. It’s in their blood.”

“Like you gave us a choice,” Tyler muttered.

“Teaches them discipline and commitment.”

“Teaches them how to beat the shit out of their girlfriend’s arrogant ex, that’s what it does.” Gabe winked at me. “Speaking of Derek, have you seen any more of him since Christmas?”

The muscles of Tyler’s jaw worked back and forth as he lifted yet another whiskey glass to his mouth. At the rate he was going, he was competing with his father for who could consume the most alcohol.

Gabe slapped the table. “That was a great night.” He frowned. “Sort of. It did give me a sense of satisfaction when my fist hit his chin.”

“You never told me any of this,” Mother said, looking over at me with annoyance.

“There’s a lot of things she’s never told you,” Morgan replied, hiding her grin behind a glass of wine.

“Well, I still have a soft spot for Derek. You two were together for such a long time, seemed a pity to throw it all away.”

“He was a—”

I put my hand on Gabe’s thigh to silence him. He covered it with his own and I attempted to tug away from him, but he held firm and leaned in close. “That night was the first time I told you I loved you.”

I closed my eyes, willing the nightmare to end. For the past few months, I had felt like I was in a perfect Tyler-shaped bubble. He was my life. I was his. Sure, there were other things, my new venture with Sadie, his work, but generally, our lives had been wrapped up in each other with the outside world only occasionally rearing its head. Now I felt as though someone had popped that bubble and the rest of the world was pouring in and trying to drown me.

“Leave her alone,” Tyler warned, keeping his voice low so as not to draw attention from the rest of the table.

“And I suppose you’re going to make me?” Gabe’s grip around my fingers intensified.

“Well, I don’t care what you say about the man,” Mother continued. “I’m certain that if Lauren wasn’t barren they would still be together.”

The whole room descended into silence. Well, it didn’t, but it felt like it. The chatter of conversation around the room faded to nothing and all eyes turned to me. My heart thudded in my chest and my mouth went dry.