“Are you sure you want to tell them tonight?”

Curtis squeezed Hannah’s hand tightly as he asked the question. They were working their way up the path to her parents’ house. They were planning on both introducing him to the family and announcing their engagement. It was also Christmas, so tension was a little high.

He wasn’t worried about the response. Hannah’s mom, Karen, seemed thrilled Hannah had found someone who made her happy. At least that was the message relayed to him the few times Karen had demanded to speak to him on the phone. The first time was just to make sure Hannah wasn’t making him up.

Hannah had not surprisingly never introduced a guy to her family before. It was an honor to be the first, but at the same time it was a little terrifying. They wouldn’t have anyone to compare him to, so that was kind of nice.

Even before they were together, Hannah usually talked to her family on the phone more than seeing them in person, so it wasn’t unusual for them not to see her in months. It was unusual for her to be introducing a guy to them, which was why she’d said it was best to wait until they’d been together for at least three months for any introductions. He wasn’t sure where the number came from, but it made sense to her, and that was all that mattered.

Curtis had already told his parents they were getting married, without a care what they thought about it. They’d been surprised, since he hadn’t mentioned even having a girlfriend, but both were excited to meet Hannah. That fun meeting would be happening the next day as his extended family descended on his parents’ house for their holiday celebration.

“We probably better. I wouldn’t mind having some more help planning things, and my mom has a little experience with helping my brothers’ wives. Your idea of having an Elvis impersonator marrying us in Las Vegas isn’t exactly the help I’ve been looking for. That doesn’t sound like a nice quiet wedding to me.”

They had months to plan, which is why he suggested silly weddings when she asked. Unless they wanted to get married at the courthouse, a summer wedding was the only kind that would fit with his work schedule. They could probably pull off some quickie wedding not at the courthouse on a day he had off, but his plans of locking her up for at least three weeks for a honeymoon wouldn’t work into his game schedule.

“Come on, that’s only part of that amazing wedding. You can’t forget the vibrating heart bed and glass ceiling for the honeymoon. Just think of all the loving we could accomplish with those at our disposal.”

Curtis nudged Hannah away from him playfully, and then brought her close again to kiss her temple. She knew it was all a joke, but it was fun goading her. Curtis didn’t think there was anything really romantic about sleeping on a bed that hundreds of people before them had used.

“Whatever you do, don’t mention that to my brothers. You can probably handle yourself against one of them, maybe even two of them at a time, but if you get all four of them kicked into action, you’re in for a long night, buddy. And if it’s because you told them your great plans for our honeymoon, don’t expect me to bail you out.”

Hannah opened the door to her childhood home without bothering to knock. She’d pointed out that each of her brothers’ cars were already there, so the house was full and more boisterous than Curtis expected. She was so reserved and quiet when they weren’t in the middle of a passionate embrace that he thought they’d walked into the wrong house.

“We’re here,” she announced loudly to be heard over the noise.

They’d walked into an entryway, so Curtis didn’t get a real sense for the house layout. Hannah took off her coat and hung it on a coat rack full of other coats. She held out her hand towards him and he was quick to peel his coat off and hand it to her.

“Great, we’re in the kitchen. Dinner’s just about ready. I want to get the pies out of the oven so they don’t burn while we eat.”

Curtis recognized the voice from the phone. Karen sounded like a drill sergeant yelling a command, which wasn’t surprising given the fact she wrangled five children. Hannah had shared stories of how rowdy her brothers had been. She of course was a perfect angel in every story. He sort of hoped someone would share a story that contradicted that illusion. He didn’t doubt she was the goody two-shoes of the family, but there had to be a couple of moments that she wanted to be forgotten.

Hannah smiled and grabbed Curtis’ left hand. She took a deep breath and pulled him along through the house. For as many kids as had grown up in the home, the house was on the small side. There were only four bedrooms, so Hannah had her own room and pairs of brothers had to share. They were all upstairs, so he didn’t expect to get a look at them.

He wasn’t able to see much, just a quick look into the living room they walked by, which had two couches and a mess of folding chairs set up. He saw two women trying to corral three kids, a battle that wasn’t going too well.

The tallest of the kids, a boy judging by the way he was dressed in a blue plaid top and blue pants, was running around the room with an unopened present as high as he could get above his head. Another child chased after him screaming. It seemed the present belonged to the kid chasing him around and said kid didn’t like him touching it.

Rather than scare Curtis, the scene put a smile on his face. One day, hopefully soon, his and Hannah’s child would be joining in the fun, even if it was just off to the side in a swing or a bouncy chair.

“There you are,” Karen exclaimed as she took off an apron and put it on the center island.

There were snack trays with vegetables, crackers, dips and fruit that the men of the family were busy grabbing food from. At once, all eyes zoomed in on the new man in the kitchen. Curtis tried to put on his smile, but he couldn’t help feeling a little intimidated. It was the first time he’d met the family, actually any family of a woman he was dating.

“Hi, Mom, Dad, Goobers.”

Hannah let go of Curtis’ hand and grabbed the bag he’d been carrying. She put it on the countertop behind the family and started unloading the side dishes she’d spent the afternoon cooking. They had two more bags in the car with presents, but they didn’t have enough hands to bring everything in at once.

Curtis’ eyes focused on Hannah, waiting for a cue from her about what he should do. Standing there while people stared at him wasn’t something he wanted to do for long. Thankfully, after she joined the dishes with the other offerings already on the counter, she hurried back to his side.

It was kind of funny how all the conversation that had been going on in the kitchen had stopped once they entered, other than the few words her mother had said. With Hannah back at his side, he reached for her hand as he focused a little more on her family.

She definitely got her red hair from her mother, a trait her brothers had picked up to some extent. One of them had enough gel in his hair that it almost looked brown. As she’d already mentioned, her brothers weren’t exactly muscular, but they were tall. They sort of looked like a bunch of teachers in their sweaters over button-down shirts. Curtis was a little disappointed he hadn’t been told there was a specific dress code. His navy button-down sans sweater seemed out of place.

He saved his perusal of Hannah’s father for last. She’d warned him about the brothers, but she’d said very little about her father, other than he was more of the strong, silent type. He had been told the dress code, but the man was a little bigger than any of his sons, so the sweater combo was actually a little intimidating.

“Curtis, you’ve already spoken to Mom, this is my father, he tends to go by Harvey, Shane, Miles, Logan and Vinnie. We all just call Vinnie Trouble, though, so if you hear someone yelling Trouble, they’re calling him, not asking for help.”

Hannah pointed to each person as she introduced them. Curtis smiled and waved at each of them. Vinnie scowled at his introduction. Curtis couldn’t blame him.

“Nice to meet all of you in person, and thanks for including me in your dinner.”

“Hannah, honey,” her mom started slowly. “I don’t know if you know this, but it looks like you’ve got a growth on your hand.”

Lifting up their joined hands, Hannah looked down and twisted them around trying to find the said growth. Curtis knew she was acting, but he still shook his head at the pathetic attempt.

“I know Curtis’ hand is a little deformed from punching people and jamming it in his glove all the time, but I wouldn’t call it a growth.”

Curtis raised his free hand to his forehead and covered his eyes for a second. They’d had a bet about how soon someone would notice the ring. Curtis thought it would take until they were all sitting down, but Karen seemed to be right on it.

“Are you pregnant?” Vinnie asked, hopefully meant to get back at her for the Trouble comment.

“I wish,” Curtis filled in. He figured he might as well make it known he wanted a family. “Sadly, she’s just agreed to be my wife for now.”

“So, it’s actually an engagement ring and not you just proving you can throw around money?” Miles asked.

“Of course it’s an engagement ring, idiot. I’m naïve, but not stupid enough to put a ring on that finger unless he asked me to marry him.”

Hannah turned to face Curtis, fake exasperation on her face. It was refreshing to see her with her family. He was sort of sorry they hadn’t gotten together before.

“You’ll have to excuse them. I really did get all the brains in the family. We’re lucky those four can even stand on their own.”

Curtis wasn’t about to touch the comment. He wasn’t sure how long the banter would last, but he was more than happy to sit back and let the fun happen around him.

“Do you have siblings, Curtis?” Karen asked, moving the conversation forward.

“No, ma’am, I’m an only child. I do spend a lot of time with my teammates. I might be willing to claim a couple of them as brothers.”

Hannah was still facing him, so he could see her eyes roll. Her facial expressions overall were so different. She always seemed happy with him, but her family brought out something else. It was a new light that Curtis found exhilarating, which probably wasn’t a good thing in her parents’ house.

“Well, I hope the way these fools act doesn’t scare you away. I think we’re all scrambling to figure out how we missed this. Hannah hasn’t even brought a guy home before, so we were prepared for a new experience, but definitely weren’t expecting a soon-to-be member of the family.”

“Speak for yourself. Hannah’s bloody brilliant for waiting to bring him around until after she got a ring on her finger. Being around this crazy lot, he would’ve run out of here before we even got the food on the table.”

Hannah’s dad’s voice was low. He’d been described as the level-headed leader of an otherwise chaotic family. His words indicated to Curtis that he liked to have just as much fun as the rest of them.

“It’s not too late to throw the gifts out of the car and make a run for it,” Hannah suggested. “I need to go home and clean the kitchen anyway.”

Curtis laughed and shook his head. He wasn’t going to embarrass Hannah by telling her how much he enjoyed seeing her so carefree.

“You promised me I was going to get a chance to taste the best pecan pie in the world. You wouldn’t deny me that, would you?”

Hannah stuck her bottom lip out to pout about his comment. He knew it was a joke, but so far the enticement to leave wasn’t enough. If she offered a naked night with nothing but them and some whipped cream and strawberries, then they’d be heading towards the door.

“Surely you aren’t going to leave before dessert, are you, Hannah? I know you like keeping Curtis to yourself, but it’s Christmas, so you have to share him.”

Curtis had been sure he’d never hear the voice that came from behind them again. He turned his head slightly to verify it was indeed the she-devil herself come to wreck Christmas. Nina was standing in the hallway leading to the kitchen with a large bag and the fakest smile he’d ever seen.

“Don’t look surprised, Curtis. I’ve been invited to the Williams’ Christmas dinners since I was eight.”

Gripping Hannah’s hand tightly, Curtis turned back to see how Hannah took the sudden appearance. He didn’t have to ask her whether she knew Nina would be there, even if he didn’t see the wide-eyed look of pure terror on her face.

“Maybe we should go.” Curtis kept his voice quiet.

Since her parents hadn’t known about their engagement, he was pretty sure she hadn’t explained about the drama with Nina. Even if they had an inkling there was a tiff between them, he doubted they knew exactly what she’d done.

Hannah shook her head and put a smile on her face. It was fake, but it didn’t come close to matching Nina’s.

“No, we’re staying. Nina, would you mind talking with me outside for a minute?”

Leaning forward to kiss Curtis quickly on the lips, Hannah patted Curtis on the arm and let go of his hand so she could grab Nina by the arm and drag her down the hall.

Since she didn’t take him with her, Curtis assumed she had something she wanted to say without him around. He didn’t like the idea of the two of them outside alone, but he put on his own fake smile and turned to Hannah’s family.

“They have a few things to discuss.”

It was stating the obvious, but Curtis didn’t know what else to say. They looked at him to explain more. Having nothing he’d say without Hannah present, he stepped forward and grabbed a piece of broccoli from the vegetable tray.