When I’m With You (Indigo) (14 page)

Nervously fingering his beard, Marcel studied the placement of the forks he’d spent the last hour arranging. “Yeah…yeah…yeah. You’re right.” He looked up to see his sister with both hands clamped over her mouth. “Come on, Brie, and help me out here.” He opened his arms wide. “I wouldn’t just stand around and not help you out if you’d made a mistake.”

“Yes, you would.” Still laughing, Brie switched the forks.

A worried look crept into Marcel’s eyes, and he slumped in a nearby chair. “God, I hope everything goes well.”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

“Brie, you know how crazy this family is.”

She took a seat next to him and patted his shoulder. “You really like her, huh, little brother?”

Marcel didn’t answer.

Brie leaned over and whispered in her brother’s ear. “I know you, and that’s a yes. Boy, I ain’t seen you this nervous in my life.”

“I’m not nervous.” Marcel proceeded to fold the linen napkins in front of him at the wrong angle.

She chuckled. “Yeah, right. You haven’t been this excited about a female since you told me that Kennedy what’s-her-face let you kiss her back in the seventh grade.”

“What?” He laughed at the reminder.

“You heard me.” Brie placed a soft kiss against his cheek. “Everything’s going to be fine. At least Ray isn’t here.”

Marcel sighed with relief. “Thank God for small favors, huh.” Ray, their youngest brother, was touring with his jazz band, but had promised to be back home by the second week in October when the family celebrated what they referred to as Baptiste family week.

They both laughed.

With a gleam in her gray-green eyes, Brie casually offered Marcel her usual assistance. “Don’t worry. I’ma help you run interference tonight.”

“Brie.” Marcel’s voice had a warning tone.

“What?” Brie scooted her chair in closer. “No, now listen,
petit frère.
You know this crew as well as I do. Moni will be asking fifty million questions.” She shook her head and sighed. “Heaven knows what kind of mood diva Aimee will be in when she gets here.”

Marcel pinched the bridge of his nose and faced Brie. “That’s what I’m worried about. I asked Caitlyn to join us for dinner, not come and witness a three-ring circus. You know, sometimes all of you people can be as uncontrolled as animals in the wild.”

She cut her gray-green eyes at him. “I know you’re not talking about me.”

“You included.” He smiled and thumped the end of her nose. “At least I can count on you controlling yourself better than the rest of them.”

She slapped the table. “See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve always had your back. Now just leave all inquiries to me.” Without hesitation, she pointed her thumb at her chest. “I’ll field all questions tonight.”

“Oh, no, you won’t.”

“Why not?”

Marcel had known since they were teenagers that Brie always tried to run interference between him and the women he dated. God love her, but more often than not he had to remind her he was perfectly capable of handling his woman.

He chuckled and stood. “No.” He placed a kiss on both her cheeks.

“Why not? Look, you need me to at least—”

“No.” He really wanted to tell his sister her interference in his love life was wearing on his last nerve. At the moment, the only thing he was interested in was making a good impression on Caitlyn and getting through dinner without her feeling she’d spent half the evening in a psych ward.

“Marcel?” Brie followed him toward the kitchen.

Marcel turned in mid-stride. “Brie, stay out of grown folk’s business.”

* * *

Everyone was seated at the huge dining room table enjoying Mama Z’s red beans and rice, chicken-and-okra gumbo, jambalaya and Creole cornbread. For dessert, she’d made beignets.

Alcee and Mama Z sat at each end of the table. A.J., his daughters Taylor and Tyler, and Aimee, the youngest sibling, sat on one side of the huge dining room table while Brie, Moni, Moni’s husband Zach, Marcel and Caitlyn sat on the opposite side.

“Unca Marcel,” Tyler giggled.

Marcel looked across the table at his niece. “Yes, cupcake. What is it?”

The four-year-old looked at Caitlyn. “She pretty.”

Marcel smiled. “Thanks, sweet pea.” He glanced over at Caitlyn and gave her a loving look. “I think so, too.”

Caitlyn offered a soft smile. “Thank you, Tyler.”

Tyler bobbed her tiny head up and down. “Welcome, Caitlyn.”

Mama Z softly cleared her throat and whispered to Tyler who sat next to her. “That’s not right.”

“Oops, I soorie.” Tyler formed a huge O with her mouth. She stood and cupped her hand next to her great-grandmother’s ear. “What I say again,
arrière grand-mère
?”

Mama Z smiled and whispered back. “Ms. Caitlyn, sweetheart.”

Tyler’s doe-brown eyes lit and she nodded, then shifted her gaze back to Caitlyn. “Welcome, Ms. Caitlyn.”

Caitlyn nodded and smiled.

A pregnant Moni was seated to Caitlyn’s left and turned with her elbow propped on the table. “So, Caitlyn, how long have you lived in Oakland? Where are you from? How long have you and Marcel been seeing each other?”

“Moni.” Zach, Moni’s husband, spoke somewhat forcefully as he reached for a second helping of red beans and rice.

Moni turned to him. “What?” When he didn’t respond immediately, she innocently shrugged. “Did I do something wrong?”

Brie peered around Zach. “Yeah. You asked the woman a zillion questions without coming up for air. I’m sure if there’s something Caitlyn wants us to know, she’ll tell us.”

Moni looked at her sister with her hand up defensively. “Listen, Brie, I was just trying to make friendly conversation. That’s all.”

All the adult family members countered back as if on cue, “No, you weren’t.” Afterward, a few of them mumbled under their breath their displeasure at Moni’s questioning.

“Son, ya needs to get a handle on ya woman there.” Mama Z nodded to Zach while she looked sternly at her granddaughter. The family matriarch’s skin tone was as smooth and rich as butter, but the deadpan expression on her face was as hard as cement.

A smiling Caitlyn intervened. “Moni, to answer your questions, I’ve lived here about nine months. I’m from Newark, New Jersey, and I’ve known Marcel a little over three months.”

Moni clapped gleefully. “Okay, now, let me ask you this—”

“Monique Desiree Baptiste Tate.” Zach’s tone was crisp.

Moni straightened up and didn’t utter another word.

Marcel lowered his head and chuckled. He’d always gotten along with Zach, even before he and Moni married six years ago, but at the moment, he loved him for whatever techniques he’d employed to curtail Moni’s propensity to gossip. He figured those skills came from Zach’s job as a lieutenant with the Oakland Police Department.

Aimee gasped in amazement. “So, Zach, is that all we need to do to keep her quiet?”

Zach continued eating and tossed Aimee a quick wink. “Requires a little more than that, sister-in-law.”

Brie chuckled. “Well, let us in on the other half of your secret, brother.”

After dinner, Mama Z served the beignets, and Alcee helped her serve coffee. While they were eating, Aimee looked over at Marcel. “You’re still keeping your promise to help me move Saturday, right?”

Marcel lifted his brow in surprise. “Aimee, I never made you that promise. Besides, Caitlyn and I have plans for Saturday.”

Aimee poked out her ruby lips. “Well, how am I supposed to move my stuff?”

Brie rolled her eyes. “Girl, stop whining, please.”

Aimee snatched her napkin from her lap and tossed it on the table. Brie, I’m not whining. Marcel said he was—”

“No, you said that,” Marcel shot back. “Not me.”

Caitlyn smiled as she glanced back and forth between the squabbling siblings. She finally knew what family was all about. She patted Marcel’s hand. “Don’t worry about Saturday. I think we should help Aimee.” She looked over at Marcel’s sister. “Perhaps some of my kids from the center could help you as well. We try to encourage volunteerism, and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

Aimee snorted. “I don’t know any of
those
people.”

Caitlyn’s smile quickly faded. “They don’t know you either.”

Brie leaned over and looked down the table at Caitlyn. “G’on, girl.” Looking over at Aimee, she taunted, “Hmph. What you got to say now?”

A.J., Marcel’s second youngest brother, fingered the diamond stud in his right ear. “Listen, Aimee, I work with those kids on Saturdays, and they’re a good bunch. Besides, I think it was generous of Caitlyn to offer you the help in the first place.”

Aimee glanced around the table at angry eyes. “Listen, I wasn’t trying to be rude. It’s just that I’m not used to having a bunch of people around my stuff. I don’t know…”

Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed. “Aimee, I can assure you my kids won’t take any of your things, if that’s what you’re worried about. They’re not looking to steal, just searching for a chance.”

Marcel’s tone was icy. “Aimee, stop being a brat. I’m with A.J. on this one. It was more than generous of Caitlyn to even make the suggestion in the first place. We’ll be there bright and early Saturday morning with our kids. You just be ready.”

Aimee lowered her head and a few seconds later said, “Caitlyn, I apologize if I was rude. I didn’t mean to imply anything negative about the kids.”

Caitlyn nodded. “No need to apologize.”

Brie snorted and looked down her side of the table again. “Marcel, see there. I told you, you should’ve—”

“People, we have a guest here tonight, all right?” Pinching his nose, Marcel glanced around the table and tried to keep his temper in check. His family’s wacky behavior was exactly what he’d been afraid of.

Alcee spoke in a stern voice. “Marcel’s right. There’s a guest in my home and at my table.” He glanced around the table. “Unfortunately, none of the people I claim as children—” he paused and narrowed his eyes at each of them, “have shown good manners this evening.”

Brie glared at Aimee across the table. “Well, it’s all Aimee’s fault, Daddy.”

Aimee shouted back. “Me?” She pointed at Marcel. “He’s the one that started all of this.”

The napkin in Marcel’s lap landed on the floor when he tried to stand but was stopped by Caitlyn’s hand on his arm. “What? Look, you started this mess with your pouting and whining.”

A.J. defended Marcel, too. “Look, Marcel didn’t start anything. If Moni hadn’t been asking a zillion questions, none of this would have gotten started.”

Zach stopped eating his third helping of red beans and rice and turn to face A.J. “Now wait just a minute there, brother-in-law. My baby just asked a couple of questions, that’s all.” He glanced at Moni. “Ain’t that right, baby?”

Moni tilted her head high. “That’s right. All of this is Caitlyn and Marcel’s fault.”

Caitlyn turned to stare at Marcel with her mouth wide open, then turned back to Moni. “What?”

Marcel shook his head in disbelief. “For the love of God, how?”

Mama Z’s eyes narrowed and she issued a stern warning. “Marcel Xavier, watch ya mouth. Ya knows better than to use God’s name in vain.”

Marcel nodded. “Sorry, Mama Z.” He looked at Moni again. “How, Moni?”

Moni waved her hands in a circle. “This whole fiasco started when the two of you agreed to help Aimee move Saturday.”

Caitlyn turned back to Moni with her hands planted at her hips. “Now listen here, Moni. He said he didn’t tell her that. I’m not going to sit around and let somebody say he said something when he said he didn’t.”

Mama Z chuckled. “I likes that.”

Everyone stopped talking and turned toward Mama Z.

“Like what, Mama Z?” Marcel finally asked.

Mama Z smiled and nodded at Caitlyn. “A woman who takes up for her man.” She winked at Caitlyn. “That’s a good thang, child.” After a moment of complete silence, everyone burst into laughter.

Taylor held her hand high in the air and waited.

A.J. turned to acknowledge her. “What is it, pumpkin?”

“Daddy, what’s a brat?”

A.J. stammered. “Well…uh—”

“You know, it’s what Unca Marcel calls us sometimes.” Tyler lifted her gaze to the ceiling and placed a chubby finger against her head. “So it’s good. Right, Unca Marcel?”

The only thing Marcel could do was smile. His nieces never ceased to amaze him. From the moment A.J. adopted them two years ago, he’d fallen in love with the dynamic duo, and it didn’t take long for the family to figure out the mischievous mirror images would make them voluntarily commit themselves to the nearest mental institution.

Caitlyn placed her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

Marcel chuckled at Tyler. “Listen, sweetheart, I’ll explain it to you later.

Alcee looked over at Caitlyn. “Marcel tells me you have an investment program at your center.”

Caitlyn nodded. “That’s correct.”