Emma didn’t get what the big deal was. So she answered his phone, and it was his mom. So they’d chatted, and she’d invited Emma to join them for dinner on Sunday. Based on Ed’s reaction, you’d think the world was ending.
“It’s just dinner,” she’d told him. “If you want, I don’t have to go.”
“That’d be even worse! You’ve already been invited. Now you have to go.”
Considering he hadn’t really had a girlfriend since Jenny, odds were he hadn’t brought any girl home to meet his parents since high school. She could understand why he was nervous.
She, however, was excited. She’d never met a boyfriend’s parents before. Okay, so she knew Ed wasn’t her boyfriend, and she knew she shouldn’t pretend otherwise, but he was her first love. She was allowed to revel in the feeling. Waking up with him each morning, showering together, having someone to share her news with, and now meeting his parents. They were all new experiences for her, and she planned to enjoy them.
As she navigated her truck down the dirt road that led to the farmhouse, Rufus pushed his way onto Emma’s lap. Ed grabbed the dog’s collar to pull him back. At Ed’s insistent tugging, Rufus immediately raced across the seat and over Ed’s lap.
Ed grunted at the weight of the large animal. Uncaring who he violated, Rufus focused his attention out the window, his tail in constant motion.
Emma laughed at Rufus’s antics. She, too, would have been inclined to watch the fields as a horse and rider went past, but instead, she kept her gaze on the road ahead.
“Turn here.” Ed pointed to a driveway marked by a red mailbox with the number eighteen-hundred-and-forty-two pasted to its side.
Trees lined the drive, making her thankful for her sunglasses as the alternating pattern of light and shade flickered across her vision.
Ed instructed her to park near the two-car garage attached to the old farmhouse. She barely had the truck out of gear when Rufus darted back to the driver’s side to pant against her window. Emma wasn’t sure if his impatient whining meant the drive had been too long for his still-young bladder or if he was just excited to explore.
Emma was hopeful Rufus wouldn’t be the only one that got the opportunity to explore.
Looking in the rearview mirror, Emma surveyed one of the smaller buildings, an orange tabby near the open door. In the distance, she heard barking.
“The shelter said Rufus is good with other dogs?” Ed asked for the third time since this dinner date had been set.
“Yep, Rufus is good with children and pets. Very friendly.” Emma patted Rufus’s furry side. “How many dogs are here?”
“One Australian shepherd and one border collie.” Two big dogs came barreling around the side of the house, with a smaller brown and white dog trailing behind. “And my sister has a Westie,” he said with disgust.
“You don’t like the Westie?”
Ed glanced over at her while reaching for the truck’s door handle. Rufus noticed the movement and, once more, switched sides, hoping to be released from the cab. “It’s a poor choice for a farm dog.”
“Why?”
“Westies are supposed to be white.”
“Oh.” She looked out the window again, this time cringing when she realized the little dog wasn’t brown and white but coated in dirt and mud.
“Well, let’s get this over with.” Ed sighed.
Emma pasted on a cheerful smile. No matter what Ed thought would happen tonight, Emma wouldn’t let his raincloud impression ruin her evening.
They climbed down from the truck and monitored Rufus’s interaction with the other dogs. After much butt-sniffing and circling, it seemed Rufus was right at home. Together, the pack of dogs ran away from the truck, with the dirty Westie struggling to keep up and Rufus straying to sniff his new surroundings.
With Rufus no longer a significant concern, Ed and Emma headed to the house.
A young black man shoved open the screen door and sauntered onto the porch. He meandered over to one of the pillars that supported the overhang and leaned against it. His resemblance to Ed was striking. Emma assumed he had to be one of the brothers. They shared similar facial features: a broad nose and wide, well-arched lips; even their hair was similar in style. They had the same dark eyes and long-limbed stances.
Right away, she recognized him as a player. Based on the predator-like stare she felt moving over her, she knew he was a womanizer. His self-assured stance bespoke a confidence that probably drew women to him in droves.
It was his teasing smile that gave away his status in the family. Baby brother. For sure.
She searched her memory for his name.
Romeo. Figured.
As the pair approached the porch, Romeo took a swig from the beer bottle he held, the cocky smile returning as soon as he swallowed.
They headed up the stairs, and the grin widened.
“Don’t,” Ed warned, using his no-nonsense tone.
Romeo ignored him. “Isn’t this a surprise? Edmund bringing a girl home to meet Mom and Dad.”
“Edmund?” Emma tried not to choke as one mystery was solved.
Ed scowled at his younger brother but didn’t engage.
Romeo turned his attention to Emma. “It’s been a long time since Ed brought a woman home. It’s been…” He pretended to think about it. “Probably not since—”
“I thought you were working in Edmonton.”
Knowing he was getting to his brother, Romeo chuckled. “I guess I’m back.”
Ed narrowed his eyes. “Sleep with the wrong guy’s wife?”
Defiance shone from Romeo’s eyes, but his posture weakened. “She never told me she was married.”
Ed’s assumption was proven correct. Emma pursed her lips to keep from laughing.
“She certainly never said she was married to the boss.” Romeo’s comment was barely audible. He straightened away from the post. “So, you prude, introduce me to your woman unless you’re afraid I’m going to steal her from you.”
Ed surprised her by placing an arm possessively around her waist and drawing her against him. “This is Emma. Emma, this is my brother Romeo.”
They shook hands, but Emma kept it brief.
“Can I get you a drink, Emma? Wine, beer, pop, water?”
“A pop would be great. Thanks.”
Romeo headed to the screen door and held it open for her. “Come on in. We’re all dying to meet you.”
Emma and Ed disposed of their shoes in the mudroom before entering the farmhouse. Emma was in awe of the modern décor. From the outside, with its big bay windows and wide porch, she’d been expecting an older style of furnishings, but instead of resembling the old cabins her uncle had taken her to when they went hunting, this was much more country rustic. The house had a bit of a cedar scent, which was nearly overpowered by the roast that was in the oven.
The house opened into a little sitting room, complete with a cozy fireplace and enough comfortable seating for four or five people. The fireplace was cold and empty, but Emma could imagine it alive and spitting during the rainy autumn evenings and the winter months.
Romeo led them through the quaint room into the adjoining kitchen. She had a moment of anxiety and briefly wondered if his parents would like her, but all the worry disappeared when Ed took her hand.
In the kitchen, Emma was greeted by a thin woman. Her thick, curly hair was twisted into a bun high upon her head. Copper accented by a bit of green eyeshadow made her brown eyes pop. Healthy, glowing skin had Emma doubting this woman was old enough to be Ed’s mother. A string of pearls hung from her neck, two dangled from her earlobes, and a third set encircled her wrist. Despite her makeup and jewelry, she wore blue jeans with a black sleeveless blouse.
Emma immediately felt underdressed. She’d selected a pair of army green cargo capris and a loose-fitting black twisty back tank top. She’d barely run a brush through her hair.
Romeo abandoned them and headed in the direction of the fridge.
“Hi, you must be Emma.” The woman approached to shake hands.
“Yes, I must be,” Emma replied with a smile despite her sudden feelings of inadequacy.
“Call me Tamara. Would you like a drink?”
“Already on it, Mom,” Romeo said as he passed a can of Coke to her.
“Wonderful.” Tamara picked up a glass of wine from the counter and wrapped her arm around Emma. “Come and meet my husband, Ed’s father. Reth!” she called into the house.
From a nearby room, there was some shuffling of papers.
Reth took up most of the doorframe as he entered. It was evident that Ed and Romeo got their height from their father. However, neither man was as broad as Reth. His skin was a few shades darker than that of Ed, Romeo’s, or Tamara’s. His head was completely shaved, and though he wore glasses, Emma had a hard time imagining him as a professor of English literature. He looked like he belonged in a more rural setting, or maybe a beach, certainly not in tight, stuffy clothing with suede elbow patches.
He took off his glasses and set them on the counter. “Is this the gyal?”
Emma’s jaw dropped. Turning to Ed, she smacked his arm. “You didn’t tell me your dad had an accent!”
Frowning, Ed asked, “Is that a problem?”
“Well, yeah. How come you don’t have a sexy accent like that?”
Romeo and Tamara chuckled, but Reth’s booming laugh eclipsed them. Ed just rolled his eyes.
“Emma, right?” Reth stretched out his long arm to shake her hand. “I like her already, Ed.”
“Have a seat, Emma.” Tamara pulled out a chair from around the kitchen table and sat down. While sipping her wine, she gestured for the four of them to do the same. “Tell us about yourself.”
“Um.” Unsure, Emma’s gaze swung to Ed’s.
He shrugged and, clearly enjoying her discomfort, said, “Next time, maybe you won’t answer my phone.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I, um, well…” She drummed her finger on the tablecloth, gathered up her thoughts, and finally started speaking coherently. “I was in the army, as was my uncle, before he retired. Uncle Cain and Ed served at the same time, and since my contract was finished, my uncle thought it might be a good idea for me to get some tips on adjusting to civilian life from Ed.” She beamed with pride. “Actually, on Friday, I got hired at a local garage. I’m going to be working toward getting my red seal.”
Reth leaned toward Ed. “She’s after my heart. She’ll be able to work on the tractors with us.”
“Yes, Emma enjoys getting a little dirty.” Ed was probably thinking about when they’d gone mudding on Monday.
“That’s wonderful that you’ve found a job.”
“I think I’ll enjoy it. Uncle Cain taught me how to work on all kinds of motors.” As an afterthought, she added, “Oh, and I have a dog. I hope you don’t mind, but we brought him with us. He’s a German shepherd named Rufus.”
Tamara nodded. “When you first got here, I saw him running around with our boys.” Tamara got up from the table. “Well, I’m glad you could make it out for dinner, Emma. None of my boys ever seem to bring home any young girls. Ariel and I are overrun with testosterone here. It’ll be nice to have another woman around.”
“I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, Mom,” Ed said. “Emma’s more tomboy than the dress-shopping type.”
Before Emma could get offended, Tamara tossed a dish towel at him. “For that, you get to set the table.”
With a heavy sigh, Ed hoisted himself from his chair. As he walked away from the table, Emma stuck her tongue out at him, which had Reth roaring with laughter all over again.
* * *
“Lorenzo’s on shift this afternoon, but he promised to stop by for dessert.”
Ed paused in placing the last glass on the table. “Why would he bother?”
“Because it’s family,” his mother scolded. “And to meet your new lady friend.”
Emma’s skin flushed a bit at his mother’s words. She was uncomfortable meeting his family, and he had no intention of easing her concerns. She had no right to answer his phone, so the consequences were on her.
Emma had offered to help in the kitchen, but his mom had turned her down, claiming the roast basically cooked itself. His mother loved cooking for the family and had undoubtedly prepared the meal hours ago.
Having laid plates, glasses, and utensils on the table, Ed thought he was done, but then his mother put a pile of napkins in his hand.
“Ed tells me you used to teach English at the university.”
His dad smiled kindly at Emma. “That seems like ages ago now. Yes, I used to teach a few Shakespeare classes as well as colonial and post-colonial writing and literary theory.”
“We met when I took one of his Shakespeare classes,” his mom declared. “I wanted to be a high school drama teacher, so I was taking English literature classes along with my drama specialist.”
“After that semester, she started showing up in all my classes.”
Guilty, his mom glanced away. His dad winked at Emma, who was grinning fondly at his tale.
“Although, she almost failed my literary theory course.”
“I loved the Shakespeare stuff, though!”
“I hired her as my teaching assistant, and the rest is history.”
“Ed also said you named all your kids after Shakespeare characters.” Emma traced a line of condensation on her pop can and shyly admitted, “I never really got Shakespeare.”
“It can be tricky for some people,” his father said kindly. “And sometimes the school systems do a piss-poor job of teaching it.”
“I’m not a total dummy, though.” She gestured at Romeo. “Obviously, Romeo’s name comes from Romeo and Juliet, but what about the others?”
Ed was passing by with the napkins as she said that. He knew her lack of education bothered her, but not once had he ever thought she was stupid. She had a different skill set than most women he knew. She could easily take care of any car problem, and she was capable of thinking on her feet. After tucking a napkin at the place setting where she was sitting, Ed leaned down and gave the top of her head a quick peck.
“Lorenzo comes from the Merchant of Venice, Edmund comes from King Lear,” his father said.
Placing his hand over Emma’s where it rested on the table, Romeo interrupted, “He’s the villain.”
Giggling, Emma looked over at Ed. “No way!”
“He’s a pretty awful fellow. He sets his brother up for complete ruin.” He glanced pointedly at where Romeo’s hand was joined with Emma’s. “Although, perhaps he had a point.”
Romeo laughed but finally released Emma. “He was a bastard, literally and figuratively.”
“Is that why you’re so perfect?” Emma accused. “Are you making up for your name?”
Romeo snorted. “Perfect? Ed? Yeah, right! You know he gave up a chance to go pro ball to join the military?”
Emma wouldn’t see that as a failure. She’d understand his desire to serve his country. She’d had similar desires to protect and serve. Besides, just because he’d been scouted wasn’t a guarantee he’d go pro. He hated to admit it, but after his thriving success in high school, he realized he’d rather be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a giant ocean. Failure terrified him.
Emma ignored Romeo’s interruption. “What about Ariel?”
“That one is a little trickier. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Ariel is a male spirit imprisoned in a tree.”
“It might have been a boy’s name in the play, but it’s pretty,” his mom explained, “and I think it fits our little Ariel quite nicely.”
“That it does,” his dad agreed. “She’s got a lot of spirit, that one.”
“Speaking of your sister, why don’t you take Emma for a little tour of the farm? Ariel is out riding somewhere. Perhaps you could tell her dinner will be ready soon and to come in.”
“Sure,” Ed complied with his mother’s request. “I’ll show you around. We’ll take the ATV.” It would be faster than saddling a horse. Next time they visited, he wouldn’t mind taking her horseback riding along the property lines.
If there was a next time.
He led her outside and to the tractor shed, where they grabbed a few helmets and started up the ATV.
“What’s your brother do?”
“Romeo? He had a contract with an energy company in Alberta, but it sounds like he had a falling out with the boss.” Ed smirked. It wasn’t the first time Romeo had landed in hot water because of a woman, and odds were, it wouldn’t be the last.
“No, Lorenzo. Your mom mentioned he does shift work?”
“Oh, Lorenzo. Yeah, he’s a cop.”
“Cool.” Emma strapped on her helmet and scrambled onto the ATV behind him. He pointed out a few outbuildings where various tools and implements were housed. They drove past his mother’s vegetable garden. He showed her the horse barn, pasture, and arena. She made him stop at the barn to show her the horses.
“Most of these belong to boarders. Mom has one, and Ariel has one,” he explained.
She happily fed his mother’s horse a carrot and pet its muzzle.
Soon, they were underway again and found Ariel in one of the back fields.
Ariel didn’t bother to dismount but peered down at Emma from beneath her riding helmet. “So, this is her, huh?”
Why did everyone seem so surprised he’d brought a guest to dinner? “This is my friend Emma. Emma, this is my baby sister.”
Ariel snorted at the title and, taking a page from Romeo’s book, said, “Friend, eh?”
His younger siblings tried his patience. “Mom wants you to go in. Dinner will be ready soon.”
After one final examination of Emma, Ariel turned her mount around and headed back to the barn. They were so far from the house they could just barely make out the shapes of civilization. Although September was flying past, the sun was still bright in the sky, and the air still held its heat, at least throughout the day.
Emma shifted behind him. “Should we head back, too?”
“There’s a few more places I want to show you first.”
He took her down the little trail that wound through the bush, stopping to point out the old tree fort he’d made with his brothers when they were younger. He took her to the place where wild raspberries grew.
On the ATV, they couldn’t get close to the stream, at least not while in the bush. When the trail broke free of the last few trees, Ed killed the motor.
Emma jumped off the back of the ATV. “This is beautiful!” She motioned to the grassy meadow.
Here, the bush still hid them from any onlookers. The water gurgled steadily alongside the pasture.
Where the stream ran through the bush, they’d hunted for crawfish, frogs, and other aquatic creatures, but here in this open space had been where they’d set off fireworks for Canada Day.
On select evenings, when the summer sun set, their parents had brought them to this meadow with blankets and snacks. As a family, they’d watched the night sky looking for comets. He remembered coming out once to watch a meteor shower.
When he was eighteen, he’d brought Jenny here. His parents had taken Ariel to a riding competition in the U.S., Lorenzo had been away at police foundations, and at sixteen, Romeo had been out carousing. He and Jenny had packed a picnic basket, complete with a bottle of wine her older sister had bought for her. Together, they’d fed each other finger foods and sipped directly from the bottle. At the time, he’d thought it was erotic, his mouth drinking from the same spot hers had been only moments before. Then, quietly, with the sounds of buzzing bees and the wind rustling the grass, they’d made love together for the first time.
Ed’s chest tightened at the memory.
Upon returning from Afghanistan, he’d been hurting, confused, and sick, and her decision to leave him had been salt in the open wound, making it impossible to heal completely. She hadn’t been able to cope with who he’d become. He hadn’t been worth trying to save.
Emma walked to the stream, bent, and dipped her hands into the cool water. She flicked her fingers across the surface before straightening and wiping her palms against the ass of her pants, leaving wet streaks behind.
She was one of a kind, this woman. He realized that instead of sulking about a pain from years ago, he should be focused on enjoying Emma. He only had a limited time with her before his demons would rear their ugly heads. Once that happened, it wouldn’t be long before she, too, walked away.
“Come here,” he called to her.
With a child-like innocence, she approached. Her eyes sparkling, her smile wide, she asked, “What’s up?”
Without a word, he reached forward and unclipped her helmet. Gently, he pulled it from her head. Her long hair spilled out, the odd piece sticking up from static cling. Removing his helmet, he let them both fall to the ground before reaching for her.
The innocence faded from her eyes and was replaced by the bold seductress he’d come to recognize. “Shouldn’t we be getting back?”
“It will take Ariel a while before she’s ready for dinner. She’ll need to untack the horse and brush her down. Then she’ll need to wash up, and knowing Ariel, odds are she’ll insist on a shower. She’ll want to look her best since we have company.”
“So we’ve got some time to kill?”
“At least twenty minutes.”
“Mmm,” she purred, slipping her arms around his neck. “I can think of all kinds of things we can do with twenty minutes.”
Her plans would have to wait because he had ideas of his own.