Promises to Keep by L'Amour Christine

Author:L'Amour, Christine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Gabi was still sick by the time dinner rolled around the next day, but not awfully so—the fact that her fever wasn’t totally down even though she had energy and appetite didn’t matter as much as the fact that she was still cranky and bratty. Ellen fussed over her clothes (a baby denim jacket and pants patterned with bunnies) and tried to soothe her before her uncle arrived.

Unfortunately, as her Uncle arrived with a clearly fretting Miriam behind his shoulder and Rafaela proceeded to bare her teeth more than smile at them, Ellen realized that soothing Gabi distracted her from something that was probably much more important: soothing Rafa.

Too late. Ellen smiled and braced herself, reaching out to squeeze Rafa’s hand.

“Hi, please come in,” she said, taking a step back.

“So that’s her?” Uncle asked, his eyes slid from Gabi to Rafa, so Ellen didn’t know who he was talking about.

“This is Gabriela,” she said. “And this is my girlfriend, Rafaela. Rafa, Gabi, this is my Uncle Carl.”

She praised herself a bit bitterly for not tripping on the word girlfriend.

“Uncle?” Gabriela asked far too loudly, sinking her fingers into Ellen’s arms as if afraid the man was going to physically rip her from Ellen’s hold.

“My uncle,” Ellen soothed. “My uncle, not yours.”

Gabriela looked deeply suspicious, but accepted that.

“What is she talking about?” Uncle asked, annoyed, as he walked into the apartment and started looking critically around. Even though Ellen had cleaned everything about thirty seconds ago, she still cringed when he narrowed his eyes at the magazines piled (neatly!) on the coffee table and the toys arranged (cutely!) on the couch.

“Her relatives bounced her around like a ping-pong ball, so she doesn’t really like the terms Uncle or Aunty anymore,” Rafa explained evenly, in a I know you did the same thing to Ellen you piece of shit asshole tone of voice. “They make her feel like she’ll be passed around again.”

Uncle, whose bullshit-radar was finely tuned, turned to look at Ellen with such a blankly annoyed and angry expression that Ellen gave up on the night right then and there. This was a mistake. Why did she ever think putting Rafa in contact with him was a good idea? She tried to elbow Rafa firmly on the ribs, but she danced away.

“How sad,” Miriam said, because she liked to believe the best in people, and so was ignoring the obvious jab Rafa had sent her father. “Hi, Gabi. I’m Ellen’s sister, Miry.” She smiled sweetly, expression softening.

“Not an Aunty,” Gabi said carefully, looking at Miry from her side-eyes.

“No,” Miry agreed, obviously sad at not being called Aunt.

“Ah, I’ve heard of you,” Rafa said, eyes narrowed at Miry. But Ellen would not let Rafa talk shit about her big sister, so this time her elbow hit Rafa’s ribs right on.

“Is this kid sick?” Uncle asked loudly, taking three steps back; Fuck, Ellen thought, she hadn’t been paying attention to him, but he’d been peering at the kid’s flushed face and snooty nose for a while now.

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