Gypsy Kiss: Micah Part 25

Micah watched us go, smiling at Mari's typical excitement. I missed him the minute my hand left his.

The kitchen was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined it to be huge, and all black with chrome fittings. Mari opened the American style fridge, showing me the contents.

"Okay...we have beer, cider, vodka, white wine, red wine, rose wine, gin, c.o.ke, lemonade, milk, water...basically you name it, it's in here no doubt. What can I get you?"

"I'll just have a c.o.ke for now..." I said and when she narrowed her eyes I added, "Me and alcohol...not good when I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" she asked, obviously puzzled, "You shouldn't worry about that lot. You've met them before, right?"

"All but Eli..."

"Ah...Eli's a sweetheart. Of all my brothers he's the one we're all most proud of. He's come a long way over the years. And he helped Nic raise me ya know so he's more than a brother to me. He's...a role model. If I told him that he would laugh, because he's the rebel of the family but...yeah, he's a good guy. And Lisa, my sis in law? She's awesome, you'll love her. She's been in his life longer than I have. And my niece and nephew? Gorgeous." She handed me a gla.s.s of c.o.ke and winked. "You ready to go back out there?"

I nodded nervously. "Yeah. Point me to the party."

"Oh wait! Here she is now. Lisa, hey, glad you're here at last. Come and meet Jewls, Micah's lovely girlfriend." A slim, extremely pretty blonde walked into the kitchen followed by what seemed like two mini tornadoes. Both shouting for 'Uncle Nic.' A little boy about three years old I'd guess, with dark hair and big brown eyes flashed a huge grin as he ran by.....a mini Machvaya alright. And a beautiful little girl, maybe five years old, ran along in his wake, all tumbling blonde curls and the same brown eyes as her brother.

"Pleased to meet you too. Such beautiful children. Micah's told me all about them, he adores them."

"They adore him too, all the brothers in fact. But no one gets a look in when Nic's around as you can see." The kids raced down the garden towards Nic and leapt on him. He caught them, George first, and tossing him high in the air. Then Ruby, nuzzling into her neck making her giggle.

"There's only Nic who can control them," Lisa laughed, "They have their daddy wrapped round their little fingers."

Smiling, Mari took my hand and led me back in the garden along with Lisa.

Micah was lying on a sun lounger on the gra.s.s and he sat up and patted the s.p.a.ce between his legs when he saw me. I sat down and he immediately wrapped his arms around me, pulling my back up flush with his front, planting a kiss on the top of my head before settling his cheek against mine. I let him hold me it was after all, my favourite place in the world and just watched his family from behind the relative privacy of my sungla.s.ses.

There was something I'd noticed as I watched; all the brothers had the same anchor tattoo, in exactly the same place as Micah, on their hip. I was naturally curious.

"Micah...?" I said, quietly.

"Mmm...?

"What's with the anchor tattoos? I noticed you all have them."

I felt his smile against my cheek. "When we were small, and Nic was fighting and working to keep us all together, he had the tattoo as a sign that the family would stay together no matter what and he would be the anchor. It's sort of symbolic. As we've all reached eighteen, we had it too, as a sign of our solidarity." He lowered his voice even more. "Don't tell anyone, but even Mari has one, only hers is on her b.u.m, out of sight. None of the others know about it, Nic would have a fit. I went with her when she had it done."

I giggled at that, and then sighed. "What an amazing family you have yeah."

"Yeah," he agreed, and kissed me again.

Chapter Seventeen.

Micah I knew she was nervous about coming to my house and being with my family, but bless her when she showed up she looked terrified. Still, I knew I could rely on them to make her feel welcome and sure enough that's exactly what they did. Her first time meeting Eli went smoothly and I was relieved. I loved my big brother, but he could be quite short with people if he was in the wrong sort of mood. Fortunately he had showed up quite relaxed and in a good mood and his manners shone through. And Lisa, his wife, always seemed to have a calming effect of him, she always had, which had been a good thing on occasions in the past.

Jewls spent most of her time sat in my arms mostly because I was reluctant to let her go or with Mari and Lisa sat in the corner obviously discussing me, or at least, that was how it seemed to me. As birthday parties went, it was pretty awesome. The most important people in the world around me, loud music, suns.h.i.+ne, beer and enough food to feed an army. What more could I ask for?

As time went on Jewls relaxed more and by late afternoon she was totally chilled and more like the Jewls I knew when we were alone together. I was so b.l.o.o.d.y proud of her and more than that, happy for her. Because I knew she had probably thought she couldn't do this, or she would make a fool of herself or some such silliness and she had shown the complete opposite. She had shown that she fitted with me, and with my family.

Jewls I have to admit, that although I had started out borderline terrified, as the day wore on I really, really enjoyed myself. The Machvaya clan went out of their way to make me feel welcome and that's exactly how I felt. I wanted the day to last forever.

The rain came at tea time, and we all ran inside, laughing hysterically before congregating in the kitchen. Micah pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.

"Come out with me tonight, babe."

I looked up at him and frowned. "Huh?"

"Let's go out. Few drinks, bit of a dance...let's get dressed up and have a night out, we've never done that. What do you say?"

No way, no how. That was what I wanted to say. I was just about as antisocial as a girl could get. This was one of those moments where the gap between Micah's world and mine really showed. The difference between an introvert and an extrovert. I wanted to wors.h.i.+p this man in private, to express my love on the sofa with a movie and munchies...he wanted the whole world to see it.

But...it was his birthday and I could see by the way his eyes lit up at the idea that he really wanted to do this, so I heard myself say, "Okay..."

"Yeah?" he said, surprised. "You will?"

"Sure, why not." I said. I probably sounded breezy and casual, I felt anything but.

He nodded happily and then Nic called him over to help him go out and grab the barbeque stuff from the now soaking wet back patio. I tried to catch Mari's eye, but she was busy laughing and messing on with Lisa and the kids so I took my phone from my pocket and sent her a quick text.

SOS!! Micah wants to go out for drinks tonight!! What the h.e.l.l am I gonna do, all I own are joggers and leggings! Help! Xx J xx I watched as she took her phone from her pocket, looked at the text and nodded to herself. I watched her typing away and then I got back, Don't panic. Go home, shower etc...I will be along in an hour. I got this, it will be fine.

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that but it wasn't like I had many options. Micah and Nic had come back inside and Micah took my hand in his, kissing my fingers. "Babe, Eli is gonna give you a lift home, okay? He's the only one hasn't had a drink. Lisa and the kids are gonna stop here for a bit. I'll come pick you up in...say a couple of hours? About seven. If it's still raining I'll get us a taxi from there, okay?"

I smiled for him and nodded. "Okay, babe."

I said my goodbyes and headed outside with Micah and Eli. A car I gathered was Eli's a flash BMW sat behind Nic's Mercedes. Micah kissed me furiously and helped me into the car, stepping back onto the path to watch me leave. Eli climbed in the driver's seat, fastened his seatbelt and started the engine, quickly pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, his driving so fast and sharp my heart leapt up into my mouth briefly. Micah waved and we were away, racing down the street.

Being in the car with Eli was beyond awkward. He was definitely the odd one out of the brothers, more introverted than the rest of them, with a real edge. I didn't quite know how to take him, if I were honest, he made me nervous. Because I could sense a sort of...rage beneath the calm exterior he showed, like he was a ticking bomb waiting to go off and I was all too familiar with that, with Andrew. It felt like if you just said one thing he didn't like he had the potential to explode. It was impossible to know whether he truly liked me or not.

By comparison he seemed perfectly comfortable with the silence between us; I gathered he was a man of few words.

We stopped at some road works, the light on red and he tapped the steering wheel a few times before reaching over me with an "excuse me" and searching with one hand in the glove box, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out with his teeth and lit it with a lighter from the centre console, winding his window down as he took his first drag. He offered the pack to me.

"You smoke, Jewls?"

"Um...no thank you."

He nodded absently. "Yeah, don't blame you, filthy habit."

Still the lights hadn't changed and he tapped the steering wheel some more impatiently with the tips of his fingers. The action pulled my attention to his arms. His s.h.i.+rt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows and that was when I first noticed them the scars. He had scars from old cuts all the way up both arms, inner and outer and more concentrated around his wrists. I looked away quickly before he noticed I'd seen them.

"So you survived your first time at Casa Machvaya, huh?" he said out of nowhere, and with a warm smile.

"Yeah..." I said, trying my best to sound casual.

"They're a good bunch. You're safe with us."

I wasn't sure how to take that. I wondered if they all knew about Andrew, and if that was his way of trying to relax me. If it was, it sort of worked. Because I felt safe when I was around this family, they were an impenetrable force field of loyalty and strength.

"Yeah..." I said again, feeling like a complete inarticulate idiot.

He nodded, more to himself than to me. He flicked the stereo on, and the car was filled with very loud old school trance music, the beat thumping through the speakers in the doors and he wound the windows down, drawing the attention of every pa.s.ser-by in the vicinity. The lights mercifully changed and he immediately put his foot down again, speeding off down the long stretch of road. At one point I glanced at the speedometer and saw we were doing close to seventy. I fleetingly wondered if he drove at this speed with his kids in the car.

I had watched them at the party, Eli with Lisa, and with the kids. He was every inch the doting husband and father, affectionate and friendly but I wondered what he must be like to live with twenty four-seven, or when he was in a bad mood. The thought made me glad that Micah was as laid back and chilled as he was. But then Micah's childhood had been different to Eli's I supposed. Eli had been thrust into surrogate parenthood at, working it out quickly in my head, a crucial time in his teenage years. That had to suck, and would explain a lot.

As we turned on to my street, I had to practically shout "this is me" to be heard over the thumping music. He didn't slow down any and then practically slammed the brakes on as we pulled up next to the chippy, b.u.mping up onto the curb. He didn't even turn the music down as I undid my seatbelt and all but mouthed the words, "thank you." He simply saluted me with a wry smile, waited for me to get out and then sped off, leaving me a shaking wreck on the pavement. It was almost a full minute before I could get my jelly legs to move me to my front door.

And now I had an hour to have a bath, shave my legs, attempt to do something with my hair and wait for Mari to save me, although I suspected whatever she had in mind was more likely to be closer to an hour of total humiliation for me than anything. She was a big girl, bigger than me, but she acted like it didn't bother her at all, she oozed confidence and flaunted her body like she was a size ten. I doubted I would ever feel that way, no matter how much Micah claimed to love my extra fat.

The rain had stopped as quickly as it had started, the sun was back out and it was a gorgeous hot day. I opened all the windows in the flat, popped some music on and ran a bath.

Mari arrived ten minutes after I climbed out, and she was loaded with bags, which she insisted on carrying herself up the stairs.

"Is your bedroom through here?" she asked, headed towards it even as she asked and dumping everything on the bed. "You're so lucky to have your own place. I'd love a flat. The boys would never stand for me moving out though. So...what time is Micah coming?"

"Seven." I said, relieved to finally be getting a word in.

She looked at her watch. "Okay...forty five minutes, bags of time. First things first." She rummaged in one of the bags and turned to me, grinning, holding up a bottle of wine. "Two gla.s.ses?"

I grinned back and nodded. "Coming up."

Micah For the first time in my life, even I agonised over what to wear. Jewls probably thinks I care very little about such things, but she would be wrong. What made it harder was when Mari left the house, armed with two large bags, and jumped in a taxi, telling me she was heading for Jewls' place to help her get ready. No pressure on me then.

The trouble I had was I wanted to be really smart and knock her socks off, but she had already seen me smart at the restaurant. I showered and trimmed my beard to perfection, spending half an hour combing my hair, getting my side parting just right as always. Was I vain? Maybe just a little. I dressed in black trousers and a deep blue s.h.i.+rt and when I was finally happy with how I looked, I changed the sheets on my bed. I didn't want to presume anything, but I was hoping to persuade Jewls to at least stay here with me, anything else would be a wonderful bonus.

Making sure I had my keys, my phone and my wallet, I slipped my aviator sungla.s.ses on, grinned at myself in the mirror and headed out.

Jewls "Okay..." Mari said, clapping her hands together, "Relax, Jewls. I'm not gonna change you, because believe it or not, you're perfect as you are. So...all I'm gonna do, is make the most of your natural a.s.sets. Those being your curves, your hair and your eyes. Have you ever worn a dress, Jewls?"

I shook my head frantically. "Not since I was about...ten."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh Jewls...brace yourself."

"I can't wear a dress...!"

"Why not?" She narrowed her eyes. "You don't have hairy legs, do you?"

"No!" I said, stifling a giggle. Abruptness was clearly a family trait. "No, I just...have too many lumps and b.u.mps..."

"Bulls.h.i.+t. There are ways and means to tame the wobbly bits we could all do without, but with curves like yours...you should be showing them off. So you're gonna wear a dress. I've been kind on you though, so...it's black." She threw something at me and grinned. "Try that on...oh, and these..."

I caught the first thing, evidently the dress and then the second...which turned out to be the biggest, stretchiest pair of pants I had ever seen in my life.

"What the h.e.l.l are these?"

"Magic pants...something us larger ladies should not be without. They hide a mult.i.tude of sins. Let's just see what it looks like on..."

I hesitated for just a moment and then rolled my eyes, taking the dress and the granny pants into the bathroom.

When I came back out, Mari clapped her hands together excitedly. "Oh wow! So beautiful. Don't look in the mirror yet, not til I'm done. Shoes. You need some pretty heels, you got some?"

"I have some pretty flats. Seriously I cannot stand in heels, never mind walk in them."

She hesitated, obviously thinking of protesting and then sighed. "Okay, I'll concede on that. Now your hair. Sit on the bed."

I did, letting out a sigh. "Are you sure about this, Mari? You're not gonna go overboard, are you?"

"No, course not...I know this trick, see. Takes less than two minutes, but makes a ma.s.sive difference. You're wearing it down, okay?"

"It gets in my face and drives me crazy..." I whined.

She laughed and carried on anyway. "Your hair is...amazing. Such a bright colour, almost doesn't seem natural..."

"Yeah, well...I'm a natural ginger."

"It's not even ginger, it's like...strawberry blonde, it's gorgeous. And now...it's curly. Suits you. Now...make up. Please tell me that when you're not working you wear make-up."

Oh G.o.d. This was a nightmare.

"I never have, in my life..."

"Oh wow...still, you don't really need to. You have naturally flawless skin. Okay, so like I said I don't wanna change you, or make you too uncomfortable. You want to have fun, be relaxed. So...how do you feel about just a little mascara?"

I groaned and then sighed. In for a penny and all that. "Fine..."

"Great. You know...Micah told me you have a bit of a downer on yourself. I don't understand why, you're so pretty. Isn't that how you see yourself?"

I sighed, trying to think how to answer that. "I'm not saying I'm ugly. I know I'm not ugly. But I am just...ordinary. Normal. Average. And Micah, he's...off the chart gorgeous. Insanely perfect. Don't tell him I said that, his head is big enough already."

Marisol giggled and shook her head. "I won't. But Jewls...seriously, can you really not see it?"

"See what?" I said with a frown.

"That you're extraordinarily beautiful. And that that's how he sees you. The way you look at him we all see it well he looks at you the same way, you just don't notice. But I know my brother. I know them all inside out but me and Micah...we're extra specially close, I don't know why. He's completely besotted. You're my friend Jewls, and my brother's girlfriend but that doesn't mean I'm gonna humour you, that's not my style. I'm not saying all this for the sake of it. You're a gorgeous girl, inside and out. And all I've done here is enhance that, not create it. It's already there; I've just brought it to the surface. So wherever Micah takes you...you hold your head high, you hear?"