Traditions Ch. 04

“Because you were.”

Cheyanne looked back at her sister. “Thanks.” She said sarcastically.

“No problem.” Renee didn’t even bother to hold back her smile. “Anything interesting happen that night?”
Cheyanne pause before answering. “Nope.”

Renee stopped in the middle of folding a shirt to look at her sister. “You’re lying.”

“No I’m not.” Cheyanne answered as she continued placing clothes in the drawers. She didn’t want to have to turn and face down her sisters observant stare. Her husband may have been the lawyer, but Renee sure knew how work someone like they were on trial.

“Yes you are.” Renee countered. “Every time you lie you use one word answers, and your voice tends to get high and squeaky.”

Cheyanne turned around with her hands on her hips. “I do not.”

“Yes. You do. Now what happened?”

“Nothing.” She squeaked out.

Damn it. Cheyanne could have hit herself.

“See there you go again.” Renee could help but smile at the look of discomfort on her sister’s face. “Something big must have happened that night for you to be so shy about it.”

Cheyanne didn’t say anything at first. She didn’t know if it was good idea to tell her sister the whole story. But then again, this was her sister, and she told her everything.

“Yeah…something big did happen.”

“I knew it.” Renee gave triumphant smile. “Does it have anything to do with that guy that you told me about?”

Cheyanne and talked briefly about Declan to her mom and her sister. She told them they had gone on a few dates but she hadn’t really elaborated on their relationship. They didn’t exactly meet under normal circumstances.

Cheyanne tried to hide the fact the she was blushing. “Yeah.”

“Oooo, I knew my baby sister couldn’t stay innocent forever.” Renee pushed the clothes she had folded off to the side and patted the spot next to her on the bed.

Plopping herself down next to her sister, Cheyanne retold the entire story of how she and Declan had met. She didn’t leave a single detail out and once she had finished her story, she couldn’t help but notice that her sister was blushing too.

“Well…I have got to say when you first told me about him, you made him sound sexy.”

“And now?”

“Baby girl, you make this boy sound like some Greek god!” Renee said excitedly.

Cheyanne started to laugh when her sister started fanning herself.

“Girls, your mother made all this great food. It’d be a shame if you didn’t get a chance to eat it.”

Cheyanne smiled at her dads joke before turning back to her sister. “Time for dinner.”

The two got up from the bed and headed out of the room. Just before they reached the stairs, Renee turned and whispered to her sister.

“Don’t think we won’t talk about this later.”

Walking into the kitchen, Cheyanne saw that her dad and Aaron had already seated themselves at the table.

“Took you two long enough.” Donald commented.

“What were you two ladies gossiping about upstairs?” Aaron asked.

Leaning down, Renee kissed her husband before taking the seat next to him. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Naynay sit next to me.” Simone excitedly pointed to the empty chair next to her.

Cheyanne smiled and took her seat next to her niece just as her mother came in with the macaroni and cheese. All the food smelled delicious and warm. The effect of her mom’s cooking was making her mouth water. Oh yeah, she missed having a home cooked meal.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Simone reaching her hand out to grab a bread roll.

“Uh uh,” her mother reached out and patted Simone’s hand away. “Now you know better than that. What do we do before we eat?”

“Uh…” Judging from the way Simone was chewing on her fingers, Cheyanne could tell the little girl was at a loss.

Leaning in she whispered in her nieces ear. “We say grace-”

“Say grace. Say grace!” The little girl shouted enthusiastically.

Everyone at the table laughed before grabbing each other’s hand.

“Baby girl, why don’t you say grace.” Donald suggested.

She nodded and bowed her head. “Dear lord, thank you for allowing us to gather here this day and share this wonderful meal as a family. I pray that all of us will have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year as well. Amen.”

“Amen.” They all said in unison.

Without any further encouragement, everyone at the table began to fill their plates with mountains of food; except for little Simone, who of course needed help from her favorite aunt.

“So how is everything going at school?” Aaron asked.

“Pretty good. All my classes are going well.” Cheyanne said before popping a big piece of pot roast in her mouth. Closing her eyes she savored the rich flavors the seemed to have exploded in her mouth.

“I knew they would,” her dad replied. “You’ve always been a smart girl.”

“Thanks dad.” Cheyanne gave a small smile before letting her gaze fall to her plate. “If only I was smart enough to pick a major.”

“Relax, sis, a lot of people go into their first year of college with an undeclared major.”

“You didn’t.”

“Yes,” Renee said, “But I also changed my major. Which is just as normal as being undeclared.”

Cheyanne sighed and popped another piece of pot roast in her mouth. For whatever reason, they juicy meat wasn’t as appetizing as before. Here it was, mid-December, and she still hadn’t figured out what her major should be. Was it weird that she still didn’t know what direction she wanted her life to go in?

“Don’t think about it too much short stuff.” Aaron spoke around the macaroni in his mouth. “Besides, you could always go into my field. You’ll be a step ahead of all the others since you could get firsthand knowledge from me.”

Cheyanne suppressed a smile. “Yeah right. I can’t even manage to keep a straight face in front of your wife. I don’t know how you expect me to be able to do it in front of a judge.”

“Eh, it’s not for everybody.” Aaron leaned in. “And I wouldn’t take it too personally with your sister. I think she has a sixth sense when it comes to people being sneaky.”

“Which is probably why I always catch you when you try to sneak an extra cookie to our daughter before bed.”

Hearing her mother mention her favorite treat, Simone perked up. “Cookie! Cookie!”

The room erupted into a fit of laughter at the young girl’s enthusiasm.

“Now see what you’ve done.” Renee laughed. “You’ve turned my daughter into the cookie monster.”

Aaron smiled. “At least now I don’t have to hide the cookies anymore.”

“Baby, you couldn’t hide anything if you tried.” Renee turned and gave Cheyanne a mischievous smile. “Just like Cheyanne couldn’t hide her dirty little secret about her boyfriend from me earlier.”

Cheyanne struggled not to swallow her fork and choke on it. Oh my God. Her sister had now just opened a big can of worms at the dinner table. There were no secrets within their small family, and now that Renee had let it be known the Cheyanne was holding something back, everyone would be on her like white on rice.

“Boyfriend?” Her dad was the first to jump the bait. “What boyfriend?”

“Uhh…” Cheyanne couldn’t help but stutter.

“Oh.” Her mom interjected. “You mean that nice boy you were telling me about over the phone?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Cheyanne could see her dad stiffen.

“What?”

“I thought you said yall had only gone out on a few dates.” Pam said.

“Dates!” Her dad dropped the fork he was holding onto the table.

“Yes mom, we have gone on a few dates. But thats what you do when two people are…” she looked back and forth between her dad and her mom, “together.”

“Now wait just a minute!” Her dad exploded.

“Now Donald, calm down.” Her mom interjected. “It’s not that serious. From what Cheyanne had told me, he’s a very nice boy.”

“How would you know that, Pam? Have you talked to this boy?”

“Dad, be reasonable.” Renee jumped in. “This is Cheyanne we are talking about. You know she’s not the type of girl to get mixed up in anything bad, especially boys.”

“Still,” he mumbled. “I sent you to that fancy school to get your education, not mess with boys.”

“Donald, you’re being ridiculous.” Pam interjected.

“Ridiculous? How am I being ridiculous? This boy could be dealing drugs for all you know.” Frustrated, he picked his fork back up and jammed it into his food.

The jab at Declan slightly agitated Cheyanne. “Daddy, he does not deal drugs. Why would you even say something like that? You don’t even know him.”

Picking up his fork he pointed it at her. “Exactly. Why am I the last person to hear about this?”

“Maybe because I knew you’d act like this.” Cheyanne had to admit that part of the reason she hadn’t exploited her relationship was because she knew her dad wasn’t too happy about the idea of his daughters dating boys. When Renee had first started dating Aaron, Donald wasn’t too happy about it. It took several months for him to finally warm up to Aaron.

“I just don’t want you getting into any type of trouble because of this guy.”

“I know daddy.” Cheyanne leaned over and placed her hand on her father’s. “I know. You don’t have to tell me twice.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

For a few seconds, Donald remained silent. He didn’t like hearing that his daughter was suddenly in a relationship. She was always a quite child and hardly went out while she was in high school, let alone go on dates. But looking at her now, he realized that his daughter wasn’t a teenager in high school anymore. She was a young woman now, and was capable of making her own decisions. After about a minute of silent contemplation, he nodded his head a grunted.

“Your right. You’re a smart girl, and I know you wouldn’t get mixed up in anything bad.”

“Of course not.” Cheyanne smiled. “I am your daughter. You should have known you had raised me better than that.”

At that he had to laugh. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

“Why don’t you tell us more about him, baby girl?” Pam asked.

“Umm, ok well…let’s see…His name’s Declan McCarthy. He lives near his family in an area a little outside of town. We sort of…ran into each other one night, and ever since then we have been hanging out with each other.”

“Do you two see each other a lot?” Her mom asked.

“Pretty much. We try to see each other at least once or twice a week and we talk to each other almost every day.”

“Well,” her mother gave her a knowing smile. “Seems to me like your relationship is a bit more serious then you let on.”

Cheyanne couldn’t stop the smile that formed on her face. “Yeah,” she admitted. “We seem to be pretty serious about each other. At least, I think so.”

“Not too serious I hope.” Her dad stated. “How old is he?”

Cheyanne paused for a moment before answering. “Twenty-two.”

“Twenty-two!”

Ah shit, here we go again.

“Donald.” Pam jumped in.

“Uh. No. Honey, that man is too old for-”

“Donald!” Pam fixed her husband with a hard stare that made him stop mid-sentence.

“Come on daddy.” Renee said. “Let the poor girl talk.”

Donald sighed before continuing. “Fine,” he grunted. “Did you two meet at school?”

“No, he doesn’t go to school.” Cheyanne said simply.

“Well then what does he do.”

“He and his cousin own a lawn grooming business. Usually they mow lawns and trim people’s tree and bushes and stuff. If you want to do any type of landscaping they’ll usually be the ones to do it.”

Her dad only nodded. “I see.”

She could tell her dad wasn’t too thrilled to hear that Declan wasn’t a student.

“But his main thing is cage fighting, like the kind you see on TV. That’s really what he wants to do. He plans on going pro one day.”

“Kind of like Rampage Jackson?” Aaron asked.

Cheyanne nodded. “Exactly.”

“Why doesn’t he go to school?” Her dad continued to press on.

“Um, well, with Declan’s family school isn’t really that big of a deal.” She shrugged. “It’s just how they are.”

“Really?” This time it was her mom that asked the question. Cheyanne could tell by the look on her mother’s face, on everyone’s face, that they were more than a little confused.

“Yeah,” Cheyanne said. “You see, Declan and his family aren’t exactly what you would call an average family.”

“Really? Then what would you call them?” Her dad asked.

“Well…they usually call themselves Irish Travelers.”

Everyone at the table continued to stare at her confused; except for Simone, who continued to happily nibble on her mac and cheese.

Taking a deep breath, Cheyanne straightened up in her chair and sighed.

“Gypsies.”

Everyone at the table noticeably stiffened. Cheyanne’s statement was met with silence. She knew to expect this type of reaction from her family. Gypsies in the states, or anywhere for that matter, weren’t exactly painted in the best light. No one at the table knew how to respond to her statement.

“Wow,” Renee was the first to speak. “Well that’s…ummm.”

“Different.” Their mother finished for Renee. “Not that anything’s wrong with different.” Pam quickly added.

“Nothing of yours has gone missing has it?” Aaron asked, causing Renee to pinch him in his side for asking such a stupid question.

“He hasn’t stolen anything Aaron, if that’s what you’re implying.” Cheyanne snapped at him. “He’s been a complete gentleman.”

“Cheyanne, I’m sorry,” he said while rubbing his now bruised side. “I didn’t mean to-”

She raised her hand to wave off his apology. “It’s fine Aaron. You don’t have to explain.”

Off to the side she heard he niece ask. “What’s a gypsy?”

“Nothing, sweet heart.” Renee answered.

“Daddy?” Cheyanne looked over at her father, who had remained silent this whole time.

Donald had his hands clutched together and resting under his nose, staring intently at something on the table. He didn’t acknowledge that he heard her. Just remained quiet.

Cheyanne knew that he wasn’t fond of the idea of her dating anyone. He had always been touchy when it came to the subject of boys, especially since she was his youngest. But for whatever reason, she really wanted her father to accept that she was dating Declan, even though he wasn’t the typical guy her parents had imagined for her. She wouldn’t know what to do if her father decided to forbid her from seeing him.

After a few more minutes of silence, Donald unclenched his hands and slowly turned his gaze back to his daughter.

“Does this boy treat you well?” He said.

“Yes, daddy.” Her voice came out a little weaker then she had hoped.

“A perfect gentleman?” he pressed.

Cheyanne took a breath and straightened up. “Yes.” she said more confidently.

Donald slowly nodded his head. “Well then, that’s all that really matters.”

Cheyanne let out the breath she had taken and slumped back into her chair. Looking around the table, she could tell that everyone else had visibly relaxed as well. Nobody was expecting such a calm response from old Donald, Cheyanne especially. But none of that mattered anymore. A crisis had been averted; and having gotten past such a crisis, the Turner family continued to enjoy their dinner while avoiding any more stressful topics.

***********

“Oy, Declan, where ya go’in?”

“I’ll be back, Da. I jus’ got ta make a phone call.” Declan said over his shoulder as he headed for the front door of his parents small home.

“A’ight, well hurry up! Ya brot’er har is tryin’ on his new boxin’ mits and he wants ya to see.”

As if on cue, Patrick began jabbing at his imaginary opponent with the bright red boxing gloves Declan had gotten him for Christmas.

“Keep punching jus’ like that Patty. I’ll be back in a second to give ya pointers.” Opening the screen door, and then the outer door, Declan walked a few feet from the house and pulled out his phone.

He stared at his blank screen for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should try to call Cheyanne. They had only spoken to each other maybe three or four times since she had left for the states, and only for a few brief moments. Frequently, Declan would find himself in a never ending game of phone tag with her. The time change didn’t really allow them to contact each other at the most opportune times. Plus, today was Christmas, and he doubted she would be able to pick up the phone. But he had to try.

Something she had told him had been wearing on his mind since the day she left. All winter break he had taken her words to heart and he felt that now was the time to tell her.

Unlocking his phone he scrolled through his contacts until he came to her number. Hitting the call button he pressed the phone to his ear.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

“Come on. Come one. Pick up…”

Ring. Ring. Ring.

“Come on baby…”

“Hello?”

He smiled. “Hey there dove.”

“Hey!” She sounded happy. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas. How are you?”

“I’m good. We were all about to open our presents actually.”

“Oh, really-”

“Baby girl, who’s that you’re on the phone with?” Declan heard an older woman’s voice say in the back ground.

There was a bit of shuffling before he heard Cheyanne say. “I’m talking to Declan mom.”

“Well tell him you’ve got to call him back.” said a more manly voice. “You’re spending quality time with your family.”

He could hear Cheyanne laughing on the other end. “Yes, daddy.”

There was another moment of shuffling before she spoke again.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s no problem.” He said. “I can let you go if’n yar busy.”

That was stupid to say. It was Christmas day. Of course she’s busy!

“I can spare a few moments.”

He could almost hear the smile forming on her face. God he missed seeing those cute dimples. It made him smile.

“How has your Christmas break been so far?” She asked. “Your family doing ok?”

“Oh, ya it’s been great. Thar all do’in great.”

“Good. Can you tell them Merry Christmas for me?”

“Uh…,” he looked over his shoulder to see if anyone in the house was eavesdropping. Not seeing anybody, he walked further form the door into the front lawn.

“Ya….Well, thar all sorda into thar toys and stuff. It’s kinda hard to get thar attention right now.”

“Oh…,” the excitement in Cheyanne’s voice seemed to deflate just a bit.

“But I will tell them later. I’m sure they’ll be happy to get the message.”

“Ok.” She said simply.

Ok, he needed to change the subject.

“Yar parents seemed nice.”

“Oh, yeah thanks. They can be a bit nosey sometimes, but you can’t help but love them.”

“And I bet they love ya jus’ as much.” He said.

“They do, although they can be a bit over protective at times. You should have seen my dad when he found out we were dating.”

“Oh,” he said a little surprised. “So I take it you told your parents about me?” He stated.

“Of course.” She said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I jus…wasn’t sure if ya thought our relationship was that serious.”

“What’s so serious about telling my parents about you?” She asked. “It’s not as I were ever keeping you a secret.”

Now Declan really felt like shit. This was not how he wanted this conversation to go.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen, I called ya because I have some’tin…important to say.” If only he knew how to say it. What he needed to get off his chest wasn’t exactly something he’d share with…anyone.

“I’m waiting.” Cheyanne said impatiently.

Declan took a big breath and opened his mouth.

“Rathkeale, Ireland….It’s where me and me family usually go ta far Christmas. Me mom has some family out thar that we like to visit during the holidays. It’s hard sometimes far us to reconnect since our people are usually traveling everywhere. Christmas is one of those times where we get to see one another and catch up.”

He smiled as he recalled on old memories of the many Christmas’s he had spent there. “It’s beautiful over thar. Lots of wide open spaces and fresh air. My sister, Darcy, she always described it as a winter wonderland. You wouldn’t believe how white the snow is. Me and me cousins would love ta have snowball fights, but we nev’a wanted ta mess wit the perfection of da snow. So much of it goes untouched, and it’s jus amazing ta look at when the sun hits it jus right.” He paused to bask in the memory.