Chapter Two
As they entered, they saw Hannah unloading a rolling cart laden with a variety of serving dishes and food items. “Hannah, you have been busy in the kitchen since I got here, and now you are preparing the table. Don’t tell me Anthony is a Scrooge counting all his coins and not paying for you to have staff?” Julio asked, obviously annoyed with this brother.
Meanwhile, Anthony ignored the dig and placed the last two serving trays in the center of the table before taking a seat beside his wife. He knew how protective his brothers were of Hannah and didn’t take offense. On the contrary, it warmed his heart how they defended her, even from him.
“Ah yes, we didn’t have staff when you were home last. Well, with this new, much larger home, we do have a few now. I give them the day off every New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day so we can enjoy our time together as a family without any prying eyes or ears. You boys can let yourself loose without any worries,” she explained. “And every other Thanksgiving and Christmas, we leave town, so they have those holidays off as well. We want them to have time to spend with their families, too.”
Enrique disagreed with this philosophy. If you have the money to save yourself time and energy, you should use it. Paying the staff overtime seemed a wiser course of action, in his opinion, but he kept his thoughts to himself, knowing they wouldn’t be overly popular amongst his soft-hearted family.
Anthony said the blessing over the food, and everyone filled their plates before digging in. The food was delicious, as always. Conversation flowed; this time, Hannah added commentary and asked questions. Anthony sat at the head of the table and regaled them with stories of his little girls, ever the proud papa.
Enrique lived just two hours away from Anthony in the city, so he saw his nieces every few months, but even he couldn’t get over how much they were growing. The oldest was about to turn four, and the youngest was turning two. Time really did fly.
As the meal concluded, each man helped clear the table, stacking their dishes in the waiting dish bin and carrying serving dishes to the kitchen. Within ten minutes, the table was cleared, and Hannah was setting out the much-anticipated dessert.
“Before we start on dessert, Hannah and I have some news to share,” Anthony announced, reclaiming his seat at the head of the table. He reached over and gently took his wife’s hand in his. “You go first. Your news is most important,” he said, looking at her with a tender smile .
She gave a little bounce in her seat and sighed, “Finally! I thought I was going to burst.” Looking around the table at each of the men she adored, her face glowing with happiness, she declared, “We’re having another baby!”
“What! That’s amazing!” Fernando shouted, rounding the table to give Hannah a hug.
“Congratulations,” Julio added more sedately, hugging her from his seat beside her.
“Boy or girl?” Enrique asked and squeezed her hand from across the table.
“We are going to let this one be a surprise,” she answered with a slight lift of her shoulders.
“When are you due?” Gabriel asked, leaning down to hug her as well.
“Junish, if everything goes well. I am not exactly a spring chicken, so you never know. Forty makes things much higher risk. My doctors will be monitoring me carefully, and I will be sticking close to home for the next six months.”
“That is great news. I am really happy for you both,” Gabriel replied, retaking his seat at the other end of the table, across from Anthony. “If that was her news, what in the world could you possibly have to share?” he quipped, directing his gaze at the older man.
“Well, before we knew about the newest addition to our family, we had made a decision and have decided to stick with it. We all have a lot to thank this town for. We would not be the men, and woman, we are today without the people here, but it’s not perfect. You all know I have always held firmly to the belief that you shouldn’t complain about something if you aren’t willing to do something about it, so- I’m doing something about it. I will be running for mayor in the next election.”
Claps and cheers went up from around the table. No one was really surprised by the news. Anthony had always been a leader. Never shying away from hard work and doing what was necessary to make a change. From the time he entered the boy’s home, he had been making their lives better. He took a rag-tag band of misfits and unwanted boys and turned them into a tight-knit family of successful men. The fact that he wanted to have a greater influence on the town that both made and almost destroyed them made sense. If anyone could make a difference, it was Anthony with Hannah by his side. They were a team to be reckoned with.
“I’m going to need your support. This is a big endeavor and work that I feel is important. I’ll be honest with you: I’ve already been approached about running for Governor in the next election. Hannah and I have mixed feelings about that. I feel the work that needs to be done right here is important, and I don’t want folks in the community to think that being mayor, should I win, was nothing more than a stepping stone.”
“Being Governor would be huge, though. You are the least political and most honest person I know. If anyone deserves to be Governor and a chance to make a positive change for the people, it would be you. With all four of us behind you, it would be hard for you to lose due to super PAC’s and less honorable opponents,” Fernando urged, excited at the prospect of his big brother becoming Governor.
“That is still a ways away, but I wanted you to know as it could impact all of you and your businesses. Okay, let’s cut this cake, and we can finish the discussion over dessert.” Anthony took the cake knife from Hannah and, slicing generous portions, passed the pieces around the table as Hannah placed rum pudding in front of everyone.
Conversation stopped briefly as each man savored their desserts. Coughing erupted from Enrique, drawing all eyes to him. His face was beet red as he gulped the contents of his crystal water goblet and Julio’s from across the table.
Passing him her water glass as well, Hannah asked, “Enrique, you okay? Pudding go down the wrong pipe?”
Enrique gazed at her with tears in his eyes, “Very funny, Hannah. What did you do to my pudding?”
“Oh, that,” she replied innocently, lifting one of her delicate shoulders. “That’s just a few drops of Carolina Reaper juice. Our chef promised it wouldn’t really hurt you but would definitely leave a lasting impression.”
Silverware clattered on plates as several of the men stopped eating. “Oh, don’t worry,” she reassured the others, “Only Enrique needed to learn this particular lesson. I made sure only his pudding cup received the extra ingredient and was very careful with cross-contamination. Trust me. If you haven’t felt the sting yet, you’re fine. ”
“Sting? More like a five-alarm fire in my mouth!” Enrique complained loudly.
“Well, I made sure to serve oxtail at dinner and added it to your pudding; it would have been much worse without those oils coating your mouth. Here, eat some more pudding. Our chef said starches, fatty, and cold food help,” Hannah added, pushing her pudding cup over to him.
“Forewarned is forearmed, Enrique. I did try to tell you,” Anthony chimed in, a hint of laughter in his voice.
Gabriel slapped him on the back, “Tardiness has always been one of your worst and most annoying traits. Perhaps now you will reconsider your stance on fashionably late.”
The others resumed eating their dessert, taking turns lobbing questions at Anthony about his campaign and future plans. Enrique remained silent, trying to endure the pain like a man, wondering how long his mouth and throat were going to feel like a blow torch had been taken to them. This would be a pretty effective method of advanced interrogation, and he contemplated whether or not Hannah had help hatching this plan. He had always been late to family functions, and such extremes had never been taken before to curb behavior. Julio returns to the family after twenty years in the Marines, with like ten years spent as a black-ops commander, and his face nearly gets burned off for being an hour late. Julio had to have had something to do with this, and he was going to return the favor.