Page 61 of Just For Her

“Dare I tell you such a thing at this point?” Kiersten sighed, the loveseat expanding to cradle her magnanimous ego. “I can’t imagine trying. You’d call me whatever deplorable name you can think up. Perhaps right to my face. No, no, I know we’re to host the young and perky Ms. Kayla Smith at our get-together. All I ask is that you keep an eye on her, and don’t make any untoward announcements of your own.”

“Likewhat?She can’t get pregnant.”

“Not with you,” Oskar muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Her cousin shrugged. “Whatever. You don’t know who she might be working when you’re not around. Women like that go with whoever locks them down first. Assuming you’ve got the money to back it up.” He grinned. “I wonder what Gustav would say about that.”

Kiersten shushed him. “No announcements. This event is for Elias to shine. He’s the future head of this family whether you three like it or not. This may be the last big marriage I oversee in my life, so letmehave this too.”

The three black sheep of their generation were soon dismissed from Aunt Kiersten’s presence. While Oskar lit a cigarette out on the nearest balcony, Thomas grabbed a glass of champagne from a tray. He handed it to Tove before getting his own glass.

“Champagne?” she croaked. “Really?”

“It’s the only free alcohol around. You take what you can get.”

Oskar smoked; Thomas drank. Tove stood with a glass in her hand, but what she imbibed was the full springtime view of trees, meadows, and golf courses. Which, if she were blunt with herself, summed up the family crest.

“Upstaged by my own nephew.” Thomas bummed a cigarette off his cousin. He had his own lighter for the occasion. “I finally have something nice to share with the family after forty years of being told to do that very thing, and Elias gets all the attention. ‘Future head of the family’ my ass.” He puffed the cigarette with purpose. “The kid is barely old enough to rent a car. It’s the 21stgoddamn century. Why are we still talking like it’s the 19th?”

“Because the old guard still lives in a world where everyone follows picture-perfect rules.” Oskar motioned for Tove to hand him the glass of champagne she was not interested in drinking. As he quaffed it down, he muttered, “Money, status, bloodlines… those matter more than anything. If they could get away with arranging marriages for all of us, they would. That includes the queers like you, Tove.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She had been afraid of that very thing as a youth. The ‘90s had fooled her into thinking that a brand-new world was hers to have. Then… things happened. She was trapped. Indentured to the family for as long as Aunt Kiersten lived.

“Sheispregnant, you know.”

Both Tove and Oskar looked at their cousin. Thomas leaned against the balcony railing, smoking as if he still did it every day of his life. “Who?” Tove asked. “Polly?”

Thomas nodded. “Still too early to make a big announcement, but I might be a dad this time next year. Go figure.”

“Congrats?” Oskar said. “Are we happy about this? I can’t tell.”

Thomas shrugged. “It still hasn’t quite sunk in for me yet, but we have a big appointment with the doctor right before the reunion, so it would be nice to announce the news. Let my wife have some fanfare with all of the cousins and aunts in attendance. These people live for a baby with the last name Fredriksson, and they’re getting another one. So, big deal if Elias is getting married. I’ve been waiting twenty years to give a decent announcement that might make one person happy because marrying Polly wasn’t the one.”

“Because she’s a gold digger, dude,” Oskar bluntly said. “Now you’ve knocked her up. Even if you divorce with an ironclad prenup, you’ve got that kid paying her for the rest of her life. Nobody in the family wants to celebrate that. But, for what it’s worth…” Oskar held up his glass. “Here’s to you being a dad. Hope you’re better at it than ours were.”

“If you had one at all,” Tove added.

“Yeah, well, that’s why Aunt Kiersten thinks you’re a big ol’ lez, Tove.” Oskar’s charming smile was the only thing keeping him from getting smacked. “Daddy issues.”

“Don’t be a dick.”

Oskar held up his cigarette in one hand and his champagne glass in the other. “Don’t shoot the messenger. You’re the oldest of the three of us, but aside from owning a nice house and being good with money, you’ve got fewer prospects than Thomas and I put together, and we’refuckups.”

“It’s true. We done fucked up more than once.” Thomas extinguished the cigarette beneath his foot and popped a mint into his mouth. “When I wasn’t running red lights and getting DUIs, Oskar here was killing people and getting his license revoked.”

“Details,” Oskar glibly said.

“But the worst thing you ever did was be a daughter to a single mom from the other side of the family. And you had the gall to chase women. Kept your head down for twenty years, but here you are again Tove, making Aunt Kiersten look atyouwith her stony gaze again. Nothing good comes from that. The woman is old enough to update her will every six months. It’s like getting her teeth cleaned at this point.”

“You wanna be in the will?” Oskar continued. “You stay on her good side. Thomas and I have our parents’ money to fall back on, but what do you have?”

“I’m doing fine. I know a lot more about money management thanyou twoput together.”

Oskar chuckled on his cigarette smoke. “Does your sweet mayfly know that, though?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

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