Chapter 19

19

A man jumps out of the helicopter and holds out a hand to help Julia Child down, but she swats it away like an irritating fly. Halfway down, she turns and shouts something at the pilot, and the chopper is turned off. We all breathe a sigh of relief as the buffeting winds die down and the overwhelming noise recedes. Julia Child strides across the lawn toward us, her expression still one of complete and utter ire.

When she’s a few steps away from me and Kristofer, she stops and crosses her arms in front of herself. “Well?”

Kristofer gapes at her, and I honestly can’t decipher the expression on his face. Awe? Terror? Admiration? Love? All of the above?

He doesn’t seem ready to start speaking anytime soon, so I rush to fill the silence. “Ah, uh, thank you for coming, Tante Julia.” I look at everyone and add, “I called her. When I was upstairs. I told her to come quickly because—uh—”

She barely spares me a glance. “You said you had something deadly important to tell me. What is it?”

“I—uh—” I’d had it in mind to do this big, dramatic reveal: He loved you! But now, faced with Julia Child in the flesh, the connection between my brain and my mouth is severed, reducing me to a stammering mess. How do I convince her? How do I bridge this gap that has spanned over thirty years? Whom did I think I was breaking the news to—

“Aiya!” comes a familiar shout. Ma is flapping her hands wildly. “He in love with you!” As usual, Ma probably thinks she’s speaking in a normal voice, but in truth, it’s loud enough to be heard across the lawn.

“What?” Julia Child and Kristofer say at the same time.

“Aduh, all this time,” Ma continues, “from when you two are teenager, Kristofer in love with you. Even while marry to wife.”

“I loved my wife very much,” Kristofer roars.

“No one’s saying you didn’t love your wife, dude,” Fourth Aunt pipes up with a roll of her eyes. “It’s possible to love more than one person at a time. Ask me how I know.”

“Hanh!” Ma snorts. “Is because you hussy.”

Oh god. “Um, not that we’re calling you a hussy, obviously,” I quickly say.

“No, of course not,” Ma says. “You two just in love with each other, but then Kristofer get jealous of you and Abi.”

“Even though nothing happened between us,” Abi calls out. “Because I only ever had eyes for my beautiful Enjelin.” He gazes with naked adoration at Second Aunt, who blushes prettily, grinning hard.

Kristofer looks back and forth between Second Aunt and Abi before finally turning to face Julia Child. His expression is unreadable, but his jaw is working like he’s grinding his teeth.

Julia Child shakes her head. “You let your jealousy get in between us.”

He drops his gaze. “You were spending so much time with him, and . . .” His voice trails away and he shakes his head. “No, you’re right. I have no excuse. I was a jealous, insecure kid. You were the most beautiful, the most intelligent person I have ever known, and I didn’t understand why someone like you would give me the time of day. I didn’t think I was worthy of you, and so I assumed—”

“But is also his fault,” Big Aunt adds, “because he steal Julia’s scarf. If he not do that, then you not think that Enjelin is Julia.”

Second Aunt glares at Big Aunt.

Kristofer clears his throat. “To be fair, I was already paranoid and jealous even before that. If it hadn’t been the scarf, it would’ve been something else. I see it now.” He turns back to Julia Child, his voice softening, becoming hoarse with emotion. “I was the one who ruined everything. I accused you of cheating. I lashed out at you, at everyone. I was alone for years. I was in my twenties when I met Marjie, and I would’ve ruined that, too, except by then, I was a little bit more mature. We worked through my issues together. She made us go to counseling, and I learned to be a better partner. I—I thought of you, sometimes, but I was determined to be the best possible husband to Marjie. I never knew that she was aware of—” His voice cracks. “Of my feelings for you.”

Someone pushes through the crowd. Rochelle. She places a gentle hand on Kristofer’s back. “If it makes you feel better, Ah Gong, Ah Ma never held it against you.”

He blinks at her. “How do you know?”

“She told me,” Rochelle says with a shrug. “I was her favorite grandkid, didn’t you know? She told me all sorts of stuff. She said you always have a special place in your heart for your first love, and she knew, but didn’t mind because you were faithful. She said she would’ve probably gotten along really well with Julia Child.”

I glance at Julia Child, who’s smirking a little. “Sounds like I would’ve gotten along with your Ah Ma, kiddo.”

“All this time,” Kristofer whispers, “I was mistaken.”

“Tch, you cannot say that,” Big Aunt thunders. “No regretting. Look at everything you build.” She gestures at the massive mansion behind us, the rolling grounds around us, and the crowds watching us. “You have beautiful family, big business, maybe all this not happen if you have gone down different path.”

Kristofer nods. “I don’t regret any of it. I regret other things—not being a better husband, not treating you well in the past, but I don’t regret marrying Marjie.”

“And I don’t regret not marrying you,” Julia Child says simply.

A flash of hurt crosses Kristofer’s face, and a corner of Julia Child’s mouth quirks. She adds, “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant . . . if I had married you, we wouldn’t have grown as people. Your wife was a force of good in your life, and I’ve grown too. I built an empire all on my own, no husband needed. You learned how to soften, how to bend, and I learned how to stand firm. And if we’d ended up together as teens, I don’t think either of us would’ve grown into the people we are now.”

Big Aunt nods sagely. “I think you two will make even better match now.”

“Oh yes,” Ma chirps happily. “I can see in your face, you still love each other, ya? Is all in the eye. The way you look at each other, wah, such fire. I see in Meddy and Nathan, you see how they look at each other?”

“Like they’re always undressing each other mentally,” Fourth Aunt mutters. “It’s really quite disturbing.”

“What?” I squawk, dropping my gaze from Nathan immediately. “I do not look at Nathan like that.” To deflect, I add, “You mean the way Second Aunt and Om Abi look at each other, maybe.”

And it’s true. Abi and Second Aunt are smiling at each other, everyone else forgotten for the moment. It very definitely looks like they’re mentally undressing each other, which is somewhat unnerving to watch. “You come to rescue me,” she’s saying. “I thought you say you outnumbered?”

“I would throw everything I have at him, even if it means utter defeat, if there’s even a slightest chance of rescuing you, my love.”

My skin crawls at the melodramatic profession of love, but I can’t stop staring at them. I’ve never seen Second Aunt like this before, and it’s kind of a treat.

“Ah, I’m a Denzel in distress and you are my knight in shiny armor,” Second Aunt murmurs.

“Oh god, please get a room, you two,” Fourth Aunt snaps. “Nobody wants to see that.”

Kristofer and Julia Child are now standing face-to-face, looking at each other. I don’t quite know how to describe their expressions. It’s a bit shy, and very uncertain, but also hopeful. Slowly, carefully, Kristofer holds out his hand, palm up. I’m close enough to see that his fingers are slightly trembling, and this time, when I look at his face, I see the years stripped away from it, the cynicism and bitterness torn away, revealing the innocent, hopeful core of him.

Kristofer is the first to speak, his voice coming out soft and gravelly, hoarse with emotion. “I’m sorry.”

The hint of a smile tugs on Julia Child’s mouth. “Hmm.”

“I was an insecure fool. But that was my problem, not yours. I shouldn’t have let my insecurities come in between us.”

Julia Child smiles, and it’s a real smile this time, not a knowing smirk or a sarcastic twist of the mouth but a true expression of joy. “I’ve waited years to hear you say that.”

There’s a hush, then Julia Child lifts her hand gracefully and places it on top of his. Our breath collectively releases as one, as though the earth resumed its exhalation. And somehow, I know that Marjie is smiling down at them, maybe even snorting a little. I can see her shaking her head at their stubbornness.

Someone hoots, and suddenly, everyone is cheering and clapping. It feels like the atmosphere has lightened, the weight of a storm breaking and sunlight finally streaming down on us. The heaviness on my chest releases, and I can finally take in a deep breath. I feel as free as a bird.

Kristofer and Julia Child look around with sheepish, embarrassed grins, still holding hands. “Let’s go back inside,” Kristofer calls out. “Let the feast continue!”

I close the distance between me and Nathan and fling myself onto him. His strong arms close around me, and his familiar scent envelops me. I squeeze my eyes shut, gratitude and relief flooding my senses as I hold my husband tight in my arms. Twice now, in the past two days, I thought I’d lost him. I’m never letting him go again.

“You did it, Meddy.”

A laugh, wobbly with tears, bubbles out of me. “You make it sound like I did everything, but it wasn’t all down to me, you know.”

Nathan grins and presses his lips to my forehead. “Most of it was. The rest was down to Ma and the aunts. All I had to do was sit back and let you guys handle everything.”

I laugh again, and this time it’s less teary. I hit him in the arm. “If Ma heard you say that, she’d scold you for sitting on your ass this whole time.”

“Okay, to be fair, your mom did corner me for like half an hour grilling me about everything and making sure I was treating you right.”

“As she should.” My cheeks hurt, I’m smiling so wide.

Nathan’s eyes soften before he pulls me close and kisses the top of my head. “We’re okay,” he murmurs into my hair, over and over again. And I know he’s right. Somehow, we’ve made it through all the craziness, all the danger, and we’re together again. We’re okay.