Family Secrets

Chapter 1

Hello everyone, this will be a short story, maybe 5-6 chapters.

Eleanor Ellie Andrews

I am standing on the threshold of true adulthood. Tonight I was proposed to by the love of my life and tomorrow we will both be graduating from law school. All that was left for us to do was ride off into the sunset and have beautiful babies. I was drunk on love and happiness and anticipation.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" I ask my now-fiancé, Peter.

"About graduation or our family dinner?" he jokingly responds.

"The dinner, of course. I hope our parents will get along."

"I'm sure they will. And if they don't, we'll just split the holidays evenly between Chicago and Phoenix," Peter replies, pragmatic as ever.

"Oh shush, I want big family Christmases with our kids running around the house while getting spoiled by all of their grandparents; you know I'm still not over being an only child."

"Well, I only have the one brother, but I can tell you with certainty that they're overrated," he winks at me.

"Speaking of your brother, will he be able to make it tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately no, his residency schedule is brutal. You'll meet him during your summer in Arizona though."

"I am super excited already, because after we move to Chicago it's going to be all work and no play for a while. I'm going to miss you while I'm at work," I bat my eyes at him and he bursts out laughing, well aware of what I was trying to do.

"Come on babe, if our hypothetical future daughter got engaged to a guy who couldn't even get his own job and expected one from us instead, I'd be the first one to judge him. I understand why you want to work for your parents and I'm sure you can understand why I don't."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I wave him away. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

The graduation ceremony was beautiful and solemn. It suddenly all felt so real, like we were officially being welcomed into adulthood after we had paid our dues by pulling all-nighters, writing endless papers, and gaining stress weight before every exam season. I kept stealing glances at Peter, who was at the end of the line, and I grinned at the idea of taking his last name soon – no alphabetically ordered line would ever separate us again. Sometimes I was scared of admitting to him how much I loved him, though he got glimpses of my crazy here and there. I didn't want to be like my mother, whose life revolved around my father, the Sun of her little galaxy whereas I was more of a distant satellite, but standing in this line now, missing Peter who had literally been inside me two hours ago and was now standing where I could see him, I had to admit that maybe I did have some hereditary condition she'd passed onto me.

Afterwards, I was scanning the crowd, looking for Peter. His parents had already arrived this morning from Phoenix, whereas mine would land in Durham later this afternoon. Typical. Normally I loved how devoted to their work they were, especially considering that I would be the one to inherit the prestigious law firm they had founded as partners. Recently, it feltlike Peter's love had unlocked something inside me, and I craved more closeness, more warmth. Maybe it was a side effect of his giving personality, or the stories he would tell of his own family. I was really excited about meeting them and joining them through my marriage to Peter. I saw his mom first, I immediately recognized her from the photos he had all over his apartment – both she and her sons had dark brown curls, but only Peter had inherited her browneyes. Cole's were green like mine. Peter's dad, Christopher, was laughing at something Peter had said and was gazing at his son with such pride that I halted for a second, not wanting to intrude on the family moment. It was then that Peter noticed me, his entire face open and loving, and he yelled out: "Ellie! Over here!"