FROM THEN ON

Chapter twenty four

As we all sat around the super long dining table in an actual dining room that I had no idea existed in his house, Ricardo was about to dig in when my mum stopped him and said, ''Excuse me young man, but do you mind if we pray before eating?'' my mum asked. ''What? Why?'' Ricardo asked confused and I heard someone kick his leg from under the table which made him flinch a little. ''Don't mind my son, he can be a bit of a nut head at times. We understand that you're Christians and we wouldn't want you to forsake your values or traditions...please go ahead,'' Susanna said politely. We all held hands as my mother led us to pray and chorused, ''Amen'' when she was done. ''So, Robert, you have a lovely home. Sabrina never told us you are rich or that you are the owner of the biggest broadcasting company in the city,'' my mum said as she cut a piece of chicken from her plate. ''Really?'' Robert asked raising an eyebrow at me. ''It must have slipped my mind,'' I said innocently taking a sip from my glass of water. We enjoyed dinner peacefully with a few small talks here and there but before anybody could stand up to leave, Susanna asked ''So how are we going to do this?'' ''Do what mum?'' Robert asked clueless. ''This. Two different families with two different beliefs and two different ways of celebrating Christmas living under the same roof,'' she replied. ''Well, we have traditions and plans we follow every year. You are all welcome to join us if you want,'' my mum said. ''Thank you for the offer Cecilia but we also have our own traditions. That is why I want to know how this is going to work,'' Susanna said. ''I have a suggestion,'' Ricardo said. I don't know why but there was something about him that made it hard for me to take him seriously. ''We can either stay out of each other's way and do our own thing or.....'' he continued. ''Or what Ricardo?'' Susanna asked clearly getting impatient. ''....Or we could merge our traditions. You know, a little bit of Stenson, a little bit of Welton, some compromises here and there,'' he replied. ''That's actually a great idea,'' Susanna beamed. ''Yeah, sounds like fun,'' Raina added. ''Are you guys in?'' Raina asked directing the question to my family. We all turned our heads to look at my mum. After all, she's the one who was so against us hanging out with unbelievers. ''I don't know.....'' my mum trailed off. Then Alana and I made eye contact and gave each other a wicked smile. When we were kids, one of the ways we could get our mum to agree to buy us stuff or to have sleepovers or to say yes to anything we asked was to ask in public. For some reason, she thought it was humiliating to say no to her kids when other people were around, something about her looking like a bad mother depriving her children of happiness and we always used it against her. Today, we decided to do it one more time. ''Oh come on mum......it'll be way better than just the same monotonous traditions we have every year,'' I said. ''Yeah mum....besides we won't be neglecting our traditions completely,'' Alana added. ''They are right honey, it's not a bad idea,'' my dad added. ''Alright fine,'' my mum surrendered. ''Yes! Thanks mum,'' I said. ''Alright its settled then,'' Patrick declared. ''So should we discuss what we're going to do now or....?'' Raina asked. ''Let's do it tomorrow, I think we are all tired by now,'' Susanna suggested. ''Okay tomorrow then,'' my dad agreed. After dinner, Alana, Raina and I cleared the dishes and washed them in the dishwasher. After we were done, Alana and I retreated to our room. Ricardo and Robert were playing video games in the living room and everyone else were in their rooms. ''Hey you're going to bed already?'' Robert asked before my foot could land on the first stair leading upstairs. ''Yeah, today has been hectic,'' I said sighing. ''I can only imagine'' he said as he paused the game and walked towards Alana and I. ''Goodnight Alana,'' he said as he hugged her. ''Goodnight Robert,'' she said and returned his hug. ''Goodnight baby,'' he said before planting a kiss on my lips. ''Goodnight,'' I smiled and walked upstairs with Alana. As soon as she closed our room door behind us, I said, ''Don't you say a word.'' ''Sis, you can't expect me to be quiet after I just saw a guy kiss you on the lips for the first time ever,'' she said excitedly. ''Well technically, this isn't the first time we've kissed so....'' I stated. ''Oh my gosh so you've had your first kiss and you haven't bothered to tell me?!'' Alana asked shocked. ''I was going to tell you and besides, it's not that big of a deal,'' I replied. ''Says the girl who punked out when she was dared to peck a guy on the lips,'' Alana said. ''I was way too young,'' I replied. ''Sabrina, you were 23'' Alana laughed. ''Oh shut up,'' I laughed. ''So....let me in on all the deeds. When? Where? Who made the first move? Was it magical? And what happened to your dream of having your first kiss on your wedding day?'' Alana asked in a rush. ''Okay first of all, relax,'' I said calming her down. ''Secondly, it happened last week. He took me to the neon lake, it was so beautiful,'' I said getting a little nostalgic. ''Okay....and then?'' Alana asked eagerly. ''Well we were on a boat in the middle of the lake and it just kinda happened'' I replied. ''So I'm guessing you didn't make the first move?'' Alana asked. ''No, he did,'' I replied. ''And as for the first kiss on my wedding day thing, I only made it up because I wanted my first kiss to be special, you know? I wanted it to be with someone that I was sure I was going to spend the rest of my life with, instead of going round kissing every guy that comes my way like some people,'' I said eyeing Alana. ''Hey, I was young and in high school that's kind of what relationships were based on back then. Well, that and sex,'' Alana defended. ''Speaking of sex...have you....?'' I asked my sister carefully. Don't get me wrong Alana is a good person and she has her morals and Christian values in check but Alana easily gets carried away, especially when she hangs out with the wrong crowd. ''Oh my God no,'' she said disgusted. ''I am capable of doing a lot of things Bree but going against mum's number one rule? I would never,'' she added. I smiled and said, ''she always used to say.....'' and then Aly and I chorused, '' La primera persona con la que duermes es la persona con la que tu alma se ata.'' Which is Spanish for....''the first person you sleep with is the person your soul gets tied to.'' ''And that's why I'm gonna wait till my wedding night,'' Alana smiled and I smiled. ''Just so you know I haven't forgotten the fact that you just said you wanted your first kiss to be with someone you are sure that you are going to spend the rest of your life with. Are you trying to say that you and Robert are getting married?'' Alana asked raising her eyebrows. ''Well no....but I'm saying the possibilities are very high,'' I confessed. ''You really got it bad don't you?'' Alana asked as she sat beside me on the edge of the bed. ''You have no idea,'' I smiled. ''Aly, I have never felt this way about any guy before,'' I added. ''Well considering you've only dated three guys your entire life, I don't think that's really an achievement,'' Aly murmured. I threw a pillow and it hit her right in the head. ''Hey!'' she shouted and caught the pillow right before it landed on her lap. ''I'm serious,'' I said. I continued, ''I'm actually in love with this guy, and even though we have our differences in terms of religion, values....'' ''Money?'' Alana interrupted. ''Do you have to comment on everything?'' I asked agitated. ''I'm sorry, please proceed,'' she replied stretching out her hand and gesturing for me to continue. ''As I was saying, even though we don't agree on everything, I can't imagine my life without Robert. I want to spend the rest of my life with him and I want him to be the father of my children,'' I continued. ''Woah....easy there Juliet. So what are you going to do? Propose?'' Alana joked. ''What? No!'' I exclaimed. ''What I'm saying is, whenever he is ready to propose, I more than ready to say yes,'' I added. ''And how long do you think you're going to wait?'' Aly asked getting up again and folding her arms. ''I don't know. Considering the fact that he wanted nothing to do with marriage when we first started dating, it may be awhile. But he did jokingly bring it up on his birthday this year....so I really don't know, but....I'm willing to wait,'' I stated. ''Bree....I know I'm no expert when it comes to these things but if he does propose, do you really think saying yes is the right thing to do? I mean differences aside...do you think mum will really allow you to marry an unbeliever?'' Alana asked concerned. ''I don't know...Aly. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Besides, she's allowing me to date him now right? so maybe she'll have a change of heart then,'' I said hopefully. ''Right.......'' Alana trailed off. ''What are you hiding? Spill,'' I said sternly. ''Mum would kill me if I tell you,'' she cried. ''So I won't let her know you told me,'' I stated. ''Please don't get mad....'' she said afraid of how I was going to react to the news. ''What's going on Alana?'' I asked getting a little scared. ''Okay, here goes nothing,'' she began. ''The only reason why mum changed her mind and made us come to San Francisco this Christmas was so that...........you would go back home with us,'' she spilled. ''What? What are you saying?'' I asked confused. ''Mum had a dream the night after you called, a dream that you were in trouble. After talking to Pastor Damian and praying about it, she had a strong conviction that it had something to do with Robert,'' she replied and my heart skipped a beat. ''So she decided that the best thing to do was to bring you back home to Washington so you can stay away from Robert for good,'' she added. ''What?!'' I shouted shocked. ''Bree, she's just worried about you. In fact, we all are,'' she said concerned. ''I'm fine Aly,'' I swallowed. There was no way I was going to tell my sister about Lucy and put her in danger too. ''If you say so,'' Alana said and then went to take a shower.