Consequences of the Heart

Chapter 27

Quinn's POV

After filling in my uncles on everything on me I decide to turn the tables. "Well now that we covered my life, I want to know what has been going on in the life of my two favorite uncles." My uncles live in the beautiful town of Sammamish which is in Washington. 

"You know our lives are nothing but an endless adventure. Caspian along with Blakely and myself spent Thanksgiving with my family in Missouri this year." Blakely is our 18-year-old adopted cousin who Uncle Caspian and Uncle Evan adopted when Blakely was only about two years old.

 "How is Blakely? I haven't seen or heard from him in what feels like forever." Uncle Caspian and Uncle Evan both look at each other with the same prideful look on their faces. 

"Blakely is doing great, he has just started his senior year of high school where he has been places in mostly all advanced placement classes, has had the same steady girlfriend named Paris for about two years now, and he is already looking at colleges." I smile genially happy for the one cousin that I actually like.

"Why didn't Blakely come with you to celebrate Christmas?" I ask readjusting myself on the couch and take another drink of my hot chocolate. "Blakely isn't home right now, he and Paris left for England at the beginning of winter break and won't be back until New Years day." I take another drink of my hot chocolate very surprised that my Uncles would let their own son miss a holiday that is all about family and being together.

"Well when Blakely comes back home tell him that I miss him." Uncle Caspian nods his head relaxing into the couch. "It is funny that your dad invited us here for Christmas since we were planning on coming here in January anyways." I give my Uncle Evan a confused while taking a drink from my cup. "You two were planning on visiting?" I ask making the question sound more odd then I meant too.

"Visiting was on our list of things to do, but the reason that we were coming in January is because of Maxwell Romero." This gets me to almost spit out the hot chocolate that is in my mouth, "You alright Buttercup?" Uncle Evan asks me with the same look of concern on his face as my Uncle Caspian. "Yeah, I am fine. Just that name took me by surprise is all." I say wiping my mouth off,

"What does Maxwell Romero have to do with anything tied to the two of you? He is a lawyer here in Nevada and the two of you live in Washington." I place my cup on the table not taking my eyes off my Uncles for a second. "We are thinking of opening up one of our clothing stores in Idaho and in Nevada, and it turns out that the building that your Uncle Evan and I are looking at is owned by Maxwell Romero." I take a moment to process what I just heard and try to figure out how I should feel about this.

My uncles started their own clothing store in Washington called 'After Chic' and now years later 'After Chic' has become a clothing store chain with stores in New York, Florida, New Mexico, Washington, and California. "You two are brining 'After Chic' to Nevada?" I ask wanting to scream at the top of my lungs because I absolutely love 'After Chic' 

"It might take some time with our stores in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Iowa currently under construction, but we think that it our store would do well here." I jump up from my seat attacking my Uncle Caspian in a bear type hug. 

"I told you that she would be excited." Uncle Evan laughs as Uncle Caspian just hugs me back. "I don't want you to get your hopes too much Quinn, we still have to sort everything out with Mr. Romero." Hearing that last name of course makes me think of Nick which shifts my mood as I pull out of the hug with my Uncle.

"Mr. Romero is a nice guy." I say tucking a strain of my hair behind my ear. "You have met Maxwell?" Uncle Evan asks while Uncle Caspian crossing his arms over his chest with a serious look on his face. "I have only met him once, and that was when I attended his annual Christmas party this year." Just the mention of the party bring with it memories of that night and the emotions I felt.

"That is an exclusive party Quinn. I can't help but wonder how you managed to get invited." I stare at them trying to figure out a way to tell them the truth without raising more questions. "I went with Maxwell's son Nick who is a friend." Both my uncles look at each other before turning their attention back to me,

"Just how well do you know the Romero family Buttercup?" Uncle Evan asks and lucky before I can answer him my guardian angel of a brother walks into the room with a DVD in his hand. "Time for our final Christmas Eve tradition!" Jared yells before putting the DVD in and starting 'The Grinch that stole Christmas'.

Once the movie is over I am more than ready for bed. "I am off to bed." I say lifting my head off my Jared's shoulder and standing up from the couch. "Don't forget Christmas morning starts at eight in the morning and no sooner." My dad says while I say goodnight to everyone.

"My alarm is already set." I say kissing my dad on the cheek before heading upstairs and into my room.

I change into a light blue long sleeve shirt, a pair of Christmas pajama pants, and I put my hair up into a ponytail. "Merry Christmas to all." I mumble turning on the Christmas tree I have in my room before pushing the white canopy netting curtain around my bed open.

"And to all a good night." I say crawling into bed and quickly drift off to sleep with excitement for tomorrow.