Page 35 of Maximum Risk (The Andrades 3)
“You’re right, Mom. I didn’t see it before, but there’s a strong resemblance.” Max caught Tara looking at him and he smiled. Tara smiled back and waved.
“We were sorry to hear that Max’s father was gone, but it’s a shame we couldn’t meet Max’s mother,” Tara’s father said.
“She’s not feeling well,” Tara said. “And I don’t know if she’d be here even if she could be. She doesn’t get along with much of the family.”
“That’s a shame,” Tara’s mother said sincerely. “Is Max close with her?”
Tara shook her head. “It makes him sad, but no. She’s cruel to him, Mom. Please don’t mention her to him.”
Her mother nodded. “When I was younger I used to fight for every relationship I had. Friends. Family. It didn’t matter how bad it got; I had to fix it. That’s what I thought love was: never giving up. But not all relationships are healthy ones. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is let someone go.”
Tara knew her mother was referencing her own issues with Tara’s violent, alcoholic grandfather. Tara hugged her mother. “I needed to hear that, Mom. His mother isn’t healthy right now, and I kept thinking I should urge him to visit her, but I’m not going to. Maybe not seeing her is the most loving choice he can make.”
Her father gave her a proud smile. “You’ve grown into quite a woman, Tara.”
“I had excellent role models,” Tara said lightly with a huge smile.
“That you did,” her father said seriously, then winked.
***
“You should do it together and get it over with in one shot,” Max joked after Nick prodded Gio to announce a wedding date so he and Rena could decide theirs.
Nick slapped Max on the back, almost sloshing Max’s drink out of his glass. “That’s genius.”
Luke looked across the room at Julia and Rena. “Do you really think they’d say yes to that idea? You don’t want to be the man who stands between a woman and her dream wedding.”
Nick made a face at Luke. “When I see you with the same date twice, I’ll take your relationship advice, Luke. For now, leave it to the masters.” He cracked his knuckles. “Gio, are you in?”
Gio looked doubtfully at Julia. “I have no idea. She does seem to get along well with Rena.”
“How about you, Max?” Nick nodded his chin toward Tara.
Max threw up both hands and laughed. “I haven’t even bought a ring yet.”
“Then get on it,” Nick said, half seriously. “I saw who you were dating before her.” He looked up at the ceiling with a smirk. “We may have even slept with a few of the same . . .”
Gio shook his head. “I don’t need to hear this.”
Nick waved Gio’s disgust off. “My point is: Women like Tara don’t come along every day. When you meet someone who does as much for the family as she did for us, you marry her.”
“I plan to,” Max said. It was something that had become more and more appealing the longer he and Tara were together. “And not because of what she did. I love her.”
“I say you ask her tonight,” Nick said.
“I-I—” Max was ready to move forward with his relationship with Tara, but that didn’t mean the room didn’t spin a little at the idea of proposing to her that night.
Gio nodded toward where Tara was standing with her parents. “Everyone is here. The timing would work.”
Luke put a sympathetic hand on Max’s shoulder. “Don’t let them push you into anything you’re not ready for.”
“I-I—” Coherence still eluded Max.
“He doesn’t have a ring, though,” Gio said, as if that were the only deterrent to Nick’s suggestion.
Nick clapped his hands. “I bet if we asked Uncle Alessandro, he has a family ring. A grandmother’s. A great aunt’s. Someone’s. Women eat that up.” When all his brothers still looked doubtful, Nick continued in a coaxing voice, “Think about it. We’d attend one wedding instead of three. I don’t know what that’s worth to the rest of you, but I have to survive them sober.”
Gio raised a hand and waved their uncles over.
When both Victor and Alessandro were standing in a circle with them, Max pointed to the large crowd gathered. “Thank you for everything. It was incredibly generous of you to bring Tara’s parents into your home and host this party for them.”
Victor scanned the room quickly. “Party? This is family. There was no keeping them away when they heard Tara’s parents were here.”
With a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, Alessandro said, “Tara has been a little outspoken on certain subjects. Katrine wants to know when you’re going to marry the girl so the young wives in our family will stop guarding their husbands.”
Victor frowned at his brother. “Don’t tease young Max until he’s a regular here. Not everyone gets your jokes.”
“He is a grown man. And an Andrade. Having a good sense of humor is in his blood.”
Max knew exactly what Alessandro was referring to. Tara had told him what she’d said at Gio’s dinner party. Still, it was amusing to see his uncles arguing like old women. “What do you mean—outspoken?”
Victor glared at his brother. “Now you’ve done it.”
Alessandro shrugged in his usual carefree manner. “I like a woman with spunk. I’m sure Max is the same.”
Looking seriously concerned, Victor said, “What Alessandro meant to say was everyone adores Tara. Whatever she did or didn’t say didn’t change that one iota.”
Max winked at his brothers, who were watching the exchange with interest. “I wasn’t going to ask her to marry me, but I’ll do it for the family—you know, just to put everyone’s mind at ease when she’s around.”
Alessandro’s face split in a wide grin. He practically picked Max off his feet in a fierce bear hug. “Another nephew is engaged. So many reasons to celebrate tonight.”
Max broke free of the hug and glared at his brothers, who were blatantly amused. “We’re not engaged just yet, Uncle Alessandro. In fact, do I have your permission to ask her tonight?”
“Of course!” Alessandro gave Max another tight hug.
Victor clapped a hand on Max’s back. “Here. With the family gathered. It’s perfect. Your father would be proud of you, Max.”
Max tensed as he always did at any mention of his father and stepped back from his uncles. “How my father would or wouldn’t feel about anything is of no importance to me.”
Victor’s
face fell. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t.
Alessandro’s eyes lost their playful light. “Your father loved you very much.”
Teeth clenched, Max looked away. “My father’s choices proved the opposite.”
In a gentle tone, Alessandro continued, “Your father was a man, Max. Just a man. And no one is perfect. There were many things he did I didn’t agree with.”
Max looked back at his uncles in time to catch a strange look pass between them. Victor’s face was tight and his eyes held a sadness Max attributed to missing his brother.
With a sad shake of his head, Alessandro said, “But I loved George, and I know he loved his sons.” Alessandro looked past Max to Gio, Luke, and Nick. “All of his sons. Your mother . . .”
Victor intervened harshly. “The past is dead and gone, Alessandro. What good would come from digging it up?”
Alessandro nodded. “Maybe you’re right, Victor. I just don’t want George’s sons to keep paying for things that were not their fault. Or to believe for a moment that George didn’t love them.” Alessandro met Max’s eyes. “Your father was the best man he knew how to be. He made a bad decision, but he made it with the best of intentions. And then, when he saw the depth of the mistake he’d made, he sought a way to live with it.”
In a harsh tone, Gio said, “The mistake you’re referring to is marrying our mother.”
Victor answered instead of Alessandro. “George loved your mother. He thought that would be enough.”
Max shook his head angrily. “So, it’s our mother’s fault Father decided to fuck some Venetian whore and start a new family with her. There’s no good spin to what Father did.”
Victor opened his mouth to say something, but Alessandro stopped him with a raised hand. “He’s right, Victor. There are always consequences. George was wrong. It’s okay for his sons to be angry with him because of it.” Alessandro put a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Let’s put this behind us. You didn’t call us over to talk about the past. You want my permission to propose to Tara tonight? You have more than that: You have my blessing. Tell me what you need and let’s give Tara a proposal to remember.”
