Travis and his family followed Luke. Matthew, Mark, Phaedra and John brought up the rear.
The women greeted Tierra warmly, hugs and kisses filling the room. Family friend Vanessa Long eagerly pulled Tierra’s baby from her arms. “Look at this sweetie pie!” Vanessa exclaimed as she leaned to show the new baby to her own little boy. Toddler Vaughan Long eyed his mother and the infant without interest, his attention focused on two pieces of sausage clenched between his palms. Tierra and Vanessa both laughed as Tierra leaned to kiss the little boy’s forehead.
“When did you get here?” Marah’s twin sister, Marla Barron, questioned. She was seated at the large oak table, preparing a plate of food for her own child.
Tierra took a seat beside her old friend, pulling her son into her lap. “We drove in this morning. Lorenzo, did you say hello to Auntie Marla?” she chimed as little Lorenzo hid his face in her chest.
Travis joined the conversation as he took his own seat. “My boy’s still sleepy. He’s not speaking to anyone this morning. Usually, we can’t shut him up!” he said with a warm laugh. He glanced around the table. “Where’s Edward and Juanita?” he questioned, referring to Marah and Marla’s father and his wife.
“On a cruise to Alaska,” someone answered.
Travis nodded. “Must be nice.”
John took the seat at the head of the table. “I wanted all of us to go but we couldn’t coordinate everyone’s schedules.”
“Tierra, did you meet my husband, Mason?” Phaedra suddenly asked.
Mason Boudreaux extended his hand in the woman’s direction. “I don’t think so. The last time you were here I think I was out of the country.”
“Mason is also Katrina’s brother,” Matthew Stallion added as he leaned to kiss his wife’s cheek.
Katrina nodded.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Tierra said as Mason leaned to give her a hug.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, as well,” Mason responded.
Travis shook his head. “This is why we need to have a family reunion.”
“That and we’ve suddenly got family coming out of the woodwork,” Luke said as he reached for the platter of scrambled eggs.
His wife Joanne eyed him curiously. “Who’s come out of the woodwork this time?”
“We have an aunt,” Luke answered.
“And more cousins,” Mark Stallion interjected. His wife Michelle passed him their daughter, Irene, who eyed her father with large, dark eyes and a bright smile. “Cousins I can take,” the large man continued as he settled the little girl in a booster seat and slid her close to the table. “As long as no one tells me I have another sister I’m good.”
Phaedra chuckled softly as the table fell silent, everyone remembering the family breakfast where she’d announced her familial connection to the Stallion name.
Luke shrugged, pointing an index finger toward Travis. “So give us the dirt,” he said as he took a bite of French toast saturated with syrup.
The former staff sergeant shrugged his broad shoulders. He sighed. “We’ve always had an aunt,” he started as he proceeded to fill them all in, everyone eyeing him intently. “Her name was Norris-Jean. She’s actually the oldest out of the Stallion siblings.”
“I don’t remember my father or Uncle Joseph ever talking about her,” John said. He leaned back in his chair, his arms folded over his broad chest.
“Neither did I,” Travis continued. “From what I’ve learned she was much older and had left the family home when the boys were still very young. There was some kind of falling out and our grandparents disowned her. She moved to Utah and never kept in contact with anyone. No one knows why, though.”
Vanessa laughed as she pulled Tierra’s baby to her shoulder. “You people got a lot of skeletons in your closets!” she exclaimed. “Sisters, aunts, cousins. If you keep this up we might find out I’m related to you by blood!”
Mark cut an eye at his old friend and nodded in agreement. “Right!” he said with a hearty chuckle.
Luke laughed. “Oh, hell no!”
“How’d you find out about her?” Matthew questioned.
“She passed away last week and her children have been going through her papers. It seems she kept a diary. Her oldest son, Noah, contacted me, looking for my father,” Travis said.
John Stallion glanced around the table as the family continued talking, everyone shooting questions in Travis’s direction. Excitement fueled the air, energy like a firestorm through the space. It hadn’t been too long ago that their requisite family breakfasts included only him and his three brothers. He’d married first, his wife Marah and her family adding to the mix. In a short period of time he’d seen his brothers and his cousin Travis marry, their small clan growing with wives, babies and extended family.
Last year they’d discovered they had a biological sister named Phaedra, the news completely throwing all the brothers for a loop, and now the Stallion family tree had suddenly sprouted a whole new branch. John’s head moved slowly from side to side as he pondered the implications. Minutes passed before he refocused on the conversation.
“I told Noah that we would love to meet him and his family and he suggested we all fly to Salt Lake City for his mother’s memorial service,” Travis was saying.
“What do you think?” Luke asked, directing the question toward his oldest brother.
Everyone at the table was suddenly staring at John, awaiting his opinion.
He met the looks they were giving him and nodded. “I agree. I think we should. They’re our family.”
“Can everyone get away?” Marah asked, looking around the table.
“Well, transportation won’t be a problem,” Mason stated. “We can use my plane.”
John nodded just as his newly adopted daughter Gabrielle suddenly rushed into the room. The miniature hurricane tore around the table, her deep laughter moving them all to smile. Matthew and Katrina’s teenage son Collin raced behind her.
“Where have you been, Gabi?” Marah questioned, eyeing her daughter with a raised eyebrow. She tossed her nephew a questioning stare.
“Sorry,” the teenager gushed. “She didn’t want to leave the playroom. I had to chase her and then she kicked me!” He leaned to rub his bruised knee.
Katrina laughed. “Tell your uncle John he’ll owe you combat pay on top of your babysitting salary.”
Gabrielle jumped into her father’s lap, a bright smile filling her face. She rolled her eyes at Collin and licked her tongue out at him. John grinned as he pressed a damp kiss to her rosy cheek. “Did you kick your cousin Collin?” he asked, his gaze narrowing.
The little girl’s eyes widened. She shook her head. “No.”
Everyone
