"But they're a great bunch," he said, brushing his thumb along the back of her hand. "Just be your normal, vibrant self, and you'll do just fine."
As Cameron slid out of the car and then came around to help her out of her seat, she didn't have much time to dwell on being apprehensive because they were instantly surrounded by the most animated, friendly kids-all of whom seemed to idolize their Uncle Cameron. Each one tried to get his attention first, and Mia watched as he managed to dole out hugs to each and every one of them.
"Who's the pretty lady you brought with you, Uncle Cam?" This came from a precocious little boy who had the same dark blond hair and green eyes as his uncle.
Cameron ruffled the boy's hair. "This pretty lady is Mia Wilde, who is a friend of mine."
With that explanation, he proceeded to introduce her to each one of his nieces and nephews. There were nine of them in the bunch, and each welcomed her with friendly smiles and boisterous hellos that had her laughing. By the end of the introductions, she was known as "Miss Mia."
Cameron picked up the youngest member of the group, a four-year-old girl named Lucy, with a cherubic face and brunette ringlets, who was looking up at him in wide-eyed adoration. He tickled her neck with his fingers, making her burst into infectious giggles.
"Now, let's go meet the rest of the family," Cameron said and grabbed Mia's hand with his free one.
He laced their fingers and led the way into the house, uncaring of just how intimate their hand-holding might look to anyone who glanced their way. Once they were inside, he let her hand go and set Lucy down on her feet, and Mia followed him into a large, spacious living room where the adults were hanging out.
Another round of introductions ensued, leaving her feeling overwhelmed and certain she'd never remember everyone's names. Between his parents, sisters, their husbands and kids, his family was huge, but they reminded her of her own large clan. And with her cousins Steve, Eric, and Adrian all married off, and recently two of her brothers, even more chaos was added into the mix.
The Sinclairs were loud, openly affectionate, and obviously all very close to one another. Despite Cameron's claim they were on the conservative side, his family was warm and fun-loving and accepted her as Cameron's "friend" without question or speculation, just as he'd promised. And because of that, she was able to relax and immediately felt comfortable with his family.
Before long, his sisters whisked her off to the kitchen, insisting they needed girl time while the guys did their bonding thing during the final quarter of the Sunday afternoon football game. She accepted a glass of wine his sister Susan poured for her, and then she was put to work spreading garlic butter on the French bread while Susan made the salad and Cameron's mom, Barbara, finished up the spaghetti for dinner.
Because it was Claudia's birthday, she was exempt from helping. So was Heather, because she was eight months pregnant and feeling the strain along her lower back and couldn't stand for long lengths of time because of spasms. The two of them were sitting at the counter across from the large wooden island where Mia, Barbara, and Susan were preparing the evening's meal.
As Mia slathered a pat of seasoned butter on a slice of bread, she glanced in Heather's direction. "So you have the three girls, Lucy, Gwen and Alison, right?" she asked, trying to place the kids she'd met outside with their respective parents.
"Yep, that trio is mine." Heather rubbed her burgeoning belly. "Here's hoping this one's a boy to balance out things a bit."
Claudia grinned at her sister. "You mean so your girls have someone to pick on, like we did with Cameron."
"Oh man, we really did torment him, didn't we?" Susan said as she cut up tomatoes for the salad. "Do you remember when Cameron was about five years old and how we used to put makeup on him, curlers in his hair, and dress him up like a little girl?"
Mia had just taken a sip of her wine and nearly choked on the drink. The image of Cameron as a little boy, being coerced by his three sisters to be their miniature-sized doll to do with as they pleased, was just too funny to imagine.
During the next half hour, as they finished with dinner preparations, Cameron's sisters and mother regaled Mia with more amusing tales that had her in absolute stitches. Each story was more outrageous and hilarious than the last.
Hearing how Cameron had grown up, surrounded by fun-loving girls, made Mia realize just how vastly different her life had been with three older brothers watching over her. While the Sinclair sisters had treated Cameron with affection and open candor and acceptance, her own brothers had taken their jobs of protecting her very seriously. Too seriously, she thought, knowing that was part of the reason why she'd rebelled at such an early age.
The kitchen was teeming with feminine giggles and chuckles when Cameron walked in, a playful scowl on his face. "I can hear you girls laughing all the way out in the living room, and I have this sneaking suspicion that I'm the butt of the tales you're sharing with Mia."
"Of course you are," Susan said unapologetically as she grabbed knives and forks from the silverware drawer to set the table for dinner.
From across the wooden island, Mia watched Cameron roll his eyes heavenward. "Did you happen to tell Mia how I had absolutely no privacy in this house and how you'd barge into my room without ever knocking, even while I was changing?"
"Hey, I helped Mom change your diapers when you were a baby," Claudia reminded him with a cheeky grin. "I saw everything there was to see, so it was no big deal."
"Well, it was certainly a big deal to me" he stated with feigned gruffness. "And what about how the three of you hogged the two spare bathrooms for hours on end and used up all the hot water so I had to take cold showers?"
Heather reached out and patted Cameron on the cheek, summoning a sympathetic look. "Awww, poor baby," she said, though it was obvious she was holding in her laughter.
"We were just trying to help prepare you for the future," Claudia piped in as she refilled Mia's empty glass with more wine. "You know, get you used to taking cold showers after your dates."
"Thank you very much." Cameron shook his head ruefully and cast a grin at Mia. "It's amazing that I turned out to be a normal guy without any issues or hang-ups."
"You turned out just fine." Barbara poured the cooked spaghetti into a large bowl and said over her shoulder, "and I have to add that because of your sisters, you learned to treat women with respect. You were a polite boy, and every mother on this street wanted her daughter to end up with someone like you. They knew they could trust you not to take advantage of their daughters."
"Yeah, you were quite the catch during your high school years." Susan picked up the large platter of heated garlic bread and started for dining room.
It was easy to envision Cameron surrounded by a slew of pretty young girls, all vying for his attention. With his good looks and charm, Mia had no doubts he had the pick of the litter. Probably still did.
Barbara placed a big bowl of steaming, fragrant spaghetti sauce in Cameron's hands. "Now help us set the table so we can eat dinner," she said, treating him no differently from the girls she'd had in terms of domestic tasks-even though he was grown man and no longer lived in the house.
He feigned an exasperated sigh, though he was smiling when he glanced Mia's way. "Some things never change."
Chapter Eleven
AFTER dinner and cleanup, the family converged back in the living room with their stomachs filled with a delicious meal and the atmosphere mellowed by good wine. From across the room, Cameron glanced at Mia, who was sitting on the couch next to Heather, while conversing with his family. Thank God his sisters had finally run out of embarrassing stories about him in his youth and had moved on to other topics that no longer centered around him.