“What?” Shea asked dryly, glancing at Christian.
Christian winced but nodded, it was sad but true. Their cousin Whitney was in her late thirties and had more hair on her face than he did. Christian always wondered why she didn’t do something about it, she could be pretty if she would just shave or get laser hair removal.
“Then there’s Gretchen,” Sebastian said. “She’s got a mole on her cheek.”
“So?” Shea frowned.
“I’m talking like Austin Powers, poke it with a stick while saying, ‘Moley, moley, moley.’ It’s the size of a quarter.” Sebastian made a circle with his thumb and forefinger and put it up to his cheek. “Bam! Right there. It wouldn’t be too bad if she plucked those monster black hairs from the center of it.”
Shea visibly shuddered while Henry snickered. Christian smirked and shook his head. Only Sebastian.
“What about Amber?” Henry asked. “She’s not too bad,” he said, fixing his tie in the small oval mirror that sat on the counter next to him.
Sebastian shook his head. “Her name is now Adam.”
“What? When did that happen?” Henry squawked, whirling around to gawk at Sebastian.
“Just recently. Mom told me when we were sending out invitations that she...I mean he...I mean...shit! Amber is now Adam. That’s all I fucking know!” Sebastian huffed, throwing his arms up.
Henry turned to look at Christian with wide eyes. “Did you know?”
Christian shook his head. “This is news to me.”
“Did she get the whole…you know…sex change?” Henry whispered so the other customers in the store didn’t overhear him.
“Yep, mom gave me all the gruesome details, which may have completely scarred me for life. I will never be able to look Amber…shit, I mean Adam, in the eyes ever again,” Sebastian said.
Henry grimaced. “Well, Shea, looks like you’re screwed. The rest of our cousins are guys,” Henry said sympathetically and patted his shoulder.
“Meh, maybe I’ll just get drunk enough to make one of them look good.” Shea shrugged.
Henry and Sebastian started laughing while Christian just rolled his eyes. Sebastian’s wedding was going to be a party to remember, that was for sure, and Christian couldn’t wait. He was thinking that maybe he’d get drunk enough to tell Shea how he really felt, just to get it off his chest, and then he would pray to god that Shea was too drunk to remember it.
~~~~~
Quinn and Margot made it to Paris with no problems. He was tired and hungry, not a good combination for him. Margot was unusually quiet and depressed. He understood why, but it freaked him out. She was always the happy-go-lucky one; she always had a smile on her face, but not now, not since finding out that her father died. Quinn was a bit nervous about meeting her family. It’s not like they were together. How would she introduce him? As a friend? Co-worker, maybe?
They took a taxi to her parents’ home, where they would be staying. On the plane, Margot taught Quinn a few basic expressions in French. Things like, hello, goodbye, and I’m sorry for your loss, which was extremely hard, but he eventually got it. She also explained some of their culture to him, which was surprisingly interesting. She explained that it is perfectly acceptable for him just to shake hands. For the most part, only friends and family kiss each other on the cheeks, but TV makes it seem like they do it to everyone. It also depended on the person, and how outgoing or comfortable with other people they were - like when Margot kissed his brothers because she said they were handsome. She finally cracked a smile when Quinn sent her a dirty look.
The taxi pulled up out front of the Leclair household and the driver helped Quinn get their bags out of the trunk. Margot tipped the man, starting for the front door of a beautiful townhouse. He shouldered their bags and followed. Margot used her key to open the door, and they walked into the foyer where she told him to set the bags down. Quinn set them down against the wall next to the door, and followed Margot as she headed into what looked like a living room.
Sitting on one of the couches was a man, probably about the same age as Quinn, and a younger girl who was probably about nineteen or twenty. Both looked remarkably like Margot. They had the same dark hair and hazel eyes. The younger girl was extremely cute, and the guy was okay looking, he guessed. Quinn has never made it a point to check out other guys. Margot never mentioned that she had siblings, but he suspected that’s who these two were.
“Margot!” the young girl cried as she jumped up off the couch and ran for her.
Margot hugged the girl as best she could with her crutches and spoke to her in French. They went back a forth a moment as the man got up and joined them. He gave Margot a hug and kisses on her cheeks. As Margot continued to speak with the girl, the man turned his attention to Quinn.