Reaching out her hand to take the one MacKenzie extended, Lux only just managed to catch the little girl as she jumped into her arms. Surprised at the suddenness of the move, she stared at the child she held on to by reflex alone.
“Okay laty,” Noelle said with a slight lisp.
Lux was transfixed, unsure whether the freckled face child was asking her a question about her wellbeing or telling her that everything would be okay.
Securing Noelle in her arms, she looked down at the child’s mother and smiled.
“Well, that’s a turn up for the books. She rarely likes strangers,” MacKenzie smiled as she watched her daughter lay her head against Lux’s shoulder and pat her chest as though giving her comfort.
“Kenzie, this is Luxandria,” Josh completed the introduction.
“Please call me Lux, he’s the only person that calls me by my full name,” Lux stressed, cutting her eyes to Josh and then back to MacKenzie.
Josh said nothing as he again took her arm and steered her toward the other couple. Lux immediately felt a reluctance to approach the woman whose face was now devoid of all expression.
“Lux, this is Aviva, Jason’s wife. Aviva, I’d like to introduce, my wife, Lux.” Throughout the introduction, Josh maintained eye contact with Aviva. Something passed between them that Lux couldn’t decipher. This Aviva was obviously the new matriarch of the family. While she seemed to be very much in love with her husband, she also appeared to have some kind of hold over Josh, and Lux wasn’t sure if she liked her.
“Hello,” Aviva said spearing her only a brief glance before turning away.
Lux knew a dismissal when she encountered one. It took a few seconds for Josh to intervene at Aviva’s rudeness and the delay annoyed her more than she could say.
“Aviva!” Josh warned.
The shorter woman sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes in such a Caribbean way, it immediately caught Lux’s attention.
“I’m pleased to me you,” Lux politely responded to the introduction rather than the other woman’s actions.
“Really, I wish I could say the same!” Aviva responded.
Still holding Noelle, whose head remained on her chest, she was through with the hostility towards her. Her frustration was the reason Lux spoke before she’d thought through the ramifications her words might have.
“That’s a bit unfair, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t believe it is. I don’t know you and right now, I don’t want to know you. The only thing stopping me from cussing you out is that my Goddaughter likes you,” Aviva, nodded at the child in her arms. “Isn’t that right buggie?” Aviva smiled at the child.
By the time, she finished speaking Noelle had straightened up and was holding out her arms to Aviva. Lux wanted to keep her but instinctively knew she couldn’t compete. She just wondered if she would also have to compete for Josh’s affection against those of this Aviva’s. Seven years ago, she wouldn’t have doubted his feelings, now she wasn’t so sure.
There was something going on between this woman and her husband and it didn’t sit well with her. The thought sprung into her mind about whether Josh and Aviva were having an affair right under everyone’s noses.
Lux pulled away from the thought as she became aware of the conversation between Jake and MacKenzie regarding a wedding party.
“I know the party is this weekend, but my brother needed me, so I had to go. You and Noelle are my life, but if faced with the same choice, nothing would be different. We would still be here having the same discussion.”
Lux saw the look they shared and thought MacKenzie would call him out for, not putting her first. “That’s just one of the reasons I love you so much, Jacob Kingdom. You always do the right thing and I accept that, and I wouldn’t change anything about you.”
“Really?” Jake replied.
“Yes.”
“You think I’m perfect?” Leaning forward, Jake whispered into his wife’s ear and Lux looked away from their intimacy.
“Josh, Jake, Jason follow me,” Jackson commanded, his tone leaving no room for objection. Without waiting, he turned and strode from the room.
The brothers only spared a brief look at each other before following their father.
Left alone with the women, Lux felt as though she were under scrutiny. It now seemed she was the new kid and was required to establish her place within the new order. Whether she wanted to or not was still in question.
Taking a seat, Lux stared unwaveringly at Aviva. If she wanted a standoff, she was more than prepared to give it to her.
The sound of MacKenzie’s laughter caught her unawares and she was just in time to see Aviva give the other woman a dirty look. MacKenzie’s snort only seemed to further annoy Aviva.
“Do you have something you want to say to me, Aviva?” Lux asked as she made herself comfortable in her seat.
“I’m so pleased you asked that question because, as a matter of fact, I do.”