SAM

"I swear that you will break the steering wheel at any moment. Look how white your knuckles are! You can't have a break down before you meet them, save that for after."

Marisol laughs and I try too but it doesn't sound convincing. While she's thrilled that I'm about to meet her family, I feel incredibly nervous, slightly intimidated and plenty overwhelmed. My biggest issue is that even though my parents are Latinx, I wasn't exactly raised that way. I don't speak Spanish and all the customs and traditions I know I learned from the Sommers. Also the fact that Marisol has four older brothers doesn't make things exactly easy. According to the navigation system, we should be there in about five minutes. Five very long minutes. 

"Marisol, I don't think this is a good idea. What will we do if they don't like me?"

"We will get married, that's what we'll do. I don't really give a damn about anyone's opinion in my family. Maybe except for my abuela. None of my brothers consulted with me when they picked their wives or girlfriends. Luckily they are all really nice girls and we get along well."

"If you don't care, why have we been driving for so many hours?"

Marisol laughs even louder than before and squeezes my thigh. 

"I want them to meet the wonderful man who's stolen my heart. Many of them were present when you proposed during that video call and that was enough for the rest of the family and half of the city to hear about it. It's only natural they want to meet you."

"I hope you are right."

"In other topics, we have been engaged for two and a half months already, but haven't set a date for our wedding. I'm ready to tell the family that we are enjoying our time so that's not a problem if we get bombarded with the question. It's that I bought a wedding magazine yesterday and felt overwhelmed when I read the amount of things we need to arrange. Did you know that if you want to marry in a popular location you might need to put an option over a year in advance? How am I supposed to know so long in advance where I would like to get married? And let's not get started with the fact that our families are all over the place."

I glance quickly at Marisol before returning my eyes to the road and I bite my lips in order not to laugh. She's always so sure of herself and I have never seen her panicking about something. That's usually my role.

"That's why wedding planners exist, to take off the burden of all these tasks. And I've been thinking about the date. I think sometime in January when we are all on vacation seems to be a good time. I don't think many people will jump at booking any locations with the cold weather, at least that is if you want to get married in Greenwood or Oakheart."

"What about Lonstino? At the Harbor Grand Hotel where you wanted to propose?"

"It's certainly a beautiful place we can keep in mind."

"Erin is tough, planning her wedding while working full time, and now with all the additional music commitments together with Noah."

"Keeping it simple has helped her. They will have a ceremony in a small church followed by the reception at Moonlight House. It makes sense since that's where they met. She asked me if I minded if they had the local deli cater the wedding. Of course I don't, since that means I'll get to enjoy myself instead of having to work. My only plan is to get you on the dance floor until our feet hurt."

"June can't come soon enough. Well, we are here."

My expectation of a quiet gathering with her family was wrong. Kids run on the lawn and music blasts from somewhere inside the house. People sit in folding chairs and talk, while others come from inside the house carrying trays of something that was definitely deep fried according to the smell in the air.

"The party has started without us," Marisol looks towards the house and even though I can't see her face I know she smiles.

We get out of the car and I get the boxes of appetizers and sweets that I made. If there's a way to get to any Latinx heart is through food, or so I read online. Fortunately, it is the thing I'm best at.

A bunch of the kids comes to greet Marisol and for some reason, seeing a few blond kids surprises me. I even spot that a few of them have blue or green eyes. I've seen photos of Marisol's family and they all have dark hair and dark eyes.

The house inside is even busier than outside and people talk at the same time while eating or drinking. I was expecting some dramatic pause and sudden silence, but no one seems to mind our arrival.

"They are here!"

The woman I recognize as Marisol's mom grins and takes off an apron as she walks towards us. She's tiny and I'm not the tallest guy. She hugs us and I can smell the fried food in her clothes mixed with perfume. I find it quite comforting. I offer her the boxes with the food and after receiving her heartfelt thanks, she adds them carefully to the already bountiful table. Marisol then walks a round greeting the people present and introduces me to so many that I will never be able to remember. Her dad comes from the hallway and his eyes crinkle when he smiles.

"Hola, Papi," Marisol grabs him in a hug and kisses his cheek. "Sam, this is my dad, Héctor."

"Hello, sir, it's a pleasure to meet you," I say, offering a hand that he shakes.

"I want to thank you. I haven't seen Marisol this happy in a long time. I believe the last time I saw her smiling like this was the day she opened her chocolate shop."

"There's nothing to thank me for. Marisol makes me a better version of myself," I say, looking at my fiancée.

Another tiny but elderly woman walks in front of me and pushes a tray of empanadas almost under my nose. Marisol gives me an encouraging nod and I grab a napkin, pick one from the tray and take a hearty bite. The filling is hot, but it's salty and sweet at the same time.

"This is delicious, thanks! Can I eat another?" I say to the woman.

Everyone exchanges looks and the woman says something in Spanish to Marisol who replies. She nods and offers me the tray once more. I take another empanada and this time I take a smaller bite because for some reason it's even hotter than the first one. The woman shakes her head, laughs and says something to me that I don't understand before returning to the kitchen.

"Abuelita!" Marisol laughs.

"That's your grandma? What did she say?"

"That she respects a man who can bite into a piping hot empanada without fanning his mouth. That I'm an idiot if I don't marry you soon and that if I don't she will marry you herself."

Usually I would be blushing deeply at something like this, but I laugh.

"Is this him?"

As I turn around, I find four muscular guys who look like if they came here straight from a gym.

"Yeah, this is Sam. Don't fuck this up!" Marisol threatens them. "Sam, these are my brothers, Carlos, Luis, Oscar and Pablo."

"Nice to meet you," I shake their hands, but I think they agreed to break my fingers with theirs in advance.

Marisol gets called by her grandmother. I plead her to stay next to me with my eyes, but she leaves me alone with the guys.

"Are you even Latino?" One of them asks in a dry voice.

"My parents are. I was raised by another family, so I'm afraid that's where the heritage ends for me," I say, since I believe in honesty.

"And you are a cook," says another.

"I'm a chef and I'm one of the owners of a club restaurant. Marisol's chocolate shop is at the end of our same street."

"If you hurt my sister, you will have to deal with us," the third brother punches his fist against his palm. I'm not sure I can take him down on my own seeing the size of his biceps.

"I have no intentions of hurting your sister because I love her."

"You little shits better stop messing with the new guy right now!" A woman with blond curls and bright blue eyes splits the group.

"We are just getting to know him," one of them places his arm around her waist and kisses her cheek. 

"I'm Alexandra and I married this clown. Don't let them bother you because none of them have a Latina wife or girlfriend. I'm also sure that Marisol can stand her own in an argument. She told me about that fabulous place that you own in Greenwood. Moonlight House is quite popular, right?"

"We are doing well," I say, still shocked about the fact that I'm not the only oddball in the family.

"That is great! I hope we can visit it soon. God knows I need a night out without the kids. Did abuelita feed you already?"

"Yeah, I got empanadas."

"Did you burn your mouth? That is sort of like her initiation ritual. It's kind of mean," she laughs. "Welcome to the family and get ready for the ride of your life. You won't find a crazier, happier and more loving bunch than this."

Her words make me smile and remind me of the Sommers, my own special family. Marisol comes back from the kitchen and after greeting her sister in law, puts her arm around my waist and her head on my shoulder. We spend some time with her brothers and I realize that I like them, and see myself belonging to their family for the rest of my life.