Grandfather smiled lowering his head. “The Greek’s will always run Chicago, rest assure. As for Hermione,” he places his hand over his heart. “Wherever I go, she will always be right here.”
“Send Alistair to run Chicago,” Zar threw out, then said, “Oh, wait. Scratch that because if his ass up there then I’ll have to be flying back and forth to make sure he hasn’t burned the city down or started any new wars.” Everyone laughs except me.
“So, you’re saying I can’t run Chicago,” I questioned, raising my eyebrow. “I can run Chicago, Dallas, or anyone of our other cities.”
Zar shook his head, chuckling. “Calm down, little brother. I was only joking, but you know it’s true.”
I rolled my eyes, waving him off. “Whatever, Zar. You better be glad I want to keep my family here in Dallas with everyone else or I’d move them up there and show you how to run a city.”
“Alistair, you...” Zar started but Mother cut him off.
“Boys, boys, boys. That’s enough. I don’t even know why the two of you are arguing. Neither one of you can’t live without the other. Look at what happened when Balthazar moved down here.” Her eyes moved from Zar to me. “Balthazar you were missing your little brother so much you were begging him to come down here and Alistair, you were miserable not having him around. You boys have been like this since you little. So, the two of you can stop this nonsense.”
“Amen,” GeeGee cosigned.
Grandfather held up his hand. “All of our Kourakos family will remain here in Dallas. I have the perfect person in mind to oversee Chicago.”
“Who’s that,” Zar asked about to take a drink from his glass.
Grandfather smiled again but this time it seemed kind of mischievous. “Yiorgos”
Zar choked on his water from hearing the name. Nina pats him on his back as I grin wide. Yiorgos is our cousin from Greece. He is the oldest son of Grandfather’s younger brother, Linus Kourakos, who runs Athens. Uncle Linus is like Grandfather in many ways but more ruthless. When we were younger, we would fly to Greece every year for a family vacation, staying for a whole month during the summers. Yiorgos and Zar were like oil and water, they didn’t get along and were always trying to outdo each other. He and I on the other hand, got along just fine. I think because we had similar personalities. Out of all his brothers and sisters, and there are seven of them, Yiorgos was always my favorite.
Grandfather continued. “Yiorgos has been wanting to come to the States for a while now and I see no other perfect timing than right now. Yiannis will continue operations until Yiorgos has transitioned and Balthazar, I don’t want any problems out of the two of you. Am I understood?”
Zar’s eye kind of twitched before he lowered his head, then replied, “Yes, Grandfather.”
Grandfather raised his glass. “Now, I want to propose a toast to my family, and also to the friends who have joined us today. And especially for the fact I’m going to be a Great Grandfather! Opa!”
“Opa!” Everyone echoed as we grabbed our glasses and held them up.
Dinner carried on. Nina was able to hold down some turkey and dressing. I laughed at Zar, because he was already acting like an overprotective father, as he rubbed her still flat stomach, and damn near hand fed her. I couldn’t blame him though, because I will probably be the same way when Hailey gets pregnant with our first child.
With the announcement of the baby, Zar announced that the wedding will be pushed up to next month, stating he wanted his wife to have the same name as he and his son once he’s born. Of course, that led to him and Nina arguing on what sex the baby was going to be. She said she wants a girl so she wouldn’t have to deal with a hardheaded boy like Zar and me. I thought it was hilarious. She might as well get ready, because if it’s a boy, he will definitely be like the men in the Kourakos family!
Mother and GeeGee thought it was a good idea to move the wedding up. Nina was on board, saying she would rather have it early so she would still look fine in her wedding dress before she starts to gain weight.
Devyn was excited about becoming an aunt, promising she would babysit for them anytime they needed. While they accepted her offer, we all knew GeeGee and Mother were going to be mother hens over that baby.
Zar promised to drive Grandfather, Father, and Mother around the neighborhood tomorrow to look at some of the newly built houses that were up for sale. I was super hyped about their move.
After dinner, the ladies took over the den to discuss the wedding and baby stuff, leaving us men to go out to Zar's patio, to have cognac and cigars to celebrate him becoming a father and Grandfather and Father’s move.
As we sat around laughing and teasing Zar on the type of father he would be, Xander’s cell phone began to ring.
He stood, going over to the banister.
“Hey Sabre. How’s Thanksgiving going with your family,” he greets dryly.
I don’t know what she said to him, but Xander yells, “What’s wrong? What happened?”
He suddenly pulls the phone from his ear, staring at it.
“Xander what’s going on,” Zar questions.
“That was Sabre. She was crying hysterically, saying she needed my help before the phone went dead,” Xander replies, redialing her number. “Fuck,” he roars when she doesn’t pick up. He tries again only to get the same result. “I gotta go!”
“Hold on, Xander. You don’t know what’s going on, at least let us go with you,” Zar tells him.
Xander’s face fills with worry. “Sabre has never called me like that! Something is wrong. I need to get to her! Yiannis, can I borrow your jet?”
Father nods, then holds up his finger. “Yes you may, but we’re going with you. The ladies can stay here while we see about your woman.”
I stand, saying, “Well, let’s tell them so we can hurry up and get to Chicago.”
Zar pats Xander’s back as we go back into the house. I don’t know what we’re about to face once we get to Chicago, but Xander is like a brother to me and Zar, and whatever he needed us to do to help him make sure his woman was safe, we were going to be there for him.
