Wolves of Secrets 3: Family Values

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

To say that Ray was dreading tonight was an understatement. About a week ago Maya had received a phone call from her mother in Barcelona. Her mother Luana was coming over for a visit with her new boyfriend and Maya was preparing dinner to welcome them. Maya had also invited Cole and Jay around as well and when Ray asked why she said that they didn't spend a lot of time with their children's boyfriends and she wanted her mother to meet them.

Ray quickly reminded her that Kai and Nya weren't getting married to them, but Maya gave him a smirk that terrified him.

The only upside to this was that Luana and her boyfriend stayed in a nice hotel in the city rather than the apartment. Ray didn't hate his mother-in-law. They got along most of the time. Unfortunately, their problems came from Ray and Maya having very different backgrounds. Ray was an only child with very strict, traditional Japanese parents who wanted him to get a high-paying job and keep them in their old age. Ray getting married and having children never crossed their minds.

Maya was a member of a very large, loud, intrusive Spanish family with an overbearing mother who only wanted her to get married and have children.

When we say large, we mean that Luana had given birth to eleven children; seven sons, and four daughters, with Maya being the youngest. Maya was also the one with the least number of children. Except for the eldest of Luana's children, his name was considered taboo among his family and should never be whispered. Especially around Maya. When Ray proposed marriage and Maya accepted she told her parents that had to accept their marriage, but Luana remained upset because Ray was not a member of their pack.

Her father didn't like Ray either, but he was always over-protective.

It wasn't until Ray became a father that he understood his father-in-law's way of thinking. But the rest of the family did accept him. However, they all constantly inserted themselves into their wedding planning, designing ugly bridesmaid's dresses and misspelling Ray's mother's name on their wedding invitations. Ray's quiet, conservative parents met the entire Quinonez family during a loud and extravagant dinner and they were overwhelmed by the experience.

They tried to split Ray and Maya up, saying that her family was far too wild for their son.

This frustrated the couple and they ultimately told his parents not to attend the wedding, which they obliged. Despite Ray's love for his wife, however, he was still a little awkward with her big, loud family. As Ray returned home from work, he saw his wife preparing for dinner. He could hear Nya talking on her phone in her bedroom. He didn't know where Kai was but he guessed that the teen was with Cole.

"Sweetie, why'd you have to invite your mother over for dinner? Didn't we just see her like a year ago?" He whined to the woman he loved.

"Come on honey, I'm looking forward to this." She smiled at the thought. "And I can't wait to meet her new beau."

"She calls him her beau?" He asked as he started munching on some peanuts.

"She called him her Amante and I almost threw up." She admitted with a faint grimace.

"Well if you ask me I think it's good that she has someone; better she spends time with him than with us." Ray shrugged, but Maya's smile dropped slightly.

"I don't know, it's just... I haven't seen her with another man since my Papá died." She said, her tone saddening at the memory of her father. He had died at the age of sixty-one due to a stroke, and other than her mother Maya was the one who took it the hardest. She was the youngest and a Daddy's girl. When Ray saw her sad mood, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the top of the head.

"I know that this doesn't make any sense, but I feel like she's being unfaithful to my Papá." She admitted and Ray froze. Before he could stop it, his mind took him back to the memory of his bachelor party. He vividly remembered Maya's father getting a little too close and hands-on with a woman who was not her mother.