"My poor baby. You've never been treated like this a day in your life. How did a relationship do this to you?"
My nose stung, and tears slid down my cheeks.
When I'd first started dating Leo, my parents hadn't tried to stop me. They just told me that as long as I was happy, that was all that mattered.
They'd never interfered much in my love life. They let me make my own choices.
And now I'd gone and made a complete mess of things.
The second my dad heard what happened, he lost it. His face turned beet red, and he looked like he wanted to drag Leo out of wherever he was and beat him senseless.
"What kind of man does that? Son of a bitch. I'll make sure he doesn't have a single peaceful day this holiday. He thinks he can bully my daughter? I'll kill him. I swear to God, I'll kill him."
He grabbed his car keys before he'd even finished talking.
My mom saw him gearing up for war and yanked him back by the arm.
"What are you holding me back for? You're just going to let our baby girl, the one we raised like a princess, get pushed around like that?"
My mom shot him a look, then lowered her voice. "Will you calm down? There's only three of us. Combined, we're still outnumbered. We go home first, call up every aunt, uncle, and cousin we've got, and then we go. We're not walking into a fight we can't win."
That finally cooled my dad down. He looked at my mom with pure admiration in his eyes.
She really was his better half. When it mattered most, she was the one with the plan.
Our whole family rolled back home like an army on the march, and we laid out the entire story for the elders.
Every single one of them was furious.
Even my eighty-year-old grandparents, Burton Henson and Scarlett Henson, drove over from their place that very night.
"That little bastard thinks he can bully a Henson girl? He must have a death wish!" Burton slammed his fist on the table.
"Damn right. Let's go. Let's go to his house right now!" Scarlett was already reaching for her coat.
It took my mom's patient, gentle reasoning to finally talk the elders down.
They'd deal with Leo after New Year's Eve. No matter what, they weren't going to let some piece of trash ruin the holiday.
Ours was a big family, with more relatives than you could count, and every year the holidays were loud and lively. This year was no different. For convenience, the elders all gathered at our house.