The pounding in my head must make it tougher for information to soak into my brain.Eventually, it gets through, then I turn my head to find her looking at me expectantly as if she was waiting for me to put two and two together.“What are you saying?You mean, you and Papa?”
“I mean me and Papa.”There’s a twinkle in Mama’s eye as she nods.“Yes.Our fathers arranged our marriage the way yours has been arranged.”
I’m reeling from this by the time I sputter, “Y-you never told us.”
“Why would we?”she counters with a laugh.“By the time you were old enough to understand, it didn’t matter.Your father and I learned to love each other.We got to know each other, we built a life and a family.”
Looking out toward the sprawling house where she raised her family, she adds, “But first, we needed to accept the situation for what it is and meet each other halfway.”
I have to shake my head once I do the math.“It was different for you and Papa.You were married in peacetime, and Grandpa Aldo headed the family for another, what, five years after you were married?”
Her lips twitch in a grin.“Are you telling me you expect your Papa to step aside tomorrow?”
“Don’t get me wrong.”
“I’m teasing you.And now that that’s out of the way, you may as well hear it from me… you’re making up excuses before you’ve even slid a ring onto that girl’s finger.”When I groan, she talks over me.“You are a leader, Dante.You do what needs to be done for the good of everyone.”
Look where it got me.“What are you trying to say?”
“Be a leadernow,” she urges.“The girl is going to leave everything she knows behind, and she needs to be welcomed and treated as part of our family.It’s the only hope you’ll have, acting like a team.”
A team.When Sophia marches into my house, throws everything out of whack, and has the nerve to act like she’s the one being inconvenienced.
She and Guilia emerge, laughing together like old friends.“She’s going to need another closet.”Guilia giggles before following Sophia to the truck to see what’s left to be moved.
“I’m sure she will,” I mutter under my breath as Sophia brushes past me.She must have caught it as her eyes narrowed into sharp slits.
I didn’t care.I’m sure she won’t stop until she has pushed, shoved, kicked, and nudged me out of my own damn life.
Since it’s clear Mama is waiting for me to assure her, I play the dutiful son.“I’ll do my best,” I promise.
It’s all I can do.
I can’t speak for Sophia.
4
SOPHIA
Idreamed about this day so many times.
What girl doesn’t?
Now that it’s here, it’s nothing like I could have imagined.
I’m not a child.I know reality rarely ever lives up to fantasy.I mean, I was never going to marry the guys from my favorite boy band and go on a world tour with them, right?I think there was a part of me, even when I was eleven or twelve years old, that knew that kind of dream would never come true.
A wedding is a different story.I don’t think there’s anything wrong with imagining a day full of joy, gripped by nervous anticipation, looking forward to watching the love of my life see me for the first time in my dress.
And the kiss.
I’m supposed to kiss him today.
In front of people.
Holy shit.Will this ever stop getting worse?
“You are absolutely gorgeous.”Emilia’s gentle voice snaps me out of the panic that was around three seconds from overtaking me.Her encouragement couldn’t have come at a better time.
