“You’re sweet, but all of this…” She waved to the small crowd of my relatives and friends who stopped in the middle of their conversations to stare at us. “This is a little overwhelming. I don’t belong here. This is a family dinner, and I’m a stranger to them. And my baby…”
“Will get the attention of every woman in the room.” I stepped closer, hoping my voice didn’t have the same bossy tone my kid sister Antonia swore I could never get rid of. “It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re on your own.”
She opened her mouth to argue but closed it when I touched her arm.
“Call yourtía, tell her what’s going on, but there’s no way you will get anywhere in this shit.” Maggie followed the small jerk of my chin when I nodded it toward the window behind her.
In just the few minutes it took us to cross the street, the snow had fallen in sheets, so thick now that the sidewalks weren’t visible.
“There’s so many of them,” she whispered, her eyes wide, gaze shooting around the crowd, those dark eyes getting bigger when someone laughed loudly and cackled behind me.
“Yeah. And they’re a pain in the ass.” I turned, glancing over my shoulder to nod at Mrs. Jonah, a perpetually horny widow who owned the bar five blocks over, as she tried to get Antonia and her ex Luca to kiss. Something the man promised me he’d never do again.
Luca glanced at me, shrugging, then distracted the old woman with a shot of vodka.
“But,” I told Maggie, ignoring the look my sister was giving me and the one that followed from two of my aunts as I moved Maggie toward the kitchen, “you’ll never meet nicer people.”
“Dimitri?” I heard, trying like hell not to grunt when my mother’s sister Maria called over the sound of laughter. “Who’s that with you?”
“Incoming,” I warned Maggie, turning to greet my aunt. “Maria, you lookbella.”
She waved me off, not bothering to acknowledge the kiss I planted on her cheek as she focused her attention on Maggie and the squirming bundle in her arms. “Look at you. Theresa!” Maria called, her attention on the swinging door leading to the bustling kitchen. “Come look at this beautiful baby.” She brushed Mateo’s face, making low, cooing sounds I’d never witnessed from the grumpy woman once in my life. “Ah, sweetbambino, he’s sobello. How old?”
“Six months,” Maggie said, her voice quiet. She didn’t loosen her hold on the baby, especially not when my entitled aunt held open her arms, seeming like she expected Maggie to hand over her son without question.
“Maria, you can’t go taking babies away from their mamas. She has no idea who you are,” I told my aunt, not surprised when she waved me off.
Then my aunt covered her mouth, her attention shooting between me and Maggie, then down at the kid. “Oh my God! Does your mamaknow?”
“Know what?” For shit’s sake, the woman was crazy. I let a grunt fly, not giving a solitary shit if I hurt the woman’s feelings. “You serious?” I took a step back, eyes wide. “That’s not…”
“Smoke isn’t my son’s father…” Maggie rushed out, like she was worried Maria would level her with a shitload of blame that wasn’t hers.
“Of course, he isn’t,” I heard behind me, my stomach dropping when my mother approached. She was shorter and smaller than Maggie, but the look she gave her sister would have had even the meanest asshole pissing himself. “Maria, really. Now, who is this?” She faced Maggie, her attention landing on the nervous woman’s face, holding her by the shoulders. “Oh, aren’t you lovely? You know my son?”
“No, ma’am. I only just met him. I got lost.” Maggie nodded to the window.
My mother looked to the left, her attention catching on the snow and the blanketed streets before she made out the busted Monte Carlo. “On your own? With this one?”
Maggie nodded, and my mother pressed a hand to her chest, like her heart had begun to race and her light touch would settle it.
“And my son brought you inside?” Ma asked, raising an eyebrow while glancing at me.
“More like…told me Ihadto come inside. But really, we can just sleep in the car. The heater works, and I’m sure the streets will be…”
“Oh no. No, I could never let you do that.” Ma’s grip on Maggie’s shoulders tightened.
If I knew my mother, she was making plans she intended to see through, and Maggie wouldn’t have much of a say in them. Once the woman started plotting, there wasn’t much of a point in trying to stop her.
“So pretty, but how thin you are.” She snapped her fingers, as if something important had just occurred to her, and she turned to Maria. “Go fetch Antonia. Tell her to find something for…” She glanced at me, nodding to the woman standing in front of her.
“Maggie, and her son is Mateo. Maggie, this is my mother, Angelique.”
“Ah,” Ma said, turning back to her little sister. “Tell Antonia to find something for Maggie to wear for dinner.”
Maria nodded, turning away, and I could see the argument surfacing on Maggie’s tongue. Ma seemed to notice it too but cut the woman off by patting her hand and silencing her with a headshake.
“It would be rude to refuse. It’s Christmas Eve, and you are alone. We will feed you and make you feel like one of us, but you must dress for dinner. It’s proper, yes?” When Maggie nodded reluctantly, Mama smiled, her face brightening as she looked down at the baby. “Oh, heisbello. Can I hold him? It’s been so long since I’ve held a baby.”
