“You will you marry us?” It was Santina who asked, not Livio. Brando took the opportunity to snatch the swaying gun.
The priest shrugged. “Sei Cattolica?”Are you both Catholic?
“Sì,”they answered in unison.
“You stole her from her parents!” Rocco accused.
“He did not!” Santina took a step forward. Livio’s eyes were on Rocco, but his hand came to her arm. She threw him off. “I made him!”
“Is this true?” Brando addressed Livio.
“Sì. Her father told her on the way home that she was not allowed to see me again. Even after Signora Fausti’s lovelypartito.” He nodded at me. “It is me that he does not approve of. Our…attività commerciale.”Business.Livio pulled Santina to his side, making her stumble a bit from his awkward embrace. “So, yes, I stole her, as you once stole Scarlett from her own castle.”
“What?”I said, somewhat shocked and confused. When did Brando ever…?Oh.I swallowed the embarrassment down hard and refused to meet my parents’ eyes.
Brando had “stolen” me from my parents’ “castle” once, when I was eighteen. Not to marry, but to fool around in a deserted field in his car.
Brando explained this. He had not stolen me to marry, but to go for a ride. I was thankful that he worded it in that particular way. I could feel the heat of my mother’s stare. Glancing at my father, I had to hide my grin. He was totally blank-faced, slow to understand.
“I explained that to you earlier,” Brando said, more than impatience causing his words to come out clipped and rude.
“It is different here,” Livio explained, as though he were addressing a room of ineffectual people. “Her father said no. He will disown her if she marries me. She is a virtuous soul and will not go against his wishes.”
“She is now?” I asked, biting my lip.
“I am,” she said, glaring at me. “I would rather have Livio than a life of unhappiness! You have to understand, Signora Fausti!”
Taking me by surprise, she catapulted toward me, almost knocking me over with her intensity. She had finally succumbed to tears. They slid down my chest, warm and wet.
After catching my breath, I kept her against me, patting her head. It struck me how much she looked like an Italian version of Audrey Hepburn—haircut and all.
The door to the kitchen opened and Romeo and Collette stumbled in, nothing but a towel around Romeo’s slim waist and one tied above the wet Frenchwoman’s breasts. Her legs were exposed, and so were her bare shoulders.
“Whoops.” Romeo tugged at the towel, which had slipped, giving the entire kitchen an eye full. He let out a raspy laugh.
My mother gasped. So did Eunice. I couldn’t blame them. It was a shock at first. I adverted my eyes, but they rose to meet Brando’s when I felt the heat of his stare burning holes through my head. The tick in his jaw pulsated.
Collette laughed and kissed Romeo on the cheek. She told him in French that she would meet him upstairs.
“Ah,” he sighed after her. “Che notte piacevole!” he almost sang.What a pleasurable night!
“You embarrass me!” Rocco roared at their younger brother. If it was one thing that made Rocco testy, it was being interrupted from his bed. Or lack of food, but his belly had been filled. I was just thankful that Lothario hadn’t decided to check in. He might just shoot Livio and solve the problem without further ado. “Do you not even have enough respect to shield yourself from a man of the cloth?”
Romeo laughed again, but when no one else did, his smile turned into a thoughtful frown that was almost comical. He found the man of the cloth and then shook his head, finally coming to terms with the situation. He got down on one knee before the father, bowing his head, apologizing for not seeing him.
The father waved him off, touching his head briefly. “Go,” he told Romeo. There were other more pressing issues at hand. Before Romeo could make a full escape, though, the father stopped him again, calling himgiovanotto.Young man.
“Romeo,” Rocco said, supplying the priest with his brother’s name. “Romeo Piero Fausti.”
“Ah, Romeo.È tua moglie?”Is she your wife?The priest moved the hand in the direction Collette had taken.
Romeo gulped. “No,Padre,” he said meekly.
The father thought about this for a moment and then nodded his head in a way that made it clear he was amongst nothing but sinners, and perhaps God had put him there for a reason. One man wanting to marry held a gun on him. Another was giving in to the cardinal desires of the flesh without a ring on his finger.
Romeo shot Rocco daggers as he egressed. Dario and Carmen replaced him, a screaming Diego in his father’s arms. Travis came in right behind them, Gwen lagging behind. Travis held Charles, who it seemed was trying to outdo Diego in volume.
“He won’t stop crying tonight!” Carmen said, clearly worried. “Should we take him to the hospital? This is not like him. I think your sister put a curse on me!”
