“Quiero que mami venga conmigo,” Reine replied, and Ari blanched. Her Spanish was awkward — nowhere near the fluency of her daughter, who’d spent her life speaking with her Salvadoran uncle — but still, she recognisedI want my mummywhen she heard it.
Instantly, she felt like a terrible mother. Reine hadn’t seen Ari in days, had travelled over four thousand miles in the last twenty-four hours, and was probably jet lagged, tired and hungry. It was only natural for her to want her mother.
“Baby, I have to work—” Ari started to reply, before Marnie held up her hand.
“Tu madre puede llevarte arriba de inmediato,” she began, in fluent Spanish. “Te he preparado una habitación. Y cuando te despiertes, quizás tú y yo podamos jugar juntas. Si tu madre y tus tíos están de acuerdo con eso?”
Luis looked at Marnie quizzically, and the older woman shrugged.
“I did languages at Harvard. It was good for the business. I take it Reine is fluent in Spanish too?”
Luis nodded and a glint of satisfaction passed through Marnie’s eyes. At that, Sebastian stepped forwards.
“She’s also learning French,” he said proudly. “She’s our clever cookie. Although she’s only taking French because of that ridiculous school Ari makes her attend.”
“Ridiculous school?” Marnie asked.
“Reine goes to astate school,” Sebastian said, barely repressing a shudder. “She should be at St Paul’s Girl School, learning a useful language. Like Latin.”
“Latin is not a useful language,” Luis scoffed, and Ari saw Sebastian turn to him.
“I beg your pardon, but I learned Latin at St Paul’s.”
“And how often do you use it?”
“Often enough.”
“Fine, fine, fine,” Luis shrugged. “Next time we take Reine on a city break toancient Rome, I’ll remember to get you to order the table wine.”
“With that attitude, you won’t be getting any wine at all on our next city break.Or anything else you normally partake of at night, you uncouth swine—”
“Excuse me?” A tight, irritated voice rang out, and Ari turned to Sasha, who looked annoyed to high hell. Her lips were pressed together tightly, and the hand that wasn’t clasped within Tom’s was held against her hip. “Um, this is my wedding, and my initial dress fitting? Let Ari take her brat upstairs and—”
“Don’t call her that,” Tom abruptly interrupted. Though his voice was soft, there was a hard note to it that made everyone take notice.
“Tom,” Sasha whined, “she shouldn’t evenbehere. She’s ruining my moment—”
“She isn’t ruining anything,” Tom replied, though once again, his eyes had locked with Ari’s. They were soft and imploring, and Ari’s breath caught in her throat.
It had been years, but his eyes still made her stomach jump and heart race.
“No, she’s not,” Marnie agreed. “Right, Ari honey, you take Reine upstairs. I’ve had the decorators open the windows to air the smell of paint out. But if it’s still too strong, let her sleep in your room. Reine’s the priority here—”
“Reine is not the priority here,” Sasha cut in, indignation all over her face. “I’mthe priority. I’m the fucking bride here.”
“Don’t use that kind of language in front of my—” Marnie paused, collecting herself. “In front of Reine. She’s a child. Ari will take her upstairs, and you can take Mr De León upstairs for your initial dress fitting.”
“Sasha has big ideas for her dress,” Ari said softly, although her eyes never left Tom’s. “Once I’ve settled Reine, I’ll come through to help with the fitting.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Marnie intoned. “You’ll take a moment of your own. We’ll all have dinner together tonight. We can talk about—”
“—aboutthe wedding,” Sebastian slid in, warning in his voice. “We can all talk abouttheweddingthen, can’t we?”
“Yes.” Marnie nodded, her tone indicating she understood exactly what Sebastian was saying. “We can all talk aboutthe weddingthen. I think I have a few questions aboutthe weddingof my own.”
“Darling, we all have questions we want answered aboutthe wedding,” Sebastian agreed. “I’ve been thinking aboutthe weddingfor years.”
“Right, so then, that’s a plan,” Marnie nodded. “Ari, my love, you get this little sweetheart of yours up to bed to get some sleep. Sasha,” Marnie’s eyes narrowed, “you take Mr De León to the morning parlour to take your measurements. And Tom—” abruptly, Marnie turned to her son, though Ari noticed he didn’t take his eyes from hers, they were still staring at each other, still drinking one another in “—Tom, you come with me and Sebastian here. We can start talking about the, uh, the—”
