Page 50 of Taking What Was His

“Thanks, Beth.”

Beth walked around the table. Roman immediately pulled her against his side as he listened to one of his brothers.

Beth stayed silent and listened.

“Hey, Mom.”

Beth turned to see Jayden and Tristian run up.

“Would it be okay if I ate with the guys down at the other end?”

She smiled. “Sure. Have fun.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Roman kissed the top of her head. “Grandma wants you to sit by her.”

Her brows snapped together. “Oh, that’s not right.”

“No, baby, the family is thrilled. The woman tells the same stories over and over again, and you can keep her occupied by talking with her in Italian.”

She laughed. “Oh, so you’re using me?”

“Hell, yeah. Why do you think I brought you?”

She smacked his chest.

“Let’s go sit down.” Roman held out a chair next to his grandma, and then he sat next to her while his mom and dad sat on the other side.

****

As bowls and platters were passed around the table, Roman’s grandmother talked non-stop in Italian. Beth caught his mom hiding a smile as she sat in the chair across from them.

It pleased her immensely that she was being pulled in and made welcome.

Roman nudged her with his elbow. “Do you want more of anything?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m so full. Everything was delicious. Maybe they’d teach me how to cook.”

His mother popped up. “I would love to. I know Alicia would, as well.”

“I’d enjoy that also,” a sister-in-law who heard their conversation said.

After the meal was finished, all the women and some of the older girls started carting things into the kitchen. Several women stayed inside and started putting food away and washing dishes. Beth stepped in wherever she could.

It was amazing how quickly everything was done because there were so many of them.

After the kitchen was cleaned, she went out the back to see the table had been taken down, and most of the chairs folded up and set aside to give the guys space to play football.

Beth was glad to see that it was not violent because smaller kids were playing also.

She sat next to Camila and Brooke, two of the sisters-in-law, and Roman’s grandmother, mother, and father on chairs set off to the side and out of the way and cheered on the teams.

The next few hours passed by, and when it was time to go, she was extremely sad to say goodbye.

On their way home, Jayden talked non-stop about the nephews and how cool they were.

Roman kept her hand in his and sat back and listened. “I’m just glad I had you on my team. Now I get to bug a few of my brothers.”