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Chapter Twelve
NAT
“Que bella,” the charming elderly woman said as she pinched my cheeks and turned toward Spencer. “Amore mio, questa ragazza e perfetta per ti.”
I didn’t speak Italian, but I got the gist of what she was saying, and I looked down at the floor. “Grazie mille, Signora.” I knew that much, at least. I’d done a little googling on the plane the night before, and thankfully, Italian was somewhat comparable to Spanish, which I could almost speak fluently.
Her dark eyes lit up. “Parla Italiano?”
I shook my head apologetically at her. “No. Español, un poco.” I faced her with a sheepish smile as I took her hand in mine. “But it’s such a beautiful language. I’d like to learn.”
“Talk to my grandson,” she said, holding my face again, “and my great-granddaughter. Very clever, my girl. You learn it very fast.”
“I hope so,” I said.
“You have to,” she said, pinching her hand in the signature gesture I’d begun to see ever since coming to Italy. “You are part of an Italian family. You must speak the language.”
I smiled at her. “I understand. It looks like I have some studying to do.”
She shrugged one shoulder, elegantly clothed as it was in a cashmere sweater. “Later, though. Are you hungry? I knew mio bambino was coming home today, and I asked for some of his favorite foods to be made for lunch.”
I looked over at Spencer, who nodded subtly at me. “I’m starving. We didn’t really eat breakfast, so—”
“Mai, basta,” she said softly as she got up from the comfortable chaise near the sunroom window.
She’d been sitting there when we were led inside to meet her. Becca had happily taken on the role of my tour guide, pointing out different facets of the house and explaining interesting facts as if she were a docent. When we made it to the sunroom, Becca greeted her great-grandmother with a kiss on each cheek before sitting down on the floor next to her feet, watching as Spencer introduced me to his Nonna, Graziella.
The distinguished woman kissed him before hushing him, seating me next to her, and insisting that I call her Nonna, which was good because it was one less name not to botch.
All of us went out to the terrace, taking our seats around a table that had been perfectly and formally set. Spencer pulled my chair out for me, letting his hand linger on my shoulder in one of the sweet, casual touches we’d been indulging in since we put the simpler wedding bands on each other—the ones that still felt foreign to me.
Before he could take his spot in the chair next to me, though, Becca slid into it with a sweet, expectant look up at me.
I bit the inside of my cheek, struggling to hold back a chuckle at the girl’s daring attitude.
“Bex,” her mother chided softly.
I cocked my head to Sloane, Becca’s mother, softly signaling that I was happy with her daughter joining me at the table.
“Watch out,” Spencer said from my other side so only I could hear, claiming the other empty chair. “She’ll give you the whole history of the region if you’re not careful.”
“Good,” I said in return. “At least someone around here is high-value company.”
He chuckled, weaving his fingers through mine and bringing my fingers up to his lips. “Watch it, or I’ll have to shut this mouth of yours later.”
“Oh,” I murmured and reached for the glass of chilled white wine in front of my plate, “I’m counting on it.”
“Well, son,” Heidi said from down the table as she took her seat across from Spencer, “you certainly have picked up some terrible American habits, haven’t you?”
I glanced at Spencer’s dark expression, then back to Heidi, unable to keep my mouth shut. If the woman wanted embarrassing American habits, I could accommodate that easily.
“You can’t possibly be referring to Spencer,” I interjected. “I don’t know any man who has better manners.”
Heidi’s eyes went straight to Spencer, making it obvious that she had no interest in listening to the annoying American broad her son managed to pick up alongside his terrible American habits.
“I know for a fact that I didn’t raise you to whisper at the table,” she said, pointedly ignoring me and my comment entirely.
What a bitch, I thought.
