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He grinned from ear to ear. “I’m sure your grandmother would beg to differ, wouldn’t you Evelyn?”
I wasn’t sure who he was speaking to until he took his phone out of his pocket before placing it on the coffee table.
“I would,” a familiar voice said over the speaker and, just like that, Ethan, Wyatt, and I stood a little straighter. “Last time I checked, Ethan, the house belonged to me, unless you’ve written me off for dead.”
“I—”
“Welcome back home Wyatt, I wish I could have been there to see you.”
Wyatt came closer. “Nana, I—”
“But then again you shouldn’t have ever left home to begin with. You have a lot to make up for. I hope you don’t think you can just come back and get everything handed to you?”
“I—”
“But most of all, I’m disappointed in you, Donatella,” she continued and I felt my hands sting like she hit me with a switch, something she often did when I was younger. “So much has happened since I left Chicago and you, my sweet granddaughter, never once thought to call me? You are that big of a woman now you can’t ask me for advice or help? You know everything? You can do it all by yourselves, right? Am I already dead to you?”
“Nana,” all three of us said at the same.
“I may not be in Chicago, but know this: long before any of you were even a twinkle in your father’s eyes, before your father was even the head of this family, there was me. Me. I buried my father, my husband, and my son! Don’t you ever make me hear that any of you were on the verge of dying, Ethan. Or betraying this family, Donatella. Or forgetting who you are, Wyatt. Or so help me God, I’ll show you how small you all are when compared to me. Am I understood?”
None of us said anything. If we even thought to, our father might rise from the grave just to smack the shit out of us all.
“I take it back Evelyn, you are bona fide gangster,” the stranger on our couch snickered, tossing Ethan’s cashews into his mouth, happily.
I cracked my jaw to the side and speak sweetly into the phone, “Nana, who is this strange person, why is he in our home, and can I kill him now?”
“You’re asking questions instead of apologizing?” she questioned back and I bit my lip. “You’re too big to apologize now? And at family gathering. How could you? Have you lost your mind?”
Strike one, I thought, handing the phone to Wyatt. He looked at me like I was mad as I pushed to the phone to him. He gritted his teeth at me before taking the phone.
“Nana,” Wyatt said with full charm, “I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to call; I’ve been so busy! I saved Ethan’s life and then there was—”
“And yet you still found time to play around with the maids? How many times have I told you the women in the house are not your toys?!”
Wyatt closed his mouth, shaking his head as he tossed the phone to Ethan who caught it gently. Strike two.
“Grandmother,” he said casually, “how are you?”
“You would know if you called,” she shot back.
Ethan nodded. “I would know, however I told you I wouldn’t be able to get in touch for a while.”
Foul.
“You told me you’d call before you left Boston because you needed some information. Where are you currently?”
Ethan made face. “Chicago, but I no longer needed the information. The plan changed so I thought I’d allow you to get some more rest.”
Foul two.
“Aren’t you the same one who tells me not to rest too much or I’ll end up dead? Honestly Ethan, I’m hurt; you’re usually on top of things like this. I was even more hurt after what happened to you and Ivy.”
He paused, watching as the stranger moved from the couch over to the globe, lifting it up and pulling out a Scotch for himself. He glanced around inside in search of something, until he finally looked over to us, displeased. “Where’s the ice?”
“Why would there be ice in a globe?” Wyatt asked, annoyed.
“Why would there be Scotch in a globe but no brandy?” he questioned back in the same annoyed voice. “Obviously, it’s not a globe, it’s a bar. A bar stocked by someone with poor taste or who likes to force other people to drink bad whiskey. Either way, I’m trying not to complain about that and accept what I’m given. However, it’s quite difficult to do when there isn’t any ice…in a bar.”
