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‘No!’ my mother protests, her attempt to down-play my rule forgotten now. ‘This is my daughter’s wedding and I get to bringwhomever I want.’
She stares at me, just enough of a crease in her otherwise Botoxed brow to tell me she’s displeased. Seriously displeased.
That makes two of us.
I step forward, and in spite of her statuesque height I still dwarf her. ‘Do you honestly think that turning up with a boy younger than your daughter is acceptable?’
Her laugh is wry now, pitched and grating. ‘Like you would refuse a twenty-year-old on your arm.’
I glare back at her and she wavers on the spot, her eyes flitting between her toy boy and me, before she straightens her spine and flicks her false golden waves over her shoulder.
‘I have a right to have a partner with me, Rafael.’
I don’t even blink. ‘You have a right to a partner who is presentable to a room full of your daughter’s nearest and dearest...’ Which will include Nonna, her mother, and Aunt Netta, her sister... I’m quick to shake off the image of that particular showdown before it takes hold. ‘Not some...ragazzo.’
I flick him a look. It’s not even his fault. My mother still has her looks and, thanks to the knife and her injection regime, looks half her age. But this is Dani’s wedding and I won’t let her ruin it. Not via embarrassment, drunken debauchery or any other such nonsense my mother is prone to.
She’s ruined enough of my sister’s life already.
‘I am not going without—’
‘It’s my car, my rules and youwill, if you want to see Dani married.’
The familiar shudder returns.Married.But it’s what Dani wants, and I trust Tyler to look after her, to do right by her. But married...the holy state of matrimony... No. Just no.
I stop my teeth from grinding and stare Marianna down. Watch as she blusters anew, assessing me for weakness and finding none. I’m cold, I’m ruthless and people do as I say. My mother included.
I see the second it registers, the high colour deepening beneath the thick layer of make-up as her shoulders sag and she blows out a breath.
Acceptance. Finally.Grazie a Dio.
My own shoulders ease, the throbbing ache in my skull ramping up now the tension has eased.
Painkillers, a nightcap and sleep. That’s what I need.
I just need to keep it all ticking along nicely for seven days. No drama, no mishaps, no mess.
I should have been at the castle hours ago. I should have been there to greet Dani and Tyler. Instead, I’m here, collecting my mother from the arms of her latest lover before she can bring this humiliation to my sister’s wedding.
Not a great start.
I scowl at her back as she fawns over him now and says goodbye.
What I wouldn’t give to have a normal mother. Not some ex-model with a non-existent heart and delusions of grandeur that well surpass her own income. Not to mention her string of lovers...
Seven days. She just needs to go without forseven days.
I certainly am. No plus-one. No distraction.
This week is all about Dani.
Keep one woman under control and the other happy.
Simple.
Or so it should be...but the emerging headache and our family history tell me it will be anything but.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been outside, but I have no wish to go back in. Not even the distant rumble of a car on the private driveway some time ago could pull me away from this little oasis, with the buzzing cicadas and crickets in the air, and the pool lapping over its infinity edge just beyond my feet.
