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Gio was my best man and he couldn’t be less thrilled about his role. He believed I was throwing my freedom away. It became a sore point during the bachelor party when part of me, the drunk me, admitted he might be right. An admission that sounded pathetic in light of my later howling about how much I adored my girl.
“I’d like to give you a wedding gift.” Mom straightened the handkerchief in my breast pocket, her gaze stern on me as if she was contemplating something.
“Don’t you want to wait for after the ceremony and give it to both of us?” I placed my hand over hers and studied her.
I couldn’t decipher her expression. It certainly wasn’t happiness. Nor was it sadness that her eldest son was leaving. In that moment she seemed torn, and the realization she wasn’t completely on my side hit me harder that I cared to admit.
She was much shorter than me. It was a running joke in my family because she was the smallest of us all. Her tiny frame was really half of mine.
But regardless of her height, she ruled the family with an iron fist. And we might be large men, but none of us dared to challenge her. Well, maybe Baldo did. He was a spoiled brat because he was the youngest and he’d never known our father.
“This is for you. Inyourname and pre-wedding, so it’s yours only. I wish you all the happiness, but just in case things don’t go your way, I want to make sure your dreams aren’t shattered.”
I frowned. Was she predicting that we’d break up and Blue would rip me off? Of what exactly? It wasn’t like I had much. My family was well-off, but I’d been an apprentice at Modigliani’s, a popular restaurant in Manhattan, for a year now, but that was as much as I had to my name.
“Mom, are you saying my marriage will fail? Didn’t you just say you’re happy for me? What the hell?” Irritation snaked around my insides as I tried to remain calm. Not something I was known for.
Mother swatted at me. “Don’t be over-sensitive. I’m just protecting you. Open it.” She nodded toward the envelope she’d pushed into my hands.
I ripped it open and the contents, really just one slip of paper, sent my heart pumping. My eyes darted between the check and my mother. Gio strolled toward us and craned his neck over my shoulder.
“Fuck me! I’m getting married tomorrow if this is the payout.” He punched my shoulder.
“Language, Gio.” Mother gave him one of her evil looks and he backed away. Her eyes landed on me and her expression was full of love and joy. This Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde routine should be old by now, but it had always spooked me how she could change her behavior so swiftly.
“My dearest Massi,” she said, “it’s time you started working on your own restaurant. You can’t work at Modigliani’s forever, and now you’ll have responsibilities for your own family.” She swiped invisible lint from her perfectly pressed dress.
“The family you believe will rip me off.” I couldn’t shake off the bitterness from her earlier comment, or perhaps I was stuck on it because comprehension of the fortune that had just landed in my lap was too foreign.
“Oh, please, stop it. Just promise me this will go toward your business, your career.” She patted my chest and waltzed away, berating my brothers in the process. Everyone except me exited the room.
Stunned was probably the closest description of my current state. I glanced at the six zeros on the check and shook my head.
Gio poked his head in the door and snapped his fingers. “Five minutes, bro. Are you sure you don’t want me to wait by the back door? There is still time.”
“Asshole. I’ll be right out there.”
Alone in the luxury suite of the hotel where, in a couple of hours, I’d start my honeymoon with the woman of my dreams, I couldn’t stop thinking about my mother’s prediction. Or her gift.
Our father left us a with a generous insurance policy and we lived comfortably. Even after my mother met Micah and he moved in with his four girls, my stepsisters, we never suffered from lack or need.
Eight children combined and six years later, my mother managed to save what must be millions because I doubted she’d just given me everything and left nothing for my brothers.
I put the check into my inside pocket and glanced at my reflection.
I’m getting married. I hoped it was the right decision.
* * *
“He was practically eating you with his eyes.” I shrugged off my jacket and vest, then yanked at my tie and practically ripped off my collar, trying to open it up.
“For the love of God, Massi, it’s not my fucking fault. It’s not like I asked him to stare and salivate—”
“So you admit he was all over you?” I needed to break something.
“I admit? Admit? I have nothing to admit. I didn’t encourage him.”
As Blue pulled the veil off her hair, a strand got stuck in the small comb. She jerked it one more time and then gave up. The lacy fabric hung attached to the silky dark curl, falling down around her shoulder. She put her hands on her hips, the goddess of vengeance.God, she was beautiful.
