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“Why does Lucia get soda and I don’t?” Luca asks.
“Because you can’t handle all that sugar,” Mom explains.
“That’s stupid.” He grabs Lucia’s glass.
“Hey!” she says, grabbing for it. They start fighting over the soda. Soon, it’s spilling over the edge of the cup and landing on Mom’s nice linen.
“Stop it!” Mom shouts at them. “Stop it, you two!”
Luca is in the middle of grabbing the glass from Lucia, and Lucia immediately let’s go when Mom shouts. This causes the glass in Luca’s hand to move with momentum, and suddenly, soda is flying across the table.
… to land exactly on my white shirt.
I gasp when the soda hits me, and the entire table goes silent.
Tears brim at the corner of my eyes as I stand.
“Cecilia,” Mom says, reaching out her hand.
“I need to clean up,” I say, trying to stop the tears from spilling over. Antonio watches me with pity. I want to scream at Antonio to tease me. That’s what he would have done when we were younger. Now, he only looks at me like I’m makinghislife somehow harder.
My eyes land on Theo across the room. His brow is furrowed in concern. Theo turns to the napkin cabinet and grabs me one, handing it to me. But to take it means I have to walk over to him in my stained shirt. I can’t stand the embarrassment. I can’t stand knowing Theo is seeing me like this—like I’m a little girl who just got soda spilled on her.
I hurry out of the room. One of the chairs scrapes as it’s pushed back, and footsteps follow me. I only look back when I reach the powder room. It’s Emilia, of course. She was always like a second mom to us growing up. And even though she’s a mom herself now, she still makes time for her younger siblings.
Unlike Antonio.
Yes, I’m bitter about it. I thought I’d be so happy for him to take over the family business, but it’s only made him distant from me. And he was gone for five years after Franco tried to kill him. I felt closer to him in the five years I didn’t see him than in the couple of months he’s been back in my life as mob boss.
Emilia follows me into the bathroom, already getting a towel wet and dabbing at my shirt. “Are you ok?”
Hearing my sister’s concern makes the tears finally spill down. “It’s just embarrassing.”
“Of course, it is. God, I’ve gotten spills on my shirt so many times since having Essie. You get used to stains after a while. You’ll understand more when you become a mom one day. Here. Let me go get you a clean shirt. Ok?”
“Thanks.”
Emilia returns a few minutes later with one of my light pink shirts. “Here.”
I slip it on, and she takes the stained one. “I can’t believe that happened. And in front of Theo, no less.” The words slip out of me before I can stop them.
Emilia pauses, staring down at my stained shirt. “What does Theo have to do with anything?”
“No reason,” I squeak.
“Uh-huh.” She gives me a pointed look. “Cecilia, I know you’ve had a crush on him for years. Every time I’ve visited, I’ve seen it. But I thought that as you got older, you’d grow out of it. That’s not the case, is it?”
I shake my head, feeling shame radiate through me.
Emilia sighs, leaning against the sink. “I’m only saying this because I love you. You will marry someone you don’t choose. That was the case for me. For Gemma. And for Francesca. And knowing how mafia politics are, it’ll be the same for you.”
“You don’t think Antonio will force me to marry a stranger, do you?”
“He’s boss now. He’s under a lot of pressure. He might. I’m not sure. Dad arranged the marriage between Marco and me before he died, and he was our dad. Antonio is just our brother. I don’t know what he’s capable of now that he’s boss. It could bring out the best in him or it could …” She swallows hard, a darkness crossing her eyes. “Or it could bring out the worst in him.”
“But Antonio and I were always close. He wouldn’t force me into a marriage I don’t want.”
Emilia only looks at me with a sad expression. I slump. She’s right. I don’t know who this new Antonio is. He could very well marry me to a stranger. I know for a fact he’ll never marry me off to Theo.
