Birthright
Page 24
“That’s a standing order for family dinners,” Nora reminds me.
“Yeah, well, it’s especially important tonight.” I glance at Kate, but she doesn’t look at me. She keeps twisting her fingers in her lap and chewing on her lower lip. “Kate? Did you want to say something?”
“Honestly, Nate,” my aunt says, finally looking up, “I don’t know how I feel. We need a wedding quickly, of course. Weddings must follow funerals to keep the family numbers up and that strengthen us. Not having one invites further tragedy, and we’ve seen recently how true that is. Who gets married and to whom they get married isn’t necessarily of consequence. That said, I’m not sure why you haven’t reached out to the other families for a suitable arranged marriage. Then you wouldn’t have this problem. Some poor, backwater girl enamored and blinded by your money and power is fine for your bedchamber but hardly an asset to the family.”
The room goes quiet for a moment.
“You asked,” Kate says. She squares her shoulders and holds my gaze for a long moment before looking down at her clipboard.
“I suppose I did.” I lean back a little in the chair. “I think she’ll fit in just fine with legitimate business. I’m also in the process of making her more familiar with the maple syrup business, and she might very well run that factory for us in the future if she’s so inclined.”
“We can hire any high school graduate to make syrup.” Kate narrows her eyes at me. “It’s your decision to make, Nataniele, but I don’t know why you haven’t even considered asking about Moretti’s daughter or someone from the Franks family. That’s how it used to be done.”
“Moretti is still recovering from his war with Grecko,” I say. The very idea is ludicrous. Those families—though distant relations far back somewhere—were way out of our league. If I were to ask Rinaldo Moretti for his daughter’s hand, he’d probably have me shot for the insult. “Besides, he only has his daughter to run the business after he retires. She isn’t going to move from Chicago to fucking Cascade Falls!”
“Pretty sure he’s setting up his hitman to take over,” Threes interjects.
I glare at him.
“Just sayin’.” He shrugs and looks over to his sister.
“I thought he died in the last tournament,” Antony says.
“Oh, yeah. Forgot about that.” Threes wriggles his eyebrows. “Though no one ever found a body.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “Even if I were so inclined to make such an inquiry—which I’m not—no Moretti is going to marry an Orso. It would be a step down for them, and I wouldn’t risk the insult by asking.”
“Nate’s right,” Antony says. “They’re big time, and we’re not. We weren’t even asked to take part in their little game up north.”
“Be glad of that,” Threes says. “If we were, you’d probably be dead.”
“I would have nominated you,” Antony says with a grin.
“Can we get back to the actual topic?” Nora blurts out. “Cherry is coming to dinner. I, for one, am excited to meet her. And Kate, no one is doing arranged marriages anymore. You need to get into the twenty-first century.”
“That’s worked out so well thus far.” My aunt’s eyes are uncharacteristically dark.
“Really?” Nora glowers at her. “You’re going there?”
“It’s the way it was for generations,” Kate says, “and no one ever questioned it until now. Even Micha, God rest his soul, had his marriage arranged. If she weren’t already promised to someone else, we might have set her up with Nataniele, but we waited too long. Marriages and children are how we kept the peace between the families all the way back to—”
“Dear God, not another lesson about the old ways!” Nora sighs loudly.
“Stop it, all of you.” I lean back and run my fingers into my eye sockets. I’m starting to get a headache from all of this. “Aunt Kate, I’m not going to marry some woman in Seattle. Nora, stop being a pain in the ass. Everyone, remember what’s important here—Cherry is coming for dinner. We’re having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and you’re all going to love it. You’re going to do everything you can to make her feel at home. Clear?”
*****
Dinner goes remarkably well. Cherry is happy and comfortable with my family as the night goes on. Nora made far more effort than I thought she would, and she and Cherry seemed to bond a little. Even Twos got into the mix, and the three of them seemed to be making plans together.
Aunt Kate had been a little strange in the beginning, but then she’d been acting a little strange all day. If she suggests another arranged marriage to me, I am going to explode. Yeah, I know it was done that way in the past, and I’m not trying to be disrespectful to her generation, but I’m not having the family matriarch choose a wife for me. She needs to understand that times have changed, even here in Cascade Falls.
The whole evening had me feeling positively giddy. When I drive Cherry home, I throw all caution to the wind and nearly declare my intentions to her in the car.
My heart is still racing when I get back home, and I swear it starts beating even faster when I glance at her car still sitting in the driveway and know I’ll be seeing her first thing in the morning. The only thing that could possibly ruin my mood is my sister standing in the doorway when I head inside.
“Nataniele, what are you doing?” Nora leans against the wall with a robe wrapped around her. She shivers before I manage to shut the door.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Are you really going to propose to that girl you’ve known for what, a month now?”
“That’s the plan.” I’m a little annoyed that Nora’s actually going to give me crap about this. At least she isn’t the one who has to get married.
“She’s barely more than a child.”
“Oh, please, Nora!” I groan as I hang up my jacket and turn back to her. The whole night had been spectacular, and I don’t need my sister screwing up my good mood. “If you have a better idea, please inform me. If you bring up an arranged marriage, I’ll have Kate pick out a line of suitors for you.”
“Last time this family had a marriage arranged, Micha ended up dead in the woods.”
Mood officially ruined. I can’t believe she actually brought that up. My hands clench into fists. I grit my teeth as I stomp off to my office, but Nora follows me.
“Are you going to tell me you didn’t see the connection? I know Pops refused to, but I thought you had more sense!”
“What do you expect from me, Nora?” I violently grab a bottle of bourbon from the cabinet and manage to slosh liquid all over my desk as I fill a glass. “You want me to declare war on Franks? How long do you think the family would last, huh? We can’t even keep up with the fucking Ramsays!”
“Who says we’re not keeping up?”
“That bitch showed up at the fucking funeral!” I yell at her, wondering just who all we were going to wake up with our racket. “She just walked right up to me like she owns the whole fucking town, not just the west side. No respect. No fear. And whose fault is that?”
“I don’t know, Nataniele. Whose fault is it?”
“Mine!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not supposed to be doing this! I’m not supposed to be the head of the family, and she knows it! Pops never should have turned the seat over to me!”
“Turned it over? You’re not making any sense. Who else would be there if not you?”
“Pops should still be there. Or Antony. You. Kate. Anyone but me.”
Nora presses her lips together and huffs a breath out through her nose. She moves closer, pours her own glass of bourbon, and then pulls me over to sit next to her on the couch.
“I know this isn’t what you expected, dear brother,” she says in a soft voice. “None of us expected this. It’s too soon. We’ve lost too much in too short a time. That isn’t your fault. I miss them too, you know.”
I roll my eyes. If she thinks I
miss her departed husband, or if she considers bringing him into this conversation, I’ll blow a gasket.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, waving my hand around in the air as if that will make my point. “What matters now is how I make this work going forward. The first thing I have to do is make this work with Cherry.”
“Why?” Nora places her drink on the table and sits back against the arm of the couch, folding her arms over her chest and giving me that pointed, “I’m not going anywhere until I get a satisfactory answer out of you” look.
I close my eyes for a minute as I try to form words that will get my sister off my back. I know what she’s trying to do—trying to get me to understand my own motives—but I just don’t need the psychoanalysis right now. I have other matters on which to focus my energy.
“Cherry is the perfect answer,” I finally say when I open my eyes. “She has no idea what’s going on in this town, and that’s to my benefit. She’s falling for me, exactly as I want her to, and by the time she does understand, it will be too late to back out.”
“Too late?”
“Once we’re engaged and the wedding plans set and paid for, there’s no way she won’t say ‘I do’ at the altar.”
“Why not?”
“She’s too kind.” I laugh. I can’t help it. “There is no way she would back out once everything is booked. She doesn’t have it in her.”
“Nataniele!”
“What, Nora?” I’m pissed now. I hold my glass of bourbon steady, the muscles in my arm tense. If she starts calling me by my full name, I’ll toss my bourbon at her.
“What the fuck, Nate?” She reaches over and shoves me in the chest—hard. The bourbon I was going to throw at her spills all over my pants.
“Dammit, Nora!” I stand up, hold my arms out wide, and just let the liquid drip onto the floor.
“You’re going to use her and exploit the fact that she’s kind? Do you even hear yourself?”
“Why do you even care?” I plant the glass down on my desk and try to wipe the liquid off my thighs with one hand. It doesn’t work.
“Because…” Nora pauses for a long moment, then stands up and heads over to the bottle. I watch her pour herself another bourbon, refill my glass on the desk, and then flop back down on the couch with her legs stretched out, making it impossible for me to sit back down.
“Passive-aggressive much?” I mutter, but she ignores me.
“I like her, Nate. She seems really sweet.”
“She is sweet.”
“And you’re using her.”
“She doesn’t seem to mind.” I shrug, trying to ignore the knot forming in my stomach.
“How can she mind if she doesn’t know you’re doing it! Ugh, Nate!” Nora swivels on the couch and stamps her feet on the floor. “Have you really gone completely brain dead?”
“You know, I think I’m about done with this.” I down the bourbon, slam the glass back on the desk, and attempt to march out of the office and maybe slam a few doors along the way to my room, but Nora grabs my arm.
“Think, Nate.”
“About what?”
“The future of this ridiculous little fantasy world you’re creating, maybe?”
I glare at her.
“Let’s just picture this a few years down the line, shall we? She gets it all figured out, resents you for putting her in such a position, and then you’re stuck with a wife who wants nothing to do with you.”
“It will be a bit late then, won’t it?”
“Nataniele!” Nora groans, releases my arm, and holds her hands over her face.
If I were to be honest with myself, I hadn’t thought much past the actual wedding. The wedding is what’s important right now. It’s the only way I can stop this curse from happening again—the only way I can keep another member of my family from dying. I need a wife. I need to produce some little Orsos to keep the family line going.
“Nate, this isn’t you. You can’t do this, and somewhere inside that thick skull of yours, you know it.”
The lump that has been forming in my stomach moves up and lodges in my throat. I want to open my mouth to defend myself, but I can’t seem to do it.
“I know how much of a Catholic you are, even when you don’t admit it to anyone,” Nora says simply. “When you marry, you’ll stand before Father Brian, say your vows in front of God, Mary, and all the saints, and it will be for life. I know you’re under a lot of pressure, but are you sure this is the answer?”
“What choice do I have?” I have to swallow hard before I manage to croak out the words.
“You can tell her now,” Nora says. “Tell her everything, and let her make her own decisions. Stop the deception.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a great plan!” I shake my head, and I roll my eyes. I move away from her and stand near the window, staring at my half-empty bourbon glass.
“Why not?”
“Because she has no loyalty, Nora. I can’t tell her all this shit. She might very well head straight to the feds.”
“And what makes you think she won’t do that later?”
“By then, she’ll be in love with me. She’ll be loyal.”
“Oh, of course!” Sarcasm surges from her mouth like a raging river after a storm. “I completely forgot about your magic ejaculate! One dose of that, and your powers of mind control take effect! I should have realized it when you served up sandwiches for dinner! My God, the jelly wasn’t laced with your semen, was it?”
“Cut that shit out,” I growl. “I haven’t even…”
Shit! I should have kept my mouth shut.
“You haven’t fucked her yet?”
I look away from her. I stare at the picture of Pops on the wall. I stare into my bourbon glass, which is now half empty. I stare at the floor, the wall, the door—maybe I should make a run for it.
“You haven’t!” Nora gasps.
“What difference does that make?” I mutter, but it’s too late.
“Since when do you wait?”
I only shrug in response. I don’t wait. I’ve never waited.
“Is she a virgin?”
“What? No.” I think about it for a moment. “Hell, I…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Nora stares at me now, mouth agape.
“I don’t think so. I mean, she came on kinda strong for a virgin.”
“Oh, this just keeps getting better!” Nora laughs unpleasantly. “So, let’s back up a bit. She came on to you, and you said no?”
Apparently, answering is superfluous.
“That is absolutely priceless!” Nora laughs and shakes her head at me. “Now I have to decide if you actually thought all this through, assuming holding off would make her want you more or if there’s some other reason you aren’t telling me.”
“Nora, will you just shut up a minute?”
“Fine.”
I lick my lips, swallow hard to try to get rid of that lump, and shuffle over to sit on the couch again. Nora turns toward me, expectant, but I haven’t really figured out what I want to say. She’s making me question my motives, and I had assumed they were pretty clear. Now I’m not so sure.
Back to the basics, then.
“Cherry is the perfect answer. She’s smart, she’s kind, and she doesn’t give a shit about the money and the power. Actually, if anything, all of that is a turnoff for her, but she’s moved past it already. She doesn’t care about it one way or the other. Who else in this town could possibly say that with a straight face? She actually likes me for me.”
“Wow. All right, this is taking an unexpected turn.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You actually like her.”
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t decide to move forward if I couldn’t stand to be in a room with her.”
“Oh, no,” Nora says, “you don’t get off that easy. You actually like her. Like, falling for her and everything.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I feel my face warm
slightly.
“Are you blushing?” Hideous laughter erupts from my dear sister. She can’t contain herself and has to quickly excuse herself to the bathroom.
When she returns, I’ve poured us both fresh glasses of bourbon even though I’m starting to feel rather tipsy.
“Now I have to rethink all of this.” Nora reclaims her place on the couch, turns to face me, and leans forward. She places her hands on my thigh and leans close enough that I can feel her breath on my face. “Look into my eyes so I know what you’re thinking!”
“For fuck’s sake, Nora.” I roll my eyes, but she grabs my chin and turns me toward her. I scowl and grit my teeth.
“All of this started as a plot, yes?”
“Yes.”
“But it’s not anymore, is it?”
I swallow hard.
“Ho-ly shit!” Nora shakes her head, a wide smile on her face. “Is that why you didn’t sleep with her?”
“There was only one time we came close,” I admit. “It was our first date, and I didn’t want to move too fast. I didn’t want to ruin it.”
“But you’ve had other opportunities since then, right?”
“I’ve tried to avoid going into her apartment with her. Tonight, if she had stayed over…I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You really don’t want to fuck it up. You want this to actually work, like for real, not just because it’s your duty.” My far too intuitive sister, who knows me far too well, looks far too smug for her own good.
All my doubts and insecurities creep in, and I realize I have no idea what I’m doing. Even as I plot and scheme and lie, the guilt has been threatening to overwhelm me, but I’ve managed to ignore it. I’ve managed to deny it. Now my sister is calling me out on it, and I’m simply not prepared.
I’m not supposed to be feeling this way.
“I was trying to figure out what to say to her when I dropped her off,” I say quietly. “I knew I needed to make it good. I needed the night to end on a high note. I wasn’t sure, but I thought she’d be drawn to our large family, and I was right. She’s been deprived of that kind of relationship her whole life, and she craves it. I knew it was a perfect time to seal the deal, but I wasn’t sure what I should say to her.”