“Of course, darling,” Jacqueline said, shooting Tony a parting glance. “When you get back from your honeymoon, we’ll need to get your summer wardrobe built. We’ll make plans to go.”
“I’d like that very much, thank you.” Having successfully steered her away from Tony, Robin disengaged her arm. “And thank you again for hosting the dinner tonight. I know the groom’s family is supposed to be the host for the rehearsal dinner.”
“Well, Antonio has always considered my husband as a brother, for whatever reason.” She gestured toward one of the O’Farrell kids. “I need to go rescue my Italian leather furniture from those … children,” she said the last word like it stuck in her mouth.
Robin looked as one of the older O’Farrell’s sat down on the white leather sofa and brought his knees up, resting his boots on the seat of the couch. Caroline and Jacqueline both made a beeline for him at the same time.
“Nice place,” Maxine said, coming up to Robin and handing her a glass of water. She gestured at the sweeping stairway that led to the rooms upstairs. An open balcony showed several closed doors. “I like the open second floor.”
“It makes the room feel huge,” Robin said. “Jacqui told me about some photo shoot that some home magazine is coming to do at Tony’s apartment. This world is so different from anything we’ve known.”
“You’ll fit in. You served most of these people at Benedict’s over the years. You know how they think, act, interact. And, you can remember names. That’s a huge deal.”
Robin nodded and took a long pull of her water. She didn’t realize how thirsty she was until she started drinking. “It’s less and less intimidating as the days go by.”
She felt Tony’s hand on her waist and turned her head to smile at him. “You handled that with expertise,” he said, referring to Jacqueline.
“Well, all those years as a waitress and bartender have taught me the fine art of soothing angry souls,” Robin said with a smile.
“Color me impressed. She is often difficult to get along with.”
“Nah,” Robin said, shaking her head. “She is afraid of not being accepted, so she goes overboard to make sure she is. I feel kind of bad for her.”
Tony brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I love your heart,” he said.
“And I love you.”
“I wasn’t finished.” Tony said, “I love your heart but please don’t fall for Jacqui’s tricks. Trust me when I tell you she is not someone anyone needs to feel sorry for. In fact, she is a hungry lion roaming the earth seeking whom she may devour. She has teeth and claws and very often malevolent intent. Know that going into any conversation and guard your heart my beloved bride.”
“Tony, you aren’t really describing the woman I spent an entire day shopping with.”
Tony nodded. “I understand that.”
“I guess I’m just surprised to hear you say these things. I mean, look at this party she’s hosting.”
Tony grinned. “You are so generous with your love, my darling. Listen, Barry is hosting this party. And believe me when I tell you that Jacqui has given him no end of grief over it among many other things. Do me a favor and just watch her when she is around Barry tonight. I trust your instincts and so should you.”
Something about Maxine’s stance and demeanor changed as Tony spoke. When he concluded his last request, Maxine interrupted. “Hey, I’m starving. Let’s make sure they know everyone is here so they can start serving.”
OBIN stood in the middle of the living room and held her hands out, whirling in a circle. She laughed, and the sound filled and satisfied Tony’s soul. He smiled, delighting in her.
“We are married,” she said with a grin, kicking her shoes off.
“Till death,” Tony smiled walking toward her until he could hook her waist with his arm. “Or until I get tired of you,” he said.
With a snort, Robin grabbed his tie. “You won’t get rid of me that easy.”
“God, I hope not,” he said, putting a hand on her cheek. “You are amazing and beautiful. I think what we did tonight was a great idea. Now you can enjoy tomorrow without the added stress of getting married.”
Robin slipped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Antonio Viscolli. I am eternally grateful for the day God placed you in my life.”
“And I you, mia moglie.” He smiled and looked into her sapphire blue eyes. “I like that, calling you ‘my wife’. I look forward to doing that for many years.” He brought his lips down to hers, feeling his breath sweep away at the mere brush of her skin on his. The blood roared in his ears as he deepened the kiss, and he fought for control even as he pulled her tighter to him.
He kissed her and kissed her, drinking her in. Ripping his mouth away, he ran his lips along her jaw to the nape of her neck, inhaling the scent of her perfume, feeling all cognitive thinking sweep away. He felt Robin’s hands slide up his head and grip his hair as he kissed the sensitive skin under her ear. Her gasp, the clutch of her hands, the way her body moved against his almost made him lose control, but he clawed for it and grasped it back.
He ripped his head up and tried to take a breath that wasn’t consumed with her taste or smell. She placed her lips on his neck, almost mimicking his kiss. “Wait,” he panted. His skin burned under her touch.
“Wait for what?” Robin purred, kissing his jaw, placing her lips at the corner of his mouth.
“You need – “
Robin silenced him with her kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on tiptoe as if she wanted to devour him. When she finally broke her mouth away, she said, “I need you.” Framing his face with her hands, she stared into his eyes and he started to drown. “I need you, mio marito.”
Hearing her call him her husband in his native tongue broke the last thread of control he clumsily held. Sweeping her into his arms he cradled her to him as he kissed her and carried her into his – into their – bedroom.
Greater Than Rubies: CHAPTER 17
OBIN opened her eyes, momentarily panicked by the unfamiliar surroundings. Then memories of the night before came flooding back and she slowly sat up, pulling the sheet up with her. She surveyed the room around her with interest, recognizing her bath robe hanging on the back of the open closet door next to his. Boxes lay stacked in a corner labeled “bedroom,” obviously waiting for her to fully move in.
She sat up against a mahogany headboard. A heavy cream-colored cover trimmed in brown lay folded at the foot of the bed. A huge Oriental rug covered the floor. Against one wall, a fireplace had wood stacked next to it ready to be lit. In front of it two leather chairs flanked a large chess set. On the walls hung paintings of Boston, various locations at various times of the year.
Tony came into the room wearing khaki pants and a white shirt open at the neck. He carried a steaming mug of coffee. Her heart immediately started racing at the sight of him. She wondered if seeing him in the morning would do that for the rest of her life.
“Good morning, cara,” he said. He set the mug on the night stand next to the bed and sat on the edge of the bed by her hip. Putting a hand on either side of her, he leaned forward and brushed her lips with his own. She sighed and tried to deepen the kiss, but he chuckled and pulled back. “As much as spending the day with you in bed really appeals to me, we’re running late as it is. Much to do today,” he said. “We have to get married, after all.”
He presented her with the coffee and she took the first heavenly sip. As the caffeine worked its way through her body, she pulled her knees up and wrapped her free arm around her legs. “We’re already married. Can’t we just skip to the cake?”
Tony laughed. “Cake will come soon enough.” He kissed her again and stood. “And then the honeymoon.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Which means all day in bed if we want.”
Robin grinned and put her arms over her head, stretching. When the sheet fell, she watched Tony’s eyes darken. “Oh, I want,” she said giggling. She pulled the sheet back up. “Where ar
e my clothes?”
Tony cleared his throat and sweat popped out on his forehead. He took a step backward and gestured at the closet. “There’s new and old in there. The clothes you purchased with Jacqui are all put away. If I were you, I’d wear something from there. Our friends in the press are going to be everywhere today.”
“Press?”
He shrugged. “You’ll be fine.” He smiled and bent to kiss her one more time. “Get dressed before I make us late to our own wedding.” He started from the room, but paused and snapped is fingers. “I have a car arriving in thirty minutes to take you to the hotel. Your sisters and Caroline are already there. I have to run.”
“Where will you be?” Robin asked.
“The groom isn’t supposed to see the bride before the wedding, remember? The next time I see you, you’ll be walking down the aisle toward me.”
ARAH stepped into the massive Grand Ballroom of the Viscolli hotel. The sight that greeted her nearly took her breath away. Hundreds of tables covered in ivory and gold, formally set with gold-rimmed china and crystal filled the room. Each table had a beautiful centerpiece of a round ball of ivory roses sitting on a tall pillar. The chairs at the tables were covered with ivory brocade and tied at the top of the chair with a large red ribbon that formed a bow on the back of the chair.
At the far end of the room, massive doors opened to the tent area, but the carpet and ceiling matched so well that Sarah could barely tell where the ballroom ended and the tent began. Waiters and bus boys worked inside the tent, covering chairs, setting tables, and placing centerpieces.
The long head table spanned the front of the room with a gorgeous red and ivory rose centerpiece that ran along its entire length. The chairs for Tony and Robin, at the middle of the table, looked like thrones fit for a king and queen. And, honestly, as far as Sarah could tell, Tony seemed like royalty. This wedding certainly felt like the royal wedding, Sarah thought, especially with the mob of reporters camped outside the hotel and roving the hotel lobby. She imagined the church would be just as chaotic.
Sarah really liked Tony. Having been raised in the church and taught to work and give to God, she loved that he dedicated his entire life and fortune to ministry. She knew he would do anything for anyone if he could. He had certainly proven it by opening his home to Derrick.
Thinking of that boy set her teeth on edge. Tony met him outside of a seedy bar in the very worst neighborhood possible, and a month later the boy was living with him? She wouldn’t care, it would be just fine, except that Robin and Sarah were going to be living there, too.
Not wanting thoughts of him to ruin this day, because certainly his presence during the ceremony would be enough, Sarah shook her head and walked over to the far end of the ballroom, away from the open doors and the tent area, to where the cake table was set up.
The massive, amazing structure was simply stunning. Eight tiers rose up in ivory colored buttercream. Beautifully hand crafted sugar flowers of roses, lilies, hydrangea, ranunculus, and orchids created an amazing waterfall of flowers spilling from the top on down the tiers, widening as it reached the huge bottom tier.
Sarah shifted her overnight bag on her shoulder and turned, looking at the room from this angle. Robin had absolutely outdone herself. Well, Robin with the help and guidance of Stephanie and Maxine. Without them, Robin had joked that they’d have had a backyard wedding in blue jeans with chocolate cake.
Sarah thought back to the first time she met Robin. She had no memory of her life before waking up in her then foster parents’ home. In an effort to protect and shield her, they’d made no mention of sisters or a murdered mother or the life from which she’d come to them. They just told her that God gave her to them, and shushed any possible questions until she just learned not to ask them.
But on the morning of her fifteenth birthday, Robin and Maxine sat at the kitchen table at her parents’ house, not knowing she didn’t know them. Robin had been fighting in the court system for visitation rights, and finally won the right to visit Sarah for an hour each week. Sarah fell in love with her sisters, though they intimidated her. They were hard, with hard eyes and air of desperation about them that Sarah thought needed to be avoided. But she waited all week for the time to arrive when she could see them again, and gradually got to know them.
When her high school graduation loomed in front of her, her parents broke the news - they would not be able to afford college on any level. Because they did not believe in borrowing money, and because Sarah had been taught at a very young age not to borrow money, the idea of a student loan repelled her. Struggling to find a way to afford to go to college, Robin’s suggestion that she pay for it was a welcome option. The only condition was that Sarah live with her and Maxine while she went to school. Sarah was thrilled. Not only would she get to actually go to school, but she would get to know these beautiful and brilliant sisters of hers.
Her parents had objected, but they relented knowing that it was the only way Sarah could go.
She didn’t fit in with the two of them. She ate differently - from her earliest memory, the smell and taste of meat made her physically ill, so she ate a completely vegan diet - no meat and no meat products. And, she had dedicated her life to Christ. Robin and Maxine, though they intellectually knew that about her, didn’t understand it so therefore didn’t bring it up. Growing up in a Christian home with a loving family left her with absolutely nothing in common with her sisters.
For two years, she watched Robin work herself into the ground. The first year was the hardest, because Sarah and Maxine were both in school at the same time. At just 24 years of age, Robin worked two jobs six-days-a-week to pay for tuition and books for both sisters. Maxine constantly tried to get a job to help out, and Sarah offered as well, but Robin adamantly insisted that she be the one to do this for them.
After Tony came into her life, Sarah saw her sister gradually relax. The desperation on her face slid away and became peace. She watched Robin give her life to Christ, and sat in Tony’s big downtown church to see her oldest sister baptized.
As soon as Robin became saved, Sarah felt like they had something in common, and suddenly, they started talking – full blown conversations that Sarah actually enjoyed. It was such a relief to actually feel a part of Robin’s life instead of another burden on her shoulders, and a part of her that she constantly held back softened and she grew to love both of her sisters like she didn’t even know was possible.
And now, Tony was giving Robin a royal wedding. Sarah knew, because she knew Tony, that a desire to show Robin how much he valued her motivated him – which was why he never gave in to Robin wanting to elope. He wanted this pomp and circumstance so that he could show Robin off to the watching world. Sarah believed, with all of her heart, that there wasn’t another person on earth who deserved this kind of pampering more than Robin.
She put her hands to her mouth and blinked back tears of joy at the beauty and style that the day would bring. Excited, honored to be a part of it, she said a quick prayer of thanksgiving to God for giving Robin the steadfastness to battle her parents for visitation, or Sarah might have gone her whole life never meeting her two wonderful sisters.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, breaking her reverie. She pulled it out and scanned the text from Maxine, asking her location. “BALLROOM” she wrote back, and slipped the phone back into her pocket.
By the time she crossed the room, Maxine entered wearing dark sunglasses, black yoga pants, and a tight-fitting fleece. “Holy cow, it’s like a zoo out there. Did you see the news vans?”
“I did. It’s hysterical. How do you look so fashionable dressed like that?” Sarah asked. “I don’t think I’ll look that good in our dresses tonight.”
Maxine slipped off her glasses and hugged her sister. “Don’t be silly. You are gorgeous.” She spun in a circle. “Look at this place! Amazing!”
“I know. You and Stephanie really helped Robin. I am stunned.”
“We actually just
guided her in the beginning. Once she got her feet wet, I was able to pull back a bit. She just didn’t know she could do it until she did it.” Maxine put her hand into the pocket of her fleece and pulled out a keycard. “Suite 1914. It has a couple of bedrooms, a full living room and dining room, and a fully stocked kitchen. Should be perfect for our little hair and makeup party today.”
Sarah looked at her watch. “What time will everyone be here?”
“Caroline is bringing Angel Dove with her at ten. The stylist and her assistants will be here at nine, but we need to get Robin’s hair rolled before they do anything else. I have makeup coming at one.”
“What about Robin?”
They left the ballroom. “Tony texted me twenty minutes ago and said she’d be here by nine.”
“We have time to grab breakfast then,” Sarah said, putting an arm around Maxine’s waist.
“Already ordered, sister of mine. Hopefully, room service will beat us to our room.”
OBIN sat back in the chair, eyes closed while a woman coated color on her eyelid and another pinned yet even more babies breath into the intricate structure of curls and twists of her hair. She could hear Caroline’s lyrical voice as she read a book to Angel Dove and smiled at the sound.
“Open,” the makeup artist said. Robin opened her eyes and the woman took her chin, tilting her head this way and that before nodding and stepping back. “All done. I know it feels like a lot, but when you see pictures, you’ll be pleased.”
“Thank you,” Robin said.
The hair stylist stepped away as well. “Ready for the veil,” she said.
“Go on into the bedroom and get your dress on,” Caroline said. “Maxine? Go help her.”
Robin’s head felt heavy with the weight of the pins and flowers. She wanted to put her hand up and feel and fuss, but as many hours as she sat while they worked it into place, she was afraid to mess it up.
Greater Than Rubies, a Novella inspired by the Jewel Trilogy Page 17