by Gina LaManna
“You told me not to ask you questions,” Carlos said. “So I won’t. I will merely offer you my token of advice.”
I swallowed at the look on my grandfather’s face.
“You’re getting married this week, Lacey.” He said this nonchalantly, as if I were going to Target or maybe the dentist. “If you’d like to complete your walk down the aisle, I suggest you leave whatever business you have with The Zebra to the professionals.”
“To Anthony?” Meg asked.
Carlos didn’t break eye contact with me. “I would leave your husband... to be out of the equation if he doesn’t yet know. I don’t lightly warn you to stay away from someone. Trust me on this.”
Chapter 11
“So, dinner wasn’t exactly a success,” Meg said. “I barely got anything to eat, I almost lost my lunch at Carlos’s zebra chatter, and your grandmother ran screaming from the room.”
“Yeah.”
She tilted her head to the side in thought. “When I put it like that, it’s not so bad. I’ve sat through a lot worse at Casa Luzzi.”
“Thanks for the rides around town all day. I’m going to find out how I could’ve possibly ruined my grandmother’s day.”
“Have fun,” Meg said. “Go easy on yourself. Tomorrow’s the big day!”
“The big day?”
“Come on! Your bachelorette party. I’ll pick you up at eight a.m.”
“Eight in the morning?”
“Girlfriend, I’m not made of money. They offer a discount if the party starts before noon.”
I waved goodbye to Meg, thinking that the earlier we got the party started, the earlier it could end. With the weather we’d been having lately, I’d need to sit in the shower for ninety-seven minutes just to warm up afterward.
Once Meg left, I headed back inside to begin my search for Nora. I didn’t have to search very hard. A loud clattering from above my head, the sound of glass shattering and footsteps stomping, gave me a pretty good idea where my grandmother was hiding.
I climbed the stairs to the second level, passed the Grand Ballroom, and made my way to a place I’d never before ventured. The bedroom. The master bedroom. The only place in the world secure enough for my grandfather to rest his head and succumb to sleep. Because as much as he hated weakness, even he hadn’t found a cure for sleeplessness.
I raised a hand and knocked on the door. Waited. Another crash, then a clunk. A hiss of frustration.
“Nora?” I knocked again, but the chaos only grew louder. Since Carlos would be glued to his seat smoking a cigar and listening to the radio for the next hour, I ventured a twist of the doorknob. “It’s me, Lacey.”
When there was no argument, I took that to be an invitation.
“Hello?” I called out as I took a step inside. Then another.
Something hurtled at my head. My hands flew up as a protective shield. I ducked, but not fast enough. Thankfully, it was just a throw pillow glimmering with sequins on it.
“Nora, stop!” I held up my hands and marched toward her. “What is going on? Why are you so riled up?”
“I’m not riled up.” Her hair looked like the bride of Frankenstein, and her makeup looked like something slathered on by a clown. “What are you doing in here?”
“I came to check on you. Something is clearly wrong.” I hurried across the room before she could start a full-on pillow fight—or worse—with me. “I’ve never seen you like this before. You have to talk to me.”
“I have to talk to you? Why isn’t it a two-way street? Shouldn’t you be talking to me? I thought we were family.”
I took a few deep breaths, fought back the confusion, and led my grandmother to the edge of her magnificent bed. Now that I had a moment in which I wasn’t fearing for my life, the glamour of the room finally hit me.
It was fit for a king. For gods. Heaven on earth. If I had a bedroom like this, it’d take a truck, or a seriously tempting piece of DQ cake, to drag me out of bed.
Whites and silvers blended together to give the room an angelic glow. A bit of ornate gold decoration lined the wall behind the bed, while a chaise lounge sat at the foot of it, too beautiful to touch.
A makeup corner for Nora boosted old Hollywood lights, the set flanked by all of the latest bells and whistles in hair care, lotions, and skin products. The rug beneath our feet was so fluffy my toes got lost in it. All of this, but what drew my attention was my grandmother and how very small she appeared when engulfed by a bed five times her size.
“What is wrong?” I asked again, softer this time. “I’ve never seen you so distraught.”
“What tipped you off?”
“Well...” I debated the gentlest way to go about the loaded question. “The food. You’ve been cooking such amazing meals lately, and tonight it was like you’d never looked at a recipe.”
“I suppose,” Nora said gloomily. “The noodles were a little dry.”
I didn’t bother to tell her they’d still been drenched in boiling water when I’d left the room. If I had to guess, Carlos was on speed dial with Marinello’s as we spoke.
“I’m sorry.” I meant it, even if I didn’t know what I was apologizing for yet. “I don’t like seeing you so upset.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” I threw my hands up. “I am honestly confused.”
“You are pregnant!”
“What?” I sat back, eyes wide. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw it—the test—this morning in the garbage.”
I shook my head, since I couldn’t do anything else.
“I hadn’t meant to snoop, but I needed to use the restroom before I went home. You flew out of there so quickly I’m not even sure you noticed you locked me inside.”
“I’m sorry. It was an emergency.”
“I went to the restroom, and there on the counter is a huge box of tests. Did you really want to hide it from me that badly?”
“Nora, you’re being unreasonable.”
“You should’ve told me! I know you’re not married yet, is that why? You were scared to tell me? Or do you not trust me?” Nora peered up at me through huge, watery eyes. “I have only ever wanted to be a part of your life, Lacey.”
“Please stop crying,” I said. “I didn’t tell you for one very big reason.”
She blinked, and one huge tear fell onto her cheek. “What’s that?”
“The test came back negative.” As soon as I said the words, my heart sank just another few notches. My conversation with Anthony flared up, and the hurt of realizing I’d been disappointed in the results came back in a rush. “I’m sorry.”
Nora waited for one long moment, her eyes fixed on mine, and then she burst into wails. Tears the size of dinosaur eggs dribbled down her cheeks. A few even fell to her wrinkled chest, a few more onto her white nightgown.
“Nora!” I put an arm around her and brought her close. “Why are you crying? I thought you would be happy?”
“Happy?!” she wailed. “I’m horrible.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I shouldn’t have pried.” She sniffed, a few big sniffs, and then began a new wave of tears. “I shouldn’t have used your bathroom, and I shouldn’t have snooped, and I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“Yeah, but we all shouldn’t do a lot of stuff,” I said, thinking of my own snooping in regard to The Zebra. “We’re human. It happens, especially if you’re emotionally involved.”
Nora nodded, finally resting her head on my shoulder and holding there, her sniffs eventually subsiding into rattling breaths. “I’m so sorry I acted like this. I guess I just got... well, over-excited. You know how much I long for another grandbaby, and what with your wedding date coming soon, I thought maybe you and Anthony had gotten a jump on things.”
I wanted to promise I wasn’t keeping anything a secret from her, but I couldn’t. After all, I had secrets—for one, I was already married. “It’s just a misunderstanding. Weddings are h
ard, and it’s stressful on all of us.”
“You’re doing a good job,” Nora said, her voice growing a little stronger. “I’m the basket case, and I’m the grandmother of the bride. What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing. Nothing is wrong with you.”
Nora nodded, then sat in silence. Her hand crept over and found mine. “How are you feeling?”
“In general, or...?”
Nora’s eyes came to meet mine, filled with empathy. “I had a hard time getting pregnant with your mother,” she said. “I know the disappointment well.”
“You did?”
She nodded. “It was the happiest day of my life when we found out we would be having a baby girl.”
It was my turn to wait in silence. But my grandmother was better at waiting.
“I was disappointed,” I finally admitted. “But I hadn’t expected to be. We weren’t... uh, trying. Actively. You know.”
“Honey.” Nora patted my leg. “I might be ancient, but I’m not oblivious.”
“When I looked at the test, I was just so shocked. Shocked it was happening at all, shocked at the realization that it might be positive. Shocked that if it was positive, things might be okay.”
“Of course they’d be okay,” Nora said. “You and Anthony will make great parents.”
“It was just so fast, and sudden, and... unplanned. But then I started to think maybe it was meant to be. Maybe this was the way things were supposed to go, and I started to get excited.”
“And then you were let down.”
“Yeah.”
Nora held my hand for a long time. “It wasn’t the right time yet, I suppose.”
“I suppose not.”
“Come on,” Nora said. “I have something for you. Maybe it’ll cheer you up. It won’t do us any good to dwell.”
“Oh, um. Okay?”
She dragged me over to a closet the size of my bedroom. In it was row upon row of fashion that Versace herself would envy. Not that Nora wore any of it, preferring her sparkling jeans or well-worn outfits to this top of the line garb.
“Here,” Nora said. “I always wanted to pass this down to my granddaughter. Close your eyes.”
I did as she instructed.
“Open,” she said. “And prepare to be amazed.”
I opened my eyes, and I prepared to be amazed.
However, it wasn’t amazement that hit me first—it was more like confusion. Lots of white, gauzy fabric and strings. Straps with jewels on it and some white lettering amongst it all that said Bride.
“What, ah...” I paused, accepting the garments from Nora. “Hmm. What is this interesting thing?”
“Wedding night lingerie!”
I dropped it immediately. “That’s not something you pass down!”
“Hold your shorts on, I never got to wear it,” Nora said. “I just had it packed in my suitcase.”
“Oh?”
Her cheeks pinkened. “Turned out Carlos was so anxious to get things going I didn’t even have time to change out of my dress.”
“Oh, cripes.” I flattened a hand over my eyes. “I did not want to hear that.”
“Take it,” Nora said. “I want you to have it.”
“Well, thanks, it means a lot,” I said, reminding myself that it was the thought that counted. I couldn’t be expected to weave my way into this complex trap on the night of my wedding; the thing was a maze. I couldn’t even tell which way was up.
“I’m really sorry again about acting a little bit cranky today.” Nora walked me to the door of her bedroom after giving me a discreet brown bag in which I could stash my new goodies. “I acted a fool, and I hope you can forgive me.”
“Nothing to forgive, Nora. I promise.”
“You’re the most darling granddaughter I could ever ask for,” Nora said, shooing me out the door. “I hope you can put those goodies to use. Make me proud!”
I groaned. For lack of anything better to do, I gave Nora the thumbs up. Then I shut the door behind me and crept out of the estate, somehow feeling like it was one big walk of shame.
I’d witnessed a lot of awkward nights at Casa Luzzi, but this might just take the cake.
Hopefully tomorrow would be better, but between facing off with The Zebra and surviving my bachelorette party, the forecast didn’t look good.
Chapter 12
I would love to say that the morning of my bachelorette party dawned bright and beautiful, but that would be a gigantic lie. On Tuesday morning, the frostiness in the air filtered through the still closed windows, the chill palpable despite the heater having kicked on in the wee hours of the morning.
Snuggling deeper under the covers, I felt Anthony’s arm wrap around me, his body warm and firm and just how I remembered. He’d worked late, and I hadn’t felt him slip into bed. Apparently, I slept like a hibernating bear.
He murmured something unintelligible and curled closer. While I had no idea what he’d said, it was pretty easy to figure out, judging by the way his hands were tracking over my shoulder, trickling down my side, and landing on my hips.
“Good morning,” I said, turning to face him. “Sorry, but I only have time for this.”
Leaning in, I planted a chaste kiss on his forehead. Somehow, Anthony never seemed to have morning breath. I, however, had apparently descended from a dragon. I slept like a bear and breathed like a dragon, so I considered it a huge miracle that Anthony still wanted to marry me.
Anthony also never slept in. He operated sort of like Bob the Robot. I wasn’t always sure when he ate, slept, or used the restroom, but somehow those things had to get done. At least, I’m pretty sure. However, he must’ve been working super late last night because his eyes were big and sleepy and chocolatey.
As much as I wanted to lay around and drink them in, explore that soft looking skin and those beautiful muscles with my hands, I also had a commitment to Meg. Today was the day of the bachelorette party.
I did my best to slip out of bed all sneaky and spy-like, but I was never very good at the whole discreet thing, unlike Anthony. I stuck one foot out of bed, barely touched it against the floor, and the entire house sounded like it was cracking in half. You’d think I was an elephant.
Anthony reacted like lightning, hooking his finger around the edge of my undies and giving me a gentle yank that toppled me right back into bed. I spun around so we were face to face. I felt my eyes grow big as I stared into his, and my heart pounded a little faster.
“You scared me,” I said. “Announce yourself when you wake up, Mister!”
“I’m awake, sugar,” Anthony announced. He pulled me toward him, his arms wrapping around my back and holding me to him in a delicious squeeze. “I missed you last night.”
“Me too.”
“Where are you off to so early?”
“Meg has a full day planned for us.”
“And you agreed to it?”
Anthony’s hands prevented me from answering. They trailed down my back, sending goosebumps skittering across my skin. Then he reached my lower back, his fingers tracing to the edges of my stomach and causing a violent shiver that was somewhere between insanely erotic and very ticklish. The sensations were very confusing to my body.
“You agreed to it?” He gave me a brief respite from the sensations, and I took full advantage to suck in a few deep breaths.
I nodded. “It’s my bachelorette party.”
“But I thought we were already married.”
“Yeah, so did I. I didn’t ask for this.”
“But you agreed to it?”
“The deposit is non-refundable.”
“Dare I ask what the deposit is on?”
Sometimes, it was annoying how perceptive my husband could be. His eyebrow quirked in amusement, almost as if he knew in advance this day would be a disaster before it’d even begun. I just couldn’t let him have the satisfaction of being right about Meg’s planning skills—again—so I tilted my chin upward and harrumphed.
&n
bsp; “It’s a boat,” I said. “Specifically, a yacht. We’re going on a cruise.”
Anthony blinked once. “Will you be back in time for our wedding?”
“It’s a local cruise,” I amended. “But maybe the waters will still be bright blue. Who knows? Maybe tropical fish have invaded Lake Minnetonka. Stranger things have happened.”
“Oh.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, feeling a little defensive. “Aren’t I allowed to do whatever I want for my bachelorette party? You know, within reason.”
“Sure,” Anthony said. He hiked me up so that we were tangled thoroughly around one another. “I just didn’t peg you for the Arctic Cruise sort of gal. You tend to like warm climates. Sunlight. That sort of thing.”
“It might be warm, who knows? The sun could still pull through today. This is Minnesota. The weather changes faster than I go through sprinkles.”
Anthony glanced over my shoulder. “Okay.”
The feeling of trepidation hung over us until I couldn’t possibly bear to keep a straight face. I shifted my body so I could glance out the window and, sure enough, a few fat snow flurries sailed their way to the ground.
“It’s not your fault,” Anthony said. “April snowstorms aren’t uncommon. Maybe the sun will come out.”
“Maybe.” Instead, I shimmied up closer to him. “Or, I could just stay here warm and cozy with you all day.”
“I’m more than willing to kidnap you,” Anthony said. It was both a little too quick, and a little too sure, and I knew he’d walked me right into that one. “Why don’t we just relax together? Meg can enjoy her boat, and—”
“I can’t. I have to go,” I said. “Commitments and all that. Plus, she’s a good friend to think about a party for me.”
“Who else is going?”
I shrugged. “I stopped asking questions after Meg mentioned she got a discount on a boat.”
“Probably safer that way. What time is she picking you up?”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Which leaves time for...” Anthony’s expression turned almost gleeful, and suddenly, he didn’t look the slightest bit sleepy.