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Gino’s voice brought me out of my trance.
“What could Muse do better?” He was looking at me, and for a second, I wondered if he caught the silent exchange between Hugo and I, but he was too distracted with his own girl.
“Hmm? Oh, I was just telling her that she could find a better man for herself. You know she’s out of your league, right?”
Roman’s laughter boomed into the room, but Gino didn’t love my joke.
“Shut up, Cat,” he growled at me and then turned to mom. “Mother, you don’t need to spend that much time in the kitchen again. We can cater.”
“Gino Nucci, I will not eat re-heated food on Christmas day!” she admonished. “Now, Flora Maria made some broth ravioli for tonight, and we’ll have dinner after I’m done prepping everything for tomorrow. I expect to see you menaces at the dinner table.”
Mom pointed at Gino, Roman and Hugo with a steely look on her face. She wasn’t about to hear any excuses.
“Bella Simonetta,” Roman tried, “I might be kept at one of the clubs tonight to…”
“Roman Costa, I don’t want to hear it. Business can wait till after Christmas. I will have all my children around the table on Christmas Eve.”
Out of nowhere, Hugo stepped in the conversation.
“I can take care of business, Roman. You stay here, and I’ll go manage whatever it is you’re worried about.” This got on my mom’s last nerve. She grabbed a wooden spoon from the utensil drawer and slapped Hugo on the arm.
Roman, Gino, Muse and even Flora Maria laughed while Hugo looked at her like she had grown a second head.
“Wasn’t I clear enough, Hugo Mustafa?” Mother asked.
“Ma’am?”
“Tutti i miei bambini – all my children – at the dinner table. If Roman can’t be excused because he has a different last name, neither can you. Also, I expect you here tomorrow morning. I’m taking all of you to mass. God knows you need it.”
“Yes ma’am.” He gave up, and I was grateful mom brought out the spoon. At least he was close, even if I couldn’t touch him.
Pleased with herself, mom turned to Gino, not ready to finish her rant.
“It’s bad enough your grandfather is not coming this year.”
Nonno passed on the holiday trip, deciding to celebrate Natale with his brother and some friends in his Napoli villa instead. He wasn’t a fan of flying for so long, and in the past years, his visits started to become further apart.
“I can’t believe nonno is not coming,” I said. “He’d better send me a gift.” My grandfather was the best at giving gifts…to me. Last year, he sent me and mom on a five-star cruise around the Caribbean. I couldn’t wait to see how he planned to top that.
“I tried to convince him, dear,” Mother told me. “He is a stubborn man. He doesn’t want to make the trip so soon after he was here a few months ago for his birthday party.”
“His birthday party was in September,” I insisted. I considered calling the old man to give him a lecture. I missed him a great deal since he moved to Italy a few years back.
“Yes, but he thinks it is better like this since he might need to come to New York again, maybe in the summer.” Mom paused for dramatic effect. “In case we have a family event.”
Subtle, mom.
Muse blushed because we all knew mom was talking about her wedding with my brother. Gino was on edge too. If it was up to him, they’d go to church and tie the knot tomorrow, but he couldn’t push since Muse was still in mourning after Enzo.
I looked at Muse while she took a deep breath and smiled.
“Maybe August,” she said in a low voice, but it was enough to silence everybody in the room.
Gino looked at her with round, glassy eyes.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I mean…we need to set a date. We can figure out the details after the holidays, but I always thought August weddings are nice. If you want to do something else…”
