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She gives her daughter the nod that it's okay for her to take her fingers out of her ears. Camilla scrunches up her face. "Were you talking about sex?"
Jaws drop around the room and Lucia's face turns bright red. "No! Of course not. Zia Allie is not married."
Giving her mom a skeptical look, Camilla says, "Mom, I know how it works. People don't have to be married to do sex."
Grandma makes a loud tsking sound, then says, "You never should've let them go to public school."
The doorbell rings, putting an end to the conversation and causing the entire room to erupt with squeals of excitement. Oh God, I hope he can’t hear that from the front entrance.
"Okay ladies, let's keep it down," I say.
"Aren't you excited, cara?" my mom asks.
"No, I'm nervous. That television crew will be there again, so I'm pretty much going to be spending the entire time trying not to make a fool of myself.”
"Oh God, I never even thought of that," Lucia says. "It could totally happen."
"Shush, you," mom says, waving her hand at my sister. Turning to me, she says, "Everything is going to work out beautifully. You're a vision and he is a handsome, charming man, and tonight is the start of what will be a wonderful life together. And if you play your cards right, you're going to have the most beautiful babies."
"So they are going to do sex," Camilla mutters.
My face heats up and thankfully, my father saves me from the rest of this conversation by calling up the stairs. "Allegra, that Hudson guy is here to pick you up. Do you still want to go?"
I hurry out of the room and glare down at him over the railing, then whisper, "Of course I still want to go."
"I wasn't sure because you are taking so long to come down."
My relatives come pouring out into the hallway and scoot around me, rushing down the stairs to greet him while my mom hangs back a bit. "You ready?"
I nod, feeling my heart in my throat. "I just need to grab my glasses."
She shakes her head. “You can't wear glasses with this dress. That would be sacrilegious."
"Sacrilegious?”
"You know what I mean. It'll look bad. It'll ruin all of Zia’s hard work."
"But what if I need to read something?"
"Get him to read it for you. Men love it when we make them feel smart." She places her hand on the middle of my back and corrals me toward the stairs. "You don't need your glasses. Let yourself be beautiful for once in your life."
“Gee, thanks.”
“You know I think you’re beautiful, but just not this beautiful most days,” she answers. “No one is this beautiful most days.”
I lift the long skirt with one hand and grip the railing with the other as I navigate my way down the staircase in a pair of Lucia’s heels. As soon as I turn the corner, I see Hudson standing in the front entry looking incredible. He's dressed in a tuxedo that I'm sure was tailor-made for him, and the look on his face dissolves all my nervousness in an instant, replacing it with pure joy. I don't even care that my entire family is standing here crowded into the front room, and, from the sexy smile he's wearing, I don't think he cares either. Although technically he is a professional at smiling, so…
I straighten out my shoulders and do my best to walk like a woman who knows how to wear high heels. When I reach him, I say, "Hi."
He glances down at my dress then back up at my face. "You look stunning."
"I bet you say that to all the girls."
Shaking his head, he says, "I'm not sure I've ever used that word in my whole life."
My grandma pipes in with, "Well, it's my dress."
Hudson chuckles a little and smiles down at her. "It's a beautiful dress. Thank you for lending it to Allegra."
