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“You’re going to have to work on your inner doubtful Gianni. While he’s the absolute kindest man I’ve ever met, channeling Jonathan in times like this makes you unstoppable.”
“That goes for that sexy-hot Shannon as well. She’s also unstoppable.”
“And speaking of Shannon, who’s that hot little number hanging onto Uncle Louie? And she plays the accordion? What are the chances of that?”
I turned to take a quick look. Uncle Louie grinned and nodded in my direction.
“That’s Arlene Grazi. She’s in her mid-forties and met him at an accordion festival over in Mifflinburg a few weeks ago. According to my mom, they’ve been inseparable ever since. Nobody can understand it, but in the last, oh, I don’t know, six weeks, Uncle Louie seems to have a new lease on life. It’s like he’s a young man again. He even went back to working at his law firm a couple of days a week. He’s a new man. I can’t imagine why that is.”
I couldn’t help the sly grin that stretched my lips. I knew she understood what I was telling her without having to go there.
“You told me he was blind without his glasses.”
“Apparently, notthatblind,” I told her, wanting to be honest. “He confided in me that ever sincesome nice young woman,as he described her, flashed him herbare lady parts,another of his descriptions, he’s a new man.”
“Truth… and I’ll still marry you no matter what your answer. Does he know I was that nice young woman?”
“Truth… he said he couldn’t make out her face, but then I don’t think it was her face he was interested in. Either way, he has a new lease on life, and he’s excited about everything. They’re planning a trip to Italy in the spring. They want to revitalize the love of accordion music across Italy.”
“That’s not all he’ll be revitalizing,” Dani said, gazing back at Uncle Louie and Arlene, who kept gazing at each other and grinning.
“How you talk,” I said, teasing her as I ran my hand up and down the smooth skin on her naked arm, thinking about getting her alone in my bed later that night. I could hardly wait.
“If you two have settled up with your engagement, it’s time for us to feed this group,” Ted yelled from across the room, while he stood in the open kitchen. “Gianni, your kitchen staff is waiting!”
The kitchen staff, including Andre Lucern, who proved to be an even better chef than I’d first suspected, already stood by for my word to start the appetizers. Everyone had already ordered from three different entrées, so we were good to go there as well. Everything was on hold until I gave the go ahead.
“Let’s do this!” I yelled, and as Dani took her seat, and I pushed her chair in, I leaned over to give her one more soft kiss.
“You’ve got your whole lives to do that… now let’s get cooking!” Frankie said, as he pulled on my arm to escort me back to my kitchen.
“Go. Go,” Dani said. “Make me proud!”
“You bet,” I told her, and as I quickly walked back to the kitchen, my mother stopped me.
“So, I was right. Your mother knows these things,” she said, looking all proud of herself. She looked especially lovey tonight, and I’d noticed that my dad couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. After all these years, the man was still in love with her. Just one more thing I admired about my dad. He never ceased to make me proud to be his son.
“Right about what, Ma?” I asked, as Frankie waited for me.
“That you wanted to marry her when you brought her home for Christmas.”
“Fine. Yes. You were right,” I admitted. “Now can I go and cook?”
“All you gotta do now is give me a grandchild, and I can die in peace.”
“Ma, we’re not even married yet.”
“Since when did that make a difference?”
“I thought that’s what you wanted?”
“I want a grandkid. The marriage part is only for show.”
“I can’t catch a break with you, can I?”
“Maybe when you come home and tell me about a baby. Then I gonna give you a break.”
“How about we start with an appetizer and see how this night goes.”
