ATONEMENT (16 page)

Sophie
apologized profusely for their behavior
and
pat
her
face
.

“We are so sorry. Nico reminded us of your tragedies,
excusi
por
favore
.”
Amelda
said taking
her arm
and escorting her around the room
for proper introductions.

Sophie did not
follow,
instead she turned her attention on
Nico. “Your
persuasion is remarkably effective,” she said in a sugary tone.

“S
he ul
timately came to the decision on her own.”

The wi
se woman’s feline eyes twinkled,
u
m
,
I see a glow in your eyes
. It wasn’t
there
earlier
.”

Nico remained silent.

Sophie smiled, “She’s
so beautiful, like a
fire on a winter night. I can also see her
innocence
, she’s young to our ways
but you are not. Her f
ire
will
melt
your ice
into
water
and it
will run red. Do not love her so openly
, it’s
in your eyes.”

“You imagine things
zia
Sophie
.”

“You are my brother’s son. I have known you
since you were a bambino.
This is the first I have seen life in
those
eyes
in some time
. The
y’re
mirrors, they say,
non é
vero
?
”

He
did
n’t
confirm
or deny it,
instead he
changed the subject,
“
I’m going to shower.”

She cupped his face, kissed each cheek lovingly
then smiled, “Be discreet
,
” then join
ed
the others.

Selange noticed Nico leav
ing
and focused on the continuing introductions. She met the elders first, mothers and grandmothers who smiled politely. One of the women touched her face, said something in Italian to
a
wom
a
n beside her and
she
nodded in agreement.

“What
did
she say?” Selange whispered to
Amelda
.

“You’re lovelier than many here. She
’ll
adopt you and make you a black Italian.”

Selange thought, ‘Oh, what can I say to that?
Awkward
!’

Then
there were more
introductions
. These were the
bridesmaids whose names mostly ended in vowels along with titles she would never remember. Marcella, a
large
woman with
mean
eyes and wife of Don so and so.
Bruised, p
ug nose
Renalda
the daughter of who cares. Ugh,
the
skinny
bitch
Lucia, who unfortunately was
Matteo’s
sister.
S
elange
smiled familiarly at
Gabriela and Adrianna,
she’d seen their pictures, yet they never met. They were
Alfonzo’s step-sisters
who inherited the same blue eyes. They smiled
demurely
and kissed her, saying things like, “Do not worry we stand with you,” and, “I hate
d what
they d
id
…you should tell
Alfonzo
to make them pay.
Dumb cunts
!”

Okay, well not as sweet as she thought. Yeah,
Alfonzo’s father
was definitely
an Old Gangster Player
in his day!

Crystalia
,
jumped up. She was
a fiery redhead,
who preferred to introduce herself. “I’m
Crystalia
,
benvenuto
Selange. We
’re
not all like those two.” She said loudly pointing to
Renalda
and Lucia,
before snickering,
“I like how you fight. I wanted to beat them many times!”

Her English was
heavily accented but understandable.
Selange thought she may have found a friend.
Last of the bridesmaids was a Chinese woman Kim
-
Sung wife of
,
oh-my-goodness will this ever end? Selange
stood b
ored
under their inspection wishing she could simply go to bed. By the size of the gathering, food and wine
adorning
the table in
the large dining room,
rest
wouldn’t come for quite some time.

Goddamn, this is going to be a slumber party and my limited conversational Italian is embarrassing
, were the thoughts running through her mind
. Ay
, Nico rescue me!

                                        ***

Last night felt like a
crazy dream until
Selange noticed her boots and an
icky stain
on the toe. Dried
vomit,
yuck!

                        
But seeing
Nico was
the biggest shock of all. She frowned, sat up and faced the empty bed. She shared a room with Kim-Sung, apparently she was an early riser, usually Selange was
also,
but being up to the wee hours of the morning
gave her a hang-over effect
. She
overslept
and missed the outing
.
The
y talked last night
about
it but she only
remembered they were to leave early. Something
,
about a long drive to
somewhere
,
breakfast
or was it
lunch
and
dinner
with
somebody or other
?
The
details were foggy and so was her brain. They were all talking at once, some in English
,
some in Italian
,
some in broken English
,
some soft
,
some loud
,
some with
their posture and
others
with
distasteful scowls
in her direction
.
The
scowls
belonged to L
ucia and
Renalda
,
of course
. Their
pride and faces were
wounded
, poor things!

Selange immediately
reached for her cell and called
Alfonzo. He answered quickly,
“
M
orning
to you
, babe.”

“Good evening
to you
,
hun
.”
She replied still feeling a bit groggy.

He laughed, “
Hectic night?”

“That’s an understatement.”

“They party like us Latinos.”

“And then some.”

“I hear the sleep in your voice. Get some more rest and call me later.”

“I wanted to say good-night to the kids.”

“Babe, it’s after midnight here, they’re sleeping.”

“
Oh wow, shucks.
Never
-
mind.
How are you?”

“Missing you
, what
’d
you think?
”

“Sure you
are. You
probably
partied the minute I got
out of your hair.
You get the bed to yourself and can
thrash around
without me commenting.”

He laughed. It was a hoarse type of laughter.
A tired
one
.
“You’re funny.”

“Get some rest yourself, you sound beat.”

“I am. I just got in.”

“Everything okay?”

“Just a small problem at one of the
work sites.
I’ll tell you about it another time. I’m going to hit the sack.”

“Alright, I love you. I hope you know
it
.”

“Babe, of course I do. Why else
would Snow Brown
put up
with Grumpy,
huh?”