‘And you.’ She slaps the arms of her chair and gives it a good shake. ‘Maybe you can tell Dante I don’t need this blasted thing.’
‘If you’d listened to Dante in the first place, you wouldn’t be in it now.’
‘Don’t start that argument again, cousin.’ Dante gives me a neck-slicing gesture above her head. I’m guessing he’s had this the entire journey and is more than ready to call it quits.
‘I take it back.’ I give his back a welcome pounding. ‘It’s good to see you too. But, Nonna, you should be making the most of it. Your entire family at your beck and call for a week? What more could you want?’
‘More of a family, raggazzo mio.’ I walked right into that one. ‘It’s wrong that there are so few of us. Call us Italians.’ She shakes her head vigorously, tsking away. ‘Not a single great-grandchild between you...or a wife, for that matter. What’s wrong with the pair of you?’
I meet Dante’s eye and know he’s suppressing an eye-roll. It’s the same at every family gathering and it’s getting old. Dante is still enjoying his freedom too much and I never intend to go down that road. Ever.
‘In that case, this wedding must make you very happy indeed.’ I take the focus off us and put it squarely on Dani, who is currently making out with Tyler on the same cabana Faye used
last night. Try as I might not to think of it, my brain projects the teasing image anyway and makes me glad of Nonna’s presence. There’s nothing like your grandmother to keep your hormones in check.
Dante grins wide, his eyes finding them too. ‘I have a feeling your dreams for more great-grandchildren will soon be satisfied.’
I send him a look.
But Nonna laughs, all wistful and happy. ‘Yes, they look happy. Very happy, just like me and Nonno once were...’ And then she frowns, her eyes sweeping the area. Tyler’s parents are sitting at the bar under the shade of a vine-covered pergola. Harry, the best man, is swimming laps, while a blonde who I assume is his date is stretched out on a sun lounger with a glass in one hand and a magazine in the other. Nonna’s eyes narrow as she looks back to my cousin. ‘Where’s your sister and her family?’
‘They’re arriving tomorrow. Less time for the kids to cause chaos, if I’m to interpret my sister’s reasoning correctly.’
‘Wise.’ She nods. ‘And Antonietta... Marianna...where are they? Surely they can be trusted to be here by now?’
I grimace. I’m not sure I trust them any more than the kids.
‘Mamma will be joining us for dinner this evening,’ Dante supplies, eyeing me warily. I know he’s thinking the same.
‘And Marianna is just getting changed. She’ll be down soon enough.’
I don’t need to look to know Nonna’s scowling. It’s not just Dante and me sensing the war about to rage. The last time they were both under the same roof, all hell broke loose.
But this will be different, I mentally reason. This week they have Dani’s happiness to put first. And, as if she senses my thoughts, my sister turns in our direction.
‘Ah, Nonnina!’ Her smile lights up her face as she rises up from the bed and tugs at Tyler’s hand to bring him with her. ‘At last! What did you do with her, Dante? You were supposed to be here hours ago...and what’s this?’
She places her hand on the arm of the wheelchair and leans in to kiss Nonna, squeezing her tight.
‘Never you mind what this is, I’m perfectly fine without it!’ She tries to stand and winces. ‘Okay, maybe I get up later.’
She plonks herself back down and Dani turns to Dante, embracing him with a beaming smile. ‘So glad you’re here, cousin!’
But her eyes gesture back to Nonna and the chair. Dante gives her a warning look and she gets the message quicker than me.
‘Nonnina, you remember Tyler?’
‘Of course I do.’
Tyler leans down and plants a kiss on my grandmother’s cheek. ‘It’s lovely to see you again, Greta.’
‘Ah, nonsense...’ Her cheeks flush. ‘It’s Nonna to you now.’
I’m already tuning out, my eyes back on the path behind us. Where is she? She doesn’t strike me as the fashionably late type, looking to make an entrance. Unlike my mother.
‘You okay, Raf?’
It’s Dani who asks, her frown curious as I look back to her. How long had I zoned out for?