Chapter 28
Matteo
“ALLEGRA? WHAT YOU doing here?”
She was the last person I’d expected to find standing out front when I opened the door to my parents’ house.
“I…wanted to come.” She smoothed her hands over her dress and scratched her neck, a nervous habit I was starting to recognize. “I hope you don’t mind that I showed up unannounced. I tried to call, but you didn’t answer.”
“Not at all.” I smiled. “I’m happy to see you. But how did you know where to go?”
The door swung open wider behind me, and my sister wedged herself between us. She pulled Allegra into a hug. “You made it.” Luciana gave me a smug look. “You’re welcome, little brother.”
I shook my head. The one hundred twenty seconds she’d spent in this world before I arrived were the longest two minutes of my life.
“Come on.” Luciana tugged Allegra’s hand. “Everyone’s out back.”
I would’ve liked a few minutes alone with Allegra before she was thrown to the wolves, but there was no stopping my sister.
She looped her arm with Allegra’s and led her through the house, voices growing louder as we headed toward the back door.
I followed and almost walked into Allegra as she stopped short at the threshold.
Her eyes widened. “Oh my God…”
The loggia was sprawling—stone arches draped with wisteria, two long wooden tables set end to end, all different sizes of candles flickering in mismatched holders.
A half dozen wine bottles and even more half-full glasses cluttered every surface that wasn’t already filled with platters of appetizers.
It was loud with laughter and overlapping arguments, the kind of chaos typical of my family.
Allegra leaned over to me and whispered, “When you said family dinner, I assumed you meant your parents and your sister. Maybe five people. Not…this.”
I chuckled. “Family dinner to Italians means everyone—aunts, uncles, cousins, friends who are family. Everyone has a standing invitation. Some months there are a dozen people, and other times it’s like tonight.” I glanced around at the crowd. “Probably about twenty-five.”
She swallowed. This group was a lot, especially for someone who’d hesitated to have dinner with me not long ago. I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “After a glass of wine and my ninety-one-year-old great-uncle hitting on you, you’ll feel right at home.”
She managed a shaky smile, and the glow of one of the wall sconces caught her hair.
I squinted. “Do you…have sparkles in your hair?”
Her smile widened. “My grandmother had a pretty big stash.”
Before I could do the honors, Luciana grabbed a fork from the table and tapped it against her wine glass. “Everyone, I want to introduce you to Allegra. She only speaks un po di Italiano, so practice your Inglese tonight.”
The entire group turned, and conversations halted. Twenty-five pairs of eyes locked on the woman standing between me and my sister. Allegra stiffened.
“Ciao, Allegra!” half the group chorused, raising glasses. From the far end of the table, my great-uncle cupped his hands around his mouth. “Bellissima! You sit next to me!”
My mother swatted him with a napkin. “Be good, Salvatore. Or I cut off your wine at half a bottle.”
Uncle Sal pouted, and both Allegra and I laughed. My cousin’s wife, Theresa, came to the rescue and shoved a glass of merlot into her hand. “Tip from a newcomer,” she said. “Don’t sit anywhere near Salvatore without checking the seat first, or you’ll find a hand goosing your culo.”
Luciana leaned in. “And drink. It’s the only way to survive this family.”
“I heard dat!” my mother yelled from the other end of the table.
Introductions shot at Allegra from every direction after that.
Aunt Rosa Maria pinched her cheeks like she was three years old, my cousin Marciella warned her to only eat her roasted figs with walnuts and honey because communion wafers had more flavor than her sister’s dish, and the son of my mother’s best friend brought her a glass of white wine from his vineyard.
That prompted me to put my arm around Allegra to make sure he understood who she was here with.
I watched it all unfold, ready to step in and rescue her if she needed it, but Allegra held her own. She was nervous, that I could see, but she still managed a comeback when my cousin Vito made a slightly insulting comment after he found out she was a lawyer.
A little while later, Luciana and the neighbor brought out a dozen trays of food, and then my mother came over.
“Allegra, this is my mother, Elena. Mamma, this is Allegra.”
My mother kissed both her cheeks. “I’ve heard so much about you. Of course, not from my son—he tells me nothing—but from Luciana. Apparently, you are very special, because not just anyone could make this boy go to da club and dance.”
Allegra laughed. “It’s very nice to meet you, Elena.”
Mom took Allegra’s hand. “Come. You sit next to me. On da left side, so my uncle doesn’t try to cop a feel, yes?” She pointed to the other side of the table. “You go across, Matteo.”
I would’ve liked to sit next to Allegra so she felt more comfortable, but there was no point in arguing with my mother. She guided her to a chair, and I followed to pull out my mother’s and her seat. My sister took the one next to me.
“I’m very sorry about your grandmother,” Mom said. “I met Sophia a few times when I visited Matteo. She was a lovely woman, vibrant and spirited.”
Allegra smiled. “She was. Thank you.”
Trays of food flew around the table, passing left to right, right to left, and across two tables. I watched as Allegra tried to figure out what to grab and when.
“Chicken parm?” I reached over, holding two trays out. “And gnocchi pomodoro. My favorites.”
She looked relieved and took the trays. “Grazie.”
“Hey, Porky!” my cousin Carlo yelled. “Pass da gnocchi.”
I rolled my eyes and hoped Allegra didn’t catch the name, but of course, she did.
“Porky?”
I shook my head. “Just a dumb nickname.”
My sister couldn’t wait to chime in. “It’s short for porcupine. And not because he’s prickly, which he is.” She grinned. “Back when we were eight or nine, Matteo had a crush on Maria Rosetti. We’d all just watched the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. Do you know it?”
Allegra nodded. “I loved it.”
“Well, Maria and all the girls had a crush on Marcello, the handsome actor who plays the love interest. He wore his hair slicked back, so my brother decided he was going to do the same to impress his Maria. He slicked it back with way too much gel, and walked to school on a windy day.” She put her hands up, forming a point on top of her head.
“All his hair, it hardened to a pointy spike. One of Matteo’s friends went over to tell Maria that Matteo liked her, and she said, ‘Who? The porcupine kid?’ The name stuck. ”
I closed my eyes. “God forbid anyone in this family ever forget anything.”
Allegra laughed. “Awww… Don’t be embarrassed, Porky. I think it’s sweet.”
“It didn’t deter him, though,” my sister said.
“I’ll give him that much. At least not until middle school when he again tried to impress Maria by rollerblading at a backyard birthday party for one of their classmates.
He tripped over the hose and accidentally turned on da water.
It sprayed all over Maria and got her white shirt soaked.
Poor girl didn’t have a bra on, and her little boobies were pointy.
The kids all started calling her Spike.” Luciana laughed.
“Such a shame. They were a match made in heaven—Porky and Spike—but Maria hated him after dat.”
One stupid story led to another and, before long, my family had filled the entire meal with embarrassing tales from my childhood.
They all took turns. Allegra laughed so hard her cheeks were pink.
I might’ve minded being the brunt of the jokes if I didn’t enjoy staring across at her smile so much.
She’d come here nervous but had slipped right into the chaos of my family like she’d been here a dozen times before.
As the meal wound down and people started to get up from the table, I used the opportunity to try for some alone time. I took Allegra’s hand and guided her down to my mother’s garden, which wasn’t visible from the loggia because of the cypress trees.
“Thank you for coming.” I kissed her lips.
“I’m glad I did. This was fun.”
“Everyone loved you.” I pushed a lock of hair back from her face. “What made you change your mind?”
She smiled. “My grandmother, believe it or not.”
I smiled back. “I believe it. That woman had a way of making people do things when she was here on Earth. A little thing like death would never stop her. It means a lot to me that you came.”
“Good. Because you mean a lot to me.”
My eyes widened. I wasn’t sure what Sophia had done, but I’d be thanking her later.
“Being here…” Allegra motioned to the loggia, where the noise was so loud we could hear it even through a dozen cypress trees.
“It’s a reminder of how important family is.
My grandmother used to entertain at the house all the time—family and friends.
I only have one aunt left on my mom’s side, and I need to do a better job keeping in touch with her, but I do have family here.
I’ve also been looking at discovering I have a sister the wrong way.
I’m disappointed in my father, and that’s not going to change for a long time, but nothing that’s happened is Camilla’s fault.
I have an opportunity for something I never thought possible—having a sister.
” She shook her head. “I think I’m going to call her and see if we can get to know each other, spend some time together. ”
I nodded. “That sounds like a great idea. I can’t wait to meet her.”
Allegra looked up at me, her eyes soft. “I spent the evening with my boyfriend and twenty-five of his family members, and I don’t feel like hightailing it out of here.”
“Boyfriend, huh?” I liked the sound of that coming from her lips. A lot. But it didn’t mean I wasn’t going to bust her balls about it.