Chapter Twenty-Three
By the time Mari got off the call to James, she had text messages from Chloe, Gio, Emma, Rosa, and Brooke.
Chloe: I can’t wait to hear all about James.
Gio: I have questions.
Emma: Ignore your son. I’m happy for you. We both are.
That last bit was a fabrication.
Rosa: If I can help with anything, call me.
Brooke: Luca loves this family. Don’t let his fear step on your happiness. He will come around.
Mari sent a group text, omitting Luca. She’d talk to him in person.
James and I met on the cruise. He was completely unexpected, and I needed time alone with this . . . relationship to see if it was what I wanted. Mari paused as she was typing. Chose her next words carefully. It is. We can talk on Sunday.
Mari hit “Send.”
Downstairs, the restaurant had cleared out, the staff had cleaned and prepped what they needed for the next day.
Luca lingered in the kitchen, cleaning up for the night. A task that was often delegated to junior chefs.
Mari stood in the doorway and waited for her son to turn.
He knew she was in the room.
She waited out his silence, knowing he couldn’t keep it forever.
Finally, Luca set the towel in his hand down. “Who is he?”
“His name is James,” Mari said to her son’s back.
Luca placed a hand to his forehead. “I don’t know what to do with this, Mama. I thought you were happy.”
She took a step forward. “I am happy.”
He turned. “With this family. That we were enough.”
“This family is more than enough and growing every year. I’m the happiest woman in the world.”
Luca’s eyes searched hers. “Then why him? Why this ‘James’?”
“I’ve asked myself that question many times. Why James? Why now? My family is enough. I have more love in my life than my heart can handle.”
“Then I don’t understand,” Luca raised his voice.
“I didn’t either, which is why I didn’t share it with you.
Any of you. I wasn’t expecting James. I have not once considered another man after your father.
Paulo was my life, my anchor. Together, your father and I were the rock for you, this family.
Learning to live without him was the most excruciating experience of my life.
With him, I was a rock, without him, a pebble.
I didn’t swear off love because I feared that pain returning.
I didn’t think I had it in my heart to love anyone other than your father. ”
Luca’s jaw dropped. “You love this man?”
Mari opened her mouth, then closed it. “I don’t know yet.
In keeping James from all of you, I haven’t been able to be myself.
It was just now that I met his daughters.
Twins, by the way. Both of them are going to college this year.
They wanted their father to go on the cruise to meet someone.
Fearing to leave him alone as they started their lives. ”
“He was on the ship with a purpose, then.”
Mari laughed. “James was hiding in his stateroom, working. Neither of us were looking, Luca. Yet here we are.”
“But—”
“Were you searching when Brooke walked in this door?” Mari asked, knowing the answer. “I’m not saying James is my Brooke. But I owe it to your father to find out if he is.”
“How can you say that? Papa wouldn’t have—”
Mari stopped her son with a hand in the air.
“Your father made me promise him that I’d try and love again.
” She placed her hand to her chest, the familiar ache that came on from time to time sat there bleeding.
“I lied to him and told him I’d try. James has given me the opportunity to keep that promise. ”
Luca’s words dried up.
The confusion on his face shifted slightly into understanding.
“James will pick me up tomorrow. I’d like you to meet him.”
Luca started to shake his head.
“It would disappoint me if you refused.” Mari knew when to play the guilt card. She dealt it now without remorse. Now that Luca knew about James, he would stew in his own misconceptions until he met the man.
The kitchen fell silent, only the hum of the refrigerators buzzed.
James met Mari at the back door of the restaurant, which doubled as the front door of her home. It was three in the afternoon, which had given him the morning to work, and the afternoon to stress over picking up his girlfriend and meeting her family.
The fluttering in his gut had less to do with the woman smiling at him from the back landing and more to do with what awaited him inside.
When was the last time he’d needed to measure up to another man in order to spend time with a woman?
That would have been college. And likely Cindy’s father.
Yet here James was, reaching for Mari’s hand, leaning in to touch his lips to hers, and stepping back with a smile. All the while anticipating his introduction to her oldest son.
Luca.
“You look lovely.” And tired, if he was being honest.
“Thank you,” she said, and then looked over her shoulder. “Are you ready for this?”
“Are you?” he asked instead of answering.
She shook her head, and they both laughed.
James hoped his laughter put her at ease. “Let’s get this behind us so we can enjoy the weekend.”
He placed his hand on the small of her back and encouraged her to lead the way.
The rich scent of tomatoes, herbs, and spices lofting out the door grew stronger as they entered the building.
A small hallway that led to a stairwell paved the path to the apartments above. Halfway in the hall was an open door.
“That’s the back door to the restaurant. I’ll show you around that when we get home.”
“Has it been difficult to live where you work? It must be tough to walk away.”
Mari shrugged as they made it to the stairs. “I’ve never known it to be any different. I’ve lived in this building nearly my entire life.”
“Does that feel like stability or stagnation?” he asked.
She paused halfway up the first flight of stairs and glanced at him. “Both.”
As they approached the open door to her son’s home, James stood a little taller. First impressions were everything, and for Mari’s sake, he wanted this to go well.
The open floor plan of the apartment had a good-size kitchen on one end, a dining table, and a complete living room with windows on three sides.
Luca and Brooke stood over the kitchen island in conversation as Mari led James inside.
The sound of them entering the room had the couple looking up.
Mari said something quickly in Italian, then quickly switched to English. “Luca, Brooke, this is James.”
Brooke had an easy smile. One of warmth and welcome.
Luca stared James down, the expression on his face so very neutral he could be a poster child for Switzerland.
James stepped forward and extended a hand to Mari’s son.
Luca’s grip was hard, his eyes sharp. “It’s nice to meet you.”
James wouldn’t bank on nice being Luca’s first choice of words. But he appreciated it anyway.
“I’ve been looking forward to this since your mother and I met.”
Thankfully, James didn’t need to play tug-of-war with his hand. Brooke extended her hand next, this one much softer and quick. “It’s a pleasure. Can I get you something to drink? Glass of water? Coffee?”
James took his cue from Mari.
“Water before we go would be nice,” she said.
“Please, have a seat.” Luca indicated a seat at the dining table. He brought a cup of what smelled like coffee with him.
The scuff of chairs shuffling along the floor as they all sat filled the room.
Brooke brought James and Mari glasses with ice water and took a seat beside her husband.
James thanked Brooke, and silence took over.
“I know this comes as a surprise,” James said, addressing the elephant in the room.
“It does,” Luca quickly replied.
The sound of a clock ticking amplified the quiet.
Mari cleared her throat.
Luca glanced at his mother, sighed, and turned his attention to James. “How did you meet?”
James felt warmth in his own smile at the memory. “The first time I spoke with your mother was in line at a bar. An older gentleman was hitting on her when all she was doing was being polite.”
Mari laughed. “He was at least twenty years older. Rude, too.”
“But the first time I noticed her was by the pool when we’d just boarded.”
Mari clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “That boy was a child.”
“What boy?” Brooke asked.
“The young man I told you about.”
“A kid fresh off a divorce also took notice of Mari and offered to buy her a drink.”
Luca looked at his mother. “What were you doing?”
“Nothing. We were gathered on the pool deck while we waited for our luggage to arrive in our staterooms. There were several singles groups, many of us had matching T-shirts. Once I realized the shirt was a target for attention, I didn’t wear it again.”
“And you were part of their group?” Luca asked.
James answered with a nod. “Yes, but I opted out of the shirt. I went on the cruise to appease my girls, not to announce I was single.”
“The twins?” Brooke asked.
“Seventeen going on thirty,” James offered.
“Exactly how I see Franny in a few more years,” Mari said.
“I’ve heard a lot about your daughter. I look forward to meeting her,” James said.
“We haven’t told her about you.” Luca’s delivery was cold.
“Considering you just learned about me, that’s probably for the best.”
Again, the conversation stilled.
James placed both hands around the glass of water he had yet to drink from. “I imagine this is difficult for you.”
“That my mother has been seeing a man for weeks and didn’t say anything? Yes. It is.”
Brooke moved closer to Luca’s side and placed a hand over his.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you knew from the beginning, Luca. This still would have been difficult. I appreciate you accepting James and treating him with the kindness he deserves,” Mari said.
“Deserves?” Luca’s brow rose.
“That I will earn, if you give me a chance,” James said.
Luca released a heavy sigh, sat back, and tossed both hands up in the air. “I will try.”
“You will,” Mari half growled.
It was James’s turn to set his hand over Mari’s. “I have no doubt that Luca promised Paulo that he’d watch over and take care of you. Turning a blind eye to a man that enters your life wouldn’t be making good on that promise.”
When James met Luca’s gaze again, he found a hint of respect.
A hint that James could live with . . . for now.
Brooke cleared her throat. “We need to pick Franny up from school. And I’m sure you want to leave before traffic is horrible.”
“Good idea,” Mari said.
They all stood.
James extended his hand once again.
Luca accepted.
“You are just as your mother described.”
“Stubborn and angry?” Luca asked.
“Strong and protective.”
Luca relented and let James’s hand go.
Mari moved to her son and hugged him, then moved to Brooke. “See you Sunday.”
James let his shoulders relax once they left their apartment and walked to Mari’s to collect her bag.
“That went better than I thought it would,” he said once they were alone.
They walked into Mari’s home, a duplicate of the above floor plan, the furnishings very different.
Luca and Brooke had a flair for the modern, and it looked as if Mari had gathered a few family heirloom pieces brought over from Italy itself.
Heavier wood pieces with plush white sofas, a dining table twice the size as the one in Luca’s home. Family pictures everywhere.
“Luca could have been kinder.” She left James by the door and crossed the room to a hallway.
“He’s skeptical.”
James walked over to a shelf filled with photographs.
“I’m his mother, he needs to trust me,” she said from the other room.
He picked up a picture of Mari as a young mother, holding the hands of both her sons, her belly swelled with her daughter. As beautiful as she was then, James thought she was more so now.
His eyes settled on an even younger photograph. This one, she was in white, the candles of a church in the background.
And Paulo.
A handsome man who gave his features to his oldest son.
“I’m ready.”
James turned to find Mari holding a coat and her purse, pulling a suitcase beside her.
He moved to her side and took her bag.
“Did you bring hiking shoes?” he asked.
“I live in the city. The best you’re going to get are tennis shoes I use on my walks.”
James nudged her toward the door. “That’s easily fixed.”