Chapter Nineteen
Sue
Cam settled comfortably next to me on the couch, one arm slung casually across the backrest. Meanwhile, my heart was doing the cha-cha. On the coffee table, two cans of beer sat half-empty—one of them had been my attempt at courage in a can. It hadn’t worked.
“You’re going to break that thing,” Cam teased, nodding toward my white-knuckled grip on the tablet. His voice was calm, soothing, as he reached out to brush a strand of hair away from my face. “Relax. Meeting the family’s supposed to be fun.”
“For normal people, maybe. You’ve never met my family.”
He grinned. “Come on, how bad could it be?”
“Think My Big Fat Greek Wedding, only Italian and louder.” I took a breath so deep my lungs felt like they would explode. “Okay, let’s do this thing.”
I tapped the video call button on my tablet. The screen filled with static before stabilizing on my mom’s overly close face. She adjusted the camera, squinting at the screen.
“Susanne!” Mom’s usually composed voice was several octaves higher. “We were just about to call you. We saw the newspaper. You have some explaining to do, daughter mine.”
“Come on, Mom, you’re going to scare her off.” The camera shifted wildly as my brother took the tablet, his hair standing on end, the lower half of his face covered in shaving cream. Thanks to Dad’s genes, Paul had to shave twice a day to keep from looking like an Italian version of Cousin It.
“Sue! You really did it, huh? Neil’s losing his mind.
” Paul laughed. “Michelle saw Sally the other day. Man, is she bitter. She’s hired some hot shot divorce lawyer to take him to the cleaners.
She caught him doing the nasty with Sandy Parsons in her own bed.
As mad as Sally is, he’s lucky she didn’t cut off his cazzo and shove it down his throat. ”
“Paul,” my mother spoke loudly. “Don’t be crude.”
“If I caught you like that, Paul, you’d be eating yours for breakfast,” Michelle said, her pregnant belly coming into view moments before her face did.
My cheeks burned as I rolled my eyes to look at Cam. I wondered if he’d realized that my crazy family had been talking for minutes without even allowing me to open my mouth.
“Hello everyone,” I said on a sigh. “Before this gets any weirder, I’d like you to meet Cameron Jones. My fiancé.”
Mom and Michelle squealed when I turned the tablet to put Cam in the frame.
Paul whooped. “Hey, Dad! Come over here, we’re talking to your future son-in-law.”
From somewhere in the background, my father’s deep, gravelly voice boomed.
“Hold on, I’m coming! Don’t hog the screen, Paolo.”
Paul ignored him, grinning and staring openly at Cam. “So this is the guy, huh? Not bad, Sue. Make sure you hold on to this one.”
“He’s not my hostage, Paul,” I replied dryly.
“Paul, give me that.” Mom took the tablet and leaned closer to the camera. “Cam, it’s so nice to meet you.” She turned to Paul and I heard her whisper, “I won the bet fair and square. You have to change my tires.”
Leave it to my family to bet on my happiness. Nothing was sacred to them. I buried my face in my hands, but even that small gesture triggered another round of madness.
“Oh my God. Susanne, show us the ring!”
Cam smiled at Mom and reached for my hand. He lifted it into the frame, the sapphire and diamonds sparkling under the light.
“Dio mio!” Mom clutched her chest, her face more animated than I’d ever seen it. “How beautiful! Where did you get it?”
“Tiffany’s,” Cam answered, his tone as smooth as the espresso Dad brewed every morning.
Michelle’s face popped into view. “Tiffany’s? Sue, if I wasn’t as big as a house, I’d make you take me there next week. I need a little sparkle in my life.”
“Good luck,” Paul said off-camera. “Once the baby comes, all your sparkle will be from spit-up and drool.”
Michelle ignored her husband. “Cam, did you pick out the ring yourself?”
Cam nodded, his expression earnest. “We selected it together. I wanted something that reflected how special Sue is. The sapphire reminded me of her—beautiful, unique, and classy.”
My mother beamed. “You hear that, Susanne? He knows how to treat a woman.”
My father finally appeared on the screen, his salt-and-pepper hair neatly combed and his flannel shirt practically screaming countryside.
“This the guy?” he asked, squinting at the camera.
“Yes, Papa. This is Cam. My… fiancé.” My voice was as tight as my stomach.
Dad studied Cam, his brows drawn low, eyes narrowing with silent calculation.
“So, Cameron.” My dad’s voice was deep, smooth, with that familiar Tuscan lilt. He put a grave accent on the ‘a’, as he did on the first syllables of most words. “You want to marry my daughter?”
“Yes, sir.” Cam’s tone was respectful but steady. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask your permission to marry Sue, but I needed the element of surprise on my side. I hope I have your blessing. I love her and can’t imagine another day without her in my life.”
I felt my jaw drop. Cam was laying it on way too thick. I shot him a glare and mimed slitting my throat to get him to stop.
“You’d better make my bambina happy,” Dad said.
Cam’s face was dead serious. “I promise you that, sir.”
Hollowness filled my stomach. How could I do this to my family?
What was I doing? How weak a person was I that I had to build this whole charade instead of just telling my mom to butt out of my business?
I remembered the countless videos I’d saved about setting boundaries and cursed myself for not watching a single one of them.
I vowed I’d listen to the entire playlist that night.
Although it seemed a bit too late for that. The crazy wheels were in motion.
“Bene.” Dad nodded approvingly. He was Italian after all, so romance ran through his veins. “You hurt her, and you’ll have to deal with me. Understand?”
“Understood,” Cam said seriously.
Paul burst out laughing. “Oh man, Dad’s already pulling the Italian tough guy routine. Next, he’ll offer to introduce you to his shovel collection.”
Dad gave him a cold stare. “Think your old man is harmless, figlio mio? Think again. I can still take you on and win.”
“Bring it on, old man.”
“Stop it, you two,” Mom intervened. “I am not letting you turn this into another backyard target shooting competition.”
Cam glanced at me, grinning, completely unfazed by the chaos unfolding on the screen. “I love your family.”
“I’ll remind you of that in a minute when they ask about a wedding date,” I muttered.
Michelle rubbed her belly, chiming in. “So, Cam, how did you win Sue over? She’s not an easy one to impress.”
“Chocolate and jewelry,” Cam replied promptly. “Worked like a charm.”
Michele sighed dramatically. “Did you hear that, Paul?”
Paul was conspicuously silent.
“Cameron, will you be joining us for Easter dinner?” Dad asked.
“If you’ll have me, I’ll be delighted.”
Mom leaned closer again. “Susanne, did you find a hat for the parade?”
“I did,” I said quickly, desperate to change the subject. “Cam picked it out for me. It was a gift.”
“A gift?” Dad’s tone was laced with approval. “Now that’s the mark of a thoughtful man. But be careful, shopping with a woman can lead you down a path paved with trouble.”
Cam laughed. “I’m happy to take my chances with Sue. She keeps telling me to stop buying her things, but I love seeing the light in her eyes when I do. Now, I need to excuse myself. I have a conference call with Australia in about an hour, and I have to look over some documents first.”
This part was true. He did have a call coming in, and I knew my family would have a lot more embarrassing questions, so I was glad to talk to them alone. I wanted to ease Cam into the family. One couldn’t just go all in, one needed to build up tolerance to deal with us Morellis.
I met his eyes gratefully, mouthing THANK YOU as he smiled at me.
“It was great talking to all of you, and I look forward to meeting everyone in person soon,” Cam added.
After saying goodbye, Cam stood, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me, ending it with a resounding smack.
“I’ll see you later, honey.”
He left the apartment, closing the door behind him.
Everyone whooped. Even my mother gave a little smile of approval.
“What a kiss,” Michelle said. “I can just tell he’s an amazing kisser.”
“How could you tell that?” I sat back down on the couch, suddenly too warm for my clothes.
“By the way he looks,” she said, and they all laughed.
“He sounds lovely, Susanne,” Mom said. “I am so happy for you. Have you set a date?”
“Mom!” I couldn’t be more exasperated if I tried. “We just got engaged last night. Give us some time.”
“Well, there’s only so much time available, dear. We need to book the church and a hall... You are planning to get married here, aren’t you? You wouldn’t dare run off like Elsie Morgan did and get married by some Elvis impersonator in Vegas?”
“No, I—”
She continued like I hadn’t spoken. “Your father and I have waited all of our lives to plan your wedding. You can choose your own dress, of course, but I’ll look after everything else.
Will Cam’s mother want to be involved? I’ll have to talk to her and get names for the guest list. Maybe we can do some dress shopping when we’re in New York—”
“Mom, settle down.” My head was pounding, and I reached for Cam’s beer. He’d only taken a few sips. I drained the rest in two gulps. Great. I let my mother turn me into a compulsive liar, and now into a drunk.
I took a deep breath. “Cam and I just got engaged. We do not want to be rushed. We’ll get married when we decide to get married.”
“It didn’t sound to me like Cameron wants to wait too long,” Dad said thoughtfully. “I know a man in love when I hear one, and that fellow sounds like a man in love.”
Mom chuckled and went on to give me the news the way she usually did. My engagement would be all over Warwick before the night was out.
“When are you arriving in New York?” I asked when she paused to take a breath.
“We’re coming in late Thursday night,” Mom explained. “I know you have to work on Friday, but I thought we could meet for dinner. Would that work?”
“It should.”
After a few more minutes of gushing about how happy she was, Mom ended the call before the “roast was overdone.”
I set the tablet aside and threw myself back on the couch. I should have known my mother’s reaction, yet somehow I’d let everything spiral out of control. I was going to burn in hell for this. And right now that didn’t sound like a bad alternative to my current situation.