A Lily Amongst Roses

Five

Tuesday Evening

I mopped the floors just in time for Andrea to announce my dinner was ready. Arlo was in the kitchen grabbing a lemonade can from the fridge, he noticed me as I walked in with the mop.

"Did Bruno not help you clean up?" He asked, I shook my head in response, thanking Andrea as she swapped the mop with my plate of spaghetti Bolognese. "Mio Dio." (My God.) "I told him to help you."

"Giovanni told me to mop up." I mentioned, I started to leave the kitchen with the plate to head up the stairs, Arlo hot on my trail.

"Rue, you're not supposed to eat upstairs."

"Giovanni said your mother is coming. And I won't be allowed to have dinner with you." I frowned slightly, thoughts of my mother invading my memory.

"Very well, but ... you need a knife and fork, for one." He checked his phone, "And she's not due to arrive for another hour and a half. Do you think you'll be done eating by then by then?"

I nodded.

"Great, stay there." And he quickly went in the kitchen, returning to the staircase with a knife and fork. "I'll join you."

"Join me?" I asked, making my way up the stairs.

Arlo nodded, "Yeah, of course, I've not seen you all day."

I looked at him in surprise. He was dressed smart similarly to Giovanni's attire, a black button down shirt, with the top few buttons loose, tucked into his black suit trousers, along with fancy black shoes, a silver chain, rings and Rolex watch complimenting his appearance.

Ralph opened his door, slightly surprised to see me stood there with a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese and looked up at his older brother, "Why is she not dressed?"

He was referring to my short black shorts and stripped black and white T-shirt, which made my pale skin less pale, I looked down, avoiding eye contact with any of my brothers. I was dressed... does he mean I'm not wearing anything classy?

"She's not joining us." Maximus' voice echoed through the foyer. Our heads turned to look at him as he neatly was attending to the Lilies in the vase.

"Why not?" Ralph questioned.

"We know what our mother is like Ralph. You really think it's best to put an emotional girl, who just lost her mother into a room with our mother."

Arlo shrugged, "He's got a point."

I didn't even deny that I was emotional. It was true. Especially recently as my mother had just passed. I was quite vulnerable.

"Mother's not that bad."

Maximus raised his eyebrow, "Oh really?"

My food was going to go cold.

"Okay, she's pretty bad, but she's still our mother." Ralph closed his door, going over to the railing to look down at the foyer, with the chandelier light shining around the room, it made him look like he was straight out of a movie. I almost admired him. Almost.

I spoke up, saying my words slowly and softly, "I'm going to eat my food."

Arlo nodded as he watched me walk down, just before I entered my room I heard him speak Italian to his brothers, "La momma non può sapere di Rue, diventerà balistica. Sappiamo come può essere, non dirle di Rue."
(Mother can't know about Rue, she'll go ballistic. We know how it can be, so don't tell her about Rue.)