Foreign Touch

CHAPTER 12

Mia anxiously fixed her sun hat as she and Jack stood outside the front door of her parent's house.
"You sure I look okay?", she asked in a whisper. Jack smirked and nodded as Mia began fixing the collar of his light blue button up.
"You're stressing me out and I'm not the type to get nervous when meeting a woman's parents," he teased. She flicked him in the nose and he chuckled.
The door opened and a chubby old lady answered it.
"Mama Mia!" The woman hugged Mia tightly and kissed her face which made Mia laughed loudly. "Is this him?" She asked pointing to Jack.
"Yes, Nonna," Mia laughed fixing her dress.
"Hi, how are ya?" Jack asked sticking out his hand. He laughed when she ignored the handshake and hugged him instead.
"So handsome!" Nonna shouted while hugging Jack, Mia and him laughing at her.
The three went inside and the smell of authentic Italian food filled his nostrils. Mia walked in front of him and he smiled, halting on his tip toes when a two kids ran in front of him while playing.
"Sorry," Mia chuckled grabbing Jack's hand as she watched her nieces play.
"No worries."
He smiled and followed her into a large kitchen, a few people cooking. Mia let go of Jack's hand and walked over to her mother. He watched as she tapped her shoulder, Mia's mother gasping and hugging her daughter tight.
"Oh, Mia!" Her mother began crying as she rocked Mia side to side in the hug. "Mi sei mancato!"
"I missed you too, Ma," Mia smiled kissing her mother's cheek. She waved to her sister and her dad as she held onto her mom.
"Hi, how do ya do?" Jack asked pulling his hand from his pocket as he shook her father's hand.
"Good! Good! How are you?" her father asked loudly, his accent thick as well.
"I'm alright, yourself?" Jack was nervous, luckily for him only his girl could tell.
"I'm good, I'm good!" Mia's father laughed rubbing his belly drinking a Moretti beer. Jack and Mia laughed, her father offering Jack one. "English no good, but I try!"
"Well if I can understand ya, there's no issue," Jack smiled, nodding in a form of thank you and her father nodded back, the two clinking the bottles together.
As Jack drank his beer, he watched the two little girls playing near him, a woman who looked like Mia approached him.
"Sorry, things have been chaotic," she laughed, Jack swallowing and shaking his head.
"No worries. You guys seem busy," he smiled shaking her hand.
"Just a little. I'm her sister, Giovanna, but you can call me Gia if you'd like. That's Nonna Rosa, my papá, Francesco, and my mamma, Bianca," she said softly pointing to everyone. "I'm assuming everything got too chaotic, so I wanted to help you out a little bit."
"Thank you,", Jack smiled.
He watched the two little girls approach Gia speaking in Italian. She spoke back to them and it seemed like they were begging her for something due to her annoyed facial expressions. She handed them nougat candies and waved them away, Jack and her laughing.
"My hair will turn gray by the time I'm thirty," she joked. Jack scoffed and nodded.
He decided not to bring up the fact that he had a twenty seven year old daughter, probably the same age as her. They probably all knew that but he brushed it under the rug.
"How old are they?" He watched as the two girls laughed and played with Nonna Rosa.
"Mariella, the tallest one with the long black hair, will be six and Gianna, the shorter one with the short black hair, is four," she smiled.
"They're beautiful," Jack smiled as he continued to watch the girls.

• • • • • • • • • •

Jack was laughing and cracking jokes with Francesco as the women were inside cooking. He sipped his drink and ashed his cigarette as Mia came out of the sliding glass door.
"Was looking for you two. Mamma wants you," she said to her father as she wrapped her arms around Jack. The two watched him leave and Mia smiled, resting her chin on his chest as she looked up at him. "Well?"
"So far so good," he smiled looking down at her and kissing her nose. "Ya know you guys don't have to speak English just cause I'm here?"
"We know. We just wanna be respectful and I don't feel like translating it if they're capable of speaking English. I mean, Nonna and Papá I might still have to help you with but Gia and Mamma aren't bad. The girls can speak English but choose not to, only with select people."
She watched his brows knit as if he were confused.
"How'd they learn how to speak English?" He scoffed trying to figure it all out. Mia smiled and leaned against the balcony railing.
"I told you, my papá use to sell cars. We'd move all over the place and we settled in LA for a bit. They left and I stayed."
"Well I knew about you, just not them," he chuckled leaning against the railing with her. "I also wasn't expecting your family to live in a fancy villa."
He turned and looked at the two story stone house and peered over at the pool surrounded by flowers and bushes. It was beautiful and quiet.
"What? You thought they were poor or something?" She laughed and kissed his cheek as he laughed with her.
"No, I was expecting a little house on the corner of a street," he smiled while putting out his cigarette and politely throwing it away.

• • • • • • • • • •

The family laughed and talked as they ate dinner, Jack sitting between Nonna Rosa and Gia. Mia stared at him from across the table and rubbed his leg with her foot. He smiled at her and gave her a wink as he took a bite of his carbonara.
"Well, Jack," Bianca began with a sigh. "What are your intentions with my daughter?" Her thick accent and the way she looked at him made him feel uncomfortable. Mia could sense it and she sighed.
"Ma-"
"Shut up. Let him speak," her mother hissed, closing her fingers together signaling Mia be quiet. Bianca leaned forward and put her hands under her chin giving off a condescending vibe.
"Well I can assure you, Mrs Leone, my intentions are pure," he smiled. His smile faded and his brows knitted when her mother began cursing and harshly cutting her braciole.
"E' un maiale bugiardo!"
"Mamma, enough," Gia sighed. She and Nonna rolled her eyes and gave both Jack and Mia a sympathetic look.
As her mother continued to cuss and belittle both Mia and Jack in Italian, Mia's father escorted her out of the room and apologize for her behavior. Everyone was quiet, along with Mia's nieces who seemed to stop eating. It seemed like this wasn't out of the ordinary. Jack listened to Gia whisper to the girls in Italian and they left the table.
"Well, uh, the was unexpected," Jack scoffed softly trying to lighten the mood, Gia and Nonna scoffing too. Mia stared at them as she sipped her wine.