Tangled In Strings

Chapter Six

"And you make good money in that profession?"

"I've obtained a fair amount of money. Yeah." It's actually a very, very fair amount of money, but I don't want to let her know that, unsure as to why she's even asking me about it in the first place.

"I admit I thought you were after him for that, so this is a relief. You don't seem the type of girl to take advantage of him like the other one. I'm never wrong on my impressions, and I like you very much."

"Well, thank you." I'm now fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Have you had many relationships?"

"Um, no. A husband. We're divorced now."

"You are so young to be divorced... Why did that end?"

"There were many reasons."

She bends her head to meet my downcast gaze. "He was a cruel man?"

Giovanni wasn't kidding about the runaround. "Sometimes."

"Does my nephew know about this?"

"He does."

The woman who was setting the table now begins to fill the available spaces with hot serving plates of food. With that distraction and the flute coming from the record player, my mind is becoming jumbled.

"Am I pushing too much? I'm sorry." She calls out in Italian, and within moments, one of the chefs brings over a cool cloth. She takes it and hands it to me. "You are flushed."

"It's probably the heat," I say as an excuse, bringing the towel to my forehead. The coolness helps. I glance to the door, wishing Giovanni would return. I'm usually not this out of my comfort, and I realize she's not even really pushing.

"I don't mean to overwhelm you. It's just that I've never met any of Giovanni's women. He wouldn't bring you here to meet us unless he really loved you, I know that."

I smile. "Oh."

The thought that I'm the only woman they've met pleases me more than it should.

"I want good things for him. Happiness, love, a good marriage, family. You do want a family someday?"

I stare at her, unmoving as stone.

"I haven't really thought about it."

Bullshit. I've thought about it plenty, and every time, my fucked up brain has told me to set the ridiculous notion aside. I cannot even take care of myself, let alone a child.

"Giovanni is wonderful with children. My sister's family, Marco and Luca's family, will be coming sometime this week. They are overflowing with children. You'll see."

I nearly grimace. "Oh, okay."

"You should think about it with him. It's important to have a big family."

I lick my dry lips, my eyes flickering to the woman setting the table. "Do you have children?"

She takes a calculating breath. "I am barren, unable to have children. I wish I could have had many of them."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Luca has three children that live with their mother. When they come, I feel very fortunate."

I'm cringing internally. Giovanni didn't tell me about his family's intense desire for procreation. I wonder if he feels this way too. We just got back together; I didn't expect the subject of children to be something on the list of things to go over.

"Are you close with your family?"

Thankfully, Giovanni enters the kitchen then, holding three bottles of wine. He takes one look at me and glares at his aunt. I must look redder than I imagined. I smile reassuringly when he sets the bottles down.