by Libby Klein
Aunt Ginny leaned into me. “What are we supposed to be doing?”
“I think we’re waiting for it to start.”
“Are we supposed to go up there and light one of those candles?”
“I don’t know.” I looked around. “Wouldn’t someone tell us if we had to do that?”
Momma cleared her throat. Apparently, it was quiet reflection time.
I was reflecting on how I ended up coming to Easter Mass with this sour woman in the first place. I repented of that uncharitable thought and shifted my mind to last night, and how someone on the police force had a little beauty cream side hustle and it appeared to be Kieran Dunne. I yawned again, and Aunt Ginny elbowed me in the ribs.
I checked the time. If Mass started in ten minutes, then why were so many people getting up and moving around? There were two little booths at the front of the room on the left. Maybe we were waiting for the priest to make his entrance from one of those. The little wooden door opened, and Tally exited one of the booths. I jabbed Aunt Ginny.
“Oof. What?”
“That’s Tally. She works with Dr. Rubin. What’s she doing here?”
“Going to confession, from the looks of it.”
I watched her walk to the back row, cross herself, and sit down. Were we supposed to cross ourselves when we got here?
“Hello, hello.” While I was watching Tally, Alex had snuck up behind us. Her voice was definitely above a whisper and no one gave her the evil eye. I’m just sayin’.
Momma lit up like she’d been plugged directly into the transformer. She waddled over to give Alex a hug. She stepped on my foot, and the black taffeta of her hat veil poked me in the eye.
Alex greeted Momma in Italian, then changed to English for my sake. “We’re sorry we’re late. You know how hard it is, trying to get a child out the door.”
We?
Aunt Ginny looked behind me and slumped down in her seat with a groan.
Alex was wearing a beautiful, green silk dress covered in little embroidered rosebuds. Henry was behind her in a matching green sweater and khakis. His hair was slicked back and held into place with gel. And Gia was behind him, wearing an identical outfit to Henry’s. The three of them had coordinated like it was family portrait day.
Aunt Ginny grabbed my wrist under her coat to keep me from escaping.
Momma ushered Alex and Henry past her so they would be on the far side, away from me. Then she sat on my hand to keep Gia from sitting next to me. “Mi scusi.”
Gia started to protest, but a white-robed priest took the podium, and he was forced to move to the other side of his mother.
I had the distinct feeling that this orchestrated plan had begun from the moment my invitation to dinner was extended.
The service started, but my mind was on Gia and his nuclear family next to me. It took me fifteen minutes to realize everything being said was in Latin. Apparently that was the “special” in special Easter Mass. We were having a lot of position changes from sitting to standing to kneeling, then back to sitting.
Aunt Ginny and I were not Catholic, so we really didn’t know what we were doing. By the time Aunt Ginny got on her knees, it was time to stand up again. I had to help pull her to her feet. Aunt Ginny had grown up Methodist. Methodists don’t kneel.
“I hope all that praying was for healing, because I’m going to need it.” We shared a look that said this was the last time we’d be doing this.
There were a lot of things the congregation had to repeat, and they were written in a little booklet in a pocket on the back of the pew. I tried to keep up, but I lost my place and said, “And also with you” to a dead-silent church. The priest glanced at me, then away.
Aunt Ginny whispered, “I don’t think that was right.”
“ No.”
Alex snickered, and Momma snorted her disapproval.
The priest called everyone up for Communion, where an altar boy held a little gold mirror under your chin. I started to get up, and Momma put her hand on my shoulder and muscled me back to the hard bench.
Alex explained as she passed us, “Catholics only.”
Momma must have weighed out taking Communion versus losing her seat to keep me in check. Guarding the heathens on the bench won out.
All through the service I could feel Gia’s eyes on me, but I refused to look at him. My agony was on full display and it wanted to hand him his diamond earrings and hit the bricks. Have a nice life. Tears welled in my eyes and I had to force myself to think about something else.
Tally. Why was she here? Other than it was Easter, and this was probably the closest church to her hotel. Was she devoutly Catholic or looking for absolution for Dr. Rubin’s death? And if the latter, what did she do? And what was the Phoenix Protocol?
The priest gave a hand signal that the service was over.
I blew out my breath in relief and Aunt Ginny muttered, “Thank you, Jesus!”
When everyone started milling around and greeting each other I made a beeline away from Gia and his perfect little matchy-matchy family toward the back row. “Tally? Hey, Happy Easter.”
“Oh, Poppy right? Yes, Happy Easter to you too. I was just on my way out.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
Her face fell.
“I bet you miss being at your home church today. Especially with it being Easter Sunday.”
Tally looked for the exit. “I don’t really go to church much. I just needed to get some spiritual guidance this morning.”
“Sure. I understand, with all that’s been going on. But you must be feeling better to know you don’t have to track down the cyber forensics company now.”
She looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“The company Dr. Rubin hired to find out who was behind the online slander? You were worried because you didn’t know how to contact them. The report is in.”
“Are you sure? How do you know?”
“The police have it. I was there last night . . . helping with the investigation.... I saw it.” I suspected that leaving out the arrest and booking part of my night was probably a sin. Maybe I should go sit in that booth at the front.
“Well, that is a relief.” Her eyes told a different story. They shifted around like she was trying to recall some information. “Did the police say how they got the report?”
“They said one of the nurses faxed it down.”
She nodded. “You know, I was going to leave, but on second thought, I’m going to go pray and light a candle for Lance.”
Is that what those are for? I looked up to the front of the church, where the candles were lined up across a table. I caught the wooden door swing open, and Gia came out of one side of the booth. Out of the other side exited a man dressed all in black. Gia handed the man a fat wad of cash and they shook hands. What in the world was that?
“Especially after my unpleasant run-in last night,” Tally droned on.
“Uh-huh.”
“I caught a woman coming out of his hotel room.”
“You caught a what?”
“A woman. Coming out of Lance’s room. It got me so upset, it’s why I came to the Mass today.”
“A woman? Was she with housekeeping?”
“No. I think she was searching his room for valuables. I called out to her and asked her what she was doing there, but she ran off.”
“It wasn’t Agnes Pfeister-Pinze, was it?”
“No. But she was older. I know I’ve seen her before. She had on these designer red glasses and had hair like you, but with a blond streak across the front. If I see her again, I’ll try to get a picture.”
There was no need for a picture. I knew exactly who she was talking about, and I would see Faelynn Archer as soon as I returned to the B&B.
CHAPTER 41
“Don’t leave me back there with those weirdos.” Aunt Ginny grabbed my arm. “First you ran off like the priest was going to bring you on stage as a cautionary tale against dating, then Gia evaporated into
thin air. What’s gotten into you two?”
I tried to excuse myself from Tally, but she had already escaped. “Did you see where Gia went?”
“No. He just vanished. Not that I blame him . . .”
“I just saw him come out of the confessional. That’s what that box is up there, isn’t it?”
Aunt Ginny followed my stare. “Don’t think too much about what he was confessing. That won’t do you any good right now.”
I was more concerned with what looked like a shady payoff. “Do people normally give sizable cash donations after confessing?”
Aunt Ginny shrugged. “Maybe it’s a new type of penance to save on all those Hail Marys.”
I felt a dark presence behind me and turned to see Momma glowering at my back. She handed me a folded piece of paper. “You come now.” She waddled away.
Aunt Ginny’s eyebrows shot up and disappeared under her hat. “You said she didn’t speak English.”
I opened the paper and read the address. “I swear, that is the first thing she’s ever said to me that wasn’t in Italian or a hand gesture. You don’t think she overheard us talking about Gia, do you?”
Aunt Ginny adjusted her hat veil. “We’ll find out soon enough. That address is just around the corner.”
When we walked down the steps of the church, Mrs. Dodson and Mrs. Davis were waiting on a bench outside. They waved me over and handed me a gift bag. “It’s a cut-glass olive-oil cruet. For the battle-ax.”
I hugged them and fought back tears of relief. “Thank you. You’re lifesavers.”
Mrs. Davis patted me on the arm. “Lila would have been here, but she has a big Easter brunch with all her kids and grands after church today.”
Mrs. Dodson gave a head nod toward the church. “How’s it going so far?”
Aunt Ginny made a face. “See for yourself.” She pointed to where Alex descended the steps of the church with Momma on her arm. They shared Easter greetings with the passing parishioners, while Gia and Henry followed behind in their coordinating scowls.
The biddies clucked their tongues and gave me sympathetic pats.
Mrs. Dodson gave me a nod. “Hold your head high and knock ’em dead.” I gave them a tremulous smile as they hefted themselves off the bench. “Now we’re going to do a lap for more fudge samples. They just changed out the boy with the tray. The stingy one is on break.”
We left them to their fudge shakedown and walked to the car. Oliva Larusso lived a few streets away from the church in a tiny, yellow, shingled cottage with yellow-and-white-striped awnings. It was a box bungalow that would fit inside our front sitting room. She had removed all the grass and replaced it with crushed seashells. Kneeling right in the middle of the yard was a praying ceramic angel. If I lived with Gia’s mother, I’d be praying too.
The front door was open, and the storm door was fogged up with condensation from all the people and cooking inside. It was a lively bunch, but the conversation ground to complete silence the minute I knocked.
Karla answered the door. “Come on in.” She whispered, “Be strong.”
I was frozen in place, but Aunt Ginny prodded me in the behind with her pocketbook and pushed me into the packed living room.
Gia was immediately at my side. “We need to talk.”
I swallowed hard, but Karla slapped him on the shoulder. “My God! Let her get inside first.”
While Karla took my sweater and Aunt Ginny’s coat, we looked around at eight pairs of eyes glued to us. I felt like an exotic exhibit at the zoo. “Hello.”
Aunt Ginny was a little breathless from the attention as well. “Thank you for having us.”
Momma must have been in the kitchen with Alex, but I recognized a few of the faces.
Gia took my hand. He said something in Italian with an edge to it. Their eyes shifted to him, then back to me, without any change in their expressions. “Poppy, you’ve met my brothers, Piero and Luca. They helped set up our booth and brought the espresso machine. Luca’s the oldest of us.”
His brothers. I forced a smile and nodded. “Hello.”
The men gave me silent chin raises.
“Then this is my baby sister, Stefania.”
Karla leaned over my shoulder. “I’m the baby. Stefania is two years older.”
Stefania smiled. “I’m older and wiser. It’s nice to meet you both.”
I said hello and Aunt Ginny gave a tiny wave.
“My other baby sister, Daniela, who’s expecting her first.”
Daniela placed her hands on her baby bump. “I’m older, but clearly not wiser. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“And you know my sister Teresa from the Skype.”
I smiled. “Hello again.”
Teresa smacked her lips and looked away.
Oh. Okay.
“And this is Teresa’s husband, Angelo.”
I looked hard at Angelo, waiting for his reaction. When we’d met at the Expo, he all but threatened to whack me. Then he showed up unannounced at my house to tell me to dress appropriately for today. So, this was Gia’s brother-in-law.
Angelo shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. “Nice to meet you.”
Teresa slapped him on the back of the neck.
He jerked away from her. “What! What am I supposed to say?”
Gia slid his hand down my back. “My older sisters, Francesca and Madalena. Their kids are in the backyard hunting the eggs.”
Older sisters. Oh my god, they were gorgeous. All of them. Like celebrities. I wanted to shrink away and hide. “Hello.”
The older women spoke in thick Italian accents. “So, we finally meet you.” Madalena ran her eyes from my head to my feet. “You are the widow?”
“That’s right.” Get me out of here.
“Hm.” She was not impressed with what she saw.
Francesca stood and offered me an awkward hug. “I am the divorced one. Until Daniela got knocked up, I was the black sheep.”
Daniela gave me an eye roll. “But Gia will always be Momma’s favorite.”
Teresa cocked her head in my direction. “Not anymore.”
The storm door opened, and a familiar, little Italian man walked in with a bouquet of daffodils and took off his fedora. “Buona Pasqua, miei cari.”
Everyone responded, “Buona Pasqua!”
Gia rubbed his thumb in a circle on my shoulder blade. “And you know Zio Alfio.”
Zio Alfio handed his coat and daffodils to Karla and kissed me on the cheek. “Ciao, Bella.” Then he did the same to Aunt Ginny, who giggled and made me turn to look at her to see where that sound had come from.
Momma came into the living room wiping her hands on her apron, her face pink with exertion. She and Zio Alfio hugged and kissed like they hadn’t seen each other since emigrating, when I knew for a fact they had just been together a couple of weeks ago.
Momma announced, “Si mangia in trenta minuti.” We eat in thirty minutes. This was the part of Italian I understood.
I handed her the gift the biddies had prepared. “Thank you for inviting us. Is there anything I can do to help?”
The room went silent again. I heard Aunt Ginny behind me. “Mmm.”
Momma muttered something angrily with a hand gesture, then returned to the kitchen.
Stefania gave me an apologetic smile. “It isn’t you. She won’t let anyone help until it’s time to clean up.”
Daniela rubbed her baby bump. “She can’t feel like a martyr unless she had to do everything by herself.”
Luca, who they called Stubby, stood up and offered his seat to Aunt Ginny. “Please.”
I know it galled her to feel like she was being treated like a senior citizen, but she swallowed her pride and thanked him for being a gentleman as she took the seat on the end of the couch. “And where is Alex?”
There was one collective eye roll that stopped at Teresa. Gia’s hand froze on my shoulder blade and Zio Alfio muttered something dark.
Teresa answered, “She
is in the kitchen learning to make tortellini, like a good daughter-in-law.”
The younger sisters tsked and gave Teresa dirty looks.
A sigh caught in my throat that sounded like a sob. I tried measuring the distance from my body to the front door. I bet I could make it to the car in thirty seconds.
Henry appeared from the other side of the house. “Poppy!” He ran to me and flung his arms around my legs. “You’re really here. I wanted to sit with you in church, but Nonna wouldn’t let me.”
I bent down and hugged him. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t miss having Easter with you.”
Henry made an announcement to Gia’s family that I had met all of five minutes ago. “Poppy is going to be my mommy.”
I felt my cheeks get hot. The stony, uncomfortable faces that turned away from me were more than I could bear. Daniela looked like she might tear up, but Teresa’s glare was pure hatred.
Gia put his hand on top of Henry’s head. “Why don’t you see if Nonna needs help setting the table? Poppy and I are going outside for a walk.”
Henry tore off toward the kitchen. “I want to sit next to Poppy.”
Gia pressed lightly against my back to lead me to the door. I looked at Aunt Ginny to see if she would be okay. She gave me a nod of steel that she could hold her own.
Gia wrapped my hand in his and led me down the steps. Once we were safely away from the house, he stopped walking. “First I am sorry about this stupid sweater. Momma gave them to us as presents and asked us to wear them today. I should have known it was a scheme. And we did not arrive with Alex. She waited for us by the door to come in at the same time, so you would see us together and assume.” He took a half step toward me. “I could not pay attention in Mass with you so close to me. All I could think about was how much I love you, and how beautiful you look in those earrings.” He kissed my fingers. “It means a lot to me that you would meet my family. I know they are not all accepting yet because of Alex, but they will come around.”
