by Liz Turner
“So I turned my attention to my new cause. I held onto my husband in the only way I knew how and worked to carry out his mission to find Mr. Renaldo. After a short ancestry search at the library, I found out the only living descendent of Antonio Renaldo was living in New York City. That was Anton. Unlike what my daughter may have told you about me, I truly believe my husband watched this all play out from Heaven, and he brought me to Anton because he wants me to be happy, even if it means moving past my grief over him.”
“And I agree with you, dear,” Dana said. “That’s a lovely story. But as it is now, I don’t think Angela’s gonna be as easy to convince. As for Roger—you may have better luck with him, but it’s gonna take a little more honesty on the part of the both of you. For one thing, why haven’t you been willing to tell the young couple what you do for a living, Mr. Renaldo?”
“Please, call me Anton. And it wasn’t for lack of willingness. It was out of concern for Angela. See, I’m as skeptical of the boy’s intention with Angela as he probably is about my intentions with Clementine. The last thing I wanted was for him to throw the ‘love’ word at Angela and try to get a deeper connection to the family because he knew the man dating her mother was, for lack of a better term, well off.”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that Clementine said, eyeing Anton. “Because I don’t know what you do for a living either.”
“See, and that’s Angela’s concern,” Dana said, also eyeing Anton. “She thinks it’s a red flag and that you’ve got ill intentions toward her mother.”
Anton shook his head. “No, no, there’re no ill intentions here. Never. I swear, the only reason I have yet to tell is because I didn’t wanna cause Clementine to give up on her dreams and aspirations. As it so happens, I’m the sole heir to my grandfather’s vast and always-increasing fortune.”
Dana raised an eyebrow. “Always increasing?”
“Yes,” Anton said. “My grandfather came to New York after World War II and decided to live a modest life without telling his children that he sat on a massive fortune from wartimes. My father went a little crazy during the wars, but after his passing, my mother found a nonsensical letter written by him to some banker in Italy explaining that he believed if he used the money he gained during the war, it would cause the start of the next world war, ‘just like it did the last time’.
“Of course, my mother wrote to the banker and explained the situation. He told her the funds were on hold for the time being, but would be returned to the family in full. My mother and her only brother, who had no children, died before the funds were fully available. Then the appropriate interest had been calculated for the length of time the money should have been sitting in the bank, making me the sole heir to a fortune I had no idea how to use.
“Over the years, restorative policies were put in place throughout various countries, allowing the families of those who lost a great deal during the wars to receive compensation for their losses and have much of their possessions restored to them, if they still existed. Since learning of this, I’ve made it my mission to find the missing artifacts from my family’s history and have them restored where possible—or bought back and resold for their worth if they’re not restorable.”
“And I take it, because of the great value of your family’s possessions, your cousin wanted to get his hands on the bible before you did?” Dana said.
“I hate to say it, but I believe so. It’s my fault this happened to Angela, really. I told my cousin I was dating a wonderful woman whose husband had gone to Europe and found our family bible from my grandfather’s stories. I should’ve known then what he was up to though, when he kept asking questions about her and if I’d seen the book and all that. I trusted him enough to play right into his scheme…I told him I hadn’t seen it because my girl’s daughter had it.”
Clementine frowned. “What a nasty thing to do! Not you, Anton—I mean your cousin! And for a rich man to do such a thing to a struggling college student, no less! How big is this fortune, anyway?”
“Let’s just say when it comes to my status, ‘millionaire’ barely scratches the surface—at least it won’t be once all our artifacts are restored.”
“But wait,” Clementine said, “if you’re the sole heir—not your cousin—and your family is already so rich, why would your cousin try to steal from Angela?”
“I think I can answer that one,” Dana said. “I think his cousin wants to assert his standing in the family, and he believes that perhaps he could claim some ownership over the family fortune by connecting his grandfather’s name to Mr. Antonio Renaldo. Is that right?”
“Yeah.” Anton laughed. “I think that’s it exactly. I mean sure—we’ve got a nice little family-owned restaurant bringing in a pretty penny back in New York, but that’s nothing compared to my grandfather’s secret treasure. My cousin’s not a bad guy, but he’s not always a good guy either, if you know what I mean?”
“Well,” Dana said, “in all my years watching the hoodlums run rampant in the streets, I’ve found that a good long talk with law enforcement does the trick in scaring the bad out of a ‘good guy’ like your cousin. Don’t ya think?”
Anton nodded. “That’s why I’m willing to report him for the break-in. Not only am I disgusted and so very sorry for what my family did to yours, but I’ve seen my cousin make some poor choices in the past. The only thing that snapped him out of it was facing the consequences afterwards.”
“Well, now that we’ve got this all figured out, I think it’s time I get back to Atlanta before it gets any later. Would you two care to join me?” Dana said.
Clementine sighed and stared off into the distance. Anton glanced at her, seemingly unwilling to respond until he knew how she felt.
Dana didn’t want to push her into make a decision right away either. After all, they still had dinner cooking on the stove to hold them over.
Perhaps I could convince her to come to Atlanta if it involved a nice to-go plate of corn bread and mac and cheese, Dana thought. “All right my darlings, it looks like our dinner is ready, but I’m fixing to take this meal to the car with me and eat it along the way. So what do you say? Know if you care to join me yet?”
“I would love to, it’s just…” Clementine paused.
“Is this something to do with how things stand between you and Angela?” Dana asked.
Clementine nodded. “I mean, what if we get there and she’s not happy to see me? What if I say the wrong thing again and she blames Anton for what his cousin did? She’ll just think I’m betraying her father for another man again, and she’ll never forgive me for that…”
“Honey, I’ve heard everything you had to say tonight, and I’ve seen how this man respects and admires you,” Dana said. “If your daughter is so foolish that she refuses to see it, I’ll knock some sense into her myself! But I’d say being raised by you has given her some kind of sense, so I think she’ll understand in time.”
“Okay…” Clementine smiled. “I think we’ll come along then.”
Chapter 7
Eternal Bonds
Dana sat at a decorated table in the yard of the old church house. The white table cloth blew lightly in the wind as the summer sun glistened through the beads and table-top gems scattered across the table. From the corner of her eye, Dana saw a man in a black tux and a woman in a light pink dress bounding toward her.
“There you are, Auntie!” Angela said, coming to sit beside Dana. “Wow, isn’t this lovely?”
“Yes, it is. This church is perfect for the occasion!” Roger said, sitting beside Angela.
“My, my… It seems something’s sure changed for the two of you!” Dana smirked. “Not two months ago, the both of you were shouting scorn and undying resentment at today’s man-of-the-hour, and now all you’ve got are compliments on the big day? Not two months ago, this would’ve been the last thing either of you wanted to see happen. I gotta say, I wasn’t even sure either of you would come, though it sure is good
to see you both here. Now, I’m not looking to pry, but it seems my curiosity is getting the best of me. May I ask what changed?”
“Well,” Angela said, “after Anton’s cousin confessed to breaking into my house, he went on this whole rant about how Anton never deserved a thing in his life. He said all sorts of horrible things about Anton, and it made me feel kinda bad for blaming him for what happened. His cousin was clearly taking advantage of him and didn’t even care that what he did was wrong. So I invited Anton and my mom to dinner again so that I could apologize. That’s when I realized you were right, Auntie.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you’re gonna have to be more specific,” Dana said. “I’m right about too many things to know what you mean off the top of my head!”
Angela laughed. “When I was at dinner with Anton and Mom, she just seemed so… happy. And it made me think about what you said when the three of you got to my apartment the night after it was ransacked. I was so angry to see Anton there that I didn’t wanna listen to anything he or my mom said. But I was willing to listen to you. Then again, I never would have expected you to be on their side! So when you were…
“I’ll never forget how I felt when you pulled me aside that night. You had your arms folded and your voice sounded just like my mom used to get when she was really angry at me. You tapped your foot and went on and on about how my mom deserved to be happy, and I had no right to force her to cope with losing my dad in the way I thought she should, just because I was coping with it differently. I’m not gonna lie, it made me really mad when you first said it. Mind you, I didn’t want you to be right, but you were telling me exactly what I needed to hear.
“Seeing my mom with Anton at dinner that night made me look at things a little differently. I was still pretty mad at you for saying all those things, but I was just so tired of being sad and angry that I finally accepted that maybe you were right. The only thing that really mattered was that my mom was happy, and I could tell Anton loved her just as much as my dad did. So, that’s why we finally decided to give Anton a chance. And that’s why we’re here now for their wedding.”
“Yes, and you best believe, I sure put in a lot of work into arranging this here wedding, so I’m glad we’ll get to make the best of it!” Dana said. “It really warms my heart to hear that you and Anton are on better terms now. And it looks like you convinced Roger here, too!”
“As it happens, Anton and I came to an understanding of one another on our own,” Roger said. “It was difficult to form a positive opinion of Mr. Renaldo—or Mrs. Carter, for that matter—when I only ever saw Angela upset when they were around. But on that night you took Angela aside and Mrs. Carter had already run off to the bathroom, Anton and I were able to have a chat. It turns out all I really needed was a nice talk, man-to-man to form a clearer opinion.”
“I’ve always envied that about men,” Dana said. “The last time I resolved an argument between me and one of my girlfriends that easily was… probably never!”
“Yes, and Anton helped me to gain a better understanding of Mrs. Carter as well,” Roger said. “It made it much easier for me to help Angela resolve her hard feelings toward her mother when I better understood the other side of the argument. And I would personally attribute much of Anton’s efforts to help resolve those conflicts toward us being here.”
“Is that so?” Dana said. “Well, he did say family was very important to him.”
“It really is,” Angela said. “And Auntie, I have to say I’m sorry I got so angry with you for telling me the truth about the whole thing. I’ve been meaning to call you for a while now, but with finals falling just a couple weeks before the wedding, I had so much I had to do! Before I knew it, we were on our way out here and I hadn’t even called to let you know.”
Dana’s chuckles were drowned out by the organ beginning the wedding tunes from inside the chapel. Guests gathered their things from the tables and hurried into the church to their seats, while Dana and Angela waited outside for Clementine to arrive. It was hard to keep a conversation going with the organ playing, but Dana was satisfied just sitting with her niece and enjoying the warm early summer air.
“I guess I’d better get in there,” Roger said, giving Angela a peck on the cheek. “If they’re not already reserved, I’ll be sure to save us some seats at the front.”
Roger stood and wound his way through the crowd into the chapel.
The closer it got to one o’clock, when the wedding was supposed to begin, the more Angela fidgeted and tapped her newly polished fingernails on the table.
Dana laughed, understanding exactly how Angela felt. Dana too, was worried that Clementine may have gotten cold feet—or at the very least lost track of the time and would be late to her own wedding.
“Should we…wait…Wow…” Angela said, pausing to stare down the street. “She looks beautiful!”
Dana turned around to see her sister walking down the street dressed in an extravagant white gown. The diamonds around her neck caught the sunlight so bright, it was almost blinding. But the brightest thing about her was her smile, shining like the summer sun.
While Angela pulled the train of the dress out of her mother’s arm and arranged it to flow behind her, Dana joined them, brushing a few hairs out her sister’s face.
“There,” Dana said. “Now you look perfect.”
“Thank you,” Clementine said, holding back tears. “Ya know, when we were younger, do you remember how we always sat in the back pew and talked about being each other’s bridesmaids?”
“I think so,” Dana said. “Although, if I remember right, I was convinced I was gonna get to be the flower girl at your wedding! Ha! How silly we were!”
“And disruptive,” Clementine laughed.
“Yeah, and disruptive,” Dana agreed.
“Well,” Clementine said, “I just wanted you to know, when I married John, I didn’t forget about you. I always felt so badly that you didn’t get to be there. Every time I thought of you, it hurt to remember those Sunday mornings and the dreams I shattered for the both of us by not trusting you enough to know you would’ve been there for me, even if Mama didn’t approve.”
“Now, now, the past is the past,” Dana said. “We’ll only tear ourselves up from the inside out if we keep looking behind at what could’ve been.”
“I know, I know,” Clementine said. “It’s just now that we’re both old and gray, I’ve finally gotten the chance to make it right! Now, I can’t promise they won’t look at you funny, hobbling down that aisle with a basket of flowers in your hands, but it makes me so happy to have you here as my bridesmaid! Oh, I’m so happy to have you here!”
Dana smiled. Before she could think of how to reply, Clementine threw her arms around her, nearly squishing the wedding bouquet.
Angela, who’d been sniffling while they talked, dropped the dress’s train, wiped tears from her eyes, and joined in on the hug.
“Shh,” Dana said. “You’re gonna ruin your makeup if you keep crying like that! We can’t have mascara stains on our dresses! Now, let’s get inside and save the rest of the tears for after the wedding!”
“You’re right,” Clementine laughed. “We’ve still got pictures to take, don’t we?”
“Sorry,” Angela said. “I just love you guys so much!”
Although Dana hated to admit it, she struggled to hide her own tears throughout the ceremony. Just as her sister had, Dana sat in this church on many Sundays as a child, dreaming of her sister walking down the aisle. The reality of everything brought joy to her soul. Just as the ceremony was coming to a close, Dana took the opportunity to escape so that she could begin placing food on the serving table in the yard.
“Were my eyes deceiving me, Miss Potter,” Mrs. Cleveland said, placing a crockpot on the table, “or did I catch a glimpse of you crying during the ceremony?”
“Your eyes must’ve been deceiving you,” Dana said. “You know as well as I do that there’s not much that can make an old
woman like me cry. But I must say—wasn’t that the most beautiful ceremony you ever did see?”
“Yes, it sure was beautiful,” Mrs. Cleveland agreed. “And I bet you’re happy too, finally seeing your sister married in the house of the Lord!”
“Well, you know me. I’d have settled for much less, as long as I knew my sister was happy. But it sure doesn’t hurt that Mr. Renaldo set her on the right path to healing the sores in this family. Did you see, even Angela made it out here for the wedding!”
“Did she?” Mrs. Cleveland said. “Well, this must be a good man, indeed! I’m so happy for them.”
“As am I,” Dana said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. And on such a beautiful day, too.”
“You’re absolutely right. It’s not often we get to say this in the Georgia summer, but the weather was sure on our side today.”
The final pot was hardly set on the table when the crowds flooded out the church and into the yard for the reception.
Dana and Mrs. Cleveland served food onto the guests’ plates, while Angela, Roger, and the new Mr. and Mrs. Renaldo took their seats at the head table.
The whole time, Dana couldn’t keep from smiling.
“Would you look at those two,” Mrs. Cleveland said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say Roger’s got a question to ask sweet Angela, if you know what I mean…”
“I guess we’ll see,” Dana said.
“Don’t be such a sceptic!” Mrs. Cleveland playfully swatted Dana’s arm. “Just look at those two! It certainly looks like your family’s got some more wedding bells coming in the not-too-distant future!”
“Ya think so?” Dana glanced at the young couple.
Roger sat with his arm around Angela, who was beaming almost as bright as Clementine. The couple whispered into each other’s ears back and forth, reminding Dana of the way she and her love had spoken softly to each other when there was love in the air.
