But eventually the car slowed down and the driver pulled into the driveway of a quaint looking home. It was still quite a large estate, but nothing compared to Xavier’s sprawling palace. I looked over Xavier quizzically. “Is this a potential venue?” I asked him.
“I hadn’t even considered that,” he said, undoing his seatbelt. “But no, this is something a little different.”
I was so curious I could hardly contain myself. I quickly scrambled out of the car and followed along beside Xavier as he walked up the pathway. When he took my hand and held it tightly, I felt a rush of excitement. He hadn’t made a move like that when we had been alone all day, and it was very thrilling.
But then I looked up towards the front door and saw why he had grabbed my hand. We weren’t alone. There was a very, very old woman standing in the doorway watching us.
“Cosimo!” the old woman cried, flinging her arms up into the air. She looked so fragile and frail that I was worried she was going to break a bone when she did it.
“Hi Nonna,” Xavier said warmly.
Nonna? Is that his grandmother? I thought to myself.
“Why it took you so long to come see me, silly boy?” she asked, taking Xavier’s face in her hands. She planted a big kiss on his cheeks. I smiled as I watched them, was so satisfying watching them.
Nonna had a thick Italian accent and I swore she had to be under five feet tall. She had intensely white curly hair and wore a massive knit sweater that seemed to be trying to swallow her up. She was really attractive and cute.
She set her eyes on me and then looked at Xavier, “You know what, I forgive you. You brought this beautiful girl to meet me, you are my handsome grandson again!” she cried. It seemed that what Nonna lacked in size she made up for in the volume of her voice.
She hobbled over to me and said, “Come here, let me take good look at you.” Nonna had very thick, massive glasses balanced on the end of her nose that made her eyes look like saucers.
“Yes of course,” I said happily and knelt down a little. I could feel Xavier’s eyes on me, and I couldn’t believe he took me to his grandmother.
Does that mean something?
“It’s so nice to….” Before I could complete, Nonna put a finger to my lips.
“Don’t speak while Nonna is looking at you,” she said gruffly. I had no idea what was going on, I looked at Xavier and he winked at me.
Now I felt bit awkward and nervous at the same time. She was looking at me as if I was a piece of meat that she was trying to decide on at the supermarket.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nonna stopped staring at me and turned to Xavier. “Cosimo,” she said, snapping her fingers at him to get him to come down to her level. When he did she simply said, “She is green.”
I looked from Nonna to Xavier and back again. Xavier looked quite pleased, but Nonna still wore a stern look on her face. “What does green mean?” I whispered urgently to Xaiver. “Is... is that a good thing?”
Xavier looked at me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Yes. Green is good. Nonna likes to read people’s aura, and if you have a green aura, it usually means you’re a good person,” he explained.
I relaxed a little and turned back to Nonna. She was still analyzing me with her huge eyes, and then she finally said, “Green... but too light. Holding back something, what is it?”
I opened my mouth to come up with an excuse, but nothing appeared. Thankfully though, Xavier saved me. “Come on, Nonna, let’s head inside and you can show us what Adriana has prepared for you today,” he encouraged her.
“Okay, okay, you rush me so,” Nonna said as she shuffled back inside the house. With each step she took, I was still frightened for her life, she didn’t seem fazed at all. I took the free moment to talk to Xavier.
“First off,” I hurriedly whispered to him, “why is your grandmother calling you Cosimo?”
Xavier held the door open for me and said, “Cosimo is my middle name. My mother’s side of the family are the Italians.”
“That explains a bit,” I replied. “How old is Nonna and why is she living here on her own?!” Xavier laughed out loud at this and slowed his pace as we followed his grandmother.
“Nonna is ninety-three and although she may not look it, she’s healthier than both you and I combined. She doesn’t live here alone, she’s got an army of professional carers who look after her, and you’re about to meet her favourite one, Adriana,” he informed me.
It was a good thing I had a little warning, because with the next steps I took I was nearly blown off my feet by a whirlwind of a person who stool a good foot taller than me.
“Hi Xavier!” the young woman chirped. “It’s so nice to see you so soon! I made lasagne for dinner, Nonna’s favourite, and there’s lemon meringue in the fridge for dessert. Did you have a good ride here? Was there much traffic? How has”- Adriana was talking a mile a minute, and she caught herself just then. “Oops, sorry, look at me blabbering on when I haven’t even said hello to you!” Adriana extended her hand to me and said, “I’m Adriana Francesco, one of Nonna’s carers. I heard through the grapevine that you’re Xavier’s new fiancée, Erika. Congratulations!”
And then, this excitable beanpole of a woman wrapped me in a hug and squeezed me so tightly I thought I was going to pass out. When she finally let me go, I managed to say, “That’s me! It’s so nice to meet you too.”
But that’s when I noticed the look on Nonna’s face. She looked as though she was about ready to murder someone. “Lemon meringue?” she asked with venom in her voice. “How come you no make the rhu... rhuby... ruby barbie one? With the strawberries? That one, I like.”
Adriana, however, didn’t seem to notice how annoyed Nonna was. Or if she did, she didn’t let on. “Because, Emiliana,” Adriana said very patiently, “strawberry rhubarb pie is rather hard to make when you won’t let me go to the supermarket that has the nice strawberries.”
Nonna threw up her arms as though she’d had enough with the world. “Pah!” she cried. “They sell tomato sauce in cans there, tastes terrible, we’re never going there again.”
Adriana opened her mouth to respond to her and then closed it just as quickly. “Would you like to come sit at the dining room table and I’ll serve you all?” she asked, changing the subject.
“That sounds wonderful,” I chimed in quickly, knowing how important it was to get Nonna’s mind off of the things that made her unhappy.
The three of us went into the dining room and took our seats. I made sure I was the last to sit down just to make sure that I didn’t sit in a seat that wasn’t open to me. Nonna, unsurprisingly, sat at the head of the table, and Xavier and I sat on opposite sides.
And then came the questions. Nonna apparently wanted to know every single thing about me. I got grilled on everything from where my parents were from to what high school I attended. When Nonna asked me what my favourite kind of pasta was, I looked anxiously to Xavier for help and he mouthed the word ‘linguini’ to me. When I responded with that, Nonna was very pleased, and I mouthed a thanks back to Xavier.
The questions continued throughout dinner and into dessert. Adriana was an extraordinary cook; I had never tasted lasagne so flavourful before. And then when we were eating our lemon meringue pies, Nonna asked, “Xavier. Why have you not showed Erika my wedding dress yet? It so beautiful, you don’t like it?”
Xavier looked at me, panicked. “No, no,” he assured her, “I love that dress, Nonna. Mom looked so beautiful in it on her wedding day, but...”
Nonna arched an eyebrow in his direction. “But...” she repeated warningly.
“But Erika already has her dress picked out, right Erika?” he asked me, and judging by the tone of his voice, I knew that I was meant to agree with him.
“Yes, I’m sorry Nonna,” I said apologetically. “I went ahead and chose my dress already.”
Nonna looked furious. “You could always ch
ange your mind,” she whispered under her breath, stabbing her pie crust with her fork over and over again. I could feel myself getting more and more anxious with each stab.
I looked to Xavier, unsure of what to say. What was the deal with this wedding dress, and why was Xavier insisting that I didn’t want it? “Erika would have loved to have worn your dress, Nonna,” Xavier said once again, “but her dress is a family heirloom too, isn’t it Erika?”
Xavier was now giving me pleading eyes, so I knew immediately that I had to say yes. “It is, Nonna,” I said softly. “My Mom wore it on her wedding day, and then she passed it down to me.”
Finally, Nonna’s look softened. She reached out her hand and placed it over mine. “That is good, good girl,” she said quietly. “A wedding dress is very important. Glad your Mama gave you hers.” I could tell Nonna was hard from outside but soft from inside.
“Thanks, Nonna.” I smiled at her and finally I could see a smile on her face as well. I could feel Xavier’s eyes on me and when I looked at him, he was looking at me with that intense gaze. I had been avoiding the lust that was taking over me since I had been sitting with him in car. And now the way he was looking at me and licking those soft thin lips, I could feel goosebumps on my skin.
But I knew I had to control this desire.
We didn’t end up staying at Nonna’s for much longer, as she became quite tired, and so we said our farewells and headed back to the car that was waiting for us outside. As soon as we closed the doors, I whipped my head over to look at Xavier, who was already looking at me.
Thankfully, that was the last we heard about wedding dresses for the rest of the night.
“You have a million questions, I know,” he said as he buckled up and the driver started back towards the city. “So how about I try and answer a few of the ones I think you might ask.”
I said nothing and motioned for him to begin whenever he was ready. “First, the wedding dress,” he said, pulling out his phone. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing for a few moments, until I saw that he was scrolling through his pictures. Finally, he found the one he wanted, and then handed the phone to me.
My jaw dropped. “This is...” I began saying, but I couldn’t even get the words out of my mouth. The picture that was on the screen was of a young woman who looked a great deal like Xavier... wearing the ugliest dress that I had ever seen in my life. It wasn’t that I wanted to disrespect the dress, maybe it was the best dress on Nonna’s time. But I didn’t like that at all. It was a horrifying shade of white. I looked up at Xavier, who had a thoroughly amused look on his face.
“That is the dress my grandmother wore on her wedding day. But of course, it didn’t look like that back then. That dress has now been worn by almost every woman in my family on her wedding day in order to appease my grandmother. It looks like it’s been stapled back together because it practically has... so many women have been forced to wear it in my family that it has now been dubbed, “the Franken-Dress.”
I couldn’t help myself and began laughing at this monstrosity. “Well,” I finally managed to respond, “I’m sure that when your grandmother first wore it, it looked absolutely beautiful on her, but my god... now it’s just... bad. That’s simply awful. Thank you so much for saving me!”
Xavier tilted his head back and laughed, rubbing his temples as he did so. “You’re welcome,” he said, still chuckling. “I thought that telling Nonna that you already had a dress and that it was sentimental to you and your family might be the only way we could avoid a classic Nonna melt down.”
He stretched his hands out, palms forward, and cracked his knuckles. “And now for the other question that I bet is burning in your mind... Why does my grandmother hate lemon meringue pie so much?”
I looked at him, confused because that was absolutely not one of the questions that I was going to ask, but then he started laughing. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he reassured me, “you want to know why I brought you to meet my grandmother.”
I nodded slowly, looking down at my shoes so as to not meet his eye. I didn’t want to be disappointed by his answer, but I also didn’t want to expect too much from it. I secretly hoped that he had wanted to introduce me to her because he truly had feelings for me. But I also thought it might be just another part of our act.
“She saw something about us in the newspaper that Adriana brought in one morning,” he explained. “I got about fifteen missed calls from her on my phone right after that, and just as many messages on my answering machine with her screaming at me, asking me why she hadn’t heard a word about you. I tried to explain to her that things had just happened really quickly, but she wouldn’t understand. So, I decided that the best way to clear things up would just to have you come meet her.”
When Xavier finished his explanation, I finally looked up from the tiny piece of torn black leather on the back of the front seat that I had been focusing on and looked into his eyes. I was, of course, disappointed by this, as our introduction truly had nothing to do with the way that he felt for me.
But then, he got his strange look on his face and added, “I was a bit hesitant about introducing you to her, because I couldn’t bear the thought of lying to my grandmother about our relationship. But then... I realized that you were important enough to me that it didn’t matter if we didn’t remain married for very long after this, because you’re going to stay in my life in one capacity or another for a very long time, I think.”
Now that was more of what I wanted to hear. Yes, I did take note that he had said ‘in one capacity or another’, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about me in the capacity of possibly being the person who he was meant to be with.
“That’s really lovely, thank you Xavier,” I responded quietly. He kept looking at me with longing in his eyes, and I knew at that moment I wanted to kiss him again. And so, throwing caution to the wind, I leaned in a little closer to him. “I absolutely loved meeting your Nonna. Thank you for sharing such a special afternoon with me.”
Xavier gave me a heart melting smile, and then leaned in the rest of the way to press his lips against mine. It was a hesitant kiss, one that said that we still weren’t sure what we were to each other, but that we might figure things out along the way.
Xavier was very respectful and pulled away quickly to tell me that he did not expect anything more. I could feel the blood pumping through my veins and the sound of the car running along the bumpy road suddenly became much louder. I felt as though I had been electrified in the most pleasant way possible.
We stayed rather quiet for the rest of the trip, and when he dropped me back at my house, he only gave me a quick peck on the cheek when we were parting. That was exactly what I had hoped for, and I walked inside with all the warm, tender feelings hugging me tightly.
Chapter 10
Xavier
After our perfect trip to see my Nonna, I woke up to a text from Erika the next morning. “Be ready in an hour,” it read, “and wear something nice.”
I tried to remember if we had anything planned for that day and could think of nothing, so I texted her back, “Of course. But where are we going?”
I quickly saw the texting icon pop up in our message and was excited to see that she was typing. However, when she simply responded, “You surprised me yesterday. Two can play at that game,” I realized that I may have made an error in not telling her where we were going yesterday.
Regardless, I got up and quickly showered, ate a quick breakfast and chugged a cup of coffee and then was waiting by the door an hour later. When Erika swung by in her car, I hopped in and said, “I hope that you’re not taking me with you to pick out your wedding dress. I know this isn’t real, but there is no way I’m messing with the tradition of being surprised by your dress on the day of.”
Erika just laughed and responded, “Oh no. We’re going somewhere far more fun than dress shopping.”
We chatted amicably on the ride to wher
ever we were going, which seemed to once again be out of the city. I wondered how Erika was feeling about me today, but I didn’t dare ask her anything about feelings because we were just having such a nice time together.
We pulled up in front of a big, institutional-looking building not too long after. I looked around, trying to figure out what this place was when I finally saw the sign. “Happy Acres Retirement Home,” it read in black, blocky letters. I looked back at Erika.
“Are we visiting your grandparents today?” I asked. “Is this just going to be how it is, we do one day of my family and one day of your family?”
Erika gave me a sad smile. “Unfortunately not my grandparents, they all passed away when I was a kid. Today we’re meeting someone different,” she said matter-of-factly, and then parked the car. I didn’t ask anything more because it seemed to be a touchy subject, instead just following her into the retirement home in silence.
When we got inside, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. While it may have looked institutional and boring on the outside, the inside was filled with nicely chosen wallpaper, expensive looking furniture and staff who actually looked like they wanted to be working there. I was glad that whoever we were going to see wasn’t living in a miserable place.
Erika approached the front desk, and I held back to give her some privacy. The desk clerk seemed to know her well and waved her on down the hallway to her right. Erika signalled to me and I followed her, and we walked down a long hallway until we reached a set of locked double doors. Erika punched in a code and then walked through. I was confused as to why a wing of a retirement home would need to be locked.
Erika then went to the nurse’s station and spoke with one of the nurses, who seemed equally as happy as the front desk attendant to see Erika. She came out from behind the desk and walked us down the hall, and then let us walk inside the room that lay at the end of it.
It was a common room that had quite a few residents in it. I noticed that each one had a worker with them. Not everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I got a few strange looks as we walked by. One gentleman even called out, “Frank? Frank, is that you? Don’t sign up for the army, my boy!” I looked at the man and gave him a small wave, unsure of what else to do.
Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Billionaire Romance Page 7
