Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

“What are you doing here?” she asks shortly, looking me over and settling her disapproving stare on my face. “Is Sal okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” I say with a quick nod. “Yeah, Sal’s good. Um, I was just paying a social call.” Now I hold up the box. “I ordered something for you; I was going to give it to you in case you came to the shower. It’s fine that you didn’t, I just still wanted to give it to you.”

She finally opens the door wide enough to peer out, looking around like she’s making sure I’m here alone. She really does not trust me.

“All alone,” I assure her, still smiling faintly.

“Well, you never know with your family,” she tells me, nodding her head at me. “That’s what my husband always told me, and it looks like he was right, doesn’t it?”

“My family… We’re not for everyone,” I agree, nodding.

She makes a noise of denigrating agreement but takes a couple steps back inside the house. “Well, come in so I don’t have to let all the cool air out.”

I step inside, awkwardly moving aside as she closes the door.

“How was your dinner yesterday?” she asks, eyebrows rising haughtily, accusing me of wrongdoing without words.

I feel oddly guilty, even though I’ve done not a damn thing wrong. I glance down at the box before looking back at her. “Family is important to me, so it’s nice to have the opportunity to introduce Sal to my loved ones. I know it’s equally important to Sal and I know it’s been stressing him out that he hasn’t been able to. He doesn’t know I’m here,” I tell her, a bit tentatively. “I didn’t want to stress him out more. I just thought maybe if you had a little time, we could talk.”

“What would I want to talk to you about?” she asks.

“The one thing we both have in common,” I tell her.

Her eyes narrow with dislike. “You and I have nothing in common.”

I meet her gaze unflinchingly. If she thinks meanness is enough to scare me off, she really doesn’t know a damn thing about my family. “We have one very important thing in common: we both love Sal.” Since there’s probably no better opening, I offer her the white box I brought with me.

She still acts like she doesn’t trust it, but also like she’s deeply inconvenienced that I brought her a present. She takes it anyway.

“When Sal and I were getting to know each other, there were obvious barriers. Talking about our families was sort of touchy since we were both a little leery about the other person’s interest for a while, but there were little things we could still share. I remember he told me how much you liked espresso, so I was going to get you this cute coffee mug, but I got this instead.”

She unwraps the small porcelain cup and looks down at it to read the message. It’s hand-painted with little blue hydrangeas—my wedding flowers—and it reads, “Thank you for raising the man of my dreams.”

“I don’t have a mom,” I tell her, awkwardly clasping my hands in front of me. “I never have; my mom died when I was just a baby. I had a very cruel father and he hurt her a lot, and I guess she just… she could only take so much pain, knowing there was no way out. That’s one of the things Sal and I could talk about, and his biggest regret about having to keep our relationship secret was that he couldn’t bring me home to meet you. I think he thought you would feel like you were gaining another daughter, and it would be a win for both of us. Right from the beginning I could tell what a wonderful mother you must have been, even before he told me, because Sal is so wonderful. He’s honestly the most incredible, loving, loyal man I’ve ever met, and I know it’s because you made him that way. He’s gorgeous and sweet and funny, and… and he could be spoiled, he could be selfish or uncaring, but he isn’t. Instead he’s protective and compassionate and strong. He has integrity. He has heart. He’s respectful. He’s the single greatest man I’ve ever met, and you made him that way, so I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart.” I’m feeling unexpectedly misty, so I pause and look up toward the ceiling so I don’t embarrass myself by getting all teary.

She looks at the cup again, then places it down on the counter. There’s less aggression in her now. I don’t know if it’s because of what I said or the fact that I almost cried like a ninny, but it doesn’t matter.

“Anyway, I know you’ve had doubts about whether or not you want to come to our wedding. I understand why you feel that way, but I really hope you’ll come, and I know it would mean everything to Sal. He hasn’t even been sleeping because he’s so anxious over all this, and it breaks my heart. He’s been… the single greatest thing to ever happen to me, and I love him so much. It hurts that my presence in his life is creating a rift with you, because I know how important you are to him, too. So I hope you’ll come share that day with us, but if you can’t, our door is open if you ever change your mind. I’m sure we’ll have lots of pictures of the day, so I could send you an album if you wanted. I don’t think it’d be the same as being there, though.”