That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [38]
He lifted a finger. "Ah, yes, but you'll also become a wife. A mother. You'll have different priorities after the wedding."
"I'll have more responsibilities, not different ones." She crossed her arms over her apron-covered chest. "Just when had you planned to tell me you were going to replace me?"
Her father scratched his eyebrow with his index finger. "Well … now."
"Ask a stupid question…"
Efi paced the length of the display case then back again. She stared at her father, felt nothing but frustration well up in her throat, then paced away again.
"Efi, listen. Your mother and I discussed this with Niko. We all think—"
"You discussed this with Nick?"
She couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. There was no way Nick was in on this. He knew how much the shop meant to her.
But he also wanted ten kids.
"Well, maybe not with Nick directly. With his parents. And they agree this is what he would want."
"And what about what I want?"
Her father grinned at her and put his arm across her tense shoulders. "Ah, everything will make sense once the wedding is over, just you wait and see."
Somehow Efi got the impression that nothing was going to make much sense ever again…
CHAPTER THREE
Day three
IT WAS A CONSPIRACY, Efi was convinced.
In three days she hadn't been alone with Nick for more than three minutes. And then only because they'd stolen the moments. The more she and Nick tried to be alone together, the more their families worked to keep them apart.
Tonight Nick's family was hosting a dinner at their monstrous house, more his family than hers, and including guests that were still arriving from as near as Toledo and as far away as Cyprus. Every time she blinked, another relative she hadn't seen in over a decade popped up, kissing her and wishing her well and spitting on her.
"Ptew, ptew, ptew." A cousin of hers from Ancient Olympia spat on her as she entered the Constantinos home and shrugged out of her wrap.
Okay, so it wasn't a clear your throat, accumulated a thick wad in your mouth kind of spit. It was more a superstitious gesture to keep a person safe from the evil eye, especially a bride seeing as all eyes were on her now, evil or otherwise.
Still, Nikoletta seemed to put more effort into the spitting than necessary, blowing Efi's bangs slightly back from her forehead.
Efi smiled and hoped there wasn't a spit bubble on her eyebrow. "It's good to see you, Letta. Kalos erthis."
"Kalos sas vrikamai," Letta said automatically, responding to Efi's Greek welcome that meant it was good to be there.
Kiki leaned closer to her. "Well, at least you won't need another shower later," she whispered as Efi discreetly checked her face for spittle before the next long-lost Greek relative greeted her.
"Shush. Your day will come soon enough."
Kiki gave a melodramatic sigh that would have put any of their tragic ancestors to shame. "With no groom in sight outside your own, I don't see how that's possible."
"That's only because you're blind." She looked around for Nick, but didn't see him anywhere. "I've got to make a rest stop."
"Efi!"
Kiki made a face. "Your grandfather, twelve o'clock. You want me to run interference?"
"Too late."
Not that Efi didn't want to see her paternal grandfather. He'd played a large role in her life and her sisters' lives ever since they were young and he'd come to the States after the death of his wife. It was just that his Grenglish was atrocious. Oh, she spoke fluent Greek, but her grandfather's interesting mix of Greek and English meant she sometimes had a hard time communicating with the short, energetic man.
"Ah, look at you," her grandfather Kiriakos said, taking her hands and holding them wide. "You look like just your grandmother."
"Thank you, Papou," she said, kissing both of his cheeks. "Where's Gus?"
Gus was her grandfather's best friend and also a widower. It was rare when the two weren't spotted together. Although judging by her grandfather's instant angry expression, she had the feeling she might not being seeing the two of them together again anytime