That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [42]
Efi accepted the package, looked at the return address, her mother's name on the mailing label then took the handheld computer from the deliveryman and signed for the already opened package.
"Thank you," the man said with a long-suffering sigh.
"Don't mention it."
Efi closed the door after him.
"What did you do that for? That's not our stuff."
Efi led the way into the kitchen, ignoring the twelve relatives of varying ages and sizes milling about the thankfully large room.
Penelope was on her heels. "Where are your slippers? You're going to catch cold running around without your slippers."
Efi gave an eye roll that hurt her head, put the box down on a part of the table that wasn't otherwise occupied by boubounieras, food or coffee cups, and opened the flaps to stare at the contents.
She squinted at the multicolored candy Hawaiian leis, sure she was seeing things.
At least half of the relatives in the room gathered to look over her shoulder.
"Told you," Penelope said, pulling out a handful of the party favors. "Not ours."
She had to give her mother that. The contents of the box weren't something they had ordered.
Efi fished around inside the box until she came up with the packing invoice. "300 Greek eye pins" was typed clearly in the contents column. Essentially small flat blue stones with an eye painted on either side that had been used by the Greeks to ward off evil for eons. Her mother had ordered the pins for the guests to wear to keep evil well away from the church and the wedding ceremony.
Penelope had put the leis back in the box and was now pacing back and forth across the room, weaving around relatives. "Bad omen, receiving the wrong package like this. Bad."
Several of the female relatives nodded in response. A couple of them even crossed themselves and sent a prayer up to the Virgin Mary, while the male relatives merely grunted in response, which could mean agreement or disagreement, depending on how you wanted to take it.
Aphrodite chose that moment to join them.
Efi sank down into a chair, then leaned forward to remove the bag of Jordan almonds goosing her. "We still have three more days to go until the wedding. Plenty of time to get the right package."
"What? What's going on?" Aphrodite asked.
Efi stared at her, wishing she'd die or disappear even as one of their relatives quietly explained the situation to her.
Her mother stopped in front of Eli. "No. you don't understand. The damage has already been done. The ceremony is cursed."
More cross-signing and Greek prayers went up. And if she wasn't mistaken, Aphrodite looked a little pleased.
"Oh, Mom, stop it already. I'm the one who's supposed to be a nervous wreck. You're the one who's supposed to be trying to calm me down."
Everyone stared at Penelope.
"Since you're not a nervous wreck?" her mother asked.
She had a point. For some reason Efi wasn't nervous at all about the upcoming nuptials. She looked at Aphrodite. Well, okay, maybe a little. "Have at it, then."
She got up, poured herself an extra large cup of coffee, then picked up the cordless receiver, searching for the phone number of domeafavor.com.
"What are you doing?" her mother asked.
"Straightening this out, of course. Somewhere out there a bride is wondering why they got a box full of eyes instead of the leis here." She stared at her mother. "I just hope she's luckier than me in her choice of mothers."
"My daughter, the comedian."
LATER THAT MORNING at the pastry shop, Efi idly wondered if maybe her mother had been right; her wedding was cursed. Or rather, it was beginning to look as if everything surrounding it seemed to be bad news. Forget the leis—not only had she found Phoebus securely ensconced at the shop, her sister Diana appeared to have been training him all morning. Which meant her father's intention to edge her out was going according to plan. With one little caveat: Phoebus couldn't seem to tell the difference between the refrigerator and the ovens.
"I'm going to kill him," Diana said, emerging from the kitchen with soot covering