That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [51]
Her mind started to spin and she put her hands to her head as if to stop it.
She'd always looked at Nick's and her exchanging of vows as having to do with love, happiness and creating a life together. A union forged out of mutual love for each other, not a way to brand him as hers.
There was a brief knock on her bedroom door. She'd locked it earlier in case her cousin had a few questions she'd forgotten to ask her. She'd felt sorely tempted to push her out her second-story window when she'd asked how Nick kissed.
She automatically started to unlock the door, then asked instead, "Who is it?"
"Diana."
She released a heavy sigh then opened the door to her sister.
"Mom sent me up to get you. She thinks you should be there when the Constantinos family arrives."
Something else she wasn't particularly looking forward to. "Thanks," she said, although she really didn't feel it.
Oh, she and Nick's parents got along well. And she was looking forward to the quiet night over the weeklong series of parties. But somehow she always felt something was going unsaid. Something the older couple felt about their only child marrying her, the oldest of four girls. She usually came away from any meeting with them feeling as if she were lacking, somehow. As if they'd taken a thorough inventory and she'd come up a few supplies short of what they wanted in a daughter-in-law.
She began to edge around her sister.
"Is everything okay?"
"Hmm? Sure, everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"
"I don't know. You look a little frazzled. And not bride-to-be frazzled, either. You look a little pale."
She actually felt pale, if that were possible.
But that wasn't the thing she needed to hear before going down to help welcome her groom and his family when they arrived.
"Thanks, but I'm fine." She hoped.
She hesitated at the top of the stairs, her fingers squeezing the top rail. "Have you seen Aphrodite?"
Diana looked toward her bedroom door. "Mom said she went out earlier. Why?"
Efi tried to ignore the burst of gratitude that the other woman wasn't there. "Nothing. She asked to borrow a pair of earrings and I thought I might give them to her."
"I'll do it."
"No, that's all right. I'll do it later."
Efi's step was lighter as she took the stairs. She knew it was silly, her worrying about her formerly ugly duckling cousin and her whereabouts, but considering everything going on just then, she didn't think it a major sin to be happy about her absence.
"That color washes you out."
Her mother's words stopped her in the doorway to the dining room. "Gee, thanks, Mom. Between you and Diana I'm about a breath away from locking myself in my bedroom and letting you handle this dinner."
Penelope fussed at her dress until she apparently figured out Efi wouldn't change the dark navy into another color with a few pulls and tucks. "You should have worn pink. Pink is a good color for a bride. Navy looks like you're going to a funeral."
"If you don't stop I will be attending a funeral. Yours."
Penelope tsked her and her father rustled his newspaper where he was already sitting at the table.
"Are we going to eat anytime soon?" he asked, blissfully unaware of the color of her dress and their impending guests.
Her mother took the paper from him and folded it up. "Straighten your tie."
Efi watched her father stare at the item of clothing as if he'd forgotten he had it on and was afraid it might come to life and strangle him. Still, he did as her mother asked.
The doorbell rang. Efi stared at her parents and her parents stared back at her.
"All right, all right, I'll get it," Efi said with a sigh.
Only, when she opened the door she half wished she had stayed locked in her bedroom. Because standing in the doorway, hanging off her fiancé's arm as if she belonged there, was none other than Aphrodite.
EFI WAS AWARE she was banging the china louder than the situation called for an hour later in the kitchen, but she couldn't