That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [53]
"So…" Efi said quietly. "Tomorrow's the wedding…"
She met Nick's gaze where he sat between his parents across the table from her. He looked at her as if trying to figure out where she was going with her comment, considering their conversation in the kitchen. And perhaps she was trying to lead him somewhere. Perhaps she was looking for him to make some sort of public proclamation that she was the most beautiful, most desirable woman in the world. All right, maybe not in the entire world, but at least when it came to him. Was that too much to ask? Especially when that's the way she felt about him? She couldn't imagine herself being attracted to any other man, no matter how many body parts he jiggled in front of her.
"That's why it's important that we come to an agreement now," Nick's mother, Mimi, said.
Efi squinted at her. "Agreement? What agreement?"
She watched Nick shift uncomfortably. "Mother…"
"Don't talk to your mother in that tone of voice," his father, Stamatis, said.
What way? She wasn't aware that Nick had said anything in any certain way.
Or had he and she wasn't getting it?
"If you had any reservations, you should have brought them up long before tonight," Efi's father said.
"Reservations? What reservations?" Efi's stomach felt leaden with dread.
"In the village where we're from, now is the time for the families to discuss such matters," Stamatis said, puffing out his chest like some sort of rooster lording over his hens.
She watched her father's chest puff out in response. "Yes, well, that explains why no one's ever heard of your village." He snorted. "Village? It's no more than a dot on a map. If it even rates a spot on a map."
Uh-oh … they were trading insults. Not a good sign. The two families had always gotten along well. In fact, both of them had seemed pleased by the engagement, even if his parents found some unnamable something lacking in her. They'd celebrated together. Talked of children. Of shared family vacations in the future.
Now they looked a blink away from physical violence.
"Reservations? What reservations?" she asked more loudly this time.
They all looked at her.
Efi fought the urge to gulp.
Maybe this was it. Maybe the Constantinos had finally named that unnamable something.
Her father gestured widely toward the couple to his left. "Extortion. What they're doing is nothing short of extortion."
Nick's mother's face turned red. "It's a longstanding Greek tradition that the terms of an acceptable dowry are worked out before a couple marries."
"The night before?" Efi's mother said.
Dowry? Had Mimi Constantinos just mentioned the word dowry? But that was something reserved for historical romance novels, wasn't it? The rich duke set to marry an even richer duchess until the poor shopkeeper's daughter catches his eye.
Why was she getting the impression she was cast in the role as the poor shopkeeper's daughter?
"We're not in Greece. We're in America," her father pointed out.
Efi suddenly felt faint.
Silence. Then Efi's mother held her hands out palms up. "All right, okay. This is nothing we all can't handle like rational adults." She stared at her husband next to her. "We knew this was coming."
Her father sat back in his chair. "We knew nothing. We suspected these bloodsuckers had their eyes on my money all along."
Efi gasped. So far as she knew, the Constantinos had money of their own. Plenty of it.
"Papa!" she said.
"It's the truth." He glared at her.
Mimi's hand fluttered to her neck. "I don't think what we're asking for is unreasonable."
Nick cleared his throat. "And just what did you ask for, Mother?"
His father spoke, "That they buy you a house. A respectable house in our neighborhood."
"Or at least provide a sizeable down payment on one," Mimi clarified.
Efi wasn't aware of any discussions being held involving a house.
"Something we were already prepared to do. It was to be our wedding present to our daughter," Gregoris said.
Efi stared at him, tears burning her eyes. "You were? Oh, Papa!" She grabbed his hand and squeezed