That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [55]
Diana made a face.
Efi returned to her pacing.
Her younger sisters Eleni and Jenny had already moved their makeshift bed to their parents' room, to give the bride a quiet night's sleep as well as leave plenty of room in the morning for all the women who would be fluttering about getting ready for the ceremony.
Efi stopped and stared at where her sister stood with her arms crossed over her chest. "Can you believe what they're asking for?"
Diana looked genuinely puzzled. "Who?"
"Who? Who? I'll tell you who. The Constantinos, that's who."
No lightbulb went off behind her sister's eyes.
"I thought Mom briefed you on the night's goings on?"
"She told me you blasted Aphrodite."
"That's why she thinks I've locked myself in my room?" She walked toward the door and shouted at it. "This is not about Aphrodite!"
She hoped her mother and the relatives who had their ears pressed against the wood suffered some hearing loss.
Efi stood with her hands balled at her sides and gave a frustrated shout. "Only the Greeks would find the shallowest, most damning reason for my actions."
Diana sank down on top of their currently shared bed. It was just then that Efi remembered her sister would be inheriting the room with the view of the front lawn rather than her middle room with a view of a tree and the house next door.
Even Diana had motivation to see Efi gone.
"So if Aphrodite isn't to blame, what is?" Diana asked.
"What is?" Efi began pacing again, her entire body seeming to vibrate with suppressed emotion. "For starters, let's begin with Nick's parents trying to blackmail Dad for millions."
Diana's brows shot up.
Efi scowled. "Okay, not millions. But it might as well be, considering the list they presented him with tonight."
Diana sighed. "That's nothing new, Efi. A dowry is part of Greek tradition."
"We're not in Greece." She spoke the words slowly, with deliberate clarity. "And a dowry is maybe a thousand or two to put toward a down payment on a house, or a dining-room set…"
The mention of the furniture made her close her eyes and groan as she recalled her grandfather's bizarre behavior earlier in the day. Her grandfather still refused to apologize, and Gus, his best friend of the past twenty years, refused to drop the charges. The next time the two met would probably be in court.
She heard a sound on the other side of the door and stared at it.
"And yes, I'll admit, I have some issues with our cousin." She couldn't even bring herself to say Aphrodite's name. "I mean, how tacky can you get, openly targeting your cousin's groom the nights leading up to her wedding?"
Diana cracked a smile. "Tacky as tacky can get."
That earned a bit of a smile in return as some of the frustration ebbed from Efi's muscles. She sank down next to her sister. "You can say that again. It was all I could do not to slug her when I saw her with Nick earlier."
"What do you mean you saw her with Nick?"
Efi shrugged. "I guess she found a reason to go over to the Constantinos household, you know, because of a newfound friendship with one of Nick's cousins, and she needed a ride back here. Conveniently enough, Nick and his parents just happened to be coming here for dinner. So when I opened the front door…"
"Ouch," Diana said with a flinch.
"Yeah, ouch."
"You know Nick would never do anything, don't you?"
Efi stared at her wedding dress still hanging on the back of the door. Did she know? She wasn't sure. All she had to do was remember the way he'd danced with Aphrodite, the way he allowed her cousin to get her way, to make it appear as if she was making some headway with him, and Efi began feeling like a dowdy old maid all over again.
"Efi? You do know that, don't you?"
Efi shrugged. "Yeah … I guess."
"No, you know. Nick loves you. Always has, always will."
"Yeah, but he's had to go without for the past two weeks."
She realized what she'd said as she and her sister stared at each other. Then they burst out laughing.
Diana pointed a finger at her. "You know, that actually may be to blame for