Chapter 125
The comment had Brimella standing out of her chair and Alcee shot a look to see Clanna with a smug expression on her face.
Raniero growled, “Mama, shut the fuck up if you can’t be civilized.”
“Did I say anything wrong? No. I pointed out the obvious of bad table manners.”
Torq looked at his mother in a warning and she slowly sunk into her seat.
“Fuck that,” Alcee muttered at him before his eyes widened and she opened her own mouth. “Cianna, it is clear you too missed a lesson or two. on manners. For example, a woman your age should know which spoon is for soup and which is for stirring up shit. I encourage you to reflect patiently on your words before speaking lest you cause a scene you aren’t ready to face.”
“You!”
“I am the Donna of this family. Do you truly wish to speak back to me?”
“I am an elder.”
“You are Raniero’s elder, not mine. Try again.” Alcee leaned her body forward to look down the table and prayed the expression on her face mimicked the one she’d seen her grandmother give multiple times in her life. She tapped the table with her index finger. “I’m waiting.”
Cianna nodded, “I apologize.”
“It’s not me you insulted. You actually, foolishly haven’t considered who you insulted.”
“Brunella, I apologize.”
“That was very nice, Cianna but again, you are missing the point. You clearly made the statement Brunella’s children were without manners, I might be Donna but I sure as hell wouldn’t be so stupid to tell my Don in a room full of his people he has the manners of a barn animal as you just did. Apologize now.”
Cianna paled as she realized Alcee was right. What was meant to be a subtle attack on the skills of Brunella as a mother turned into an insult to the man currently controlling purse strings and who could send her back to be alone in her little village with a snap of his fingers.
“Torquato.”
“Don Lozano,” Alcee corrected sharply. “You are not so familiar with him given you insult the woman who gave him life.”
Cianna felt the heat of the people in the room staring at her, “Don Lozano I apologize for my insult. It was unintended.”
“I’m sure it was.” He answered dryly as he looked at Alcee with a questioning gaze.
It dawned on her he was no more excited about the scene she caused than the one Cianna did but wasn’t the entire reason he wanted her to be here was to function as a buffer for Brunella?
Raniero cleared his throat, “I apologize on behalf of my family, Don, Donna.”
“Stuff it Raniero,” Alcee laughed at him. “You did nothing wrong apart from not warn your mother enough before arriving to behave. You cannot control her mouth. You are seated at this table because you are the brother of the Don.”
“And my underboss.” Torq announced proudly to the room and the tittering was audible.
“An underboss who can’t control a woman’s mouth.” Raniero glared at his mother. “Imagine.”
Chapter 125
“I apologize.” Cianna’s words were barely audible.
“You should.” Alcee sighed and looked around, “how much longer for the meal to be served. If this goes on I’m going to be suffering Indigestion before I even eat.”
“Appetizers should be out shortly.” Torq looked at the closed doors of the kitchen as he put a piece of bread into Anterers gaping mouth. “I fel like I’m feeding a baby bird.”
His words made Antero giggle and Alcee shake her head. “If he’s a baby bird, it’s the biggest bird I’ve ever seen. She tickled Antero’s ribs and smiled at his giggle.
“Once dinner is done, we’ll walk the room,” Torq said quietly to her. “We will give you a chance to talk to Susaria and Genera
“That sounds nice.”
“It sounds boring,” Antero huffed. “I’m hungry.”
“I know buddy,” Torq kissed his forehead and then motioned to the bread. “You can eat all the bread if you want. The appetizer is caprese salads and I’m not sure how you feel about such things.”
“If they haven’t drizzled the balsamic over the mozzarella, he’ll eat the cheese, probably with the bread but he won’t eat the basil or the tomatoes.” Alcee made a face at Torq.
“Tomatoes are gross raw.” Antero commented.
Torq waved to a server, “make sure there is an appetizer dish of only mozzarella for my son.”
“Of course,” the server raced off to the kitchen.
Torq sighed, “Antero, I am sorry. The more you and I spend time together, the more I will learn your preferences.”
Antero nodded and then asked him, “do you like tomatoes?”
“I love tomatoes.”
Brunella called out, “except when you were his age, you did not,
“I didn’t?” Torq looked up in surprise at his mother. He looked at Antero with comically wide eyes and then back to his mother, “I don’t
remember.”
“You hated them. Complained of the seeds. You didn’t like cucumber either because of the seeds. Yet,” she told the table with a smile, “he loved sunflower seeds.”
“It’s because the slimy stuff around the seeds in tomatoes and cucumbers.” Antero said seriously.
Brunella grinned at him, “you are probably right, Antero. Is that why you don’t like tomatoes?”
“Yes. When they are cooked they are not slimy.”
“Fussy.”
The quiet word was whispered as if the woman opposite Brunella couldn’t control herself. It was spoken in a lull of the conversation, and she appeared alarmed it was heard. Alcee watched as Brunella’s hand gripped around her wine glass as if ready to toss the contents at Cianna.
Alcee pushed her chair back completely rose to her feet and walked to stand behind Cianna’s chair. “You, with me, now.”
