Chapter 178
“Mama, there is a bag over there on my nightstand. Would you bring it to me?” Alcee opened one eye to see the color tinting Brunella’s cheeks at the form of address.
“I see what you did there, big sister,” Lorita whispered lowly. “You just made her entire day.”
‘She’s more my mama than my own ever was.” Alcee grinned back as she met Lorita’s eyes in the vanity mirror. “I’m very fortunate to be able to claim Torg’s mother, father and sister as my own.”
“What about his brother?” Amal asked from where she was digging her maid of honor dress from the garment bag. She and Susana earlier in the week played a violent game of rock paper scissors to
fight for the title of maid of honor versus bridesmaid.
“I’m not counting him as a blessing yet.”
Brunella huffed, “he’s not a bad kid. He never was. He simply has the worst woman on the planet whispering in his ear about how much he deserves more than what he has. He’s been brainwashed his entire life to believe his mother only does things for his best interests. He’s always defended her
actions because he feels strongly everything she does is because she loves him. I think this recent
little skirmish put things in a different light. He loves Torquato. He’ll come back to the fold with his tail between his legs and he’ll be better.”
“He was such a cock though,” Susana griped. “Jesus and I were having dinner with Tito and Amal
and Tito told us how he behaved.”
“How come Torq and I weren’t invited to your dinner?” Alcee accused angrily.
“It was an impromptu thing. I was with Amal visiting our parents with Jesus and Tito came to pick her up when we were leaving. We went to grab food at the pub down the block from Dad’s place.” Susana shrugged, “it was the afternoon you and Torq did your first marriage counselling session.
Tuesday?”
“Oh. I would rather go for a burger than counselling.”
“It is important,” Brunella placed the bag on her lap. “Keep Torquato in counselling as long as you can. I think if anyone needs help, it’s him.”
“Mama!‘ Lorita snickered.
“You need help too.” Brunella made fun.
“What’s in the bag?” Amal changed the subject.
“Gifts.” She dug into the bag and pulled out six boxes. “I bought one for me too.”
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“What is it?” Genevra’s eyes were wide as she took note of the Tiffany label on the boxes,
Alcee passed each initialed box to the right person and then nodded, “go ahead. Open them up.
They all opened the little bracelet boxes.
“It’s a charm bracelet.” Alcee cleared her throat. “I picked a special charm for each of you. I thought,” tears were threatening again, “since our lives are all starting to diverge somewhat, Susana probably moving to Florida, Genevra on her way to Greece next week, Lorita deciding she wants to get a condo in the city instead of living with us at the compound Torq is refurbishing, it might be nice to have something we’re all connected with. This will be everyone’s connection as this is a memory we’re making together, today.”
“Alcee,” Susana wailed her name, “don’t start making me cry too!”
They all held up the dainty little platinum chains with the charm dangling off.
“I got everyone their own charm, special to how I feel for you.” She pointed to Brunella who had tears on her cheeks, “yours is a hug. If you look closely it is two arms wrapped around a heart. It’s how I feel when I’m with you, especially when I’m being hugged by you.”
Brunella kissed her cheek, “thank you Alcee. I will treasure this.”
She looked at Amal at noted she too was crying.
“Is that a baseball?” Lorita seemed confused.
“The day we met,” Amal cleared her throat, “first day of school, this kid came up to Alcee and pushed her. I lobbed a baseball at his head and knocked him out cold.”
“She declared me her sister and started telling everyone we were really triplets.”
“I did.”
“You’ve always defended me to the death, Amal, right from day one.”
“Susana’s is a star?” Genevra asked quietly, her bracelet still in the box as if nervous to look too closely at what was in her box.
“Third grade,” Susana swiped shaky fingers over her cheeks. “We partnered on our science project, and I wanted to do the solar system. accidentally superglued my fingers to one of the stars and when Alcee tried to help, she got stuck to the star too. We were both stuck to the same star, and it struck us both so funny, we laughed so hard, Alcee peed herself.”
“No.” Lorita giggled.
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“I was terrified of getting into trouble with my mother for having an accident, so Susana peed herself too, on purpose.” She smiled at Susana, “it takes real dedication as a friend to piss yourself.”
They were giggling with the memories.
“Lorita,” she saw the confusion on her newest sister’s face.
“It’s a cat.”
“I know it’s a cat. What’s another name for a cat?”
“Kitten?”
“Pussy!” Amal wailed with laughter. “Oh, my goodness, that was the best night ever!”
“You tried to teach me to dance to Wet Ass Pussy and you made me smile when I was nervous about all the changes happening in my life. I’ll never forget that night as long as I live.”
“I love this,” Lorita was half laughing and half crying.
“What’s yours?”
“I don’t know,” Genevra shrugged as she held it up. “It is an oddly shaped shoe.”
“I needed to do a bit of digging to find it and called in a favor with your fiancé.” Alcee cleared her throat, “it’s called a tsatouchi. It’s a type of Greek shoe but it’s a symbol of bravery. When I think of you, I think of all your fancy shoes and your incredible fashion sense but mostly, I think of how brave you are and how brave you inspire me to be. You make no apologies for who you are or what you want. You jump into life, both stiletto clad feet first, without hesitation. I will forever be in awe of how you boldly looked a Greek family head in the face and negotiated your own bride price. You know your worth, Genevra and I hold such respect for you, for this, it will stick with me forever. Whenever I question myself, I’m going to be asking, what would Genevra do in this situation. I’ll be brave because you inspire me to be brave.”
She looked around the room. “There isn’t a woman luckier than I am. Look at the women, the strong, loyal, open–minded, loving women I am surrounded with. I love you all so much, I am grateful to all of you.” She held up her bracelet, “my charm is a Venus. It symbolizes woman and the strong ones I’m surrounded with.”
She was wrapped in another group hug certain, no matter what life threw at her, she’d always come out on top with this group at her side.
Sold! To the Grizzly Don
