arm around Elena and using the other to take her bag and
thrust it at Jared. “Let the two of them bring all the luggage upstairs, you
can help me set the table; I made lasagna.”
“Hold it” Geo warned, “which
bag’s Jared’s and which one’s yours bella?”
“Does it matter, they’re both
going to the same place Papa.”
“They most certainly are not!”
he said indignantly, “You can stay in your old room and the boy can stay in
your brother’s room or on the couch, his choice.”
“Really Dad?” Elena asked,
exasperated.
Rosa gently smacked her husband
on the back of the head, “No, of course not. You two are adults and you’re
married now, you have no reason to object Geo.”
Mr. Lucciani muttered something
under his breath but acquiesced to his wife, dutifully picking up one of the
suitcases and gruffly nodding towards the stairs in an indication for Jared to
follow along.
Jared shot Elena a pleading look
and, with a quick peck on the cheek Elena pranced off to follow her mother and
effectively seal Jared’s fate.
With a longsuffering sigh Jared
grabbed the rest of the bags and followed his father-in-law up the stairs.
-x-x-x-
“So, has Jared’s hygiene
improved any since you’ve made an honest man of him?” Rosa asked as she put on her hot mitts and opened the oven.
“He never had a hygiene problem
Mama” Elena sighed, taking four glasses out of the cabinet and carrying them
over to the table.
“You’re married now so I know
you’ve seen him naked at least once. I remember when you two came over our
hotel to swim; there wasn’t an inch of his body that wasn’t covered in hair. I
bet it’s matted and tangled, it looked like it before, and that unruly mop on
his head that he calls hair hasn’t improved, so I have no reason to believe
that the rest of him has.”
Elena rolled her eyes, walking
back to grab plates as she spoke, “He was wet; of course his hair looked matted
to you. He is just as hairy as any other hot-blooded Italian man and is indeed
very hygienic.”
“Ah, but he’s not Italian baby,
so there’s no explanation for so much hair. It’s just not natural!”
Elena smiled at that. Being a
werewolf made Jared anything but natural and she could only imagine the fit her
mother would throw if only she knew the truth.
“Italians aren’t the only ones
with a little hair on them Mama” Elena chastised, carrying the dishes over to
the table.
“Perhaps not but still, I’m not
so sure. With him as the father, I suspect all your babies will pop out with a
full head of hair on them!”
“Perhaps” Elena sighed.
Honestly, she had considered the possibilities. She hadn’t ever confirmed
anything with Jared yet but she was always curious about whether any children
they had would be born as typical babies or hairy little wolf pups.
Deciding to put away the thought
for later she decided to put her mom on another topic. “So, how are things
going at the bakery?”
Rosa shrugged, bringing the
lasagna over and setting it in the center of the table. “It’s doing well, I’ve
talked to Geo about opening up another shop. Nothing big like those ridiculous
chains that sell their integrity with every increasingly cheap cupcake, but
just another source of income with as much love as we put into the first one.”
“Really Mama?” Elena asked in
surprise, “that’s unexpected. What’s Papa think?”
“Oh, that old man? He’s
concerned about the money, but we’re doing well. Geo likes to think he knows my
business, but the only business he knows is sticking his nose in my business.
We’re doing fine, and I have a good feeling about this new store.”
“Well that’s great then Mama”
Elena smiled, kissing her mother on the cheek.
“So” Rosa said, “are you and
Jared going on the moonlight gondola picnic?”
“The picnic?” Elena asked in
surprise. “They only do those on full moons.”
“Yes, I know dear, that’s why I
asked” she said,
Brenda Rothert
Kenneth Oppel
Khloe Wren
Rebekkah Ford
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Steve Stroble
Andrew Shaffer
D. R. Macdonald
Stella Duffy
David Foster Wallace