Chapter 2
"An Introduction to the Family"
Rossella Falconeri had spent many hours, kneeling in church and saying Hail Mary's for each of her children on their behalf over the years. Three stood out the most.
The first, when her three oldest, Salvatore, Gabino and Dino beat up Vito for stealing the prized Yankees pennant. The Yankees lost that year. Rossella prayed to the Virgin Mary to mediate to God and forgive them for threatening their little brother, and again for Vito whose transgression cost the Yankees a winning season.
The second time was when Rossella caught her dear friend's husband Carmine sharing his famous recipe for Chicken Brujo. He shouted to all of the Cirillo family that his secret was to crush the secret.....The secret was hers. She had told only one person outside of the Falconeri clan, leading her to the culprit, Gloria Cirillo. Rossella prayed to the Virgin Mary that day, once for Carmine's lies and again for Gloria's loose tongue.
But, the most memorable time was when her daughter,Olivia, confided that she was pregnant. She was fifteen years old and was about to become a mother and if that was not bad enough, she had confessed that she did not know the name of the father. Rossella had lost count of how many Hail Mary's she recited that day, and to this day she knelt in prayer every waking moment, praying that the good Lord would provide guidance.
Yes, Rossella Falconeri was a god-fearing, Italian woman and standing in the doorway of her grandson's apartment she made herself a promise to say a few dozen Hail Mary's for him on this day.
"Grandma, what a wonderful surprise. How did you know where to find me?" Dante asked nervously while one hand raked through his hair.
He walked toward her, attempting to avert her gaze from the floor and Lulu's lingerie-clad body. He gave his grandmother a welcoming hug, while simultaneously giving Lulu the thumbs-up to make a mad dash for the bedroom.
Rossella returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist, while being careful not to upset the tupperware container in her hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a very red, lacy form dart for the far corner of Dante's living room and then it disappeared into another room.
Rossella led Dante toward the couch and sat down beside him. She scrutinized Dante's apartment carefully, taking in the brown leather beneath her hands, the adjacent lampstand, a flat screen television on the wall and little else. It was the ideal bachelor pad.
"That sweet young man, Ronnie Domestico, jotted down your address for me." she said noting the scented candles on the table and the mistletoe hanging above the doorway.
A few feminine touches here and there, but not any immediate signs that they were living together.
She was ecstatic that Dante had a girl, but she drew the line at condoning any co-ed arrangements. After all, she had raised her grandson to be a good catholic boy.
"He seemed very eager to assist," Rossella answered, directing her gaze to Dante.
"I'll just bet he did, " Dante replied, filing that little tidbit of information away for future reference. He would have to speak with Ronnie about "surprise visits," especially when it involved family members.
"Enough about Ronnie. You have been holding out on me, Dante," Rossella interrogated.
"Talk to me. I want to know everything about your girl. What are your intentions? Why haven't you introduced her to the family? Is she Catholic? Have you met her family?" Rossella said using her hands to enunciate each word. Dante looked overwhelmed, so Rossella playfully slugged him in the shoulder.
"Hey, I am the detective in the family!" he laughed while protecting his body from attack.
"Come here, Dante mio. Come mi sei mancato!" she said in perfect Italian, pinching his cheeks.
"Oh, how I have missed you."
"I missed you too, Grandma."
...............
Lulu reached for the red cocktail dress in Dante's closet.
Why did it have to be red?
Alongside were a few more dresses, a few folded jeans on the shelf below, as well as two or three sweaters. She was surprised when Dante suggested a few months back that she clean out a section of his closet for her clothes. Was he asking her to move in? She wasn't sure if she was ready to take that step.
Dante insisted that he was only suggesting it because he wanted her all to himself all night long. If she had clothes in his closet then she had no reason to leave in the middle of the night to go back to her apartment.
Slipping the negligee into her bag, Lulu picked up the compact mirror beside it on his bed and surveyed the damage. Not bad. Considering. She briefly touched up her eyes and cheeks and applied more mascara, contemplating how she was going to show her face to his grandmother. In retrospect, it should be easy. She had shown his grandmother more in the last thirty minutes than Lulu was sure the woman wanted or expected to see from Dante's girl.
Lulu listened to their conversation with one ear flattened against the bedroom door, attempting to hear what they were saying.
Were they talking about her?
His grandmother probabaly hated her.
Why shouldn't she?
Lulu had jumped Dante's bones right in front of her eyes.
She had bared her assets, as they were, plain as day, to his poor grandmother.
Ear firm against the door, it didn't take long for Lulu to realize that her eavesdropping through the door was ridiculous. Dante's grandmother was a very loud and boisterous woman with a voice that would give any soprano in the opera a run for their money, and Lulu had humiliated herself in front of her.
This was not the way she had imagined meeting Dante's family.
Opening the door a crack, Lulu surveiled the hallway and attempted to make a clean break for the front door. It was hopeless. Dante, the little sexy rat, had busted her escape plan.
"Hey you," Dante remarked upon seeing Lulu hovering in the hallway. He gave her the sex eyes, mentally undressing her. Her eyes grew wide and she was blushing.
"Hey you," she responded, plotting all of the endless ways she would make him pay for prolonging her mortification. She fantasized about using his very own handcuffs against him, similar to the silk ties he had used earlier this week. Oh yes, she decided. She was definately going to try this one out.
He beckoned Lulu to the couch, sliding over so that she could sit beside him, not once taking his eyes off of her. Once she was seated, Dante put one arm around her, drawing her in closer, and with the other he reached for her hand, reassuring her with a stroke of his thumb.
"Dante, you know I really should get going. Tracy is probabaly sending out a search party looking for me." Lulu added, hoping to evade any questions from his grandmother.
"The family dinner. We should bring my grandmother," Dante replied with a conspiratorial wink.
"What are you talking about? Tracy hates uninvited guests," Lulu whispered, poking him in the arm for even suggesting it.
It was no use. Dante was hell-bent on bringing her. What the hell was he up to? Lulu thought to herself.
"Grandma, Lulu and I would love for you to join us at her family's holiday dinner party. Please say that you'll come." Dante begged. He needed all of the help that he could get persuading Tracy Quartermaine that he was the best man for Lulu, and he had no doubt that his grandmother was up to the task.
Rossella soaked in all of it, the silent looks, the intimate gestures, the little nuances that spoke volumes. A wide grin spread across her face as the realization hit her. These kids were in love.
"Do they like canoli?" she replied, prying the lid from the container and beaming from ear to ear.
Ethan Lovett, bartender extraordinaire, and the newest member of the Spencer family, walked onto the Haunted Star, preparing for what should be a night to remember.
The game tables were replaced with a few large dining tables. Fine linens, crystal-cut glasses, china and sterling silver adorned the tables. In addition, each centerpiece showcased a decanter of white and red long-stemmed roses.
It was all too much if you asked Ethan.
All of this hoopla had ruined a perfectly grand gaming establishment. The cigar smoke from Luke's cuban imports was eliminated, replaced by Christmas poinsettia plants that were placed throughout the room.
However, Ethan was overjoyed that the overgrown fern plant had sprouted wings and disappeared from this coop. That plant had attacked him more times than he could count.
The only remaining constant was the bar and at this moment in time, one Tracy Quartermaine was getting sloshed behind it.
"Tracy, does Luke know that you are stealing his prized bourbon?" Ethan questioned, noticing that a quarter of the bottle was gone.
Tracy Quartermaine stood behind the bar, and tossed back her third shot of bourbon.
"Don't worry. The whiskey is next. Besides, he isn't here... is he." Tracy exclaimed sarcastically.
"He is off doing what Luke does best. Leaving. And I for one am sick and tired of dealing with the mess that he left behind."
Tracy slammed the shot glass onto the bar and reached for the bottle of whiskey.
"I think that you have had enough of that!" Ethan said, grabbing the bottle. He took a glass from the shelf behind the bar and poured a shot of Jack for himself.
"Ok, Spanky. What mess are you cleaning up now?" Ethan asked, throwing back the shot and devoting all of his attention to his favorite almost green card wife. He poured another, but before he could slam it back, Tracy grabbed it from his hands.
"I have tried to be a good step-mother." she said trying to toss the shot back unsuccessfully.
"Grrrr! That was a perfectly good shot of whiskey," an exasperated Ethan replied, reaching for it and watching with fisted hands as its contents spilled onto the bar.
"I just want what is best for Lulu,"Tracy conveyed, grabbing Ethan by the arms.
"And that is not Sonny Corrinthos' son. He is going to break her heart." she shouted.
"If he doesn't get her killed first," Tracy added.
"Sonny leaves a trail of women behind. Brenda, Lilly...she was blown-up, Carly,
Alexis, Carly again, do you get the picture." Tracy yelled.
"Dante is not Sonny." Ethan answered.
"It's in the DNA."
"You've been Luke's son all of five minutes and you already share traits. Scarily, I might add." Tracy confirmed.
"I'm just saying, give Dante a break. Lulu loves him. At least wait until you speak with Luke."
"Did someone say my name?" shouted Luke from the doorway.
"Spankey, I'm home!"