Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“Sienna! Darling!” a high shrill voice called.
More people stopped their conversation as heads and eyes turned towards me.
I felt like an animal in a cage. There wasn’t anything less necessary in the world than this. My preference would have been to take the elevator on the other side of the house and unobtrusively join the crowd.
The stairs seemed to go on forever, but finally I conquered the last step and felt the solidity of the black and white floor.
Bright, smiling faces closed around me.
I smiled back nervously as compliments and well wishes were showered on me.
“You look gorgeous!”
“Beautiful!”
“Welcome home, darling!”
“How proud your parents must be.”
Of course, I didn’t voice my feelings, but the extravagance and lavishness of their compliments repelled and horrified me. Was this how it would be from now on? I had thoroughly enjoyed my humble, anonymous existence in England and longed to have it back. More compliments were showered on me. I knew they weren’t real. They were just paying homage to my father’s power and money.
“You look so beautiful!”
“Welcome back, sweetie. You look amazing.”
“You’re not going to say hello to your Aunt Aldina?”
This particular Aunt I immediately recognized and I turned blindly towards her. I was pulled into a fleshy bear hug as her strong perfume of jasmine and spices filled my nostrils. Before I could recover, I was pulled away by another family member. Someone introduced me to cousins I hadn’t seen in years. “Remember when you guys used to play naked in the pool.”
I smiled.
They smiled, but we were all strangers to each other now.
“Next on the agenda is a grand wedding for Sienna,” a woman’s voice boomed.
I died a little inside, but outwardly, my smile didn’t fade.
A waitress dressed in black with a frilly white apron came around with a silver tray full of champagne flutes.
I grabbed one and downed more than half the glass in one gulp. What an incredibly long night I had ahead of me.
A barrage of intrusive questions began. I should explain … Italians have no sense of personal space or privacy. I looked around for my mother to rescue me, but she seemed to have disappeared. I sucked it all up and made my way through the crowd. My eyes were firmly on the arch at the back of the room. As I got closer to escape, I began to move faster.
When I could bear it no more … I broke into a run.
Hurrying down the corridor, I pulled open the door of the kitchen, and stepped into the familiar space. It was bustling with activity. In the stark white of the massive space, I instantly spotted Gemma in her navy blue and white housekeeping uniform. She stood next to the massive island. Platters of food were spread across it.
There were about five waiters surrounding her, listening to her instructions.
I made my way over to her.
She turned and smiled. “What are you doing here?”
“Hiding.”
“Come, come now. It’s not that bad to be belle of the ball.”
“Ugh … I hate it. I don’t even know them and they’re all obsessed with when I’m getting married.”
She laughed. “Smile and they’ll forget what they asked. You’re that beautiful.”
I reached for a mini bruschetta and popped it into my mouth. “Yeah, right,” I muttered.
“Sienna, what are you doing here?”
My eyes widened as I heard my mother’s voice. I picked up another bruschetta and turned. “Nothing. Just came for one of these.”
She frowned. “Everyone’s asking for you.”
“Yeah?”
She took the tiny piece of garlic toast covered in chopped tomatoes and basil away from my hand then pushed me back out to a sea of smiling snakes. I tried to apply the advice Gemma had given me as the outright harassment continued. To my great surprise, it worked. All I had to do was just smile and nod.
“I suppose your father will be grooming you to run the family business now,” a sly man I had never met before commented.
My smile slipped.
He stared at me curiously. “No?”
I swallowed audibly. What I wanted to say would have caused a riot in the room.
Thankfully, at that very moment, the attention shifted perceptibly to a different part of the room. The twittering crowd went silent.
My grandmother stood at the edge of the room. She looked as if she had come from a glamorous past long gone, perhaps from the court of one of the ancient ruling houses of Italy.
Although all eyes were on her, hers was solely on me.
I felt my tense body sag with relief. She had come to rescue me. She extended her hands towards me, and immediately the wall of people parted. With my head held high, I walked towards her. From the corner of my eye, I could see my mother scowling furiously, but like a guardian angel Nonna spirited me away from the madding crowd towards her apartment on the ground floor.