Carmello

chapter one

chapter one

I tried not to stare too blatantly at the mole on Great Aunty Belenda's chin as I took the wedding gift from her. By the weight of it, I could guess it was a paperweight, which didn't surprise me all that much, not when I'd seen her house. You could hardly sit down anywhere because of how many glass penguins, giraffes, even polar bears were dotted around the room.

"It's one of my favourites," she whispered to me in Italian. "I bought myself one, too."

Definitely a paper weight.

I grinned at her, before taking it over to the table where dozens of other gifts were piled together.

"I'm sure they'll love it," I said, letting myself be hauled in for a kiss of greeting on either cheek. I watched her hobble away, greeting everyone a little too loudly as she passed by. But then that was my family. Loud, almost obnoxiously so.

I turned to watch them all, laughing and dancing and being generally like they always were, no matter the occasion: very Italian.

People were still arriving, like a constant stream. But I was beginning to feel the effects of being under the sun all day, so stepped away from the gift table. It wasn't such a big deal it was left unattended. One, these people were family. And two, no one would dare.

"Roma!" the bride, my cousin, shouted across to me. She came barreling over, bunching her dress in her hands so she could get over to me without falling over.

"Yes, Bona?" I asked, amused as she hit a child squarely in the face with her dress. It wasn't with enough force to knock him over, but he stood a little confused for a moment. I touched his shoulder and told him to go find his brother. "Can I help you?"

"You can," she said, holding my shoulders. But I think it was more to steady herself than me. "Your pa's looking for you."

"Are you alright?" I put the back of my hand against her forehead.

She hit it away. "You're as bad as my mother."

I shrugged, and brought my hand up to her cheek, squeezing. "Only trying to look out for my baby Bonnie."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, letting me badly impersonate her mother. "Your dad's under one of the umbrella's, by the windows."

I nodded. I went to say something else, but she was too busy screaming as one of her friends came along. She dived for the gift immediately. I rolled my eyes but, choosing not to leave my father waiting, went on search for him.

Our large courtyard looked small with the number of people here, all bumping into each other and struggling to get past. I could hear my brother, Emilio, shouting to one of his friends as he was bumped into. It didn't help that it was so hot, either.

"Emilio!" I called. "Where's Pa?"

He was looking down at himself, clicking to a waiter to give him more tissue. The poor boy looked terrified as he fumbled for some more napkins.

He kept his head down, even when he pointed in the general direction, so I could only see his dark, slightly tousled hair.

"Look at me," I heard him say, frustratedly, in Italian to the blonde waiter, waving his hands as he spoke. I bypassed him and followed where he'd pointed, his voice quickly being swallowed by the music being played not too far away.