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I smooth a hand on my dress, while adjusting my appearance in the mirror. Today is Sunday, and I'm meeting Leandro's parents today. I spent all day cooking and preparing the house. Alphonsine dropped off some fresh flowers to ornate the house, and I was delighted. Right now, I'm wearing another one of my mother's dresses, a white one, with a blue overdress.
I head back downstairs, with my blonde hair bouncing behind me. I head straight to the kitchen, and put on some oven mittens and take the vanilla cinnamon cake out of the oven.
I smile when the aroma hits my nose. I put in on its platter, and start adding the almost translucent glaze over it. The doorbell rings, and my feet stay planted. I finish up the cake quickly, and I hear Leandro talking with someone else. I walk in the direction of the voices, and once I get to the end of the hallway, I take à deep breath and round the cornet.
There stood à woman who seems to be in their early 40s smiling warmly at Leandro. Then, A tall man, almost Leandro's height, tapped his shoulder. Leandro notices me and rolls his eyes. One after the other, his mother, and father turn to me. They hold a look of surprise in their eyes, and when they look straight at me, I lower my head.
"Is this your wife?" Of course, the mother already hates me. I hear heeled footsteps until bright red heels were in front of me. I raised my head slightly, but not enough to look at her.
"I'm Luciana, Leandro's mother"
"I'm Lunae" I try making my voice as confident as I can, raising my head slightly and avoiding her gaze.
"What à beautiful thing you are. Leandro, you didn't tell me how beautiful she is"
"Didn't matter"
"Well, It does. Come close, child" She grips my arm, but in à lovely way, so I follow her wordlessly. We come in front of the man, and he holds his hand out for me to shake.
"Damiani, Leandro's father"
"Lunae" I shake his hand and look up at him briefly with à smile, before averting my gaze from him. I just don't want them to judge me, and to antagonize me for being the slightest bold. And I'm à little shy. And Leandro told me to act accordingly.
"Let's eat, shall we?" I smile, as Leandro leads his parents to the table. Everyone takes their seats and we start serving each other.
"So, how old are you, Lunae?" Luciana's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.
"23, Ma'am" I answer her, serving myself some lasagna.
"Call me Luci, or Mama. I've always wanted à daughter."
"You have Gianna" Leandro grumbles, taking a cup of whiskey.
"Was I speaking to you?"
"No" He grumbles again.
"Don't disrespect your mother, son" Damiani backs up his wife, while i sit here, picking at the slice of lasagna I took. Damiani takes up à side conversation with Leandro, and his mother and I eat in silence, with her throwing glances my way.
"So? what do you like to do?"
"I l-like reading and taking care of flowers"
"You don't have a job?"
"I work at my best friend's flower shop"
"You know, you look quite familiar. Look at me" I hesitate, but slowly raise my head to meet her blue eyes. Does she hate me already?
"Never mind." She shrugs it off and goes back to eating. I glance at Leandro, who I find glaring at me. I quickly avert my gaze and keep eating.
"This food is delicious."
"The maid cooked it"
"Thank you" Leandro and I both speak at the same time. We look at each other, and he has à look of indignation in his eyes.
"Don't take other people's merit for your own. That's disrespectful" He reprimands me, and I flinch at his hard voice.
"Leandro stopped. Did you make the food, Cara?" I nod hesitantly, before meeting Luciana's eyes. She smiles at me, but her face fardens speaking to Leandro.
"Smettila di fare commenti maleducati o ti ammazzo." I keep the translation to myself, and mind my business. (Stop making rude comments or else i'll kill you.)
"Non sai come sbarazzarti di un corpo e non vorresti sporcarti le unghie" My eyes slightly widen at the brazen way he addresses his mother. (You don't know how to dispose of a body, and you wouldn't want to get your nails dirty.)
Luciana stands up, walks over to Leandro, and starts yelling his ear off. After a while of colorful curses, Damiani asks his wife to calm down and to sit down. Right before she does, She scratches her nail against the table.
"What is that? wax, or grease?" I look over to the spot she was referring to and smiled. It was the remnant of the candle that was burning the other day, during dinner with Alphonsine and Eros. I stand up, excuse myself from the table, and head to the kitchen to grab a tablecloth. I wet the end and head back to the table. I head toward the mark and start scrubbing it and removing the wax. At some point, The wax was under Leandro's arm.
"Can you move your arm, please?" He does, but huffs and puffs like the big bad wolf. I thank him, wipe the wax, and go to dispose of the washcloth. I take my seat at the table, and silence reigns over the table once again.
"So, Lunae, who's your father? Maybe I know him"
"Um, Eric Jacobsen" His name feels like poison coming out of my lips.
"Your maiden name was Jacobsen"
"Obviously, Damiani-" Luciana goes to reprimand her husband, but I cut her off.
"No, I legally changed it to Marlenis"
"And who are you trying to impress?" Leandro snarls in a low voice. My eyes snap at him but, they quickly stray away once he stares back.
"I'll go fetch desert." I leave the table gently and head back to the kitchen. I hear footsteps in the hallway, but I assume it's someone going to the bathroom. Once I turn around grabbing the platter, I come face to face with Luciana. My grip on the platter tightens, careful not to drop the cake.
"Um, Can I help you, Ma'am"
"Call me Luciana. Also, I wanted to excuse my son. He's the grouchiest of the bunch, and he disrespected you multiple times"
"No worry, I still hope dinner was enjoyable for you" She smiles at me with à head tilt.
"You're so kind, and yes, we did enjoy it. Let's go back to the table, Cara" She walks by my side, as we enter the dining room, and I set the cake in the middle of the table, and remove the other dishes.
"What cake is this?"
"It's vanilla and cinnamon, with à vanilla glaze"
"Looks amazing. You have great cooking skills. Great for my grand babies" Damiani chuckles with his wife, while my face turns red because of embarrassment. Grand babies? Children? Pregnancy?
I couldn't imagine.
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