Before Their Story Began

Chapter 80

Dialogue between Cuban family members will be in Spanish. I'm not putting in the translations because that would be too bulky

Third Person POV

The Lombardis and Volkovs were sitting at a table in Ama and Apa's house eating the food they all took from the buffet style spread the aunts laid out for Christmas dinner. Music was blaring all throughout the house and backyard as everyone ate. Alessio was dressed in his Christmas Alb since he participated in the church sermon as an altar server.

Lots of relatives were coming up to talk to Vincenzo and his siblings. Everyone remembered them but the same could not be said the other way.

"Are you okay?" Alessio asked his twin

He was worried because she hadn't uttered a single word

"My Spanish isn't as good as yours. What if they laugh at me?"

"If they make fun of your Spanish tell them to speak English to see how well they do." He shrugged

"I don't know anyone like you do."

"Then you can stay by me all night." He beamed

That response made his sister smile

"Hi Jonás! Is that Jasmin?" Their cousin Yanelys asked

"Yeah, it's her first time meeting the family."

"Hi Jasmin! I'm Yanelys we have the same birthday so everyone used to calls us triplets." She beamed

"It's nice to meet you." JJ responded

"Do you know how to dance?"

"Not really." Adriana shook her head

"That's fine. You can be in the back with the other bad dancers. We wanna perform for Ama and Apa so come to the backyard so we can practice quickly. I have extra clothes you can wear."

The twins nodded and told Aleksandr they were going to play with their cousins outside so he wouldn't worry.

Once they got outside Adriana was introduced to all their extended cousins. Everyone was really nice which made Adriana feel less anxious.

After introductions ended the cousins began arguing over what dance to do.

"Ama is Mexican let's dance Jarabe Tapatio. It's easy enough and it'll make her happy if we dress up." Alessio suggested

"But Apa is Cuban lets dance salsa. It was apa's favorite type of dance." Yanelys pushed

All the cousins threw around ideas but no one was dancing

"What if we tried everything. It could be like a-" Adriana couldn't think of the word in Spanish

"Showcase?" Raul a male cousin helped

"Yeah! That."

"That's a good idea Adriana! Half of us can dress up and dance Tapatio and the other half can go after and dance salsa."

"Let's get dressed then."

Yanelys was true to her word and let Adriana borrow her Jalisco. One of the boys let Alessio borrow the traditional outfit and sombrero. He matched Adriana

Yanelys and Alessio demonstrated the routine and everyone followed to the best of their abilities. Adriana was smiling and having fun trying

"Wow Adriana! You're really good. You're a natural like your brother." Amelia another cousin complimented

After lots of practicing an adult finally came out to check up on them. They rushed them back inside and told them to just perform what they came up with.