A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 25 - The Lasagna Confrontation

The next day, with the ring properly sized, Daniel and Madison began a week long victory lap of their friends and family to officially announce their engagement.  Madison was in her glory as everyone jealously admired her new ring.  It was everything Madison had wished for in an engagement announcement tour.   It seemed it all lived up to everyone's expectations.

Madison's family couldn't have been happier for them, especially Madison's mother who was so enamored of Daniel that she was all too glad to tell him to call her "mom". Daniel politely begged off with the compliment that she wasn't old enough to be his mother. To Madison it was a glorious week of attention full of the all the envious glances and well wishes she craved.

However, in private moments, Madison had to confess that she was nervous about the end of the week when they would visit Daniel's parents. While Daniel and Madison were dating, Daniel's parents were always cordial and polite, but there was no enthusiasm in their attitude towards her. Madison couldn't be sure, but it seemed that Daniel's parents either couldn't decide what to make of her, or, perhaps more disconcertingly, didn't particularly like her. Specifically, this emanated from his mother, Rosalina.

Daniel's father Tony was always nice to Madison. He smiled and nodded when she spoke to him. He didn't talk much and what he did say was thick with an Italian accent and usually was about sports. His eyes were dark, like Daniel's eyes, but his gaze lacked the Daniel's subtle intelligence. He was a blue-collar guy and a touch intimidated by pretty women. As such, Madison took his reticence as a kind of compliment and even enjoyed the way he blushed faintly when she kissed him on the cheek. She was pretty sure that he would be happy for them.

Daniel's sister Diane was a sprightly, petite woman with bobbed black hair and shiny dark eyes. She was married with three children, all of whom adored Daniel but seemed a little reserved around Madison. Daniel's sister obviously loved her bother, and she welcomed Madison well enough. Yet every so often Diane would stare at Madison the way a gambler might evaluate a horse before a big race. Madison was sure Diane would say the right things but wasn't sure she would mean them.

In the end, Madison knew that Daniel's mother, Rosalina, was the key to the whole situation. Rosalina was the matriarchal cornerstone of Daniel's family and her will dictated the ebb and flow of the family attitude.  As far as Madison was concerned, Rosalina remained cool and aloof, and any time Madison had attempted to bond with her, Rosalina had simply looked her off.   Originally Madison put Rosalina's stand-offish attitude down to the belief that some people just took time to warm up, but as time went by, Rosalina had never really warmed up to Madison. In fact, if anything her attitude towards Madison seemed to solidify into indistinct disapproval and that left Madison completely unsure if Rosalina would be happy about their engagement.

That was the crux of Madison's concerns, really.  If Rosalina was happy with the engagement, then everyone else in the room would relax and give it their approval.  If Rosalina wasn't happy, well Madison did not even want to consider the possible consequences of Rosalina's disapproval.  Certainly if Rosalina didn't get behind their engagement, none of Daniel's family would and Madison was frightened by the prospect of Daniel's reaction to general disapproval of their engagement from his family.

This concern made Madison very nervous and by the time they pulled up the driveway to Daniel's parents' home that Friday evening, Madison had worried herself sick enough that she hadn't really eaten anything all day. Nerves and hunger combined to make Madison lightheaded and a bit touchy, although she dared not let that show to anyone, including Daniel. As she reached for the door handle to let herself out of the old pickup truck, Madison swallowed a trace of nervous bile in her throat, took a deep breath to calm her jangled nerves and summoned her brightest smile. This was to be a happy occasion after all and she would lead with her brightest attitude.