“Of course, Mr. Angelo,” I replied.
He smiled softly at me and reached out to pat my knee.
“Just some advice from an old fool…” he began with a smile and his cheeks blushed. “Don’t let fear keep you from happiness. Sometimes life… sometimes God sends us what we need and we need to just accept his gifts.”
Nikko glanced past me with an even softer smile than before. His eyes filled with a familiar emotion. An emotion I’d see in Eli’s gaze just that morning. Turning to open the door, I searched my grandmother’s front porch for what could have given him that look and found my grandmother standing there with a crocheted blanket pulled tight over her shoulders.
“La vita è fugace, trova sempre il tempo per l'amore.” Nikko’s voice was full of remorse but he seemed to shake off the past as he turned to me. “Vivi la vita al massimo, tesoro. You only live once.”
Chapter Eight
Nikko’s lilting Italian replayed in my head as I walked to my grandmother’s door. I couldn’t translate a word of it… except for something about love and life. But, he was very clear with his parting words and I couldn’t get them out of my head as I stepped into the house my mother had grown up in.
“What is wrong, Clara?” My grandmother asked as I passed her.
“Nothing…” My grandmother’s arm around my waist and the look of concern on her best friend’s face as they stood silently in the foyer of the home broke me. I sobbed.
“There, there. It will be alright,” Franny had stepped forward and gripped my hands in her own.
When the tears slowed enough for me to see, I realized I was being led to the sitting room.
“Sit, I’ll make tea… or hot chocolate,” Franny offered as she headed out of the room.
“Clara, I know we don’t know each other but you’re my granddaughter and I love you.” Ms. Amelia sighed. “I’ve probably handled all of this badly, but I love you and I want you in my life, child.”
“I—”
“Not yet,” my grandmother interrupted my denial. “All I mean by that is that I’m here for you. I don’t expect anything in return. Do you want to talk about what has you upset?”
I shook my head as I sniffled. Franny had returned and handed me a box of tissues before disappearing again.
“Is it about Eli?”
I nodded and closed my eyes as my head filled with memories. It had been the best night of my life. Magical even. Eli was so easy to be with. The man had a way of breaking down my barriers and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
“He’s a good boy, really” — Ms. Amelia patted my knee as her eyes hardened — “but if he did something stupid and hurt you… I’ll… I’ll…”
“We’ll deliver him one of my special pies,” Franny chimed in as she set a tray with three mugs and a small ball of mini marshmallows on the coffee table in front of where we sat.
“Special pies?” I hiccupped and sniffled some more.
“Franny makes a mean cream pie and sometimes when someone needs it… well, we help them meet the porcelain god. Everyone can use a good come to Tidy Bowl moment once in a while,” my grandmother chuckled.
“Oh. My. God.” I burst out in a half-laugh half-sob as I stared at the older women in both horror and respect. “You two are evil.”
Franny shrugged as she snuggled deeper into her chair with her mug of cocoa.
“Here, drink this. Chocolate always helps,” Ms. Amelia insisted as she handed me a mug. “Did your mom ever tell you about your grandpa and me?”
Her question startled me and I turned to look at her. “No. But, you said you met in grade school.”
“We did… but… it wasn’t until he was leaving for the war that he got off his ass and told me how he felt.” My grandmother chuckled as her eyes turned liquid with unshed tears. “He was always so handsome but for some reason, the boy would never ask me out. We hung out together with friends and the like, but not once did we go on an actual date. It wasn’t until Nikko Angelo asked me to the Snow Ball the week before Freddy was to leave on deployment that he came to my house with flowers.”
“Fred was an idiot,” Franny complained.
Ms. Amelia laughed and slapped her hand in her friend’s direction. “Well, you grew up in the same house, practically siblings, so I’m not surprised to hear you say that.”
“Siblings?” I asked in shock. Was Franny my aunt?
“We were cousins on his and my mother’s sides” — Franny waved her hand in the air — “it gets complicated around here.” She and my grandmother both laughed.
“It’s true, everyone knows everyone in this county... and they’re pretty much related somehow at some point on their family trees, too,” Grandma confirmed.
“So what did Mr. Wood do when he showed up with flowers?” I asked — still uncomfortable thinking of him or the woman next to me as family.
“Well, Freddy asked to speak with my father,” Ms. Amelia chuckled and her eyes twinkled with long-forgotten moments. “Then, after they spoke, my father stepped from his office and told me to hear the boy out. He’d sure made an impression on my pa and to this day, I still don't know what he said to him.”
“He was good with words,” Franny admitted. “But, still an idiot.”
I grinned as my soul seemed to lighten and my chest loosened at the easy relationship the two older women had and the fact they pretty much seemed to know everything about one another.
With a small smile, Ms. Amelia took up her story again, “I walked him into our parlor and we sat quietly in two
