“We don’t.” Sage lowered her voice. “Don’t be nervous, Nonna.”
“What if I don’t like it?” she whispered. “I don’t want to hurt your mother’s feelings.”
“Ms. Rosetti, trust me, you’re going to love it,” Jake said.
“I do trust you. You’re a good boy.” She glanced to where her daughters were huddled together, no doubt making plans for her wedding. “Now take the tarp down so I can see it without an audience, and you’ll be my favorite grandson-in-law.”
“Hey, I thought that was me.” Lila’s husband Luke approached with his twenty-month-old stepdaughter in his arms and a smile on his handsome face.
Carmen held out her arms. “Come to your bisnonna, bella.” She cuddled the little girl while sidling closer to the wall,whispering to the baby, “You pull on that for your bisnonna, si?” She wiggled her finger at the edge of the tarp.
“Si.” The baby nodded and yanked on the tarp, with a little help from her bisnonna, of course. “Me do!” The baby cheered.
Carmen didn’t hear her family’s responses. She stood speechless, staring at the beauty her daughter had created for her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took in each member of her family sitting at their table at the back of the restaurant below the wordsLa Dolce Vita—The Sweet Life.
They were all there, her girls with their partners and their families, happy, laughing, and eating. She pressed her fingers to her lips and looked around for Lila. She was there just behind her—all her girls were, standing together, tears in their eyes and smiles on their beautiful faces, their partners standing behind them.
“A bambina,” Carmen said, pointing at Lila’s baby bump in the painting.
“Zia guessed it wasn’t the flu and asked if she could include the baby-to-be in the painting.”
“Bambinas,” Eva corrected, doing a little shimmy shake. “We’re having twins!”
The news brought more tears and more laughter and teasing, and then Carmen saw it and gasped. The family went quiet. The customers who’d joined them did too. She walked to the mural and crouched, reaching out to draw the tip of her finger over her daughter’s signature:Gia Rosetti. She nodded and stood, walking to Gia. She cupped her daughter’s face in her hands. “You are a gift, and I thank God for you every day and for blessing you with a talent such as this.”
“You like it, Mama?”
She put an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “How can you ask? It’s like you painted my heart on the wall. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
“Ma, you do know that God blessed your other two daughters too, don’t you?” Eva said, linking arms with Cami.
“Yeah, Ma. You’re not supposed to have favorites,” Cami said, her eyes shining with laughter.
“We need to find out if we’re having boys or girls, babe,” Luke was whispering to Lila, unaware in his obvious panic that everyone was listening to him. “Because if we’re having two more girls, and they’re anything like those three together”—his face went slack—“or you and your cousins, I need time to prepare myself.”
Everyone broke up laughing, Luke’s cheeks becoming flushed as they teased him. Then Eva must have taken pity on him, and in that beautiful strong voice that God had gifted her with, she sang “Sweet Life” by Paul Davis, and Cami joined in.
Soon everyone was singing, everyone but Carmen, whose gaze moved over her family and friends. Her life had not always been easy—she’d faced financial hardships, betrayals, and tragedies—but through it all she’d had her family and friends to lean on. She’d been blessed with a sweet, sweet life.
“Come, we eat now!”
