“We were, too,” Dino said, pulling up to Elena to refill her glass. She smiled at him, but for some reason, it didn’t reach her eyes. It was just a flash of an expression, but I thought nothing more of it. She was probably exhausted by all this chatter. My family had a tendency to be hectic.
Besides, the next thing I knew, she had strolled off to talk to an elderly aunt who seemed to be standing alone. Aunt Sophia, who rarely spoke to anyone but her cats these days, proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes speaking to Elena. About what? I could only guess.
I gave Elena her space, for she seemed to be enjoying all the mingling in talking, and went over to the bar for a moment of introspection. I gazed around the room and realized evenings like these were rare. Our extended family was spread across the world, and to have so many of us in the same room gave me something to be thankful for. Carlo’s home hadn't felt this alive in years. None of ours had.
In a way, I held Elena responsible for bringing us all together. Everyone was here to meether.
Soon after, we were all called for dinner, and I took my seat beside Elena. Not for the first time that night, I observed just how beautiful she looked. She was wearing this emerald green velvet dress that revealed her shoulders just delicately enough, before leading to the full sleeves. Her eyes—they shimmered in that dress. And her hair, God, how I longed to run my hands through it and see if it felt as silky as it looked.
I realized I hadn’t been listening to the conversation around me until I heard my name from across the table.
“It's no wonder Gastone swept you up so quickly,” my cousin, Isobella, said with a wink to Elena. “A woman like you is a rare creature indeed.”
I looked at Elena to see her reaction, feeling a heat crawling down my neck. There was truth in what Isobella said. But to my confusion, Elena didn’t look pleased, nor playful. Elena's smile flickered—just a fraction, gone so quickly I might have imagined it.
” He can be very persuasive when he wants something,” she replied smoothly, but there was a new tension in her shoulders. She refused to meet my eye.
I took a sip of my wine, studying her throughout dinner. While everything seemed okay on the surface, while she charmed everyone present and laughed at the right moments, I felt like she wasn’t fully in the moment. She hardly touched her plate, barely made conversation with me, and at times seemed to drift away from the conversation, her gaze turning distant.
It wasn’t long before I realized it wasn’t just a hunch. Larissa had to take her name twice to get her to pass the butter. Something was eating at her, and when Larissa gave me a quizzical look, I realized my sister felt it too. The two of us were the only ones who knew the real Elena. The real Elena was usually fully present. She was always charming, had been tonight too, but there was something…off.
While the others went off for drinks after dinner, I slid up to Elena before she could join them. “Hey,” I muttered. “Can we have a moment?”
She looked after my family for a brief moment before turning back to me. Then, she nodded. She seemed reluctant,which surprised me. The Elena I knew would never feel inconvenienced by a private conversation.
I pulled her away and walked her out to a private balcony, overlooking the lawns.
The sudden quiet after the noise of the dining room felt even louder. For a moment, we just stood there and adjusted to the change.
“Is something wrong, Elena?” I asked finally, leaning against the railing and turning my neck towards her.
“Nothing,” she said automatically, as though without thinking. She took a step away from me. “Everything's fine. I swear.”
My eyes travelled with the motion of her creating distance, and I sighed, standing closer. “Talk to me.”
She sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. “It's nothing. Really. Just... tired, I guess.”
“Bullshit,” I called it. “You've been somewhere else all night. If you don't want to be here—”
“It's not that,” she cut me off, finally meeting my eyes. “Your family is wonderful. They've been so kind to me, and I'm grateful for that. Really, I am.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said. “But something’s on your mind, and we aren’t walking out of here until you tell me what it is. Things fester, Elena. And I’d rather you be out with it now before it blows up badly afterwards.”
She bit her lip, hesitating. “It's nothing,” she repeated, attempting to move past me.
I blocked her path, and my patience bordered on non-existent by this point. “Elena, you need to talk to me. Whateverit is, it's eating you up inside. You'll explode if you keep it in. I mean it.”
Her eyes flashed with sudden anger. “Like you talk to me about what's eating you up? You never talk to me.”
I flinched, but didn't back down. “This isn't about me, Elena. Nor is that true. I talked to you about Adriana. You’re trying to deflect from yourself, and I won’t have it.”
“You won’t have it?” Her voice rose slightly before she caught herself, glancing nervously at the door to the house before lowering her voice. “You're the one who took me, who's still holding onto this... this hatred for my family for something I had nothing to do with, and I am suffering for it.”
There it was—the real issue.
“I don't blame you for what happened to Adriana,” I said carefully. “And I never allowed it to be a thing between us. Never.”
“That’s not true and you know it!” She raised her voice again, her lower lip quivering. “Here I am, being so nice to everyone, actually putting in an effort, and you were acting like a brooding little brat that whole night with my family. With Kate. Even with Larissa, your own sister. Everyone tonight is calling you lucky, while I had to defend your behaviour to my brothers! Do you have any idea what a fool I felt like? Defending you when all they passed was judgment? You embarrassed me, Gastone! How would you feel if I acted all cold and distant when it came to your family?”
