Page 62 of Look on the Bright Side

“Oh, my God, I thought I was going to wet myself laughing,” Anita whispered to the girls. “Noni, are you okay?” she said in a louder voice.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I wanna go now. Take me home, boy.”

“That would be me,” Silvio said. “Okay, Ma. You’re doing all right, though?”

“She’s, um, unaware of the excitement,” Izzy said. “Let’s keep it that way. Me, though, I can’t wait to find this on social media.” She dissolved into giggles again and clutched Sofia’s hand.

“I’ve got some pictures,” said a young woman. “Want me to airdrop them to you?”

“Yes! Thank you,” said Izzy.

Henry and his mother joined them. “Is she okay?” Jocelyn asked. “I am so sorry! That’s never happened before.”

“Who you? Your dress, not so nice,” Noni said. “You look like a whore.”

“Stop, Noni,” Sofia said. “This is Henry’s mother. My future mother-in-law.”

“Eh. Cover yourself next time.”

“I’m so sorry, Jocelyn,” Anita said. “It’s the dementia talking. She’s very unfiltered.”

“And mean,” Izzy added. “Can’t forget mean.”

“No offense taken,” Jocelyn said. “And again, I apologize for Otto.”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Henry said. “I think you should change the show to include pigeons. YouTube will love this.” Indeed, people were eager to share their videos and pictures with Izzy. The falcon show was deemed far more exciting than any other falcon show in the history of Renaissance fairs.

“We should get going,” Anita said, smiling at her brood. “See you at the party, kids.”

“We need to get back to the hotel and change, too, honey,” Sofia said, sliding her arm through Henry’s. “I’m getting my hair done and all that. Trial run for the wedding.”

“You’ll be so beautiful,” Henry said. “You are right now.”

“Ick,” Isabella said. “Please, stop.”

“I should go, too,” Jocelyn said. “I have to take Otto home and clean up myself before dinner.”

“Henry and I are having dinner with our parents before the big party, Lark,” Sofia explained. “But we’ll see you at the hotel, okay?” She gave her a hug, thanked her for tending to Noni and floated off, holding hands with Henry. He kissed her on the temple, and Sofia beamed up at him, eyes shining.

They reminded her of…well. Of her and Justin.

“You guys want to wander around?” Izzy asked.

“Sure,” Dante said. “After you, fair maidens.”

“Nope. Just shut that down, big bro. You don’t get to use Ren fair lingo and have us still respect you.” Izzy took Lark’s arm and headed for a booth. “Come on, let’s check this stuff out.” Izzy bought a pair of horns attached to a hair band and put it on immediately.

“Devil horns. They suit you,” Dante said.

Lark bought circlets of sparkly flowers for her nieces. They got lemonade and hot dogs and ambled through the fair, watching the jousts, avoiding the clowns, like any sane person.

“Oh, look, Noni’s gonna be Instagram famous,” said Izzy, checking her phone. “Shit! Look at this!” Someone had posted a shaky video of Otto calmly eating pigeon on Noni’s tipped-back head, her mouth slack, those half-open eyes…

“Oh no,” Lark said, and there it was again, that irrepressible laughter. Izzy was squeaking, and Dante’s laugh was sooty and delicious.

“Good thing Lorenzo doesn’t have social media. And don’t show this to him, or he’ll kill us all,” Dante said, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. He glanced at Lark. “Well, not you, of course.”

That warm flush engulfed her again. “I don’t know,” she said, looking at another photo on Instagram under the hashtags #massrenfaire #falconshow. It was a close-up of Noni’s wrinkled hands next to the discarded pigeon. “This one has Christmas card written all over it.”

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