Page 80 of Married with Mayhem

But then she sighs and drops her hands from her hips. “Good to see you, Monte,” she mutters.

She doesn’t run over to hug him but she also doesn’t sound completely hostile. She’s probably remembering that she owes Monte a considerable debt. Both Monte and Nico took a great personal risk to stand by Luca. They stormed a house filled with heavily armed enemies in order to rescue Anni from my father the day of the Valentine’s Massacre. Without Monte and Nico, both Luca and Anni might not have survived.

Anni is practical enough to understand this. That’s why she manages to give Monte a grudging nod despite the fact that she’s seething over our wedding news.

However, Mama is going to make sure everyone properly welcomes Monte to the family. She rocks back and forth with Jane in her arms and gives Monte a fond smile. “Annalisa, I wish you could have been there for the wedding yesterday but look how happy your sister is.”

All eyes suddenly focus on me. I do my best to look ecstatically happy.

“Come and see the baby, Monte,” my mother orders and he obediently moves closer. Anni joins them and I’m left standing a little bit apart from everyone else until Luca steps up.

“I didn’t hear a hello from you,” Luca says, pretending to sound hurt.

“Hello, Luca.” I give him a quick side hug and keep an anxious eye on Monte while he’s being scrutinized by Anni.

Luca notices where I’m looking and his rascally grin appears. I expect there’s some wicked teasing on the way. My brother-in-law is an infamous sarcasm king with a fiendish sense of humor. No wonder he and Monte are such close friends.

He cracks his knuckles. “How’s married life so far?”

“Didn’t you listen to Mama? I’m exceedingly happy and not feeling at all threatened that my homicidal warlord of an uncle might drag me back to his Sicilian prison and make Monte disappear if he suspects our marriage is fake.”

Luca nods and a serious shadow of worry briefly falls over his face before he cheers up. “I suppose we’ll need to be creative during your visit.”

“What are you talking about?” I keep my eyes fastened on Monte as my mother urges him to admire Jane. He stares down at the tiny girl for a moment and then smiles.

Luca rubs a hand on his jaw and acts like he’s trying to solve a very challenging puzzle. “You might remember that we have four bedrooms. One of them is the master, one is now the nursery and then there are two guest rooms. Your mother will take one, which leaves one bedroom left.”

“You’re so good at math, Luca. Does Anni know how talented you are? Must make her light-headed that you can count to four.”

“Strangely, Anni is far more impressed with my other talents. But there’s still only one bedroom left. So are you going to sleep on the pullout sofa or is Monte?”

“How will I explain anyone sleeping on the sofa when I’m supposed to be a blissful newlywed?”

He nods. “I see your point. I guess you’ll have to make your mother believe you’re sharing a room and then one of you can crash on the couch after she retires for the night.”

“That won’t work. Mama is an insomniac and she tends to wander around when she can’t sleep. She’ll notice if he’s sleeping on the couch. Monte and I will just have to sleep in the same room.”

Luca’s eyebrows shoot up and he stares at me.

My face grows defensively hot. “Look, I stayed at his apartment and we’ve been traveling together for days so it’s nothing new. My mother will be very distressed if we’re caught sleeping apart.”

“I see,” he says, openly smirking.

“Do I need to explain this to you again?” I hiss. “Monte and I are supposed to be newlyweds. There are things at stake here. We cannot sleep in separate rooms. Cope.”

Luca cracks up. Well, my brother-in-law can go ahead and chuckle himself to pieces all he wants. I don’t need to listen.

“Mind your own business,” I mutter and leave him there to laugh his ass off alone. I want to hold Jane again. His laughter follows me as I walk away.

Luca is very fortunate that he’s made my sister sublimely happy and given me an adorable niece because sometimes he really gets on my nerves.

16

MONTE

Luca invites me to sit outside on the front porch with some beers while the rest of the household gives the baby a bath and prepares her for bed.

We haven’t really had a chance to talk in private yet. Yesterday’s arrival was kind of a whirlwind and today there was a full house. Luca’s brother Cale visited with his wife and little girl and they stayed for dinner.

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