Page 70 of Till Death Do Us Part

She smiled. “Want me to do your makeup and hair?”

“I’m good.”

“I can make those bruises disappear.” She ran a hand softly over them, and I closed my eyes. “Or maybe you could just rest today. You seem like you need it.”

“Roma!”

My eyes snapped open, and my body jerked at the shout. Isabella stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, a dishtowel in hand, giving me a disapproving look. She was all dressed up and had an apron on.

“Get upstairs and get ready. Everyone will be here soon. Do you want Jack to see you like that?”

“Umm, I’m pretty sure he’s going to see her like that every morning, Isabella,” Lo snapped. “Women do sleep. They’re human too.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Isabella clapped back. “She just looks extra tired.”

“You would be too, if your car flipped and then you crashed into a building!” Lo shouted.

“Excuse me,” Isabella used her parenting voice. “Was I talking to you, Lolita?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m talking to you.”

Isabella rolled her eyes and tried to grab my arm. I yanked it back.

“Don’t you dare fucking touch me!”

Isabella sucked in air. “What did you just say to me?”

She was daring me to repeat it. I did, extra loud. Alina and Talia came to stand in the room.

“You’re not Mamma,” I said. “Let me refresh your memory. We shared the same one. I’m not your kid. You have two of them, those brats fighting over a toy in the next room.” I really didn’t mean to bring the kids into it, but there it was.

Besides, we all called them brats to their faces. They only laughed.

“The only brat in this house is you,” Isabella said, balling the dishtowel in her hand. “Hurting Babbo like you do. Making Jack feel like shit.”

“Yeah, about that. Stay out of my business. Or if you like Jack so much, maybe you should marry him.”

“Stay out of your business? Since when do we do that?”

“Since today,” I said.

She gritted her teeth. “Make me.”

I snatched the Ho-Ho-Ho throw pillow off the sofa, jumped up, and whacked her in the head with it. Her perfectly styled hair went flying. The room went quiet. She took a second, fixed her hair, grabbed another pillow, and whacked me back.

Tears sprang to my eyes because of my nose.

We started hitting each other with the pillows, screaming as we did. I couldn’t hear her over my screams, and I doubted she could hear me over hers. Paisano barked and was trying to bite the pillows.

Lo tried to grab me, and Alina tried to grab Isabella, when we started to hit with our hands. But we were both crazed. My only thought was to hurt her like she’d been hurting me. They couldn’t grab our arms.

“Enough!” Babbo boomed.

We instantly stopped, and the room fell quiet. Stuffing from the pillows floated in the air. It was hanging from Paisano’s mouth.

Babbo glared at us. Some of the guests stood behind him. It was mostly our family and in-laws who came over. Occasionally friends did, especially if they had no one else. Mamma was big on not being alone on holidays. Jack stared at me. I crossed my arms and stared back. Babbo turned and left. All the guests but Jack followed him.

Isabella crumbled after she caught the disappointed look on Babbo’s face. She looked at the room and started to cry, but it was angry.

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