Amedeo blinked. “No, I just don’t want our mother hassling me.”
Dante shook his head. “Fine. Think what you want.”
He brushed past Amedeo who was still puzzling over what his brother said. He didn’t love Violet. He enjoyed her company. He liked having sex with her. Some of the best sex he’d ever had. Sex that he would miss when she was gone, but that didn’t mean he loved her.
Nope. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t fall in love again. No, he wasn’t in love with Violet
Sure of his feelings, he strode into his mother’s kitchen. She was, of course, at the stove. She loved to cook for her boys and they all loved to eat her cooking. He kissed his mother on both cheeks. Then he kissed Gwen on the cheek, patting her tummy. “Not long now?”
“I can’t wait. I’m ready to stop being huge,” Gwen said.
“You look beautiful,” Amedeo said.
Which made him wonder what Violet would look like when she was close to giving birth. Would she have that glow about her? Would he want to talk to her stomach the way he knew Dante did to Gwen? Time would tell.
“Thank you. I don’t feel beautiful,” Gwen said.
Dante rubbed her shoulders. “I keep telling her that she just glows and she doesn’t listen to me.”
The baby chose that moment to kick. Amedeo had to smile. “He knows its Uncle Amedeo. I’m the fun one.”
“You are not,” Salvatore said. “He kicked for me, too.”
Amedeo hugged his brother. “Hey Salvatore. How are you?”
“Good of course. There are always bad guys in the world so I have job security.”
Amedeo laughed. His mother put the flowers in a vase, placing them on her counter. “Dinner will be ready in five minutes, but I think someone is missing.”
“Who?” Amedeo asked.
“That woman living at your house.”
His brothers gasped. Amedeo’s mouth fell open. “Uh, what woman?”
“I think her name is Violet?” his mother said.
How did she know? He looked at his brothers. Both shook their heads. They hadn’t ratted him out. Gwen put her hands up. She didn’t tell his mother.
He sighed. “How do you know about Violet?”
“Tory called me. Desperate girl. Glad you didn’t marry her.”
Amedeo didn’t know if he should be more surprised that Tory had called his mother or that his mother hadn’t been on the phone to him right away. “Tory called you?”
“Yes. She thought that I could help her get you back. I hung up on her.”
Amedeo smiled at his mother. Of course she would have his back. “Well, I wasn’t ready to tell you about Violet.”
“I know she’s having your baby. Why would you think that I wouldn’t want to meet the mother of one of my grandchildren?”
“I’m only just wrapping my brain around the idea of a child. I needed a little more time to get used to the idea.”
“Well, I’ll take all of the grandchildren I can get. I have enough love for all of them.”
Amedeo pondered the situation. If Violet were home he’d go get her, but she was out with a friend. “I guess I’ll bring her next month.”
“No, bring her Sunday. We’ll all have dinner again, barring the arrival of my first grandchild.”
Amedeo glanced at Dante who nodded. “I can make it. Salvatore?”
“Yeah I can make it,” he said.
Amedeo was stuck. “Okay. I’ll bring her Sunday then.”
“Good. I want to meet this woman who has stolen your heart.”
“Mama, I’m not in love with her. I’m just taking care of her because she’s having my child. She was thrown out of her apartment and I gave her a place to live until the baby is born.”
“Not in love? What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing is wrong with her.”
“Then marry her, Amedeo. It’s the right thing.”
Amedeo laughed. “She won’t marry me. I asked her.”
“Then you’ll have to use that Killiano charm and get her to marry you. We’ll soften her up when she’d here.”
He put a hand on his mother’s arm. “You will do no such thing. You will stay out of this. It’s between me and Violet.”
His mother frowned. “Fine, but I bet she’ll love us so much that she’ll want to marry you.”
“I’d like someone to marry me for me, not my family.”
His mother waved her hand as she put food on platters. “We’re part of the package.”
***
Violet had no idea what she was going to think of Amedeo’s family. It had taken him the better part of the week to convince her that she should come meet them. Now Sunday had arrived and she was sitting in Amedeo’s passenger seat as he drove his Bentley to his mother’s house.