"I've missed you, too."
"How's your arm?"
"It's okay."
He took my hand and kissed my fingertip. "I hope this conversation counts as foreplay, because I'm feeling a real lack of self-control."
Fine by me. I wasn't seeing much value in self-control at all at the moment.
He took the fork out of my hand. "How bad do you want those cabbage rolls?"
"I don't even like cabbage rolls."
He pulled me out of my chair and kissed me.
The doorbell rang, and we both jumped apart.
"Shit!" Morelli said. "Now what? It's always something! Grandmothers and murderers and pagers going off. I can't take it anymore." He stormed off to the front of the house and wrenched the door open.
It was his grandma Bella. She was a little lady, dressed in Old Country black. Her white hair was pulled into a knot at the nape of her neck, her face was free of makeup, her thin lips were pressed tight together. Joe's mother stood to the side, larger than Bella, no less scary.
"Well?" Bella said.
Joe looked at her. "Well, what?"
"Aren't you going to invite us in?"
"No."
Bella stiffened. "If you weren't my favorite grandson I'd put the eye on you."
Joe's mother stepped forward. "We can't stay long. We're on our way to Marjorie Soleri's baby shower. We just stopped by with a casserole for you. I know you don't cook."
I came to Joe's side and took the casserole from his mother. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Morelli. And nice to see you, too, Grandma Bella. The casserole smells terrific."
"What's going on here?" Bella said. "You two aren't living in sin again, are you?"
"I'm trying," Morelli said. "I'm just not having any luck."
Bella jumped up and smacked Joe on the head. "Shame on you."
"Maybe I should take this into the kitchen," I said, backing away. "And then I should be running along. I wasn't staying long, either. I just dropped in to say hello." Last thing I needed was for Bella to put the eye on me.
Joe grabbed me by my good arm. "You're not going anywhere."
Bella squinted at me, and I flinched. I could feel Joe dig in beside me.
"Stephanie's staying here tonight," he said. "Get used to it."
Bella and Mrs. Morelli sucked in a breath and pressed their lips tight together.
Mrs. Morelli tipped her chin up a half-inch and gave Joe a piercing glare. "Are you going to marry this woman?"
"Yeah, for crying out loud, I'm going to marry her," Joe said. "The sooner, the better."
"Married!" Bella said, clasping her hands together. "My Joseph, getting married." She kissed both of us.
"Wait a minute," I said. "You never asked me to marry you. You're the one who doesn't want to get married."
"I changed my mind," Morelli said. "I want to get married. Hell, I want to get married tonight."
"You just want to have sex," I said.
"Are you kidding? I can't even remember sex. I don't even know if I can still do it."
His pager beeped. "Damn!" Morelli said. He ripped the pager off his belt and threw it across the street.
Grandma Bella looked down at my hand. "Where's the ring?"
We all looked at my hand. No ring.
"You don't need a ring to get married," Morelli said.
Grandma Bella gave her head a sad shake. "He don't know much," she said.
"Hold on here. I'm not going to get railroaded into marriage," I told them.
Grandma Bella stiffened. "You don't want to marry my Joseph?"
Joe's mother made the sign of the cross and rolled her eyes.
"Gosh," Joe said to his mother and Bella, "look at the time. I wouldn't want you to miss the shower."
"I know what you're up to," Bella said. "You want to get rid of us."
"That's true," Joe told them. "Stephanie and I have things to talk about."
Bella's eyes rolled back in her head. "I'm having a vision," she said. "I see grandchildren. Three boys and two girls…"
"Don't let her scare you," Joe whispered. "I've got an entire box of the best protection money can buy upstairs next to the bed."
I chewed on my lower lip. I'd have felt much more comfortable if she'd said she saw a hamster.
"Okay, we're going now," Bella said. "The visions always make me tired. I'll need to take a nap in the car before the shower."
When they drove off, Joe shut and locked the door. He took the casserole from me and set it out of Bob's reach on the dining room table. He carefully slipped my jacket off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Then he unsnapped my jeans, hooked a finger into the waistband, and pulled me to him. "About that proposal, cupcake…"