Scorched(38)

“Might I suggest a muzzle,” Devil offered with a graciousness that pulled a faint smile to Molly’s lips even as she painfully pinched his side in warning.

“Will you please behave?” Molly beseeched her husband as she turned to hiss against his ear. “We’ve got one chance to get this right or Mannie lives in our guestroom indefinitely!” she reminded him in a violent whisper as the other couple walked ahead of them into the other room.

“Fine! I’ll rein it in, but you should know that holding back is definitely not good for my digestion,” Devil complained in a low voice.

“Think about what having Armando as a permanent houseguest will do to it,” Molly volleyed back menacingly, lifting both her eyebrows as she shot her husband an eloquent look.

Molly ignored whatever her husband continued to unhappily mumble and sped into the living room, relieved to find that there hadn’t been any bloodshed. Of course, the afternoon was young, but she was making a choice to remain positive.

“Mother. Father. I’m pleased you made it here safely,” Molly heard Nick address his parents as he turned to face them, blocking Mannie from Sofia’s fuming gaze.

“Estos son tus padres?” Mannie questioned Nick in horror. “You brought them here, su madre y padre? Por que?” he asked frantically.

“If it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition,” Sofia Santino began snidely, “Would you please ask your….friend to use English? He does know English, doesn’t he?” she asked, making no attempt to hide the mockery in her tone. Clearly, she believed Armando to be beneath her.

Witnessing Nick’s now flushed face and his clenched jaw, Molly jumped in. “Of course, he speaks English! Our Armando graduated from Penn with a degree in business administration. He just vacillates between Spanish and English when he’s nervous or stressed,” she defended her friend sharply.

Not bothering to even look at Mannie, Sofia lifted her chin. “Oh, really. I was under the impression that he was a model,” she returned, spitting out the word ‘model’ like it was poison.

“Modeling is how I worked my way through university,” Mannie responded with quiet dignity.

“Mother, I warned you on the phone, you will be civil or leave. It’s your choice. One more rude remark to the man I intend to marry and I will personally see you out,” Nick warned, his shoulders stiffening as his dark eyes bored into his mother.

“Yes, Sofia,” Gino added, glaring at his wife, “And I, for one, want to understand what the hell is going on here. For the sake of our boy, Sofia, just open your mind and ….”

“I think it is obvious what’s happening here,” Sofia countered, looking from her son to the man she held responsible for her family’s current woes. “This…. This person has obviously brainwashed our son.”

“Alright, Mother, let me try to explain this to you in terms that you’ll understand,” Nick began tightly, balling his fists at his side even as Molly witnessed Armando placing a calming, supportive hand at his shoulder. “To be brainwashed, this would mean that I had no control over my choices or actions. I assure you, it was my choice and my honor to love and be loved by this man,” he stated in a voice brimming with pride and dignity as he took Mannie’s hand and tugged him to stand beside him. “The way I choose to live my life and my sexual orientation is NOT a choice! However, I do choose to see it as a gift from God that I received before I even left your womb.”

“A gift!?” Sofia echoed, scandalized and angry as she looked at her son as though he were a stranger to her.

“Absolutely, Mother. Because without being born this way, I’d never have had the privilege of loving and being loved by this wonderfully funny, caring man,” Nick concluded, his shoulders straight and chin high. “I suppose for that I should thank you

“To be brainwashed would mean that I had no control over my choices,” Nick replied firmly but with dignity. “My choice is to be with the man that I love. My nature is not a choice, however, but is what God gifted me with from the beginning of my life.” He paused for a moment, then added with a grim smile, “I guess I should thank you for that. So, thank you, Mother, for giving birth and bringing me into this world to find the love of my life.”

“Ohhhhh, Nicky,” Armando whispered, sounding as choked up with emotion as he looked, “That is the single best thing anybody has ever said about me in my life. You do love me!”

Ignoring Armando’s statement of the entirely obvious, Molly winced as she noted Sofia’s dropped jaw and stiffened posture, obviously heralding that she was preparing to wage a bloody battle. She could only pray that her nearby hutch holding her wedding china was as sturdy as it looked. There was carnage coming… she could smell the fury burning in the air. Damn, she had really loved that china pattern, too, she thought, giving the heavy, oak hutch a long mournful look.