That One Time by Aja Foxx

Chapter Four

~ Frank ~

 

I turned when the door opened and then smiled and stood up when I realized it was my mother. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a big hug. I hadn't realized until that moment how much I missed her. Weekly visits were just not enough.

"Ciao, Mama, mi sei mancata."

"Francesco, you're home." She cupped my cheeks between her hands and stared up into my eyes as if looking for something. I don't know if she found it or not, but she smiled at me. "Are you home to stay?"

"I'm working on that." I reached down and took her hand and then led her over to Henry. "Mama, this is Henry Warner, my fiancé. Henry, this is my mother, Delinda Galeazzi."

Henry stood up and held out his hand. "How do you do, ma'am?"

I didn't think Henry would believe me in that moment, but the scary one was actually my grandmother. She might be in her mid seventies, but she was still a force to be reckoned with. She had been born at the tail end of World War II and had to grow up in an Italy that had been first ransacked by the Nazis and then practically leveled by the Allied Forces.

Somewhere along the way, she'd met my grandfather, gotten married, and started a family. She lost her husband and two sons to what Italians call the Years of Lead, the time from late 1960s until the late 1980s. It was a period of great economic crisis, widespread social conflicts and terrorist massacres carried out by opposing extremist groups. It was also why my family had immigrated to the United States.

It had given Eva Galeazzi a strong sense of right and wrong and an unbreakable love for her family, which was one of the reasons we all lived in the same house together. None of us had the desire to break her heart. It was also the reason I hoped Henry would agree to live here.

My mother made a tsking noise as she circled Henry. "You need to eat more. You look like you are starving to death. There is no meat on your bones. Who is taking care of you?"

"Um." Henry glanced at me with a deer in the headlights look. "I take care of myself."

"Where is your mama, Henry? Why is she not caring for you?"

I cringed. "Mama, maybe—" I snapped my lips together when she raised her hand. I might want to save Henry, but I liked my head attached to my shoulders.

I heard Henry swallow hard.

"My mother didn't want me anymore after she learned that I was gay, none of my family did."

My mother gasped, but I expected nothing less from her. I smiled when she started swearing in Italian, grabbed Henry's head, and pulled it to her chest as she hugged him. I let it go on for a moment before reaching for Henry and dragging him into my arms.

I didn't expect him to slap my arm and push away from me, going right back to hugging my mother. He glared at me over my mother's shoulder. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had a mom hug?"

"I will give you a mom hug whenever you want one, bambino."

Pretty sure I just lost my fiancé to my mother.

"Can we move this to the family dining room, Mama?" I asked. "Henry hasn't had breakfast yet and I asked Bertram to arrange something for him."

"Oh yes, of course." Mama flashed Henry a bright smile as she patted his hand. "You just come with me, young man. I'll get you fattened up in no time."

I chuckled and shook my head as my mother led Henry out of the office. I turned when my father patted me on the shoulder. "You might get him back in time for the wedding, but I make no promises."

"Yes, I'd had the same thought."

"What happened to Henry's family? I assume you had them investigated."

I nodded because I had. "They kicked Henry out when he was sixteen years old, the moment he told them he was gay. He's never spoken to them again. Everything he has, everything he's accomplished since then, is all due to his hard work."

"I can understand why he doesn't want you paying for his education then. He sounds quite independent."

"He is, and I love that about him, but I also foresee issues with it. Since this morning when he learned who I really was, if I even mention money, he gets upset."

"Hmm, while that bodes well in some incidences, it does not in others. He will have to grow used to having money, son. You know this."

"I know. I'm hoping to ease him into it."

"Good luck with that. If I know your mother, she's going to start planning the wedding immediately, and it won't be a little affair. Her oldest boy is getting married. She's going to want to celebrate that in a big way."

That's what I was afraid of.

"As long as Henry gets the wedding he wants, I don't care what she does."

My father patted my shoulder again. "That's the spirit."

I followed my father out of his office and down the hallway to the family dining room. It was smaller and more intimate than the large formal dining room. This is where we ate when we were together as a family.

I walked over and pressed a kiss to my mother's temple and then Henry's before taking a seat beside him. I eyed the plate before him. Bertram and Mrs. Rovito, our cook and housekeeper had come through for me. Henry was enjoying Eggs Benedict, which was one of my favorite breakfast foods. I also noticed a bowl of fresh fruit and a glass of orange juice sitting in front of him.

I poured myself some coffee and then grabbed a piece of toast to munch on as I listened to my mother and Henry talk. The conversation was mostly about food, but also things that Henry liked, his favorite colors, his favorite flower...basically wedding stuff.

"Mama, give the man some time to eat before you hit him with wedding plans."

Henry's fork dropped to his plate. He looked up at me with wide eyes. "We were talking about the wedding?"

I smiled.

"Can't we just be engaged for awhile?"

Wait.

I frowned. "How long is awhile?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't know. A couple of months or so?"

"Oh, baby, we're going to be engaged for at least a year. It'll take Mama that long to plan the wedding."

I was not happy when Henry's shoulders slumped as if a great weight had been lifted from them. "We can get married earlier or later, whichever. We simply need to decide on a date."

"Two thousand and twenty five sounds good."

I chuckled nervously. Surely he didn't mean that?

"How about July of next year?" I countered. "That's over a year from now. That should be plenty of time for you and Mama to plan the wedding."

The tension went right back into Henry's shoulders. "I'm supposed to plan the wedding? I don't know anything about planning weddings. And what about my work and school?"

"That's why we have Mama. She'll take care of all the details. You just have to tell her what you want."

"I don't suppose we could elope?"

"No."

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

Henry hadn't picked up his fork again so I reached over and grabbed his hand and brought it to my lips. After placing a kiss on it, I held it to my chest. "This isn't something scary, Henry."

Henry snorted. "Says you."

God, I adored him.

"It's really not. It's simply not something you're used to. By the time the wedding gets here, you'll be fine."

Henry's eyes narrowed. "You'd better not be lying to me again."

I held up my hand, my fingers straight up and my thumb folded in against my palm. "I promise."

"When did you lie to this lovely bambino, Francesco?"

"Uh..."

Henry chuckled as he picked up his fork and began telling my mother all about it. From the glares I was getting, I'm pretty sure I had some serious kissing up to do.

"Papa, can I have Grandfather's ring?" I asked. "I'd like to give it to Henry instead of the ring I gave him." As the oldest child, it had been promised to me in my grandfather's will.

Henry's head snapped around. "You're not taking my ring."

"Henry, that's just a gold band. My grandfather's ring is much—"

Henry held up the hand his engagement ring was on. "This is the ring you put on my finger when you proposed to me. This is the ring I'm going to wear."

"Oh, I like this boy," my mother said.

I really wanted Henry to wear my grandfather's ring. "Would you consider wearing both? This is my grandfather's ring. It was given to me to give to the man I married."

Henry grimaced. "Fine, I'll wear it." Henry held up his hand again. "But this is my engagement ring and it will be my wedding ring when we get married."

I didn't like it, but I'd take it.

"Father, could you get the ring?"

Bellino nodded before standing up. "I've had it in the safe since you left nine months ago. I was hoping I wouldn't need to return it to the vault."

Henry leaned over to me and whispered. "Vault?"

"Bank vault, baby. We don't keep stuff like that just lying around the house. Too many chances of getting robbed. We keep all the important stuff in the bank vault."

"Ah," Henry said, but I could tell he had no idea what I was talking about.

He would.

When my father came back, I smiled as I took the black velvet bag he held out to me. I opened the end of it and dumped the ring out onto the palm of my hand. I felt almost giddy when I held it up for Henry to see.

"This was my grandfather's ring. Grandmother worked for an entire year to pay for the gold and the engraving. At the time, she couldn't afford real diamonds so she had zirconium chips put in it. Over the years, one at a time when each of her children was born, she'd buy another diamond and have it put in the ring."

"It's beautiful," Henry whispered.

"My mother always said that she and Papa were the leaves that held the ring together," my father said, "but the diamonds, one for each of their children, were what made it truly shine."

Henry gulped and his eyes rounded. "Those are real diamonds?"

"Five diamonds, a total of twelve carats, all set in fourteen carat gold. Here, let's try it on." I reached for Henry's hand again and then slowly slid the ring down his finger. It was a little big. It kind of spun around Henry's finger. "We might need to get it sized."

"What if I lose it?"

"You won't." I was sure of it. Henry would hold onto both those rings until the day he died. The gold band, because that was the ring I had given him when I proposed, and my grandfather's ring because of how special it was to me.

"Yeah, but—"

"I have faith in you, baby."

"Good morning, family."

I briefly closed my eyes and drew in a breath before opening them and turning to look toward the doorway. I was not a huge fan of my brother-in-law. He seemed to make my brother Martino happy, which was the only reason I tolerated the man.

"Good morning, Stewart."

"Francesco, you've returned. Just dropping in for a visit or...?"

"I came home to introduce Mama and Papa to my intended."

Stewart's eyes snapped to Henry. "You're engaged?"

"I am." I smiled as I lifted Henry's hand and pressed a kiss to the inside of his palm. "This is Henry. We've set the wedding date for July of next year so he and Mama have plenty of time to plan our wedding. I'm sure it will be spectacular."

I knew it was wrong of me to needle Stewart, but I'd always felt as if he had trapped my brother into marriage. Stewart was an omega who had become pregnant while dating Martino. Their wedding had been a hurried affair and not the big elaborate wedding I knew Mama was going to plan for me and Henry.

Unfortunately, Stewart had miscarried, although I had my suspicions that he'd never been pregnant in the first place. It seemed a little too easy to me that he had miscarried just as soon as the ink was dry on his marriage contract.

His marriage to my brother was one of the reasons the family had started requiring a pre-nuptial agreement, not to mention the non-disclosure agreement. None of us were willing to let some little gold digger come in and take what my parents had worked so hard for.

Still, I did need to keep the peace, for my brother's sake if nothing else.

I smiled and waved him over. "Would you like to join us?"

Stewart walked over and took a chair across from me and Henry. He poured himself a cup of coffee and then sat back in his chair. The smile on his lips didn't quite reach his eyes as he focused on Henry.

"Engaged, huh? This seems rather sudden. I didn't even know you were seeing anyone, Francesco."

"Henry and I have been dating for six months." I grinned at Henry as I grabbed his hand and brought it to my lips. "He finally agreed to marry me last night."

Henry's quiet chuckle was almost drowned out by Stewart's gasp.

"Is that your grandfather's ring?" Stewart asked.

I frowned as I glanced at the man. "It is."

"Martino promised it to me."

My eyebrows shot up in shock, but only for a second before pulling down low over my eyes. "Martino had no right to do that. The ring doesn't belong to him. It was left to me by my grandfather to give to my intended."

Stewart's eyes darted to my mother and father before moving back to me. He plastered a smile on his face that was so fake, it was practically plastic. "I just meant that Martino said I could have it if you didn't get married since you kept turning down the women Mama and Papa wanted you to marry."

"Even if I never got married, you would not be getting that ring, Stewart. It belongs to me." It grated on my nerves that he ever thought he had a chance at getting it. I don't even know how he knew about it. I'd certainly never told him, and I doubted Martino had either.

If he had, we'd be having a conversation about that.

I smiled, but it was just as fake as Stewart's smile. "I'm sure Martino can buy you some other pretty bauble."

I grunted when Henry's elbow jabbed into my side.