The Singing Trees by Boo Walker
Chapter 6
THE MANCUSO INQUISITION
The next day, the first of November, twenty-plus Mancusos filled Nonna’s house. Annalisa stood in the kitchen with Nonna and two of her aunts, making Saturday supper. If Nonna wasn’t making her cook right now, she would be hiding in her bedroom and trying to sleep last night off. Her family could be a little much at times, and with a hangover they were like a tenor singing an opera through a megaphone into her ear.
In a kitchen thick with the scents of Italian spices, Annalisa was chopping lettuce into a giant wooden bowl when Aunt Julia, the gossip of the family, said, “Who is the young man walking up with flowers in his hand?”
A lump caught in Annalisa’s throat; a young man with flowers certainly wasn’t there to see Nonna. Rushing to the window, she craned her neck around Julia’s big hair and saw Thomas coming from his VW. Sure enough, he carried a bouquet of flowers, and an ambush of pleasure hit her before she could hide from it.
She raced out of the kitchen and, without a word, passed her family members drinking wine at the dining-room table. She ignored the others chatting in the living room as she ran to the front door, hoping she could get Thomas out of there before everyone saw him.
As Annalisa pulled open the door, she heard Aunt Julia running behind her, shouting, “Annalisa has a caller! Annalisa has a caller!”
The queasiness from the night before returned as Annalisa’s family, like a swarm of bees, moved to the window. A mix of Italian and English phrases rose up into the air.
“What are you doing here?” Annalisa asked, almost attacking Thomas as she descended the porch steps.
He stopped his approach and raised her scarf in his left hand. “You left this in my car, so I thought I’d come by and check on you. And I brought your grandmother flowers—if you’ll introduce me, that is.”
He looked admittedly handsome in a sharp khaki suit with a blue plaid tie, and he seemed so out of place here in the Mills. His shaggy blond hair was combed back with a part on the left side. A bouquet of daisies was cradled in his right arm. His endearing smile showed that he’d brought his confidence with him too.
“You can’t be here,” Annalisa said, looking back at her family members with their faces pressed to the glass. “My whole family’s inside.”
He followed her gaze. “I can see that; sorry. I wanted to see if you were feeling all right. That was quite a night.” As much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, she was happy to see him. She was less eager for him to meet her family. “Can I come say hi?”
A voice from behind said, “Yes, you can.”
Annalisa turned to see Aunt Julia poking her head out from the cracked door. Her aunt rushed out of the house and nearly flew down the steps. She stuck out her hand to Thomas. “I’m Annalisa’s aunt Julia. Your name?” To go with her big hair, Aunt Julia had big something elses that had been drawing stares since her prom queen days.
He took her hand and introduced himself. “Wonderful to meet you.”
“You’ve come at the perfect time,” she said, completely oblivious to Annalisa standing there. “I know you begli uomini are always hungry. We’re just about to have dinner.”
Oh my God. “No, no,” Annalisa said desperately, “he was just dropping something off.”
Aunt Julia peacocked her chest. “Well, unless he has other plans, I think he should join us. Would you like that, Thomas? We make some of the best food in the Mills.”
“I’d adore it. Thank you.” He looked at Annalisa for permission. “If that’s okay with you?”
She was at a loss for words, trying to think of some excuse but finding herself reluctant to seem rude or hurt his feelings.
And then it was too late.
“Of course it’s okay with her,” Aunt Julia said, literally circling Thomas and pushing his back as if she were a shepherd herding him up the steps and into the house.
“Look at this bell’uomo I found out in the yard,” Aunt Julia announced as she pushed him into the house.
Thomas turned back to Annalisa, who stood cross armed in the yard. He mouthed a quick apology and then flashed a smile before the family consumed him.
With a shake of the head, Annalisa followed them in, her face probably as red as the pope’s velvet mozzetta. This couldn’t be happening.
“Wait a minute,” Thomas said, commanding the circle of Mancusos in the living room. “So you’re Tony, and you’re Tony, and then there’s another Tony?”
“Don’t forget both Rosemarys over there,” her bald uncle Fredo called out, pointing to both Annalisa’s aunt Rosemary and her cousin Rosemary.
“Well, this makes it easy,” Thomas said. “I’ll just call everyone Tony and Rosemary, and the odds will be in my favor.”
Fredo smacked his hands together. “Bada bing!”
Everyone broke into laughter.
The Mancusos did not understand the concept of personal space. They swallowed Thomas, kissing him on the cheek, shaking his hand, showering him with questions tickled with an Italian lilt. How do you know Annalisa? Why hasn’t she told us about you? Where are you from? Where did you two meet? How many brothers and sisters do you have? They wouldn’t let him answer before hitting him with more. What year is your Volkswagen? What does your father do? Are you Catholic?
She wanted to scream.
When he finally worked his way through the family, shaking hands and kissing cheeks, he found Annalisa. “According to Aunt Julia, it’s a kiss on each cheek. I don’t want to be rude.” Without hesitation, he leaned in, vanquishing her hangover as his lips touched her cheeks.
A flush of warmth rushed over her. Pulling away, she noticed her family watching them, and she slapped a hand through the air. “Enough.”
As her family at least pretended to go on about their own business, he said, “You’re never going to forgive me for this, are you?” How dare him for being so easygoing.
“Hey, I’m the last of your worries now,” she said, determined to take the upper hand. “You just committed to a three-hour dinner with my family.”
He looked over his shoulder at them. “What could be so bad about that?”
With a grin of victory, she said, “You just wait.” Fate might have forced them together a few times, and Annalisa might have failed in keeping him away, but surely a night with her family would do the trick. Not that she wasn’t flattered by his pursuit.
He held up the bouquet of flowers. “Shall we go find your grandmother?”
“Suit yourself.” With a grin of warning, she gestured through the dining room to the kitchen. “She’s in there.” Annalisa’s aunts still talked about how terrifying Nonna had been to their suitors growing up. She would eat Thomas alive.
He didn’t seem to be as nervous as he should have been as he walked that way—a soldier heading toward enemy fire. After quietly shooing off the rest of her rubbernecking family members, Annalisa followed him into the kitchen to see the fireworks but found herself delighting in the pleasant scent of his cologne as it trailed behind him.
Nonna stood at the stove, stirring a red sauce made with tomatoes that they’d grown in the backyard and frozen for the cold months.
“Mrs. Mancuso?”
She twisted her head in slow motion. “Yes?”
“I’m Thomas Barnes.”
Nonna lifted the wooden spoon and knocked it against the rim, splattering a few drops of red onto her apron. Holding the spoon like a sword, she said, “Thomas Barnes.” Then she tsk-tsked, looking him up and down. “You’re here to call on my granddaughter?”
“Well, I’m here to visit with her, so yes.” If he was nervous, he hid it well.
“I see,” she said, then mumbled something in Italian to herself.
He stood tall. “I’m honored to meet you. Annalisa has told me wonderful things.”
Nonna cut her eyes to Annalisa. “I’m sure she has.”
Annalisa wanted to say that she’d never encouraged Thomas and that she hadn’t been hiding a relationship, but she didn’t want to embarrass or hurt him.
He held out the flowers and stepped toward Nonna. “These are for you.”
To Annalisa, she said, “He’s a charmer, isn’t he?”
Dangerously so,Annalisa thought, but she gave an I-wouldn’t-know shrug.
Nonna set the spoon on the utensil rest and reached for the flowers. Thomas and Annalisa watched silently as she moved about the kitchen, arranging the gift in a vase and giving the flowers water. Once she’d set them on the windowsill above the sink, she asked, “Are you Catholic?”
Oh, here we go. Let the fun begin.
“I’m Presbyterian.”
“Presbyterian?” she spat. “That’s not a religion.”
Somehow, Mr. Sunshine managed a smile. “It was the way I was brought up. I guess there’s not much I can do to change that. At least for now.”
Annalisa raised a hand. “He’s not my . . . we’re not . . . dating, Nonna.”
Nonna didn’t break her stare, and Annalisa almost felt bad for Thomas. “Do you have a big family?” Nonna asked, completely ignoring Annalisa’s statement.
He laughed at that. “No, not like this.”
Nonna crossed her arms and nodded, as if she’d proved her point. After another long and silent stare, she asked, “Are you staying for dinner?”
Annalisa’s mouth fell open. She was supposed to run him off, and here she was encouraging him to stay.
Thomas didn’t dare look away. “If I’m allowed, I’d be honored.”
Nonna clapped her hands. “Va bene. Mangiamo.”
Yes, let’s eat,Annalisa thought, and get this over with. Because she sensed unfamiliar and dangerous feelings slithering into her heart.