watts. Yammering away in Italian, they finished the Italian fruit tartlets and sugared the Ghanaian doughnuts before Gina treated herself to a long, warm shower. She’d have enough time to clean up before Tony, Nick’s best man, and his wife Lydia arrived. The family driver was sent to collect them from Naples airport.
The stream of warm water just confirmed how tired she really was. The whole night she’d tossed and turned. Bloody Belinda. She would definitely have to find a distraction for the older woman somehow or she’d never get any sleep.
Gina dressed, sprayed on sunscreen and knocked on Belinda’s bedroom door. “Are you up Auntie?”
“Yes, yes,” the older woman waved her away. “I’m just looking for something to wear.”
“All right, I’ll see you downstairs.”
She didn’t think twice about leaving Paul and Sofia’s bedroom door well alone, for fear of what would be burned into her brain. Not enough mental bleach in the world. As she padded down the stairs and into the main hallway, she heard Lydia Mills’ voice. Frowning, Gina opened the heavy oak door and wandered to the driveway. She saw Lydia storming toward her with Tony close behind.
“That’s it!” Lydia yelled at her husband, “You touch my arse once today and I swear you’ll regret it!”
“Lyds, I said sorry!”
What on earth was all that about? Gina thought, tempted to edge back into the villa, bolt and lock the door. Lydia and Tony married seven months ago. The wedding had been huge, showy and spectacularly crazy. Gina still couldn’t work out if both sets of parents had been proud or ashamed or a combination of both at the antics of their children.
“This is exactly why I am never giving up my name!”
“You’ve just added mine and I won’t argue with you. But baby, Caristo-Mills doesn’t sound right.”
“Course it wouldn’t if I box your ears! If I wasn’t a religious woman, there’d be a pick axe in your brain!”
Fascinated by the drama, it was too late for Gina to stage an escape. Instead she found herself cradled against the best rack on the planet. Lydia was five eight of voluptuous Ghanaian-Irishness in her bare feet, in wedge heels and Gina at five foot four standing in flat sandals, was eye level was with boobs. “Gina! You look gorgeous! Don’t get married.”
“Why are you pretending you don’t love being my wife?” Tony’s voice was muffled by his wife’s magnificent breasts.
“Do I want to know what’s going on?” Gina mumbled into Lydia’s chest.
“Sorry,” Lydia allowed a little bit of distance. “Now you tell me if you think this is okay.”
“Lyds…” Tony started leaning over to kiss the top of Gina’s head only to have Lydia swing her out of the way of her huge husband.
“Shush! I warned him never to repeat my doing something nice for him. He put it in writing and signed it in front of Rocky.”
“Okay,” Gina said slowly.
“And he broke it. Which means he is NOT allowed to touch me. By law!”
“Lyds, it’s too good not to share.”
She waved a finger underneath his nose. “I am warning you.”
Gina frowned. “What did you do, T-baby?”
“His mam was trying to talk me through seafood spaghetti.”
“Oh my God,” Gina muttered in horror. She loved Lydia to pieces, but nothing short of a death wish would induce her to try Lydia’s cooking. Tony must only survive due to sheer size.
“G, it’s priceless,” Tony grinned, folding his hefty arms across his broad chest.
“Quiet! I wanted to try it out. So Jonathan and that one are no help whatsoever, and I messed it up. Really bad. Marciana needs to just give up on me, I can’t do it. I’m not a natural cook.”
Gina opened her mouth only for Tony to hold up a hand. “Wait, it gets better.”
Lydia growled at him and he pressed his lips together in mock obedience. “I sort of gave them both food poisoning.”
“Wow.”
“Hence, we’re turning up today and not two days ago to help
The stream of warm water just confirmed how tired she really was. The whole night she’d tossed and turned. Bloody Belinda. She would definitely have to find a distraction for the older woman somehow or she’d never get any sleep.
Gina dressed, sprayed on sunscreen and knocked on Belinda’s bedroom door. “Are you up Auntie?”
“Yes, yes,” the older woman waved her away. “I’m just looking for something to wear.”
“All right, I’ll see you downstairs.”
She didn’t think twice about leaving Paul and Sofia’s bedroom door well alone, for fear of what would be burned into her brain. Not enough mental bleach in the world. As she padded down the stairs and into the main hallway, she heard Lydia Mills’ voice. Frowning, Gina opened the heavy oak door and wandered to the driveway. She saw Lydia storming toward her with Tony close behind.
“That’s it!” Lydia yelled at her husband, “You touch my arse once today and I swear you’ll regret it!”
“Lyds, I said sorry!”
What on earth was all that about? Gina thought, tempted to edge back into the villa, bolt and lock the door. Lydia and Tony married seven months ago. The wedding had been huge, showy and spectacularly crazy. Gina still couldn’t work out if both sets of parents had been proud or ashamed or a combination of both at the antics of their children.
“This is exactly why I am never giving up my name!”
“You’ve just added mine and I won’t argue with you. But baby, Caristo-Mills doesn’t sound right.”
“Course it wouldn’t if I box your ears! If I wasn’t a religious woman, there’d be a pick axe in your brain!”
Fascinated by the drama, it was too late for Gina to stage an escape. Instead she found herself cradled against the best rack on the planet. Lydia was five eight of voluptuous Ghanaian-Irishness in her bare feet, in wedge heels and Gina at five foot four standing in flat sandals, was eye level was with boobs. “Gina! You look gorgeous! Don’t get married.”
“Why are you pretending you don’t love being my wife?” Tony’s voice was muffled by his wife’s magnificent breasts.
“Do I want to know what’s going on?” Gina mumbled into Lydia’s chest.
“Sorry,” Lydia allowed a little bit of distance. “Now you tell me if you think this is okay.”
“Lyds…” Tony started leaning over to kiss the top of Gina’s head only to have Lydia swing her out of the way of her huge husband.
“Shush! I warned him never to repeat my doing something nice for him. He put it in writing and signed it in front of Rocky.”
“Okay,” Gina said slowly.
“And he broke it. Which means he is NOT allowed to touch me. By law!”
“Lyds, it’s too good not to share.”
She waved a finger underneath his nose. “I am warning you.”
Gina frowned. “What did you do, T-baby?”
“His mam was trying to talk me through seafood spaghetti.”
“Oh my God,” Gina muttered in horror. She loved Lydia to pieces, but nothing short of a death wish would induce her to try Lydia’s cooking. Tony must only survive due to sheer size.
“G, it’s priceless,” Tony grinned, folding his hefty arms across his broad chest.
“Quiet! I wanted to try it out. So Jonathan and that one are no help whatsoever, and I messed it up. Really bad. Marciana needs to just give up on me, I can’t do it. I’m not a natural cook.”
Gina opened her mouth only for Tony to hold up a hand. “Wait, it gets better.”
Lydia growled at him and he pressed his lips together in mock obedience. “I sort of gave them both food poisoning.”
“Wow.”
“Hence, we’re turning up today and not two days ago to help
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