FROM THE HALL windows Sophie and Cap watched as Anna was drawn into the circle of Jack’s family, with his mother at the center and his father as tall and solid as a tree trunk beside her. Jack was very tall, but his father was a half head taller still. Mrs. Mezzanotte was straight and strong too, a woman sure of herself, with a gaze that was not stern, exactly, but missed nothing. Very much like Anna herself. Her two daughters were with her, the quiet and gentle Celestina and Bambina, younger and harder of heart, and two aunts. All of the women stepped forward to draw Anna in while the men of the family looked on.
“At least this way she doesn’t have to meet the whole family at once,” Sophie said. Most of Anna’s new family had stayed behind at Greenwood. Mrs. Mezzanotte had explained the reasoning to Sophie in her excellent English, almost as if she were apologizing for failing to produce every Mezzanotte on the continent.
She had said, “They are all of them unhappy with me, because they wanted to be here to welcome Anna into the family. But my daughters-in-law are a force to be reckoned with, and I put down my foot. I wanted her to myself for this afternoon, at least.”
For Sophie it had been an awkward introduction, because Bambina was standing next to her mother and she had heard more about Bambina than she really cared to know. But the younger Mezzanotte sister had smiled and spoken to Sophie with all good manners. Either she had undergone a change of heart, or she had been threatened with dire consequences. Sophie knew it was most likely the latter, but Mrs. Mezzanotte’s kind smile gave her some reason to think that the situation might turn out well.
? ? ?
IN THE GARDEN Jack’s father took Anna by the shoulders, eyes narrowed as if he were examining a botanical specimen, and then kissed her on each cheek, breaking into a smile so much like Jack’s that Sophie found herself laughing.
“I’ve never seen Anna so nervous,” Sophie said, still at the window. “And all for naught. They love her.”
“Italians are supposed to be shouting at each other all the time,” Cap said. “I thought there would at least be some sparks.”
Anna, who was uncomfortable with strangers and never overly demonstrative even with those she loved best, her cousin Anna was being passed from stranger to stranger like a precious but unbreakable treasure. They turned her one way and another to examine her from all sides, touched her face, ran hands over her hair. And she was smiling, answering questions and asking them, too, sometimes looking to Jack and sometimes not.
“That man is besotted,” Cap said. “And damned lucky, too.” His voice wavered, as Sophie knew her own voice might.
“Let’s go sit together,” she said. “Side by side. Can we do that, just for a little while?”
His hand came to rest lightly on her shoulder, a gentle brushing. Such sadness and resignation in his face. Sophie followed him, listening to the sounds of the party in the garden that would go on, as was right and necessary, without them.
? ? ?
ANNA PLEADED EXHAUSTION and an early start to her Monday, promised long visits and dinners and talks, tours of Roses and Weeds and the New Amsterdam, and finally with Jack’s help she was able to extricate herself from the crowd of Mezzanottes in Cap’s garden. She corrected herself: in Cap and Sophie’s garden.
Rosa and Lia made impassioned pleas to go back with them to Waverly Place but were distracted very easily by Mrs. Mezzanotte. Anna listened to a very serious discussion in Italian, and remembered what Jack had said about the comfort of hearing your own language in a strange land.
In the end they climbed into a taxi alone. They had never managed to talk to Sophie and Cap about the inquest or about the Campbell boys. Like so many things, it would have to wait.
Jack put an arm around her and she leaned into him and hummed. “I like your parents.”
“I hoped you would. It wasn’t the way I planned it happening, but there were some advantages to the spontaneous.”
“Aunt Quinlan,” Anna agreed. “She got hold of them first and paved the way. She does that a lot. She would have made an excellent ambassador.”
“Did you notice Lia?” Jack said. “She wouldn’t let go of my father. Margaret didn’t seem to mind, she was off in a corner talking to Aunt Philomena.”
“Everybody was on their best behavior,” Anna agreed. “But I still feel as if I was run over by an omnibus.”
? ? ?
MR. LEE WAS waiting for them at the house. The minute he took her hands in his, the calm and dignity that Anna had held on to so tightly all afternoon just melted away.
“Miss Anna,” he said. “I wish you and your new husband the very best.”
Her voice suddenly hoarse, Anna said, “Why thank you, Mr. Lee. And I almost got through the whole day without tears.”
“We missed you at the party,” Jack said, shaking the hand Mr. Lee extended to him.
“I wanted to stay behind, be the first one to welcome you both home.” With his free hand he squeezed Jack’s forearm, a fatherly gesture that wasn’t lost on Anna. “I expect you’ve had a long day and would like to retire.”
Before Jack turned away, Mr. Lee held up a letter. “For you. Came just an hour ago.”
Anna raised an eyebrow.
“From Oscar,” Jack said. “It will wait.”
? ? ?