Free Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection by Violet Duke Page A

you?”
    Tony reached over and took her hand, then he kissed it gently. “You’re an amazing woman, Elizabeth, and my brother is a world-class idiot.”
    She didn’t say anything to that, she merely sighed.
    “What the hell are you talking about?” he said to Tony, lowering his voice in case Mama snuck in on them.
    But it wasn’t his brother who answered him. It was Elizabeth.
    “He knows w-we’re not really a couple,” she whispered. “He’s sharp. He figured it out last night.”
    Panic gripped his throat. “When last night?”
    “During dinner, would be my guess.” She motioned to Tony with her palm.
    “Before, actually,” Tony said. “When we all talked in the hallway.”
    She nodded. “And Maria-Louisa knows, too, d-doesn’t she?”
    Tony shrugged. “Probably. We didn’t discuss it.”
    “Liar,” Rob said. “You two discuss everything.” Dammit .
    “Okay, fine, but you fooled the kids,” Tony said, his voice taking on a hard, dangerous edge. “And, of course, you sure bamboozled Mama. That’s gotta make you proud, big brother.”
    “Well, hell, you know how she gets when—”
    “That’s neither here nor there,” Tony said. “But, since Elizabeth was willing to play your game to help you, I won’t snitch on you. Not this time. But you’ll owe me.”
    Rob may have missed Tony’s moment of realization last night, but he didn’t miss the threatening note in his brother’s tone tonight, nor could he avoid seeing the sadness lingering in Elizabeth’s eyes as she looked away from him and headed toward the dining room.
    He felt like the idiot his brother claimed he was.
    The trampling of little feet thundered up the stairs and beelined straight for the table. Jeez, did those kids ever slow down? After a chorus of enthusiastic Hi’s and Hello’s to and from Maria-Louisa and the kids, Mama marched into the room.
    “Oh, good . Our Elizabeth is here again!” Mama held her tight, and “Frizzy Lizzy” embraced his mother with a warmth she might have reserved for her own dear mom.
    And now he felt like guilt-ridden fool.
    “Roberto.” Mama kissed him. “How was your day at the shop? You want to follow in your Uncle Pauly’s footsteps now? Work at Tutti-Frutti?” Hopeful, futile questions.
    “I like what I do in Chicago, Mama. And, besides, Siegfried and Uncle Pauly will be back before we know it.” He said this to try to convince himself, but four weeks still seemed like an eternity of two-and-a-half hour shifts.
    “Tell her about the j-jugglers,” Elizabeth said with a crafty look made all the more wily because she routinely passed herself off as such an innocent.
    He narrowed his eyes at her before turning back to his mother.
    “We’ve been having a little fun at the shop and doing some different things,” he explained without really explaining. “Some jugglers entertained us today for a while. No big deal. I doubt they’ll be back and, besides, I’m sure our uncles will go on doing things their same old way when they come home. That’s what works best for them.”
    His mother raised a dark eyebrow.
    “I’m not trying to interfere or change things too much, Mama. There’s no room for another person’s vision anyway. Too many chefs and all that.”
    Mama tweaked his nose. “So sure of yourself, Roberto, aren’t you? Now go wash your hands for dinner.”
    He sighed and did as he was told.
    Strange night, though, and he didn’t know why exactly. A certain vibe shimmied between him and Elizabeth. Maybe because he sat next to her tonight instead of across the table from her. Maybe because they had this shared secret. Or maybe just because the moon grew fuller as the June nights grew longer, making weird ions hang in the air everywhere. Or something.
    Anyway, for whatever reason, all through the meal he felt himself being hyper-attentive to her: The way she talked (so sweetly) to his niece and squirmy nephews. The way she interacted (so politely) with his Mama and Tony