Destiny Revealed (10 page)

We went through customs, got our luggage and found
the rental car counter for the place Nick had rented from.
“Okay, I know it might be cliché, but I got us a Fiat,” Nick
smiled.

“Cool, as long as it has GPS so I don’t have to use my
phone. I didn’t exactly call and set up an international
plan,” I said.

We had to drive about twenty four miles from Nice,
France where the airport was in order to get to Ventimiglia.
It was a beautiful drive and we passed through the part of
town where Nathalie’s family is from. “We can stop here
for a few hours on the way back if you want,” Nick said as
we flew through town at Nick-driving speed.

“That would be fun,” I smiled. “I’ve actually met her
grandparents once when we were like ten years old or
something. They came to visit for the summer. Her grandmére is amazingly sweet and kept making us Madelines.
Maybe we should call ahead before we come by. I bet she’d
make some for us if she knew I was coming to visit.”

“Do they know about us?” Nick asked as he turned to
me.
“Eyes on the road when you’re driving this fast,” I
shouted as he swerved around yet another car.
“Scusa, Bella.”
“You’re forgiven, but please don’t kill us. We aren’t
even there yet. And to answer your question, yes, they
know about us. Nonna told the entire coven, not just our
family. And before you ask, they have accepted us.”
We drove silently as we listened to the GPS guide us to
my grandparents’ house. It was incredible and I was
instantly jealous that both my parents had grown up here.
We wound our way up the hill towards the older part of
town and I noticed Nick getting a little twitchy. “What’s a
matter? Nervous?” I teased.
“Not at all. I’m just about to meet your giant family
unannounced,” he said sarcastically. The GPS announced
that we had arrived at our destination and Nick hesitated
before pulling into the driveway.
I was so excited to finally be there that I practically
skipped up to the house. I didn’t bother to knock. Mamma
told me they usually left the door unlocked. “Ciao! È
qualcuno in casa?” I shouted. I wasn’t sure if they would be
there even though the door was unlocked, so I yelled out a
couple of times before realizing it was still really early in
the morning. “Maybe they’re still sleeping?” I asked Nick.
“If they were before, they’re not anymore after you
yelled like that?” he laughed.
Finally, I heard the sound of shuffling feet. As Nonna
rounded the corner, her eyes lit up at the sight of me. “Oh,
Piccola! Is that really you? How are you here? Why didn’t
you call?” she rattled off in Italian as she grabbed me in a
giant hug. She was a tiny woman anyway at 5’2”, but I
towered over her at 5’9” and had to bend way down to hug
her back. She kissed me all over and rambled on about how
wonderful it was to see my beautiful face in person.
Nonno rounded the corner yelling out in Italian, “What
is going on? Why are you screaming so loud woman?” She
released me, and as I stood up again, Nonno realized who I
was. “Oh my bella Sofia. I never thought I would see this
day.” I rushed over to him and grabbed him in a big hug.
He was several inches taller than Nonna, but still shorter
than me. They were both in their pajamas and I instantly
felt bad for waking them with my yelling.
Nonna finally noticed Nick standing there and opened
her arms widely to him. “Nico!” He stood there awkwardly
until she waved him forward. “Come give your nonna a
hug already,” she laughed. He went to her and smiled and
told her how wonderful it was to meet them and be here in
their home.
“How is she treating you?” Nonno asked. “Is she
feeding you?” he nodded his head at me.
“Actually, Nonno, Nico is the one who cooks for me.
His father, Aberto owns a restaurant in Arizona and he
helps there,” I answered in Italian.
He raised his eyebrows at that. “Oh good, you are
taking good care of our Sofia then.”
Nonna stood back staring at us. “I see it Giacomo. You
see it too, no?” she faced my grandfather. Nick was next to
me now, holding my hand and looking a little nervous.
“Sì,” Nonno answered. “What did Giuliana call it
again?”
“Connection,” Nonna answered. Nick visibly relaxed
hearing the good news. She ushered us further into the
house to the kitchen where a newspaper and two steaming
cups were sitting on the small table. “Come, sit. You must
be tired after coming so far.”
My grandfather handed Nick a cup he had just filled for
him and he sat down. He handed me one as I snuggled in
by Nonna.
“Tell us everything,” she said.
I wasn’t sure where she wanted me to start so I just told
her that we thought it would be nice to have a honeymoon
before starting work and school. When Nick asked where
we should go, I chose the one place I had always wanted to
go. She insisted I go further back. “What do you want to
know? What do you mean by everything?” I asked her.
“Everything, everything,” she repeated.
“She doesn’t know what you mean, Rosaria,” Nonno
almost shouted.
“Geez, they’re as loud as my mamma,” Nick said in
English. I laughed and Nonna scowled at me.
“The connection,” she said. “I want to know about the
connection.”
“Oh, well, we were hoping you might know something
about it,” I told her. “Is there anything about it in your
book?”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” was all she said.
“Vague much?” I said to Nick in English.
Nonna swatted me on the arm. “Italian here. No
English.”
“Mi dispiace,” I apologized. “How much has Mamma
told you?” I asked her.
“I want you to tell me,” she huffed.
“Man, she’s bossy,” I said in English again. And again,
I got a swat. I proceeded to tell her how Nick and I met at
school.
Nick interrupted with his version of the first time he
saw me. She put her hand on his and squeezed as she
smiled. “I really did feel like something was pulling on
me,” he went on. “I don’t exactly know how to describe it.”
“A cord,” she said matter-of-factly.
“What?” I asked.
“A cord,” she repeated but didn’t elaborate. I couldn’t
decide if she was purposely being evasive or if she was
losing it a little.
“I guess you could describe it that way,” Nick
continued. “I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I was mad at
myself because she and her circle were so mean to me.”
“No,” Nonna interrupted, turning to face me. “What did
you do to my sweet Nico?”
“I told you they would love you. Sounds like she likes
you even more than me,” I said to Nick. She gave me a
stern look, so I went back to Italian again. “It wasn’t me.
The others wanted to take away his ability to shift.” Both
my grandparents inhaled in shock and it made me feel like
crap all over again.
“It wasn’t her fault,” Nick defended me. “They didn’t
like the way I looked at her.”
“And growled,” I interrupted. Nonna raised her
eyebrows and Nick shrugged.
“She convinced them just to take my howl for a week.”
He shuddered at the memory.
“But it felt wrong. I didn’t want to do it,” I added. My
grandparents continued to listen intently as Nick and I went
back and forth telling them about the indescribable pull we
had to each other. We didn’t mention Mexico other than to
say that’s when everyone else found out about us.
Nick told them how I asked him to be bound to me and
Nonno chuckled. “That’s our Sofia.” Nick laughed along
with him. “Always a bossy one.”
“Hey, I am not,” I argued and they both laughed harder.
Nonna patted my arm in understanding.
“And what about the kiss?” she interrupted again.
Nick and I looked at each other, stunned. How did she
know there was a kiss that started it all? “Which kiss
exactly?” I asked tentatively.
“The one that brought you together. What did you
feel?” she said.
“Did your mamma say something to her maybe?” Nick
asked me in English.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know that she even knows
anything about it. It’s not like I ever went into details with
her about how we got together,” I answered.
“Italiano. Italiano,” she repeated for what seemed like
the fiftieth time.
“Yes, yes, sorry,” I apologized.
“Well, what of the kiss?” she asked again.
“Oh, well we were arguing,” Nick started. Nonno
laughed out loud and Nick smiled. “I was mad about the
howl and she was pretending not to know what I was
talking about. And then it was like…” he stopped, trying to
come up with the right words.
“Time stopped,” I finished. “Like time stopped. And
something sparked inside me,” I remembered.
“What, it did?” he turned to me.
“Yeah, I had forgotten about that until just now. But
when I turned around to face you, it was like everything
was in slow motion and then you kissed me and something
caught on fire within me.” We were staring at each other
now. Both remembering the wonder of it all.
We were quiet until my grandmother said, “And?”
“And what? That was it,” I frowned. “What is she going
on about?” I asked Nick in English. “I don’t understand
what she wants from me.” She started rambling on to
Nonno about how disrespectful we were being by
continuing to speak to each other in English, but he told her
that it was okay. We needed our privacy sometimes. She
started to argue again, but I interrupted. “I don’t
understand, Nonna. What exactly are you asking?”
“When did you know for sure?” she specified.
“Oh, well I knew right away,” Nick smiled. “I was a
goner after that. She was all I thought about. But she tried
to ignore me. She kept walking around with that idiota.”
“Chi?” she asked.
“Kajetan,” I answered. Nick’s chest rumbled and my
grandparents both turned to look at him. I elbowed him and
he stopped and apologized. “He doesn’t like to hear his
name,” I told them.
“She kissed him,” Nick growled.
“No. After you?” Nonna asked. He just nodded.
“In my defense, Nick and I were
not
supposed to be
together. I tried to convince myself to be with someone
else. Nathalie told me to kiss him to see if the spark was
there.”
“And it was not,” she said it as a statement, not a
question.
“No, it wasn’t,” I agreed. “Nick saw us and ran. My
heart broke when I heard him howl. And that’s when I
knew.”
She was smiling warmly at me now. “Yes, this is right,”
she said.
“Okay, seriously, what the hell is she talking about?” I
asked as I turned to Nick again. “She has got to know
something so why isn’t she telling us?” This time she didn’t
say anything while we were speaking to each other.
“I don’t know. Ask her,” Nick shrugged.
“What do you know, Nonna?” I asked, turning back to
her. “Is something in your book? Why won’t you just tell
us?”
“I am just guessing, but maybe you should start at the
beginning,” she answered vaguely.
“No, you’re not just guessing. You seem to know way
too much about this,” I argued.
“You take my book and you look for yourself. Maybe
you will find something,” she smiled. I was seriously
getting frustrated with the old lady.
“Now, you get your things from the car and we will
take you to your room,” Nonno said. I still sat there staring
at her, but Nick got up from the table and went back out to
the car.
He came in with our bags just as I was standing up and
we followed my grandfather down the narrow hallway to
the right. We had already passed through the living room on
the way to the kitchen at the back of the house. There were
only three bedrooms, but they were all pretty big.
“Which one did Mamma sleep in?” I asked as we
passed.
“This one here was Alessandro’s room and your room is
where Giuliana and Fabrizia slept,” he answered as he
ushered us into a beautiful blue room with a queen-sized
bed. I was mesmerized by all of it and took in every detail.
They left us to get settled and I walked slowly around the
room looking at all the pictures on the wall.
“Hey, I drew this,” I said, picking up a picture in a
frame on the small desk on the other side of the room.
Nick came up behind me to look at it. “How old were
you?”
“Hmm… maybe fifteen. It’s their house. I used to look
through Mamma’s album at home and I probably
memorized every detail about the outside of this place.” I
smiled to myself.
“So you’ve always been an amazing artist,” Nick
nuzzled my neck.
“Hey, none of that. Let’s get some breakfast. We can
unpack later.”
We made our way back to the kitchen where Nonna was
putting a plate of biscuits on the table. “You must be
starving,” she said as we walked in and sat down.
“Werewolves eat more, no?”
Nick grinned and I nodded. “Yes, they do tend to eat
more than a normal person.”
“Hey, I’m offended by that. I’m perfectly normal,” he
said. I kissed his nose and Nonna clapped her hands
together.
“This is so beautiful,” she said to my grandfather. He
was sitting at the table with us, but very focused on his
morning paper and hot milk. He just nodded at her. I
figured he probably did that a lot. It reminded me of what
Babbo did sometimes when he pretended to be listening to
Mamma.
The rest of the morning, we spent visiting about all
kinds of things. We talked about school, our apartment,
Aberto’s restaurant. She wanted to know every detail about
our lives. It was so nice to talk to them for so long with no
interruptions from Luca or Mamma hogging the computer
screen. She was snuggled next to me on the floral couch in
the living room, holding my hand. Every so often she
would squeeze me, almost as if she was making sure I was
really there.
Around one o’clock, the front door opened and I heard
a loud female voice calling out. “Is your entire family that
loud? I thought my mom was bad,” Nick joked, speaking
English to me.
“Of course we are,” my aunt Fabrizia replied in English
as she walked into the room. Nick turned red and started to
apologize. “Don’t worry about it. You’re right. We are very
loud. I forget sometimes.”
“By the way, my aunt speaks English,” I told him with
a silly grin. “Nick, this is Zia Fabrizia.” He stood and she
came in for a hug and cheek kisses.
“So good to see you both. Giuliana didn’t tell us how
handsome you were, Nico,” she smiled. She turned to
Nonna. “Mamma, everyone is here for lunch. What can I
help with?”
We heard the front door again and it sounded like two
people were in a heated argument. “That is
my
CD,
Carolina.”
“So what, Mamma said I could listen to it. We share in
this family,” another girl replied.
“Oh shut up you guys,” a teenage boy interrupted.
“Sofia is here.”
All three of my cousins ran over to me at once.
“Pietro!” I shouted as I hugged the oldest of Fabrizia’s
children. We were the closest in age out of all the cousins.
He was seventeen and just finished with school. He gave
me cheek kisses before grabbing Nick’s hand and shaking it
firmly.
“Welcome to the family, Nick. Good to meet you. So,
what’s it like to be a werewolf?” he started.
“Pietro, stop. We just got here. Give the poor guy a
second to get used to all of this madness,” Fabrizia
chastised.
Gabriela and Carolina shoved their way through to me
and each gave me a big hug. “I have something for you in
my suitcase,” I said. “Follow me and we’ll go get it.”