Royal Date (20 page)

A giant bonfire lit up the square in the center of town, lighting our way as we climbed out of the car. I could hear bells upon bells, all ringing loudly. There were carolers in the street and vendors out selling their wares. The air smelled of cinnamon, apples, and spice. The snow fell gently around us as we walked together, kicking up flurries. The little Swiss-looking shops with their gingerbread lattices and sloped roofs were decorated with lights and greenery. The people on the street called out to us, and the members of Nico’s family smiled and waved. Security prevented anyone from getting too close.

“Look,” Nico said, pointing up to the mountain. There was a line of hundreds of torches coming down the mountain. “Skiers carrying the flame down to begin the holiday.”

We rounded a corner and there was a massive medieval cathedral. It had tall spires and gorgeous stained glass windows, all softly lit from within. Hymns sung by a choir spilled outside. In front of the church was a live Nativity. With an actual baby and real animals. We stood and listened as a narrator read from the Bible to tell the story of the birth of Christ.

“Just think,” Lemon whispered in my ear. “This is where you’ll marry Nico someday.”

I knew she was teasing, but it made my heart feel heavy to remember that it would never happen.

“Or where you’ll marry Dante,” I retorted, and she rolled her eyes at me.

“That’s about as likely as rain falling upward,” she said.

The Nativity reenactment had finished, and we headed inside. The royal family had their own special set of benches in an alcove. The king and queen were already there and waiting for us. Nico made sure that I sat right next to him, with no space between us, and put his arm on the bench behind me. I relaxed, letting the music, warmth, and incense settle around me. I’d never been in a church before.

Serafina sat on my other side. “Are you excited about Santa Claus coming tonight?” I asked her.

“
Babbo Natale
doesn’t bring very many presents.
La Befana
brings most of them on Epiphany.”

I looked at Nico questioningly. “
La Befana
is a good witch who was visited by the Three Wise Men. They asked her for directions and invited her to come along to find the Christ Child. She declined. She later changed her mind and tried to find the men and the baby, but couldn’t. So she is still searching and in the meantime brings good children candy and toys.”

Witches? Somebody had mixed up their Halloween and Christmas. “When is Epiphany?”

“January sixth,” he replied.

January sixth. I would be gone by then. I would be back in class, working with my kids, doing my thesis.

I would be back home, and this would be over.

The next morning I expected to be woken up early, and I was not disappointed. Serafina ran up and down the hallway yelling about it being Christmas and for everyone to get up.

I had actually gotten a decent night’s sleep. After the church service we had hot chocolate and these enormous doughnuts called
ringli
. Serafina had fallen asleep in the car on the way home, and Nico put her to bed. Which meant he and I didn’t get to say good night. Which I was more than a little despondent about.

But now it was Christmas, and I wondered whether I should get changed or not. The royal family tended to dress up for everything. Christmas morning felt more like a pajama situation to me.

Lemon came out of her room the same time I did. We told each other Merry Christmas. I gave her my poorly wrapped present, not wanting to wait. Lemon didn’t want to wait either and opened it right there. She squealed when she saw it and said, “You know me so well. I love Marilyn!” She hugged me and then ran back into her room and put the picture on her nightstand. She gathered up the presents for Nico’s family and handed me several of them to carry. With our arms full, we followed after Serafina to the family’s private drawing room. Everyone was there waiting. Thankfully, they were not in suits and dresses. They were in pajamas. Nico had managed to put a T-shirt on. I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved.

The fire burned brightly in the fireplace, and someone had put on Italian Christmas carols. I couldn’t tell where the music was coming from. We put our presents under the tree and wished everyone a
Buon Natale
. Nico had a spot next to him on the couch, and he waved me over to sit next to him.

Serafina had a pink Santa hat on that Lemon had given her, and she started passing out the presents. I’d gone to Lemon’s house for the last few Christmases, and having only half the number of people currently present in the room, there were easily five times the presents. I remembered though that for the Monterrans, their major gift giving would happen later.

Christmas morning seemed reserved for gag gifts for the royal family. Chiara had bought Nico a Winnie-the-Pooh tea set, which Serafina begged to borrow. “I will even let you have it,” Nico said with a twinkle in his eye as he passed it over to her.

Dante bought Rafe a grow-your-own-girlfriend kit. “I thought you could use the help.” Rafe hit him on the shoulder, laughing.

The queen gave the king one of those singing fish, and he chuckled when she opened it for him and it started moving around and singing.

Violetta got a toilet brush and looked thoroughly confused. “What is this?” Which made everyone laugh.

Serafina held up our present for her and asked if she could open it. When Lemon and I told her she could, she tore through that thing like the Tasmanian Devil. “Elsa! I
love
Elsa! Thank you, thank you!” She squeezed the doll to her chest with a look of pure rapture on her face.

Nico squeezed my shoulders and gave me a grin. Chiara loved her beauty supplies, promising to paint all of our toenails. Even Violetta seemed happy about the hair stuff we got her. Which was surprising. The twins thanked us for the gift cards, and the queen opened her scarf and held it up. “Simply lovely, and my favorite color. Thank you.”

Serafina handed Nico his present. He picked it up and shook it, holding it to his ear. “Is it a board game?”

“No.” I nudged him with my elbow. “Open it.”

“Legos?”

“It doesn’t make any sound. You know exactly what it is.”

“I have a pretty good idea, yes.” He grinned. Then he opened it and turned it to see
The Great Gatsby
on the spine. “You remembered,” he said, sounding surprised. He showed the book to his family. “Thank you, Lemon,” he said over my shoulder. Then he leaned in and with an appreciative look said, “
Grazie, cuore mio
.” Only minor heart palpitations.

Last, there was the present for the king. Serafina handed it to her mother to open. When she got the paper off and they could see the box, I explained. “That’s a tablet that has eye tracker software, so you can turn it on and off and turn pages by moving your eyes to the left or the right. And it has speakers so you can download audio versions of books and listen to them.”

The whole room fell silent, and I could see unshed tears in the queen’s eyes.

“Thank you, Kat and Lemon,” the king said quietly.

“Yes,” the queen said, her voice cracking. “This was very, very thoughtful of you.”

Nico leaned over and kissed me on the top of my head. “My turn!” he said, breaking the mood.

He passed out boxes to all of the women, all similar in size and shape. He handed me mine last. I opened it up and found a long, velvet box. I was scared for a second to open it all the way. I finally did, and there was a ruby shaped like a heart, with a row of diamonds around it. The chain was light and delicate and expensive looking. “Oh, Nico,” I said. I looked around and all the women were opening necklaces with different shapes and colors on their pendants.

He looked so pleased with himself. “I can’t . . .” I started, but Lemon leaned over Dante and said lowly, “Darlin’, when a beautiful man gives you a beautiful necklace, you bat your eyelashes and say thank you.”

It was too much. But he looked so excited, and I couldn’t disappoint him. “I can’t put it on by myself. Can you help?” I handed him the necklace and turned my back to him, pulling my hair up to one side. He slid the necklace on, his fingers on the back of my neck as he clicked it closed. He left his fingers there for a second, and sparkling tingles ran up and down my spine. I dropped my hair and turned to face him. “Thank you,” I said as I put my hand over the heart.

“You are very welcome,” he said, kissing the back of my free hand.

The gift giving continued for a few more minutes. Lemon and I scored some beauty products (I got some apple-scented lotion that I suspected Nico had a hand in), antique silver frames, and a hand-drawn card from Serafina. The queen stood and told us we all needed to go change to get prepared for the servants’ lunch.

I looked at Nico questioningly as people started gathering up their loot to take it back to their rooms. “Every year at Christmas, our entire extended family comes to the palace and we prepare lunch for the servants and their families. It’s our day to do for them what they do for us every other day. Can you cook?”

“Does heating up ramen noodles count?”

He laughed. “Not quite what I had in mind.”

“I make killer homemade Oreo cookies,” I told him. My fourth grade teacher had shared her secret family recipe with me, and it was probably the one thing I made really, really well.

“Then you will be in charge of the homemade Oreo cookies,” he said as he helped me to my feet. “Meet us down in the main kitchen,” he said, hugging me tightly before reluctantly letting go.

I walked with Lemon and the two younger girls back toward our rooms. My free hand went back to my pendant, touching it again, thinking of what he’d said to me earlier. He’d said it to me yesterday, too. I turned to Chiara and asked, “What does
cuore mio
mean?”

She sighed happily. “It means my heart.”

His heart? What? I was close to Muppet flailing arms again.

“I don’t know what to do with that,” I told Lemon, my tone sounding very panicked.

“I’d tell you what I’d do with it. Enjoy it for everything it’s worth.”

When we arrived in the kitchen, there were like a million people in there. All hugging and kissing and calling to one another. Nico came and found me and took me by the hand. “There’s someone I want you to meet. My grandmother.”

He led me over to a small woman dressed all in black. I’d spent enough time with Lemon’s mom to recognize Chanel when I saw it. “Is she a queen too?”

“No, she is my maternal grandmother. She is Italian and from the House of Savoy, but they were stripped of their lands and titles during World War II.” Nico made the introductions in Italian, and I just nodded and smiled politely.

His grandma looked me up and down and said something to Nico that made Dante and Rafe roar with laughter. Nico had pressed his lips together to keep himself from smiling.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Nico said, shaking his head.

I grabbed Dante by his shirtfront as he went to move past us. “Why were you laughing?”

“My
nona
thinks you have excellent childbearing hips,” he said, still laughing about it. I let go, and he scampered off.

That just put all sorts of impossible thoughts in my head. Little babies with Nico’s black hair and blue eyes, chubby cheeks and soft skin. I felt a physical ache for something that would never be.

Nico led me over to an empty counter. “We’ll sort out more introductions later when everything has calmed down. Tell me what you need to make your cookies, and I will get it for you.”

I listed off the ingredients, and he told me to wait on the stool next to the counter while he gathered everything up. The kitchen was massive, three times the size of the family’s private kitchen. This was where they prepared the food for parties and state dinners. I stopped counting ovens after twelve.

Everywhere I looked there were members of the Fiorelli family. His aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and who knew what else. Nico came back with everything I’d asked for. “I need to find my
Zia
Angelina. She’s making the cooking assignments this year.”