My Big Fat Fake Wedding(97)

His switch from heated, spoiled entitlement to bro-casual chatter is disgusting. He’s ruined everything, for Papa, for Violet, for me, and doesn’t care in the least.

My fist flies even before I know it, catching him under the chin and sending him tumbling into the DJ’s equipment. I can hear and see the flashing lights as the news cameras catch it all, but I don’t care.

I’ve got one chance to fix this. Reaching down, I pick up Colin’s dropped microphone. “Everyone, please, this isn’t—”

Colin’s punch catches me blind, and I go stumbling back a few steps before he swings on me again. Suddenly, we’re in a full-on fight, falling to the stage and rolling back and forth as we exchange punches and elbows.

I don’t want to hurt him . . . well, at least that’s not my number-one priority. All I want is to get on the microphone to explain to everyone how what started as one thing has changed into another.

Violet’s scream pierces the haze just as I blast Colin in the nose with a sharp elbow that sends his head smacking backward into the stage. I look over, but she’s forgotten me as she kneels in front of Stefano.

“Papa!” she screams again as he slumps to the side, his hand on his chest and his eyes rolling backward. “Papa!”

Dimly, I hear someone else pick up the cry and another voice screaming for an ambulance.

And for the first time in my life, I have no answers at all.





Chapter 24





Violet





The waiting room feels like an interrogation room. Not that I’ve ever been in one, but I’ve seen enough on television to know this is what the bad guy feels like when he knows he’s been busted.

The triplets are staring at me with utter hatred in their eyes, and a few of my other cousins all look like they’d kick me out of the family if they had the option. I’m sitting in a chair, surrounded by my family, but I’ve never felt more alone.

It’s because of me that Papa’s here in the hospital.

If he dies, the coroner can put whatever he wants on the paperwork, but the truth is he’s going to die of a broken heart . . . and I’m the one who broke it.

Finally, Mom speaks. “Do you feel any shame at all about what you’ve done?”

“Mom, I—”

“Quiet!” Mom thunders, getting out of her chair to tower over me. She’s not that tall, but right now, I feel like I’m five years old again and she’s a giant that I have to crane my neck to look up to. “Just shut your mouth, Violet! You . . . you lied to us! You lied to your family, you lied to me, your own mother! Why? What reason could you have for this . . . this charade? What could be so important to you that you’d bring shame on yourself and on your family—”

“Maria.”

“You’ve disgraced yourself, Violet Antonia Carlotta Russo,” she spits out.

“Maria Valentina!”

Nana’s voice cuts through Mom’s yelling, and she takes a step back, tears coursing down her cheeks. “Never,” Mom whispers, “never have I been so . . . disappointed in you.”

Mom sits down, and I swallow my tears, looking down at my hands in my lap. I’m still wearing my wedding dress, the white silk stained reddish-purple in spots where wine spilled on me as I rushed to Papa’s side.

“Mom, I—” I start, choking back my tears to try and be mature and adult. I can’t change what I’ve done, but I can be the woman that she and Papa raised me to be from here on out.

“I don’t want to hear it, Violet. Not right now.”

“You asked me why, and—”

“You’ve heard of a rhetorical question, haven’t you?” Mom snarls.

“Maria!” Nana snaps, her voice brooking no argument. “I raised you better than that.”

Mom looks like she’s about to snap at Nana, and I whimper at the thought. Nana and Mom fighting? And Aunt Sofia sitting calmly next to her sister, being a supportive rock because she’s been through this already?

It’s too much, and I feel like I’m about to crawl out of my skin.

The waiting room door opens and Ross comes in, his hand wrapped in an elastic bandage and another large bandage covering his eyebrow. After he and Colin finished beating the shit out of each other, he’d gotten a nasty gash that the emergency room doc insisted on treating, probably to keep the crowd down.

“Get out!” Mom yells at him, starting to get back up again, but Aunt Sofia grabs her and holds her back. From her seat, she waves her hands. “Get out. You are not family, not really. Look what you have done, what you have both done. Stupid children!”

Ross starts to speak, but a doctor comes in. “Mrs. Russo?”

I can hear it in her voice, everyone can, but Nana’s a rock. She stands with all the dignity of a queen, her voice barely quavering. “Yes, I’m Angela Russo.”

Ross comes to my side, and this time, at least, Mom doesn’t say anything because all of us are laser-locked on the doctor and what news she might bring.

“Mrs. Russo, we’re doing the best we can, but I want to warn you that there’s a real chance he might not make it through the night. If there’s a priest or other spiritual advisor you’d like to contact, now is the time.”