Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 833 : A Family Surprise

*Two Days Before the Wedding*

*Cat*

I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for the pre-wedding family dinner. I kept walking around the kitchen, making sure everything was just right. The table was set for dinner with Mom, Olivia, Al, Mia, Gio, Elio, and me to spend time just relaxing together before the wedding.

I was so nervous. It was just another thing I wanted to be perfect for the wedding. I kept flitting from place to place around the kitchen, making sure this was done and that was straightened and cleaned.

Mom was in the kitchen with the chefs and me, trying to calm me down.

“Will you sit down somewhere, Cat?” Mom asked.

“I can’t stand still, Mom.”

She stood in front of me and hugged me close.

“It’s just family, honey. Everything will be fine. We’re not a bunch of jerks who worry about every single piece of flatware or cutlery. It already looks beautiful in here.“

She turned me around and showed me the table. Everything shimmered in the light of the chandeliers. The places at the table were set with the best china in the house. The silverware was sterling silver and polished to a gleam. There were fresh flowers in the vase in the table’s center. Candles stood on either side of the centerpiece.

“Stop worrying,” Mom said, and she patted my shoulders.

The doorbell rang. I blinked the tears away and wiped up my eyes to make sure they were dry.

“Hello, Olivia,“ I said, reaching both of my hands out for hers. We clasped hands and air-kissed each other’s cheeks. “Oh, Gio, you look so handsome,” I said, tiptoeing to kiss his cheek. I loved it when he blushed at my compliments. He did so now.

“Where is Elio?” Gio asked.

“He went to pick up Al and Mia from the airport,” I answered. I showed the new arrivals into the parlor.

“I thought they were due in earlier,” Olivia said.

“Really? I hadn’t heard that. I just know that Elio had to pick him up from the airport. They should be back soon. Would you to like a drink?”

“If you have some Chardonnay, I’d love some,” Olivia said, picking up Emilia and plopping into her seat, slipping off her shoes and lifting her feet to the ottoman nearest her to support the baby better. “My little angel. You’re getting so big!”

“Yes, she is,” I said with a smile.

“Scotch on the rocks, please,” Gio said.

I walked to the bar to make their requested drinks and felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I sent my phone to the side to see the messages as they came in.

‘You’re going to like Al’s surprise,’ Elio texted.

‘I can’t wait,’ I answered.

‘We’re on our way now. We should be there in a few minutes!’

I smiled at his enthusiasm. He never used exclamation marks, so I knew he must be excited about something.

“I take it from that smile on your face that Elio is texting you?” Olivia asked.

I looked over at her and chuckled. “Yes, you’re right. He said that they should be here soon.”

“I hope they hurry,” Gio said. “I’m ready to eat.”

“Cat, I hope the cooks made enough for an army with all these starving men,” Olivia quipped.

Mom, Olivia, and I all chuckled. Gio made a scowl that to anyone else would look like he was angry, but I saw his lips twitch. He was trying not to laugh.

As I handed Gio his and Olivia’s drinks so he could keep them away from my ever-curious baby, the door unlatched, and I turned to face it. Al walked in holding hands with Mia. I walked over to welcome them to our home.

“Good evening, Alessandro,” I greeted Al with a kiss to his cheek then turned to his wife.

“Mia! I’m so glad to see you,” I said.

“Cat! I can’t believe you and Elio are getting married,” she said, squeezing me in a hug. She pulled back. “You look incredible!”

I smiled. “And you look gorgeous.”

“And this is Bianca,” Mia said, introducing a beautiful young blonde woman standing beside them. “She’s coming to live in America to go to school at UCLA.”

I gave her a one-armed hug. “You must be our surprise! It’s so nice to meet you!”

“Likewise,” Bianca said with a thick Italian accent.

“Come on in, all of you,” I said.

“Oh, there’s Emilia!” Mia exclaimed as soon as she caught sight of the baby in Olivia’s arms. Olivia passed her over and Mia brought her into her lap as she sat. I quickly popped my head into the kitchen to have the cooks set another place. So much for perfect planning, I thought. But she seemed like a nice girl. Olivia greeted her warmly.

“Bianca is my cousin,” Mia explained. “She’s here to go to school.”

“Wonderful,” I said. “Bianca, you’re going to love LA. I’ll have to show you around.”

“I’d love that,” she said. Her accent was so beautiful, it reminded me of all the people around me in my childhood in Italy.

After some more chatting, I walked everyone to the dining room, where the cooks brought out the first course. Elio got Emilia settled into her high chair with some finger foods while the rest of us sat.

The meal was scrumptious, as I expected from my cooks. They were the best. We ate hardy and heavily, and Emilia was miraculously far less messy than she usually was at dinner, probably due to all the attention from her grandmothers.

As the meal went on, the men drank and laughed at their own jokes while us women waved our hands and teasingly sneered at them. Bianca was really funny and a joy to talk to. She spoke English very well. The conversation never seemed to cease. We enjoyed each other’s company.

Al and Elio got along well, as usual. Gio, being the taciturn type, barely spoke, but the men included him in their conversation. All in all, the entire meal went off well. Everyone complimented the chefs on the food, and the women asked for recipes.

After Mom went back to her house and Olivia and Gio left, Al pulled Elio into Elio’s office for a chat.

I was glad for the chance to chat with Mia and Bianca. Mia played with the baby on her floor mat while Bianca and I chatted.

“It’s so nice to have you here,“ I said to Bianca. “Can I get you an after-dinner drink?”

“I am fine, thank you,” Bianca said.

Mia shook her head. “I’m good here too. I’m so stuffed, I don’t think I could take another sip or bite of anything.”

We all laughed.

Bianca spoke up. “I truly enjoy seeing America. I do not believe I have seen this part of it before.”

“You’ve been to the States before?“ I asked.

“Yes, with my father,” she explained. “I am so ecstatic about going to UCLA. It is so beautiful out here. As much as you see about LA on the tele in Italy, in person, it is amazing.”

“You’re going to love it here,” I said with a smile. “What’s your major?”

“History,” she said.

“Oh, that’s fascinating. Great choice.” I smiled at her and snuck a peek at Mia and Emilia, who seemed to be perfectly happy playing with her blocks. I expected her to get grumpy and tired very soon.

“I am so glad to have met you. I wasn’t sure what American women would be like, but you are wonderful.”

I chuckled. “Well, I was born and raised in Italy, though now I feel one hundred percent American.”

“I wonder if the men will be different here too?” Bianca asked.

“Oh, some of them are,” I said.

She nodded. “I hope they are kind here. When Al and Mia first met, I was not sure of him. He was such a player, from what I heard. But he is so good to her and seems kind and gentle and loving. Then, I meet the men he had around him and I thought to myself, what is going on here? They all seem so serious. What is there to be serious about?”

I sneak a glance at Mia, who gave me the signal that I shouldn’t talk about the mafia. Now it all made sense. She didn’t understand that she was walking right into the middle of a mafia family.

“Oh, they’re just very serious people,” I tried to explain.

“Do not get me wrong,” she continued. “I am not one to enjoy constant silliness, either. They just seemed so... how do you say, over the top.”

I chuckled, hoping we could change the subject soon. I didn’t want to slip up and say anything wrong.

“But it all worked out,” she said with an elegant shrug. “Al makes Mia happy and that is all that matters.”

“And she makes him happy as well,” I said, remembering the smile on Al’s face.

Al’s expression seemed to say the world began and ended in Mia’s eyes, and that was the way Elio looked at me.

Mia spoke up and we turned to her. “I remember when we met. I knew right away that he was different, and that the facade he put forth to the world was just that–an outside layer. I’ve spent the rest of our life together slowly unraveling that, and everything I find about him is wonderful.”

“I’m so happy for you. He looks at you as if he would bring down the moon for you if you asked,” I said, my voice a little dreamy.

“And your Elio looks at you the same,“ she said a smile on her face.

I looked at Bianca. “What are your plans while you’re here? Are you staying in the dorms? I hope you’re planning on staying with us.”

“Oh, that would be such an imposition,” she argued.

I shook my head. “I’ll have none of that. This place is huge. We have half a wing that you could have to yourself. It would be ridiculous for you to stay anywhere else. It’ll be quiet for studying, and if you need loudness sometimes, just come out here into the living room when Emilia is in one of her moods.”

We all laughed.

“That is very generous of you,” she said. “I would love to stay here if your husband does not mind.”

“Of course he won’t,” I insisted. “You’re family.”

Family–it could have so many different meanings. I had meant that any cousin of Mia’s was a family member to us. But it was clear Bianca didn’t know the other family she was getting involved in by being close to Mia’s husband’s relatives, the family of mafia, with all its dangers. I hoped that our enemies, like Junior, didn’t find out about her, or she could be the next one kidnapped... or much worse. I had to hold back a shudder at the thought. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Just like me, Bianca needed to be aware of those dangers so she could protect herself from them.

But I knew that now was not the time to tell her.