“Had I known the owners were going to put it up for sale, I would have made a try for it,” Val added. “It’s a huge piece of land. Twenty acres if I remember correctly. I really covet that piece of property. The house is fantastic. You have quite a bit going on there, right, Dario?”
Brielle knew that was the men closing ranks, taking the focus off the lavender farm and putting it on the property.
“Main house has over five thousand square feet,” Dario said. “Gives me plenty of room to roam around in. Couple of custom fieldstone fireplaces. The kitchen is a work of art for any cook. I would have bought it for the kitchen alone.”
“Dario, do you cook?” Sasha asked.
“No, but I’m always holding out hope that there’s a woman out there who cooks better than Emme. If that happens, I’m kidnapping her and tying her to the stove.” He took another bite of the pasta. “Although it has occurred to me to kidnap Taviano. This is damn good sauce, Taviano.”
“Damn good,” Crispino repeated like a parrot.
Francesca’s head turned sharply to look at her husband. He gave a little shake of his head. “Bambina. No reaction, remember? You were the one who cautioned me.”
“I think I was wrong. Isn’t it funny how he mimics all the bad words and not the good ones?”
Stefano laid his hand over hers. “It does feel that way at times, doesn’t it? We’ll all try to do better with our language in front of him.”
Around the table, the others solemnly nodded. Brielle loved that the family were in agreement for her. Giovanni sat back in his chair, pushing his plate toward the center of the table. Sasha did the same. She reached out and Giovanni took her hand. The sudden silence cued Brielle that the Ferraros realized the couple had something to tell them.
“I wanted to thank everyone, especially you, Francesca, for the kindness you showed to me when I lost Sandlin. I was so lost and you were giving birth under difficult circumstances, and you still reached out to me and were so loving and supportive. Thank you. All of you.” She took a breath. “I know that was two months ago. I just couldn’t talk about him until now. I miss my brother every single day. I had far more time with him than I ever expected to have. After the accident that caused his brain injury, the doctors told me he would only have a couple of months to live, but I had longer, and he got so he knew me. Maybe not as his younger sister, but he knew me. All of you helped so much to give him a better life. I can’t thank you enough.”
“You’re family, Sasha,” Stefano said. “Sandlin was our family.”
The way Stefano made the statement with such authority in his quiet voice gave Brielle goose bumps. He made her a believer. Elie sounded like that. Suddenly, she realized he would speak with that same authority to their children and anyone they took into their family. She also realized she believed in him the way everyone sitting around the table believed in Stefano.
“Thank you for always treating us that way,” Sasha said simply.
“Sasha and I have a little announcement,” Giovanni said, threading his fingers through his wife’s. “We waited to make certain she carried through the first trimester. Sasha and I are going to have a baby. We’re pretty excited that Crispino and Luciana Cella are going to have a cousin nearly the same age.”
Smiles broke out around the table. Stefano and Ricco produced two very rare bottles of wine and sparkling grape drink for toasts. Brielle caught Grace looking down at her hands with a sad expression, but she recovered quickly and was beaming with joy for Sasha and Giovanni. Stefano, as head of the family, was the first to formally stand up and give the toast, followed by everyone around the table. Even Brielle was expected to say something. She did so, managing to wish the couple a healthy, happy baby.
Brielle was surprised when the men cleared the table, rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher rather than having the women do all the cleaning. Stefano was the first one up. Elie and Valentino began to serve the dessert to everyone and eventually Vittorio and Taviano helped. Nicoletta jumped up and grabbed extra whipped cream. The others laughed at her. She just laughed with them.
“You put that on everything,” Ricco accused her.
“She does,” Taviano said solemnly.
Everyone groaned. Nicoletta turned a shade of red and ignored them. It didn’t stop her from swirling quite a lot of whipped cream on the apricot soufflé. She took a bite and moaned. “This is so good, Taviano. This is really good.”