Page 60 of Storm in a D Cup

‘Hello, Erica. Hello, Julian,’ she said, sitting up straighter.

‘Hello, Melania,’ I answered back. ‘Will Diego not be joining us?’

‘My husband? No, he’s at work.’

The odds were that her husband didn’t even know about this whole charade, poor man.

‘I will be making the decisions today. Obviously Warren will marry my daughter and support her,’ Melania began.

‘Warren is twenty years old and a medical student,’ I said pleasantly. ‘He hasn’t got a euro cent to his name.’

At that Melania’s eyeballs popped out of her head and I thought I’d have to catch them in mid-air.

‘You lie!’ she shot back, spreading a hand across the room. ‘You have a big house – a good business!’

‘My husband and I have a big house and a good business, yes,’ I agreed sweetly, unwilling to take her bait. ‘And we work very hard for it. If Warren abandons his studies to support a family, he will have to go out into the world and earn his own fortune.’

But Melania’s mind was way ahead of me. Actually, it had rushed all the way to my deathbed. ‘But you have to leave it to someone when you die!’ Melanie said in a panic, realizing she’d hit a hard spot and that her usual pushiness wasn’t going to get her very far.

‘Eventually, yes. But we’re hoping to live a very long life, Melania.’

Julian was silent, letting me enjoy the talking, and if I’d glanced at him even fleetingly, which I didn’t in order to not seem weak before this gold digger, I knew I’d have seen him struggling to keep a straight face.

‘But you have to give themsomethingnow that she’s pregnant!’ she insisted.

‘Ifshe’s pregnant,’ I countered with that painful grin still plastered onto my face. ‘Andifit’s my son’s—’ (she opened her mouth to say something but I raised my voice like Marcy would have at a saleslady in Macy’s rudely walking away from her) ‘—then andonlythen we will discuss the matter again – and the options open to them.’

‘Mamma!’ Stefania wailed, whether in surprise at the revelation or worry that they weren’t getting anything out of us, I wasn’t quite sure.

‘Zitta!’ she hissed at her daughter to be quiet.

‘Warren – say something!’ Stefania urged, pinching him in the side. He winced.

‘That, my son, is just a teensy-weensy preview of what’s going to happen if you shack up with these two ladies.’

‘How dare you talk to me like that!’ Stefania spat at me, then turned back to Warren. ‘And how dare you let her! What’s the matter with you?’

Julian stood up and said, ‘Warren. You are old enough to know what you want, but too young to ruin your life. Think about it and tell us what you want to do.’

‘I already know what I want to do, Dad,’ he said, and cleared his throat. I stared at him, feeling my face go pale.Oh, God,I thought.Please make him see the light. Please don’t let him become this girl’s slave.

Warren cleared his throat again and took Stefania’s hand. ‘Stefania and I are going to need five minutes alone, if you don’t mind.’

To which I thought bitterly,Yeah – that’s what got you in this mess in the first place.

Melania nodded and scoffed at me as if to say:You lose, I win a big beautiful house with swimming poolandhorses!

*

They weren’t in there for more than five minutes but it seemed like my life had come and gone. Melania checked her watch so many times and every time she glanced my way she had a smirk on her face. I wanted to smack it off and bounce her head around the terracotta tiles.

Was my son going to sign his own death warrant? Renounce university, his entire future because he’d knocked up the girl who would do everything in her power to turn him into her doormat? Years and years of my sacrifices flashed by me, from ferrying him back and forth to soccer practice, baseball, Italian lessons, summer camp – everything I’d done to make sure he would one day be a strong, intelligent man in charge of his future. Which was now going down the toilet thanks to a white-trash girl and her social-climbing mom.

When the door opened Stefania emerged but I couldn’t see her face. As she headed for the door Melania scrambled after her, an expression of sheer terror in her eyes. Jesus, we weren’t that rich. It wasn’t like she was losing out on a millionaire’s lifestyle.

Warren closed the door after them and heaved a huge sigh.

‘What did you say to her?’ I whispered.

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