Chapter 1

The city lights caught Ellie’s attention as their cab sped toward their hotel. The city was beautiful especially when compared to what Ellie was used to, the poor suburbs of the Midwest. It amazed her that Nick didn’t even bother looking up as the cab raced down the street. 

“Nick, it’s so beautiful. I can’t believe you grew up here,” she said finally pulling her eyes away from the street. She was met by the sight of him typing away on his smart phone, not even taking the beauty of the city.

Without even looking up he grunted, “it’s okay.”  “I can’t believe that I’m gonna be living here.” The two had agreed that after their marriage they would officially relocate closer to Nick’s family, so that he could be near the family business, of which he would soon have to take over. The city was the perfect place for Ellie to work also, with so many people and many job opportunities. 

“Yeah, we just have to find an apartment.” Once again this was mumbled without looking up.

“Nick, look at me,” Ellie said turning to him. He was usually distracted, but not as much as now. This was abnormal. He turned his head up to her and was met by a soft smile. She placed a hand on the back of his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He gave a quick nod and mumbled a “yes, just busy.”

“Okay,” she nodded letting it go, because after two years with Nick she had learned that was the best method, before turning back to the street, now distracted. When the two argued, it was explosive, and it didn’t always end well.

A question she sometimes pondered came to mind. What exactly did Nick do? She knew he worked for his family and he vaguely explained that they worked in some kind of sales and trade. He never explained more though; he just left it at that. Whenever she tried to ask more, he managed to expertly change the subject. The just left her more suspicious than she had been previously. Ellie knew that she had to find out what he did before she could go on and marry him, it was only right, and now was the perfect time with the prospects of meeting his family so close. She had four months to find out, and she was going to no matter what.

<3 <3 <3

“How do I look,” Ellie asked as she entered the bedroom of their hotel. She had on light pink sundress that hit right above the knee. The dress was had lace detailing on the back side and around the hem, none of which Nick noticed. He gave a simple grunt of approval as he pulled a polo over his head.

“No seriously, I need you to tell me. I need to look absolutely perfect today. I want your family to like me.” She patted at the invisible wrinkles in her dress.

He gave her a good look over. “You look good; today’s a casual day, just a nice relaxed day on the crappy family boat, not even the nice one. You do know your only meeting my older brother and his wife today, right. Not my parents or other siblings.”

Rolling her eyes, she walked toward him and straightened out his collar. “I know. I just need this to be perfect, its nerve racking. Remember when you had to meet my dad, how you felt?”

“That’s different… You’re his daughter, his youngest daughter.”

Ellie pursed her lips and turned away. “Well if I look okay, then I’m ready to go.” She picked up a white bag and threw it over her shoulder. Nick nodded in agreement, put his phone and wallet in his pocket and the two made their way out of the hotel room.

They waited by the elevator, neither touching nor talking to each other. Out of nowhere Nick grabbed Ellie by the back of her neck and pulled her in for a deep kiss. She was caught so off guard she didn’t have time to react before he pulled away from her and moved his mouth near her ear and said, “don’t worry, I know they’ll love you, and if they don’t, fuck ‘em.” He gave her a quick peck, right before the elevator opened on their floor. Nick took her hand and led her inside. In that moment she was reminded why she was so in love with this man.

“Hi, I’m Nina, you must be Ellie,” said one of the most beautiful women that Ellie had ever laid eyes on. She had long straight layered dark brown hair parted down the middle. She had on a very loose long flowy dress, which looked great on her tall, thin body. This was Nick’s sister-in-law. What the women in his family looked like? She felt very plain standing next to her.

Smiling Ellie stuck out her hand, but instead the woman went in for a hug. ”Benvenuti nella famiglia. Welcome to the family,” she said. Ellie watched as Nick greeted his brother. The two joked around in a mix of Italian and English for a while, before going in for a hug.

Flustered by the woman’s kindness, Ellie let out a soft, “thank you.” Once she was released, she turned to the man to the left on Nina. He shared similar features with Nick such as the dark curly hair, both of which kept at a short fashionable length and the same dark blue eyes. “I’m Gio,” he said also pulling her in for a hug, though his was shorter and more impersonal, though still warm.

 
“Ellie,” she said quickly to be courteous, already knowing that he knew who she was. As they pulled away, she got a glimpse of Nina coming out of a hug with Nick also. For a quick second she felt threatened and maybe a little jealous, she had to remind herself that, that woman was married to Nick’s brother and that she was being utterly irrational.

Nick made his way back to her side and once again grabbed her hand, further making her see her irrationality.

“Alright, let’s set sail,” Gio said leading the couples away toward the boat. They all boarded the boat, which was not at all the dinky boat Nick had told Ellie it was. It was quite large, so she thought, one of those speed boats she only saw on the television or in music videos, a large speed boat with a large deck area to match. It wasn’t a yatch by any means, but not at all crappy or small. Gio drove the boat out into a peaceful part of the lake before turning off the engine and just letting the boat float around. He then rejoined the group, who were all seated on cushiony built in seats in the back of the boat.

“Champagne?” Nina asked pulling out a bottle from a cooler beside her. Before anyone could answer she filled up four cups and handed them out.

“You just love that champagne, Nina,” Nick jokingly said.

“You know I do,” she replied. That same feeling from earlier crept onto Ellie’s mind, but she simply quelled it by leaning in toward Nick.

“Leave my wife along,” Gio said getting in on the fun. “Or I might have to pester your lovely fiancé the same way you do to my wife.” He smiled toward Ellie, letting her know he was joking. She laughed in reply. “So Ellie, I feel like I’ve heard so much about you, I’ve never heard my brother talk so much about a girl before. I felt like he was barely ever interested in them, besides from the usual,” he raised his eyebrow to insinuate what Ellie already knew he was insinuating. “Needless to say I never thought he would ever get married. You must really be special to change that.”

From her peripheral vision she could see Nick frowning and his body stiffening. She had already known about his promiscuous past, it had been one of the things that had pushed her away from him in the beginning. He had come off as a douche bag that used girls with no regard for their feelings as if he was entitled to it because he had money. He had hooked up with a distant friend from one of their shared classes; Ellie had heard all of the stories of how he used and abused her and that had only fed the flames that were her hatred for him, her first two years of school. She hoped that she had changed him a from his old days through their time together, not that she was planning on letting him go, so he could go test it out.

Ellie let out a soft laugh and she could see Nick relaxing. “Oh I know all about that, “she said. “I wasn’t expecting it either. I don’t think anyone thought Nico Lombardi would ever voluntarily settle down.” She felt Nick running his hands through her dark hair, something he rarely did in public. He hated public displays of affection. He rarely touched her when out in public where others could see, the most he would usually do was grab her hand, and even that didn’t happen that often.

“So how did Nick propose? Did he go ‘hey maybe we should get married’ one day while watching the TV like this one did?” She pointed towards Gio, but she still had a smile on her face.

Ellie smiled and giggled a little in reply, but then went on to explain in great detail the events of her proposal, a story she’d told already one-hundred times and felt more than happy to tell a million more.

“That’s so nice,” Nina commented once the story was done. Giving Nick a fake hit in his side she said, “I didn’t know you had it in you Nicky, to be romantic like that. I thought maybe none of the boys in your family had the romance gene.”

Once again Ellie felt the irrational pang. No one called Nick, Nicky. No one he had told her except his mom and now Ellie. Even Ellie could only get away with it a few times, only when it wasn’t worth it to him to scold her, such as in times of passion.

Nick grimaced at Nina’s comment.

The four continued on with their conversations. Ellie trying to get to know this part of Nick’s family and Nick’s family trying to get to know Ellie. By the end it was obvious that they got along well, each laughing at the jokes the other presented just as a family should. As the sun began to set, it was obvious that time had really flown by for the group.

“Well it getting late, I guess we should head to shore,” Gio said looking down at his watch, as if he needed to. It was obvious just from the lighting outside- the sun was setting. “You want to help me with docking the boat Nick.”

In his usual manner, Nick grunted out a yes. Gio kissed his wife on the lips quickly and mumbled something quickly in Italian whereas Nick grimaced at his brother’s pda and shot Ellie a smile. The two made their way to the wheel of the boat.

Nina smiled at Ellie before saying, “don’t worry, he’ll change once you’re married. He’ll mature.”

Confused Ellie asked, “What do you mean?”

“The whole no touching thing, he’ll grow out of it. I mean Gio did. It was probably worse for him too because we knew each other since we were children. He’s the exact opposite now. It’s like he thinks he has to show ownership to scare off other guys.” She smiled at the thought before moving on. “So are you excited to join the legacy of Lombardi women-The women behind the Lombardi men, the legacy of the best professional homemakers?”

“Actually I don’t want to stay at home. I plan to work.”

“…but why? Nick has enough to support you, himself and a million children if you wanted that many easily.” She actually looked like she couldn’t understand why Ellie would want such a thing. “I mean just having my two year old Renna and my one year old Junior is almost too much for me. Plus considering you know, I always felt like it wasn’t a good idea for me to work.”

“Considering what,” Ellie asked leaning in trying to pry information from the beautiful woman. 

“Considering the family business, I just thought, you know, it wouldn’t be best to make myself so vulnerable.” Seeing Ellie’s confused face, Nina’s mouth formed an O. “Uh-oh. He hasn’t told you has he.” Ellie shook her head no. “Well this isn’t something I can tell you. You need to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. All I’m going to say is be open minded when you find out, but it is very important you find out before you’re married.”

Ellie nodded taking in what she heard. Her curiosity grew with every moment she thought about it.

“She’s a great girl; she’s tamed you. Your different but in a good way,” Gio said to his brother in Italian. Through years of growing up in a very Italian household, he and his siblings had grown fondness for speaking in their native tongue.

Nick said nothing nor made no motion in reply.

“Have you thought of what mama and papa will say, though? Have you thought of what they will think when they finally see her? She is not what they will expect. She is not what they want for you.”

After some thought Nick replied in Italian, “my marriage isn’t about them. It’s about me, what makes me happy.”

“You know that is not how they will see it. It is about the future of our line; It is about the family.” Gio shot a look to his brother who had a pensive look on his face. Gio left the subject alone as he pulled the boat in close to the dock carefully.

<3 <3 <3

“You let her call you Nicky,” Ellie said as she exited the bathroom toward the bed. She was dressed comfortably in a large t-shirt with her hair thrown up in a messy bun, and her square rimmed glasses over her eyes. She loved that she could be so comfortable around Nick.

“What?” Nick asked looking up from his computer. Once again he was working, this time on his laptop on the bed.

“Nina. You let her call you Nicky.” She said pulling up the blankets and getting in next to him. “You never let anyone call you that; you rarely let me do it.”

“Are you upset?” he asked closing the laptop slowly and setting it aside. “Jealous, even?”

Embarrassed she shook her head no, but it was easy for him to see through her lie.

“She’s my sister- in-law Elle, my brother’s wife.”

Still embarrassed, if not more so, she pulled the comforter closer to her body and mumbled, “I know, I’m not jealous or upset.”

Sighing he said, “I’ve known Nina since before I can remember. Her family and my family are very close. Nicky is a childhood nickname that my family teased me with, that’s why I don’t like when people call me Nicky. For Nina, old habits die hard, and sometimes she still calls me Nicky, and I’ve gotten tired of correcting her. She’s my brother’s wife Elle. What kind of guy do you think I am, lusting after another girl while engaged to you? ”

“I know, I know I’m sorry,” Ellie said in reply, “she’s just so pretty. I can’t believe those are the types of girls you grew up with.”

“I can’t stand those girls Ellie , I’ve already told you,” he said running a hand down the side of her face. “Anyway I already have the prettiest girl in my bed what more could I want?” When he is nice he is really nice. And when he showed affection, he really showed affection.

Pulling her in he planted a deep kiss on her lips. She happily obliged to respond to the kiss. Their tongues intermingled, both giving the other as much as they could. He moved himself so that he was on top of her and pushed her legs apart so his body was nestled right between hers. Nick moved from her lips to her neck and behind her ear and said between kisses, “I’m gonna take you out to see the city tomorrow, if you want.” He didn’t wait for a response just laid a few kissed on her lips before moving back to her neck and ear.

“When are we going to your parents?”

“Monday,” he rasped quickly getting back to work.

“I really hope they like me. Did your brother like me? What are your parents like?”

He lifted his eyes so that they made eye contact. She could see the cloudiness in them and the passion. “Piccolina, the last thing I want to discuss right now are my brother or my parents.” With that he kissed a trail down her body until his head disappeared under the sheets. When he is nice he is really nice.