It turned out that a relative of Gael's owned the house they entered. It's where some people from the De Luca side resided and where they usually gathered and prepared food to bring to the place where they'd feed the homeless. The interior of this brownstone was Victorian-styled—with white walls, hardwood floors, and trimmings in dark and light brown, while some of the luxurious furniture pieces were in white.

Angela was struck speechless when nearly everyone—she hoped they were everyone as they were already a lot—crowded the foyer of the beautiful home. Gael greeted the men and women of different ages with a kiss on the cheek, some of them murmuring that it was good to have him here. They still had their curious eyes on her. And then one older woman gestured towards her, asking, "Who is your lady friend?"

Gael, who was still holding Angela's hand, pulled her closer to his side and introduced, "Nonna 1Flavia, this is Angela." Then he turned to Angela and told her, "This is my father's aunt. She owns the house."

Oh, so it seemed that this older woman was not Gael's grandmother, but rather a sister of his grandfather. Angela curled her lips into a smile and reached to shake her hand as she said, "It's so nice to meet you. You have a lovely home—oh!" She gasped when the other pulled her into a tight hug.

"Such a beautiful name. So fitting for a beautiful woman like you." Then Nonna Flavia faced Gael, "Do you take her to church with you? I hope you do."

A charming smile cast on his face. "Nonnina1… I don't have to go to church to introduce her to The One above."

Nonna Flavia muttered something inaudible under her breath as she let go of Angela, then she smiled. "I'm glad he brought you here. Come. Everyone's in the kitchen!" she said as she turned around and headed deeper into the house. Everyone else dispersed after smiling at Angela. Some introduced their names to her—mostly the women—and told her they were either a cousin or an aunt of Gael.

Wordlessly, Gael helped remove her jacket and then his, hanging them in the coat closet. Angela kept the smile on her face as she walked with the group. She still felt overwhelmed with all the attention on her. Her head turned to search for Gael and found him just following her from behind. She didn't say anything, but her eyes spoke of both "help me" and "wow". He chuckled as if he was enjoying her being whisked away by his family, and she couldn't say no.

The full-sized kitchen was packed with people who were working nonstop. A few were in front of a stove, cooking in large pots, while the others were folding out napkins and sorting other stuff in a big basket. Angela and Gael immediately took over with moving the utensils into a smaller container. Since the activity would run for an entire week, there were boxes of paper plates, utensils, and cups. They just needed to take enough to cover for lunchtime.

From time to time, the others would ask Angela a question about where she was from, what she did, or how she and Gael met. Sometimes she managed to answer the questions, and Gael would answer for her when she looked at him in a certain way. She was thankful that he'd somehow understand her little signals because this wasn't fair at all. Gael met and only had to answer her father, but Angela was here being grilled by a room full of De Lucas. Not funny.

"The people are excited. Are we ready?" a man's familiar voice sounded in the hallway, and then Giovanni emerged into the kitchen. He greeted everyone casually and turned to Angela with a full grin, "Why it's so nice to see you join us, Angela." He gave her a brief hug and a light kiss on the cheek.

"Hey…" She smiled at him. The man grew on her.

"I'm glad you're settling in just fine. I will need to borrow this one for a bit." He clamped a hand on Gael's shoulder.

The two men briefly looked at each other as if they were conversing with their eyes without audibly speaking—probably something mafia related. Then Gael leaned into her and whispered, "You okay here for a few minutes? I'll just be upstairs."

NO. She bit the inside of her cheek, wanting to whimper like a puppy and ask him not to leave her alone. But she nodded and smiled anyway. "Okay."

He probably saw the fear in her eyes because he softly chuckled and then addressed the others in the room, "Please be gentle with your questions and don't scare her. She better still be here when I come back." They laughed.

Gael kissed her temple before he disappeared with Giovanni into the hallway. She felt reassured somehow, hoping that she could last until he came back.

Alice, one of Gael's cousins who also happened to be the nicest one in the room, shouted as she moved a big pot of butter chicken onto the table, "Can someone please check on the soup and make sure it actually tastes good?"

No one answered. Angela met Alice's eyes, and her heartbeat raced. Damn it. No one acknowledged her request, and she was looking at her with pleading eyes.

With a guilty expression, Angela sighed. "Oh, I wish I could help with cooking, Alice. But I don't really know how to cook… I don't want to ruin anything. I almost burned down his kitchen when I tried to cook him breakfast once that he thought of banning me in it."

Apparently, everyone was listening as they all laughed at her admittance. Another one of the cousins came inside the kitchen and offered to take care of the soup.

"Cara mia1, the important thing is you tried," Nonna Flavia chimed in next to her. "I'm sure he appreciates what you did. Did he eat what you made?"

Angela's cheeks grew red from the memory that came to her, and she nodded.

Nonna flashed an adorable smile that all grandmothers gave to their grandchildren—full of affection. "Then he must really like you."

Cara mia means my dear.Nonnina is an affectionate way to call grandmother—like, granny, grandma. Nonna means grandmother.