“Okay, let’s bring down a few wisps of hair, a bit more hairspray, and I think we’re done,” the stylist said as she moved around Roz to grab a fine-tooth comb. “You were right—up was better than down.”
Roz simply smiled at the woman, but inside, she was thinking duh. She knew what looks worked best with her. She’d been doing her own hair for concerts all these years. Up was always better. Especially when someone was going to be moving a lot. Like tonight.
A wedding meant dancing.
“Oh, good, you’re almost done. We’re running late this morning.”
Roz found her mother in the bathroom doorway. The stylist Katya had hired to come in and do all the ladies’ hair and makeup was part of the reason they were late. She seemed to want to argue with both Katya and Roz about what they wanted done for their looks instead of just doing what they asked. It was kind of annoying because had she just done her own hair and makeup like she wanted, then they would have been done already and dressed. But no, her mother wanted this day to be no stress. So much for that.
She suspected her mother wouldn’t hire the woman again.
“Just about, yep,” the woman chirped.
Katya gave Roz a smile. “Great—come find me after. I have your dress laid out.”
“Is Naz here yet?”
“Not yet.”
Damn.
Roz’s fingers itched to find her phone, and shoot off a text to Naz just to find out where he was. It was hard to say if he would even answer, though. It was his sister’s wedding, after all. He was one of the groomsmen, so she suspected he had a whole host of things to take care of before she was even going to see him. Pictures, and the whole works.
“So,” the stylist drawled after Katya left,” I hear you’re going to be some big pianist in Australia, huh?”
Roz glanced up at the woman.
Big pianist was a little offensive. She’d nailed an audition against fifteen other pianists that came from all around the world to compete for one single spot in a well-known, world-class company. She’d worked her whole life for a single moment in time that was over before she’d even realized it, and now her whole life was about to change again.
In good ways, sure, but still.
It was a change.
Roz simply settled on saying, “Yeah, I guess so.”
Thankfully, the stylist didn’t bother to make much more chitchat after that. Roz was grateful. She had way too many other things on her mind. About today, and beyond. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was making her so damned nervous at the moment, but it was there and it wouldn’t let up. Australia was just one of those things. One of many things.
Roz just wanted to focus on today. She was going to do that, no matter what. She figured it would be a lot easier to do once Naz was at her side.
But until then … she was just going to have to deal with those butterflies in her stomach. Even if she didn’t know why she was feeling them to begin with.
“Perfect,” her mother murmured, appraising the dress Roz wore once all the many little buttons had been done up on the back. Despite the fact she wasn’t actually in the wedding, her soft peach gown with a delicate chiffon skirt and an off-the-shoulder top matched the color scheme of the wedding. “You and Naz will match then, hmm?”
Roz smoothed her hands down the front of the dress. “I haven’t seen him yet. I haven’t bothered to send him a message either. He’s probably busy. I’ll see him later once we’re at the church, and everything.”
Katya smiled, but said nothing about Naz. Instead, she said, “Today is a big day for you, yes?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Why wouldn’t I, Roz?”
She gave her mother a look in the mirror, but Katya was too busy clasping a necklace around Roz’s throat. A chunky piece that made a statement, and glittered under the lights. All things she loved about jewelry, really.
“You’re saying that you aren’t even a little bit nervous about today?”
Roz pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. Maybe her mother knew her a little too well for her own good. “And if I was?”
“Maybe talking about it will help.”
“It’s not even my wedding.”
“No, but it is an important wedding for people like us. And you know what I mean about that. Men like your father, and Naz’s father. Nazio, too, I imagine. It’s always a big day when a principessa marries. Everyone and anyone shows up for it. This guest list is what, four-hundred people deep, and that was before we get into the plus ones.”
Oh, God.
Roz couldn’t even hide the way her heart raced at that statement.
“Mmhmm,” her mother said as though she could read her daughter’s mind. “Talk to me, Roz.”
“A lot of people, I guess.”
“You are going to play a piece at the reception, too, aren’t you?”
“That doesn’t bother me.”
“No, being with him like this does, yes?”
Yeah. Katya knew her far too well.
“It’s not like the important people don’t already know about me and Naz,” Roz said. “I guess I just never really took in to account what it would mean when the rest of the world knew, too.”
Because that was what today would mean. She was stepping out on the arm of Nazio Donati. Genius. Son of a Cosa Nostra boss. Grandson of two bosses. A mother and grandmother who were as dangerous as they were pretty. His legacy and name ran far deeper than hers ever could.
Roz was not stupid. She was not innocent.
She didn’t talk about the life because it never mattered to her. But she wasn’t stuck with her head in the sand. She knew exactly where Naz came from, and what it meant for their kind of people to step out together like they were going to do today. Expectations came with it. People talked.
Roz hadn’t really thought about any of that until today. It’d never really occurred to her that, in a way, she was going to be in a spotlight she’d never faced before. Even if this wasn’t her fucking wedding. That was a little overwhelming.
“There’s going to be reporters,” her mother murmured, fixing a stray strand of Roz’s hair. “And you will be in socialite magazines tomorrow. They will speculate, and say things. None of it will matter. You will meet face after face that you may never meet again in your lifetime tonight, but simply smile and be gracious as you are. It’s just as much about showing you off as it is making a statement.”
Roz blinked. “Is it?”
“What?”
“Making a statement and showing me off.”
Her mother laughed, and leaned in to kiss her daughter’s cheek as her hands squeezed Roz’s shoulders supportively. “I’m quite sure he’s going to enjoy doing it, too. Why wouldn’t he?”
“Roz!”
Her brother’s shout echoed from somewhere downstairs. “What, Luca?”
“Naz is here. Car’s warm. Stop playing in the mirror. You look fine.”
Roz smiled. Apparently, she wasn’t going to have to wait to see Naz at all. He’d made time. It made her feel better in a way. About a lot of different things.
She was going to need him to keep making time. Beyond today … She needed him.