you know that? No, why would you? I’m being silly. Anyhow, I’m not even sure if both of my parents were legal, but they started a ceramics business once they were settled. They didn’t even enroll me in school. I grew up helping with the business. That’s how I got into this mess in the first place. Luca Fausti blew into town. I mean that too—did you know that he’s a famous racecar driver?”
“No, Brando only said…only said that Luca…”
“Killed the sheriff’s wife?” She stared at our hands with a focused sadness. “He did that too. And after it all, I still love the man. I was just a kid. Fifteen. But I looked much older. Much older. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. Head over heels. No other man could compare. That happens, you know. That kind of intense love creates a standard. Hell, their looks alone create a standard.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t a smile to entice a smile from me. It made me want to cry.
“You’ve seen Luca’s son. Let’s just say, Brando is his father’s son. To the bone. To this day, that man is one of the most stunning things I’ve ever laid eyes on. He could talk a habit off a nun, if he wanted to. I mean no disrespect to the Catholic church.” She crossed herself. “But the truth is the truth. It’s a sin to lie. I got pregnant within a month. Even more surprising, to me anyway, he was married. That’s when Margherita Granchio became Maggie Beautiful.”
She blinked. Really looked at me. It was like she was seeing me for the first time. “That’s why Brando wants you to stay away from me.” She waved a hand. “This place. He has high hopes for you, Doll. I’ve never heard my son refer to anyone or anything as his before. You. You’re his. You belong to him. And I’d say he belongs to you too, if it wouldn’t set him off.
“Anyway.” She tapped my cheek with her finger and then sighed. “That’s what I do now, to make the evil necessity—money, I mean: I do ceramics on the side, and I sell my work through Craig and Marvin’s antique store. I also run my own cleaning business. It’s not much, but I can do those things without much of a fuss.”
“Maggie Beautiful,” I whispered. “If your life had been different, what would you have done?”
Her eyes popped open. “I would have been a showgirl, of course! In Las Vegas. Or I would have gone to Hollywood, to try my hand at being a movie star. Or New York, to star in a hit Broadway show! All of that seems so scintillating.”
I smiled, feeling a rush of positive energy race through me. “Well, after we’re done, all those maps that can direct you to those places will be at your beck and call. You’ll be able to get there with no trouble.”
She put her elbow on the table, in an arm wrestling move, and then stuck her little finger out. “Pinky promise?”
I copied her stance and twisted my pinky around hers. “Pinky promise.”
She kissed our entwined fingers to seal the deal.
Chapter Twenty
Scarlett
A warm smile came to my lips. A smile that I hadn’t felt in this place since…Elliott died. I stood in front of the window to the dance studio, looking out at a world cheered by festive lights. The rim of the glass was painted with sparkling plum trees, a ribbon connecting each one.
My class had long gone home (we had a successful silly class dancing to “Frosty The Snowman”). My teachers had left too, and I had stayed to dance for me. Classical music pleased others; performing to whatever music moved my soul pleased me.
Maggie Beautiful had been playing a good bit of Jimmy Durante during our lessons, and he stuck. She had decided that if I was going to teach her, she was going to teach me by widening my music tastes with all of her music tastes, which ranged from oldies to present.
No matter how hard I tried, I could never get a good hold on her. But I enjoyed her diverse whims. They gave me a chance to discover music that I never would have otherwise.
The glass was chilled from outside, a fog appearing around my palm as I pressed it against the pane. My cheeks were hot with blood, all those champagne bubbles bursting at once, and my body was as