Part 49

NOTE: Oh WOW!!! I am so excited to see all the positive comments and views. I was beginning to think no one was interested in Echo's story. Honestly, I took a few days off to decide whether or not to continue this. Please keep voting and commenting, it's excellent motivation. I need feedback because there are so many different characters that sometimes it's hard to keep up. Let me know if you see mistakes! Please. 


I've already finished Echo's story, I'm just taking my time releasing the rest while I get ready for the next story. I do have a story planned for each of the sisters- who would you say is your favorite sister so far and why?


Thank you for reading!


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"Mr. Farina should be here by now."


Her father could try to make things less awkward, but from the look of things, he wasn't going to even try. Echo glanced around the room- every one was here. It was odd to have everyone here, sitting around on the sofas of the large family room. George and Karen had only just arrived, Ben, Vera and Maru were sitting with a nervous smile. Lena was sitting stiffly at the edge of her seat, Alice next to her, Romy was casually sitting back against an arm chair, looking as grand as ever and Michael... well, he was standing by the window, gazing out as her complained about nothing. 


"Luke." Echo said, standing with her arms crossed nervously. "Daddy- his name is Luke."


"His name is also Mr. Farina." Michael said. 


"Oh Michael, stop it. You know what she means," Alice said, shaking her head. "Besides, if you were already calling him Luke, it's going to be rude to go back to Mr. Farina."


"The situation is different now, he's engaged to my daughter." Michael said.


"Which means he'll be family." Alice reminded him. 


"Exactly, like another brother." Maru said, trying to be cheerful. 


"So then he can stand a little ribbing." Ben said with a cynical smile. 


"Oh god, please don't." Echo said, thinking of all the ways Ben used to like to torture them as a children. 


"Oh come on, what's a little fun between brothers?" George asked with a grin. His questions was promptly followed by an elbow to the ribs. 


"You said you would behave." Karen said. "You're not going to embarrass her."


"Thank you, Karen." Echo said. 


"Echo, dear, don't let them get to you." Romy said lightly, "Just ignore them."


"That's easy for you to say." Echo said nervously.


"And trust that while the men in this family are a mess, the women will keep them in line." Alice said, completely Romy's thought. 


"I really just need you to understand that this is very important to me." Echo said, watching as people began to whisper among themselves. "Hey! Pay attention!"


Everyone turned to Echo, wide eyed and in shock. Echo hardly ever raised her voice. 


"Thank you." She said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she noticed them all looking her way. 


"You have our attention." Michael said and she nodded. 


"Luke Farina is very important to me. Please, don't do anything to embarrass me. I care about him, very deeply. Ben... George," She said, making them both look up at her. "Daddy..."


Michael sighed, moving to go sit next to Alice. 


"I gave you my word." Michael said, "and I intend to keep it."


"Good." Echo said, glancing at the giant clock on the opposite wall. "Luke is a very punctual man, I'm sure he and his sister will be here any min-"


There was a knock at the door that sent all eyes towards the foyer. Slowly, everyone stood as Michael and Alice signaled for Echo to follow them. 


Echo stood quietly, her arms at her side, opening and releasing her fists as she tried to be calm. It had just occurred to her that all eyes would be on her and Luke throughout the evening. That was certainly more attention than she was used too and she was sure that her father and brothers would have more than a few things to say to him. She braced herself as one of the girls who worked in the kitchen opened the door... this was it. 


---


"This is where she lives?" Adelia asked as she stepped out of Luke's car. 


"Yeah, she's something of a princess." Luke said with a smile as he watched her stare at the house in awe.  She'd been home for less than a day and was still finding it hard to believe that Luke was actually going to get married. 


She'd been very young when Luke got the scar on his face, still a little kid really, but she'd noticed there had been a change in him. While he'd always been kind and sweet to her, always doting on her and visiting often, she hadn't missed the rumors about him and she hadn't missed how quickly his attitude changed around others. She still couldn't imagine him with a girlfriend, much less a fiancee or a wife. 


But here they were, walking up to a house that was even bigger than theirs. He'd mentioned they were well to do but this... this was certainly something.


"Wow." Adelia muttered as they approached the front door. "So how many are there?"


"Five sisters, including Echo, a brother, George who is like a brother, and his wife, and her parents." Luke said, raising his hand to the door. 


"We're outnumbered- 10 against 2." Adelia said. 


"Wrong... 9 to 3." Luke said, smiling. "Echo is on our side."


Luke and Adelia were shown in by a friendly looking girl with a big smile. 


"Luke." Echo said, stepping forward before her father could make the mistake of calling him Mr. Farina.


"Hi." Luke said, taking her hands in his and placing a kiss on her cheek. He gave them a light squeeze before looking to her parents.  "Alice, Michael- It's so good to see you."


Echo turned to her parents with a smile, practically pleading with her eyes at them. 


"It's good to see you too, Luke." Alice said warmly, extending her hand to greet him and staring down Michael so he would follow suit. 


"Luke." Michael said with a weak smile. 


"This..." Luke said, trying to move past the strangeness in the room as he gave Adelia a little push forward. She smiled, nervously, her eyes shifting back and forth between the handsome couple standing in front of her and Echo, who was looking oddly as nervous as herself. "is my sister, Adelia."


"I'm so glad you could come." Echo said with a smile. 


"It's nice to meet you." Adelia said, suddenly noticing how very young she sounded in comparison to everyone else. 


"The pleasure is all ours." Alice said, turning towards the family room. "Come on, everyone is in here."


Alice moved out of the foyer, with Michael reaching to put a hand on Echo's back and guide her ahead of him. Adelia nodded, glancing up at Luke nervously. He nodded, pushing her forward.  As he followed Michael into the room, he could sense the tension coming from him. Echo was right, this was going to be an interesting night. 


---


While almost everyone was laughing or chatting, Echo found herself feeling oddly left out. Somehow, her father had managed to forget that he was annoyed at Luke, and her sisters had managed to make themselves as charming as ever. Even Adelia, who had been following her around like a puppy all night, was laughing and joining in on the conversation, while Echo sat perplexed and feeling like she was the odd one out. 


She glanced to Luke across the table, who was so busy laughing at something Maru said to him that he didn't seem to have a single moment to send a reassuring glance her way. Then, she gave a sideways glance to her left, where Adelia was staring at Romy, who sat on her other side, with a pair of star struck eyes. 


"I know it's soon, I know and we really wish it didn't have to be this way but I'm going to be travelling quite a bit in the next year and I'd like for Echo to come with me." Luke said, snapping her back to reality. She glanced at him, unaware that he had already brought up the wedding date. For the first time all night, his eyes came to her. 


"That is very soon, doesn't give us a lot of time to get anything done." Alice said, biting her lip. 


Surprisingly, Michael had the opposite reaction. 


"Better sooner than later." He said, making Echo stare at him confused. 


"My thoughts exactly." Luke said. Was it possible he had already managed to win everyone over? She really needed to pay closer attention to what was going on. 


"I don't know, Echo- are you really okay with that?" Alice asked. 


"Yes, actually. Luke and I talked about it and I'd like to be able to go on his trips with him." She replied, remembering what they'd talked about. 


"We have a nice house in Palermo," Adelia volunteered cheerfully, "that we go to for a few weeks at the beginning of the summer."


"I'd love to see it." Echo said.


"I'd love for all of you to see it. Of course you're all welcome to come and visit." Luke added. 


"Palermo?" Lena asked, unsure where that was. 


"Sicily." Vera said. 


"OH wow. We only went to Italy once... but it was just Florence and Rome." Maru said excitedly. 


"That sounds lovely." Alice said with a smile. 


"I didn't know you had a house in Italy." Echo said so soft that only Adelia heard.


"He doesn't really talk about those things." Adelia replied to her, looking her over. "You're very pretty."


"Thank you." Echo said, "You are too."


She meant it. For some reason, she hadn't expected Luke's sister to be this pretty. Really, she hadn't thought about what she would look like but she should have known. Adelia was young but it was already obvious that she would be a raving beauty. She had long, dark hair and equally dark eyes that slanted exotically... beautiful long lashed and naturally pink lips. 


"Thank you." Adelia said, leaning in whisper. "But your sister... is incredible."


Echo raised her brows, glancing over at Romy who was looking more regal than ever as she smiled at Ben. 


"I know." Echo said with a grin. 


"It must have been fun growing up with so many sisters." Adelia said with a sigh, "not that Luke wasn't a fun big brother but it did get a little lonely."


"Yeah, it was but it could also get really exhausting. We were always fighting." Echo said, "and those two especially loved to tease us."


Echo pointed to George and Ben who were now talking to Luke. 


"Come on, Farina... outside." Ben said, standing up suddenly. 


"Oh no, Ben...stop." Alice said. Echo watched at George stood as well. 


"No, it's honor. " George said, "What do you say?"


Echo turned to Luke, horrified, terrified, absolutely panicked... what was going on? She opened her mouth, rising slowly but Luke stood, holding his hand out as if he knew she was about to object. 


"No, that's okay, Echo." Luke said.


"What do you mean it's okay?" Echo said, moving around the table to where Luke was. She placed a hand on his arm. "What are you going to do?"


"Come on, Echo. He's a big boy." Ben said with a smirk.


"You two need to quit it." Echo replied, looking around the room and wondering why the rest of the family wasn't properly horrified. 


"Stay out of this, Echo. This is between men." George replied, his eyes still on Luke. 


"Absolutely not, I won't allow it." Echo said, stepping in front of Luke but he quickly grabbed her waist and lifted her off the ground, placing her aside as if she was weightless. 


"No, They're right. I accept." Luke said.

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