The Imperfection of Swans Read Online Free

When Anthony was born, Ines retired from her fourteen years of acting as a “baby factory,” as Donna, the oldest sibling, called the time period. She’d always said it was a blessing that Anthony hadn’t come out as gay when he was a child, or Gino might have found it necessary to keep trying.
    Dinner was less opulent than was normal. Noelle admitted to calling in sick to work that morning to begin cooking, but she didn’t have Renata’s talent in the kitchen, so she’d opted for stromboli and meatballs instead of a plethora of main dishes.
    The easy conversation lasted throughout dinner and made it all the way through the siblings cracking open nuts for half an hour after. It wasn’t until rum cake and coffee that things took a more serious turn.
    Kevin had felt Beatrice watching him during dinner, but when he kept pushing bits of his dessert across his plate, she finally spoke up. “Kevin, darling, you’re barely eating anything this evening. Are you sick?”
    He cursed himself mentally. He should have forced the food down, like he always did. You didn’t show up to dinner with an Italian family and not eat. It wasn’t worth the explanations and fighting off his aunts and mothers shoving more food onto his plate, regardless of the hours at the gym he’d have to put in as compensation. “Actually my stomach is a bit upset tonight. I’m sorry. Eating just seems to make it worse right now.”
    His mom latched on to the opportunity. “Sounds like a guilty conscience to me. Maybe it would be a good time for you and Noelle to admit to whatever evil you two have come up with.” She took a dainty sip of her coffee and leaned back in her chair in anticipation.
    Noelle came to his rescue, in a manner of speaking. “Kevin is just as much out of the loop as the rest of you, at least as far as this dinner is concerned. But he does have an announcement of sorts that I thought you all might want to hear.”
    All gazes turned toward Kevin, sucking all oxygen from the room. Kevin glanced at his mother, then quickly away.
    Noelle spoke up once more. “Would you like me to tell them, dear?”
    God, yes.
    Actually, no. He didn’t. He wanted to run away. Call Sylvie and tell her he’d lost his mind the day before and he was feeling better now. He stared at the patterns on the china dessert plate. How he’d love to get lost in those blue swirls. “I quit my job.”
    Renata’s ironclad composure slipped for a moment, her raised voice cracking in an atypical shriek. “What?”
    Kevin jerked up to face her, cringing as he did so.
    Her eyes were wide, but her tone was back under control. “You quit your job? You just walked out? After all these years, after all your work?”
    He shook his head. “No. Sylvie asked me to stay for six weeks, help train someone to take my place. I’m not leaving until mid-January.”
    His mother’s shoulders relaxed somewhat. “Oh. Thank goodness. Then it’s not too late to change. Maybe even renegotiate for a larger salary.”
    The thought brought an immediate calm. That would work. Though he was already making more than he could really comprehend, he knew Sylvie would happily increase his pay in order to keep him. “Yes. I guess that could be true.”
    “Kevin!” It was Noelle’s turn to raise her voice. “What in the world are you saying?”
    Renata glared at her wife. From the corner of his eye, Kevin saw Anthony lean back from the table, as if getting out of firing range. “Noelle, I’m not sure what you’ve got up your sleeve, but I think you should leave our son’s future out of it.”
    Noelle looked over at Kevin expectantly. When it became clear he had no plans or ability to speak, she let out a huff and rose to a standing position, the chair legs scraping across the wooden floor. “There is a perfect location coming on the market in the South End. Right across the street from the Boston Center for the Arts. It’s in this charming little brownstone.”
    Francesca spoke