Promises and Pomegranates by Sav R. Miller

Annoyance flickers in my gut, but I ignore it, setting my fork down.
“Okay, well. The people who recorded us were blackmailing Papá and Kal,
and they wanted me to marry Kal... I guess.”
Blinking, I glance down at the gold tablecloth covering the table,
realizing my own details on the optics are blurry.
Shaking off the eerie feeling, I continue. “Whatever, I don’t know the
exact details, but the point is, someone forced both of us into the marriage.
Maybe Kal didn’t approach everything in the best way, but we’re both
victims.”
“Are you?” Ari asks, shoving Stella’s hand away. “I mean, that’s why you
got married, but... what’s making you stay married?” She reaches for a
strawberry off her plate, plopping it in her mouth. “You certainly don’t look
like a victim.”
My mouth parts immediately, a reflexive response poised on the tip of my
tongue before her words fully process. Snapping my lips shut, I sit back in
my seat, my stomach dropping to my knees.
Stella quickly changes the subject, moving on before I’ve answered
Ariana to talk about the physics course she’s taking at Harvard over the
summer, her fifteen-year-old brain apparently growing bored of the marriage
talk. But Ariana watches me throughout the rest of brunch, silent and steady,
and I wonder if she sees what I’m trying so desperately to hide.
The truth.
SUPPER with my family is a big deal.
I’m not sure if it’s the Italian heritage, or the fact that it was the only meal
Papá could ever manage to make it to, but Mamá would always break out the
good dishes after spending the day using paper plates, and she’d make a
spread fit for an army.
The next time we go to my parents’ house, the night of Ariana’s recital,
supper seems more like an intimate affair than the massive feast it once was.
Kal and I walk to the courtyard through the kitchen, noting the twinkling
lights strung up, dwarfed in comparison to the city skyline just beyond. The
table is set with Mamá’s wedding china, as if her company bears great
importance, and there are only enough table settings for the seven of us.