La Famiglia (20 page)

“Can I suggest that you remain off your feet? Relax. I’ll be doing home visits for you three times a week until delivery day. I’ve already worked it out with your husband.”

Mira looked to Giovanni who nodded that he and the doctor had met. “Then I’m confident that it will be fine. I will do whatever is necessary, Doctor,” Mira said.

The doctor glanced to Giovanni. “
Signor
Battaglia? Can we speak?” The doctor asked. Mira tried to mask her frustration. She hated when the doctors always pulled him aside to discuss her. But she knew it was a matter of respect for Giovanni. She watched the men go. Alone in the exam room she stepped over to the mirror above the sink. She turned sideways. Her stomach had a nice round swell to it. She would be seven months in a few days. A mother again in a few weeks. She couldn’t wait to hold her sons, love them, and build their family. But she also wanted to talk to Giovanni about future kids. Three children was a blessing, more than either of them hoped for. After having these two she wanted to go on birth control. Zia told her it was against their faith. Mira shook her head with a smile. Faith or not she was not a baby-making machine.

“What is wrong?” Giovanni asked once they were behind the doctor’s office door.

“As I explained to you before, her situation is delicate. The low-lying placenta hasn’t covered her cervical opening. But it hasn’t moved up as we hoped.”

“Go on,” Giovanni said.

“And her pressure was dangerously elevated when she got here. It does give me concern. I want to suggest you cut back on her activities. I, ah, it’s hard for me to say this.”

The doctor looked nervous. His brow was damp and he kept avoiding looking him in the eye. He didn’t like that manner. A man should always look another man in the eye. Giovanni had heard from Dr. Ricci that Buhari was the best in his field. Still something about the doctor struck him odd.

“What is it?” Giovanni demanded. “And look me in the eye when you say it damn it!”

Shock flashed over the doctor’s face. He forced a smile. “Of course. My recommendation is that you cut back on her physical activities. Recreation. We need to get her to the eighth month.”

“You said that already.” Giovanni frowned.

“Also sexual activities need to cease. Uh, as well, I uh, suggest,” he stammered.

“Oh?” Giovanni said. “I understand. Have I caused this?”

“No. No this is the natural course of things with a woman in her condition.” The man flipped open a folder and shuffled through the documents. Again he avoided Giovanni’s eyes. “How is her depression, mood swings, anxiety?” the doctor asked.

“She’s the same. She has her good days and bad days,” Giovanni said.

“And the bleeding?”

“It’s stopped, none for a week. I ask her every day.”

“Good. Good. I won’t recommend bed rest yet. If her next ultrasound shows no improvement then of course that is the decided course of action. Let’s give it another week.”

“Okay. Grazie,
dottore
.” Giovanni stood and extended his hand. The man shook it. He turned and walked out.
No sex?
He chuckled. That would prove to be a challenge

* B
*

St Tropez, France –

Under the instruction of her seamstress Marietta held her arms out at her sides. The seamstress then carefully placed pins where needed. Marietta’s head tilted left and she looked her dress over. She loved everything about it. Not the typical fashion style for a wedding dress.

The garment was overlaid in antique white lace and fit like a sleeve when pinned down to her dimensions. The front was a heart shaped bodice. The waist was so slimming thanks to the corseted fit that laced up the back. And the hemline stopped considerably high on her thigh. But it was the overlay that made the dress. The lace had pearls and tiny white crystals woven in.

“This is a Mirabella original?” Marietta asked.

“
Ouì,
it is. Since Mirabella has risen from the dead her dresses are in high demand. This dress,
mademoiselle,
is from her 1989 collection. She designed it personally before her accident. A vintage piece that we only recently received.”

Marietta didn’t think the snooty black Barbie could design something so damned sexy and edgy to walk down the aisle in. She might have to rethink her opinion of her.

“Do you approve?” the woman asked. She stepped back and Marietta ran her hands down her figure.

“I do. Yes. I like it. I hated the other ones but this was made just for me.”

“
Ouì!
I believe it was. You will be beautiful.” The woman celebrated with a clap.

Marietta grinned. “I feel beautiful.”

Lorenzo sat on the circular sofa with his arms stretched out over the top of the plush furniture. He watched Carlo pace in front of him. The shop girls were quite attractive. Leggy blondes with nice asses. Not one of them turned the head of his friend. He was in no mood for Carlo’s paranoia.

“Would you sit the fuck down? You’re giving me a headache,” Lorenzo sighed.

Carlo stopped. He pointed at him. “Do you know what you’re doing? Marrying her!” Carlo seethed. “Giovanni will lose his fucking mind! This will undo all your progress with him. He will punish us both. He’ll fucking cut our balls, Lo.”

“He can suck my dick,” Lorenzo grabbed his groin and gestured obscenely.

“I’m serious!” Carlo said.

“Fuck Gio!” Lorenzo shouted. He leaned forward and glared up at his friend. “I don’t exist to be his puppet, to suck his prick for the rest of my life. I’m my own man. And she’s my woman. My woman!” Lorenzo pointed at Carlo. “He has no fucking say in this. And I’ll tell him to his face. I’ll fucking marry her, and go back home and tell him to his face. It’s done.”

Carlo shook his head. “You’re doing this to gain leverage over Gio aren’t you? You’re using her. You telling me you’re over Fabiana? She’s the one you want.”

The accusation cut open a wound that had barely healed. Yes he wept in his heart for Fabiana. But Marietta was different. She made him strong. The woman knew his deepest and darkest secrets. “Say that to me again, Carlo, and I will forget we’re brothers. Say it to her and I’ll cut your fucking throat.”

After a deep sigh Carlo wiped a hand down his face. “I’m telling you what you need to hear.”

“Why? If Gio can see Mirabella from across the room and fall in love with her why the fuck can’t I do the same with Marietta?”

“Because that one in there is trouble! She isn’t Mirabella. She’s you in a fucking skirt!” Carlo shouted.

Lorenzo laughed.

Carlo shook his head smiling.

His friend plopped down on the other sofa and dropped his head. Lorenzo couldn’t stop smiling. “She’s a handful. Yes she is. I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s what Gio sees in Mirabella, maybe it isn’t. She understands me. She accepts me. And she has this way of controlling me the way I need.” Lorenzo’s smile faded. He spoke with quiet emphasis on his words. “I want to go home, Carlo. The only way I can bring her through the doors of Villa Mare Blu is as my wife. You and I both know it. This plan will work. Giovanni will have to deal with us. He will have to deal with me.”

“But do you want a wife?”

“No. I want Marietta, and fucking her on a boat is only going to get me so far. I can’t risk her going back to America. Leaving for another mission to find her identity. I can’t risk her learning from someone else that I knew who she was and that I never told her. I want her. And this is how I can keep her.”

“Do you love her?” Carlo asked.

Lorenzo nodded his head. “I love her.”

“I pray you know what you are doing,” Carlo shrugged.

Lorenzo shrugged. “Has that ever stopped me before?”

Careful of the pins attached to the seams Marietta handed the dress over to the sales clerk. When she arrived it was her idea to ask for Mirabella Originals. If she were to be Lorenzo’s wife then it would mean she was a Battaglia. She would have to deal with the Queen Bitch and cranky
Don
.

However, when Marietta saw the beautiful dresses she felt an overwhelming sense of pride. There weren’t many black American women with the power and talent in the fashion world as Mirabella. It made her intrigued by the Queen B’s success.

Her selection would be the perfect dress to show Lorenzo how much she loved him and wanted to be part of his family. Her life had changed overnight because of their love.

“We will see to it, and have the changes altered immediately.”

“I need it delivered to me tonight. I get married in the morning,” Marietta said.

“
Oui
, it will be done.” The salesclerk affirmed.

She walked out and found Lorenzo and Carlo laughing. She was still pissed at Carlo over the argument they had earlier. But when he looked at her she didn’t see the disapproval from earlier. He actually smiled at her. Marietta rolled her eyes at him and went to Lorenzo.

“The dress?” he asked, pulling her down to his lap.

“She’s making a few adjustments. They will deliver it to us tonight. It’s so beautiful. And guess what?”

“What?” He lifted her chin.

“It’s a Mirabella Original,” she said.

The smile dimmed a bit on Lorenzo’s face. He glanced over at Carlo who shook his head while wearing a deep scowl.

“What? What’s wrong with you two? I thought you’d want me to wear a dress by her!” Marietta exclaimed.

“I do.” Lorenzo quickly added. “Surprised you wanted to… I’m just surprised.”

Marietta scanned his face to see if he was lying. All she saw was his love for her. She hugged him around the neck tightly. “We have to celebrate. It’s our last night before we become man and wife,” she said.

Lorenzo kissed the top of her head. “A private celebration. Me and you.” he whispered in her ear. “I want you to dance for me.”

Marietta giggled. “Oh baby, you haven’t seen the dance moves I got planned for you.”

“And then tomorrow you’re mine,” he said.

“I already am!” she exclaimed.

6.

Discomfort in her back sharpened. Painful spasms knifed its way up her spine. Mira breathed through her nose and arched a bit underneath the seatbelt. She was exhausted. The last stop they made was to visit family in Bagheria. At Giovanni’s side she walked through the huge estate and greeted each family member personally. In doing so she found that Esta was right, the Baldamentis/Battaglias were a huge family. And they had the respect of the people who lived in the village. A quarter of the countryside was named for the family. And the house where Giovanni’s family dwelled had been rebuilt and expanded over the years—extending it from every angle. The family members who lived there numbered twenty-three. She met so many, aunts, cousins, and distant relatives that her head spun.

“They loved you, Bella.” Giovanni glanced over to her instead of focusing on the road. Mira exhaled and resolved herself to the discomfort. She glanced over to her husband who looked like he wanted her to respond.

“I remember many of them from the wedding,” Mira said. “Your family is so huge. It’s really something. I don’t understand why we are Battaglia and not Baldamenti?”

“Many of them are Battaglia. Some Baldamenti. All of us are family.”

“But why?”

“My father’s mother is a Baldamenti, she married a man under the Battaglia name. But the Baldamenti family has been here for close to four hundred years. Even with my father taking on Battaglia, his father’s name, he is a Baldamenti. A lot of his siblings feel this way. He and Rocco didn’t. They wanted to strike out on their own. Battaglia is how they formed such a strong alliance with the
Camorra
,” he answered. “Are you okay? You look like you’re in pain?” Giovanni asked.

“It’s my back again,” Mira said.

“Rest. I’ll carry you into Villa Mare Blu if I have to.”

She reached over and touched his thigh. “I’m okay. Do you want to tell me what the doctor said?”

He kept driving.

“Giovanni? I don’t like secrets, and you won’t let me keep any. Remember? So what is it? Am I and the babies okay?”

“Yes, love. You are okay, but your cervix has opened. It’s nothing to worry over. The doctor wants you to take it easy.”

“Bed rest?” she asked. Terrible regrets assailed her. What if her working on her collection had caused this? Had she pushed herself too hard like before? The last thing she wanted was to be confined to a bed for the remainder of her pregnancy. What could she do to prevent pre-term labor? And then there was the blood. She never heard of a woman having the spotting and blood in urine that she has and being able to have a healthy pregnancy. God help her but she buried her head in the sand on this because she was so afraid.

“Bella? Calm down. No bed rest yet. But…” He pulled up to Villa Mare Blu and parked. He gazed at her with a bland half smile and Mira braced for the ne. “No sex,” he said.

“Excuse me? Sex?” Mira laughed. “Sex? Are you kidding?”

“I’m not kidding. He said we have to stop having sex until you deliver my sons,” Giovanni said.

“So what?” Mira shrugged.

“What does that mean? So what?” Giovanni asked. “You saying sex with me doesn’t matter?”

“Giovanni? At some point we were going to have to. I’m carrying twins. Yes, we’ve found other positions but my body… sometimes I’m tired and it hurts.”

“Hurts? I hurt you?” Giovanni frowned.

“You know what I mean,” she sighed. “Your dick is too big, and you get rough.”

Giovanni laughed. He shook his head smiling. “I don’t understand. Are you saying I force my dick on you? I thought—”

“Oh good grief, baby! I want sex, all the time. My hormones are off the charts. My coochie aches though, sometimes.” She shrugged. “That’s all I’m saying.” He didn’t smile so she tried a different approach. “Physically it’s becoming uncomfortable. The babies react by tensing up into knots under my ribs or kicking me hard. It can be too much.”

Giovanni wheezed out a deep sigh and looked straight ahead. “You should have told me. I had no idea I was harming you, Bella.”

“I do tell you, and you say relax!”

Giovanni frowned. “I… ah…”

“Oh stop. It’s not that bad. Besides it’s only a few weeks. Our marriage can survive a few weeks with no vaginal sex,” Mira reasoned.

“We have sex every day,” he grumbled. “Wait, what do you mean vaginal sex?”

Mira laughed. “True. Wow. That is true. Except for my menstrual cycle you and I have a lot of sex. I don’t think Kei and I did it as much—” she stopped herself. She looked over and he glanced over to her. She saw the spark of jealous anger in his eyes. She chuckled and cut her gaze away. “Never mind.”

“Do you think of sex with Kei?” he asked.

“NO! Let it go, Giovanni,” she sighed.

“What do you mean vaginal sex Bella?” Giovanni asked.

She chuckled and reached over to massage his groin. “Do you think I will let my husband lay next to me and not touch it, suck it? Whatever I want?”

He laughed. “I can give you massages. Make you feel how much I love you,” he said trying to change the subject. He removed her hand from his erection and forced images of bunny rabbits into his head.

“I can let you push this into my ass, make you feel like my man,” she teased and reached over to touch his groin again.

He dropped his head shaking it with a smile. “You need to talk to me like this more. I like it,” he said.

“I think I can handle that,” Mira said. “I’ve gotten a potty mouth since I married you.”

Giovanni leaned in and brushed his lips over hers. She closed her eyes and reveled in the tingling of her nipples when the tiny hairs of his mustache brushed her lips. “What have I ever done right in life to deserve a woman like you?
Ti voglio bene
,” he said.

He often said
ti amo
to express his feelings for her, but when Giovanni said
ti voglio bene
it was indeed the deepest meaning of love. Sweet as honey, the sweetest expression of the unbreakable love between them. That is how she cherished the translation. No man had ever made her feel more desired and appreciated.

“I love you too,” she said.

It was close to five in the afternoon. She knew Catalina and Dominic had to have arrived. Mira couldn’t wait to see her. He opened his car door and she opened hers without waiting for assistance. She could hear him curse inside the car. Mira was able to exit. She held onto the top of the car door to steady herself. “See, baby? I can still handle myself quite well.”

“Yes, Bella, you can. I wish you would allow me to do it.”

“I do, sometimes, but I gotta pee. And I want to see Catalina. Now move,” Mira said and pushed his hands away. She hurried. Giovanni closed the car door and caught up with her. He insisted on holding her hand. She allowed it, even though in her mind she walked fast, her legs didn’t quite follow through. It took a full three minutes to reach the door. But as soon as she drew near the door flew open and Catalina let go a piercing scream. 

“Mira!”

Catalina rushed Mira and hugged her. Eve raced out the front doors behind her aunt with Cecilia in pursuit. She too went for Mira. She wrapped her arms around her mother’s legs. Mira laughed out loud.

“Venga qui, Evie,”
Giovanni said, and lifted their daughter up into his arms.

Catalina kissed Mira on the lips and tears bordered her eyes. She spoke with tight repressed emotion. It choked her voice. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“What has it been? Almost a month?” Mira grinned and hugged Catalina tightly.

“Inside, ladies,” Giovanni ordered. They couldn’t break from their embrace. When Giovanni gave Mira a gentle shove Catalina let go of her first and pulled her inside the door by the hand. She placed her free hand to Mira’s belly and rubbed it.

“Oh wow, they are growing huh? How much longer do we have?” Catalina asked.

“Eight weeks. I can’t wait. These boys weigh a ton. Got a big head like their daddy.”

Giovanni winked. He put Eve down and immediately she went to Mira with arms stretched to be picked up.

“Where’s Domi?” he asked.

“Oh he had business, or someone to see.” Catalina walked over to her brother and grabbed his face. She kissed him on the lips and patted his cheek. “You miss me, Gio?”

He shook his head no.

Catalina laughed. “Liar! You see him, Mira?”

“I see him. He complains all the time about you not being here,” Mira said.

Catalina hugged her brother tightly and he hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. “Domi will be here soon,” she said before letting him go.

“I’ll wait in my office. Send him to me when he arrives.”

They watched him go. A crying Eve ran after her father and he stopped to pick her up and carry her with him. Mira headed toward the parlor, which opened to a garden terrace. The day was nice and the breeze had a pleasant cool temperature. “So I want to hear all about it,” Mira said.

“First you have to tell me what you and Rosetta are up to? She showed me what you are working on for
Fabiana’s
. It’s so fresh. I like it a lot,” said Catalina.

“Do you? I was hoping so. Came to me last month in a dream. All I can think of is the color red for
Fabiana’s
. She was such a fireball. I’m thinking the color scheme will span the gentlest shades of pink to blood red. From daywear to evening I want to do the entire collection with her signature flare. Even a shoe line with red bottoms.”

“Mira? What are you saying? Carole Montague is working on her collection for
Fabiana’s
. We agreed she’d design the collection for the first year until you had the boys and then we’d talk to Giovanni to let me use your designs for the next year,” Catalina said.

“Nope. I don’t want to wait. Giovanni knows I’ve been sketching my ideas and teaching Rosetta to be my sewing needle.” Mira laughed. “Once he came in the sewing room and found me on my knees. He raised hell so bad the poor girl was scared to come out of her room for two days.” Mira shook her head. “He’s a handful but I can control my husband. And—” Mira continued.

“Hey. Slow down. I’m only saying that we pace ourselves. There’s no hurry. Right? Besides we can do whatever you want.
Fabiana’s
is your house. You tell us what you want and it’s done.”

Mira looked at Catalina and felt such a surge of love. In a matter of months she had matured, changed, become her Fabiana. She was so proud of her. “What about Teddy? Did you convince him to come to Milano? Is he there?”

“Teddy has no desire to return to Italy.”

“Wait? Return? When did he come?” Mira asked.

Catalina bit her tongue. She only accidentally stumbled on the discussion. It was for the grand opening of
Fabiana’s
. Teddy came a few days before. Giovanni forbade him from seeing Mira and Catalina never spoke of a return visit again.

Milano, March –

“Signorina Catalina, your brother is here.”

Catalina stopped in her tracks. She had to pick up Teddy from the airport in half an hour. They had a plan to surprise Mira on the day of Fabiana’s opening. Giovanni wasn’t expected to bring Mira for three days.

“Here? Where?” Catalina asked her assistant. The place was a noise factory with drills and hammers pounding the last fixtures in the walls before they brought in the clothes and set up the displays.

The young assistant she hired was American. She would be at Catalina’s side for the next few months to help her launch Fabiana’s. They called her a Project Manager. The woman pushed her glasses up her nose. “They are upstairs with Mr. Tate. They arrived only a few minutes before you.”

“They? Tate? Teddy is here?”

“Yes ma’am, I thought you knew. I believe they went up to Mirabella’s office.” The woman said. Catalina hurried away. She walked fast for the elevator doors, and finger punched the button. The doors opened and she couldn’t stop her heart from slamming a rapid beat in her chest. The elevator took forever to climb three floors. She was out the door and hurrying through the halls.

And then she stopped.

In Mira’s office Theodore Tate sat in a chair. There was no furniture, just him and a chair. Above on the wall hung the large portrait of Mira and Fabiana back to back. Before Theodore stood a displeased Giovanni. He wore a dark suit, and a dark cashmere trench coat over it. He glared down at the man with glacier blue eyes.

The scene would have been normal if Catalina hadn’t seen Dominic. He stood over Theodore with a large silver gun pressed to the side of the lawyer’s head. Catalina put her hand to her mouth. She didn’t utter a word. But her brother’s gaze lifted. His stare impaled her from across the room. Without a word Catalina turned and walked back toward the elevators.

Later Dominic informed Catalina that Teddy would be returning to America. He would not be allowed to surprise or meet with Mira. She didn’t question him. She knew Giovanni was a jealous man, but to threaten Teddy with a gun seemed extreme even for her brother. She also knew not to mention it to Mira. There had to be another reason he and Dominic treated Mira’s lifelong friend so horribly.