La Famiglia (54 page)

“He said Mira has the same issue her mother had.”

“Issue? What issue?” Lorenzo asked.

“Her mother almost died delivering twins—our wives. He said he came to warn me. Bullshit. He came to beat his chest. To show me he had more control over my wife’s fate than me.”

“To be her father?” Lorenzo asked.

Giovanni glanced up. “How did Marietta find out the truth? Who told her?”

“Working on figuring it out. The entire situation is a mess. I just found her an hour ago,” Lorenzo said.

“Found her?” Giovanni frowned.

“She ran from Villa Mare Blu. Carlo found her in Carini. I had to bring her back.” Lorenzo wiped his hand down his mouth and chin. “I warned you, Gio. We all did.”

“What the fuck does that matter now?” Giovanni stood. He paced around the bed. “I did what was necessary and you know it. Mira would be fine, my sons would be fine if your wife hadn’t gone to her and filled her head with lies!”

“Lies?” Lorenzo arched a brow.

Giovanni put his hands to his head. “I had it under control. I had it all under control.”

“No, Gio. You never did. Those two women are blood. What have we always said about blood? About family?” Lorenzo asked. “Nothing either of us could do would have prevented this day. We should have been the men to make it happen. Now we have to deal with it.” Lorenzo stepped further into the room. “I want your word that you won’t take any of this out on Marietta. She’s a victim. Mancini’s victim, your victim, mine too. She never asked for any of this.”

“I would never harm your wife, Bella’s sister. But you keep her in line,” he leveled a finger on Lorenzo. “This isn’t about me wanting to drive them apart. You saw Armando and how he looked at her.”

“I did.” Lorenzo said through clenched teeth.

“Good. Then you know what’s at stake. Armando will not divide his family legacy for our wives—for us. He is not going to sit back and accept this.”

“They’re married to us, why the fuck does he care? We have no intention of advertising the blood tie.” Lorenzo scoffed.

“The old man has put your wife in his will. Mira is in his will. The Mancini fortune is to now be cut three ways.”

“Really?” Lorenzo’s brows lifted.

“Now do you understand the threat?”

“So what now?” Lorenzo asked.

“I’m beginning to think the old bastard really does want to reunite with Bella and Marietta. That makes him weak enough to give me a choice.”

“Then give him the reunion,” Lorenzo said. “We have the Mancini fortune at our fingertips.”

Giovanni waved off Lorenzo’s advice. “I don’t give a fuck what happens, he will never come near her! Never! But if Mira and Marietta are both willing to sign over their inheritance to Armando we can have a different truce after the old fucker is dead.”

“Why take that course, Gio? You are talking about millions at stake.”

“I don’t want his fucking empire by default. I won’t use my wife that way!” Giovanni snapped.

Lorenzo nodded. “Of course. We need to get the women out of Sicily. I can’t control much here. This is Mancini’s territory. You know how this goes.”

“Yes, I know,” Giovanni said. “What was I thinking bringing her here? How could I have been so blind? I wanted the boys born here. Now my sons barely cling to life. And she… she’s not well.”

Lorenzo walked over to his cousin. He gripped his shoulders and squeezed. “You are going to have to tell the men. Tell the family who Mira and Marietta are to each other. And then tell the Neapolitan clans that we both have married Mancini’s bastard daughters. We can’t let any of this go beyond us. We need to unite.”

Giovanni nodded. “Agreed. But I won’t leave here. Not until Mira and the boys are well.”

“I’ll think of something.” Lorenzo assured him. He patted Giovanni’s cheek and turned for the door.

“Lo?” Gio said.

His cousin stopped.

“I should have listened to you. Trusted you.” Giovanni admitted. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

Lorenzo smiled “Good to see you coming to your senses,” he said and left.

* B
*

Marietta continued with her vigil. The nurse arrived. She used a syringe to insert something into the drip bag that ran a line of fluid to Mira’s veins. The doctor visited next and read her chart. The man checked Mira’s vitals and left. No one gave her an update. If she spoke they acted as if she wasn’t in the room. She found that odd. But typical of the behavior of the staff that bowed whenever her sister’s husband entered the room.

God never answered Marietta’s prayers when she was younger. It was only now with the discovery of the family she never had she began to believe in his existence. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for a healing.

The door behind her opened. Someone watched her. She could sense the presence of the other but didn’t open her eyes to confirm. And then the person’s soft foot approach grew closer. A hand rested on her shoulder.
“Andiamo,”
he said in a deep voice that filled her with warmth.

“I’m not leaving her,” she replied. “She needs me.”

“You need to change clothes, eat. Your dress is ripped.” Lorenzo whispered.

Marietta glanced down at the front of her dress and immediately fixed the tear.

“I’ll bring you back,” Lorenzo reasoned. 

Marietta glanced up at her husband. The nasty mark to the side of his face was still there. Each time she looked at it she was reminded of the pain and deception between them. Still she loved him. And she feared that even his disappointing her could never change that. What would life as his wife mean if she had to learn to live with disappointments?

Lorenzo brushed the back of his hand across her cheek.
“
Mi manchi,
I was in hell for almost two days,
cara
. All I could think of was you, returning home to you. Come with me. I need you.”

“Don’t, Lorenzo,” she turned her face away. He captured her chin and turned her face back upward to gaze into her eyes.

“Let’s go home. Fight. Talk it out. Make love.
Per favore
,” he whispered. “My head hurts. Look at what you did to my face. I need you to take care of me too.”

“I can’t. I don’t have the energy,” she turned her face away and he released her chin. Her heart still burned with guilt over how close she came to seducing Carlo. And she didn’t want to leave Mira. Not now.

“I insist,” Lorenzo said.

Marietta wished to be alone with her thoughts and guilt. With Lorenzo it was either an ignored or unreasonable request. She looked up at him once more. Lorenzo arched a single dark silky brow to whatever he read in her eyes. Defeated she stood and he helped her. She touched Mira’s hand. “Will they call me if something changes? Will you bring me back as soon as she is awake?”

“You have my word, Marie,” he said, rubbing her hip and then ass.

“Your word means shit,” she knocked away his groping hands.

He chuckled. “True. But it’s all I can give you right now.”

Marietta leaned over and kissed Mira’s brow. She felt such a sharp pang of love for her sister.
How was that possible?
They barely knew each other and it felt as if she had known her all her life. “I read somewhere that twins feel each other’s pain, that we know when the other is in trouble. I wonder if over the years we did—feel each other.”

“It’s possible. What do you feel now?” Lorenzo asked.

“Sadness. Deep sadness,” Marietta said. “The birth of her sons should be a happy time for her but all I feel is sadness, like this open wound in my chest.”

Lorenzo eased his arm around her waist and held her. He kissed the top of her head. “She’ll come out of it. She’s like you,
cara
, a warrior.”

Mira shook her head unable to stop her tears. She couldn’t believe how much she cried. “Do you cry in dreams?” she asked Fabiana.

“It’s your dream remember?” Fabiana chuckled. “Guess I suck at cheering you up. Huh?”

Mira wiped her tears and laughed. But soon her laughter hollowed out. “Why am I dreaming? Am I dying?” she asked aloud. When Fabiana didn’t answer she turned and looked to her friend. The smile had faded from her best friend’s lips. “I don’t want to die.”

“Death isn’t all bad,” Fabiana shrugged.

“Don’t make jokes. Not about death,” Mira said.

“Alright, girl, stop being so damn sensitive. I’m the one dead, remember?”

Mira sighed. “Maybe when you die you move on and it’s not bad. But for the people you leave behind it’s a never ending feeling of loss.” When she spoke her voice echoed from every direction. She could see no walls, ceiling or floor. She just existed in the depths of her mind. “I lost my mother and I always felt empty because of it. Like half of me was incomplete. Turns out it was. I had a sister and never knew it.”

“What will you do?” Fabiana asked. Suddenly she was standing off to her left instead of her right. “What will you do about Giovanni and your sister?”

“I don’t know. Should I punish him for being what’s in his nature for him to be? Should I punish myself for being so weak? I can’t believe I have a sister.” Mira smiled. “And Marietta of all people. We have so much time to make up for.”

“What is she like?” Fabiana asked.

“Bold, sassy, full of courage. She has this sexy confidence about her. You know she could be my muse. Since I lost you,” Mira smiled at Fabiana “She has this thing about her I never had,” Mira said. “I kind of envy her free spirit.”

“I wish I could know her,” Fabiana chuckled. “We could’ve been the three musketeers!”

Mira glanced to her friend. “She married Lorenzo.”

Fabiana laughed. “Now that there is irony. The man sure does like his women hot.”

“They make some pair.” Mira agreed.

“What about Giovanni?” Fabiana asked. “Every time I ask you about him you change the subject.”

Mira closed her eyes. “I’m so angry, so hurt. I’m afraid for him, for me.”

“Afraid of what, Mira?” Fabiana asked.

“That something is broken with us. Something I can’t fix. I’m afraid I can’t forgive him.” When Mira opened her eyes she was alone. She didn’t call for Fabiana. She didn’t need to. Fabiana was dead. In this she would remain alone with her sadness.

The day had all but slipped away. When Giovanni entered his wife’s room twilight had cast shadows about. After concluding another visit with his sons he passed Lorenzo and Marietta in the hall as they were leaving. Marietta said there was no change.

The doctor passed word to one of the nurses that he would meet with him once he finished his rounds. He had hope in his heart that maybe some news of improvement was forthcoming. But Mancini’s warnings kept surfacing to the front of his mind. Why hadn’t he considered the fact that her mother gave birth to twins? The medical history alone could have helped the doctors understand the care his Bella needed, or at the very least the risks.

“Bella, I’ve visited the boys,” he said. He sat next to her bed and took her hand into both of his. He held it with gentle loving care. “They rest. They are doing well. Gianni and Gino, your sons.”

She didn’t move. He brought her hand up to his mouth. He kissed her hand. The answering silence was the worst. Fatigue weighted his shoulders, his lids. He closed them and held her hand. “I won’t leave you, sweetheart. I’m here. Right here.”

* B
*

“Catalina?” a soft voice whispered.

Catalina lifted her head from her hand. She had dozed off in the chair. Rosetta appeared in a green dress she recognized. She glared at her cousin. Once again she had raided her closet without asking. “What are you doing here?” Catalina stretched her arms up from her seat. She chose to ignore Rosetta’s actions. The dire situation of the twins and Mira was more important than another theft of one of her dresses.

“Lorenzo came home. He told me to come and sit with the babies. So you could go home. Eat something, shower.”

“I’m fine, you can go.” Catalina stood. She walked over to Gino’s incubator. She stared down at his little chest that rose and fell with each breath he took. Rosetta ignored her order to leave.

“He’s so small. I’ve never seen a baby this small.”

“He’s premature you idiot,” Catalina hissed.

“Don’t call me an idiot!” Rosetta snapped.

“Shhh!” The nurse admonished them both. Catalina threw her hands up in defeat. She was tired. She’d been at the hospital for six hours. When she checked the time she found it was close to seven in the evening. She needed the reprieve. Maybe she could go and return before she was missed.

“I’ll be back. Just need to shower and take a nap then I’m coming back.”

Rosetta moved on to the other baby. She tapped the top of the incubator. “What’re their names?”

“Don’t do that!” Catalina hissed. The nurse looked up with a disapproving scowl. Rosetta smiled down at the baby.

“But they’re so cute. Like little dolls. Are they well? Why are their eyes taped shut?”