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18
New York City, 2000
We didn’t leave the house for four days. For four days we stayed in a closed bubble, entertaining Romina with games, movies, and baking. Salva was keen on teaching us both all her favorite recipes, especially the Persian love cakes. At night I made sweet love to Salvatrice while whispering the filthiest things in her ear and she loved it.
Catherinelle called me very day demanding to speak to Salvatrice to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid. I had no problem with that until I overheard that little minx asking Salva if I’d hit her or hurt her in any way. It bothered the shit out of me that Cat would think I would do that and I lost my temper with her, so on the fifth day there was no phone call.
When the weekend rolled around, it was time to break our bubble and go spend some time with other people. Gino had called and invited the three of us for brunch at one of his restaurants, but I suggested that we meet at his place, because I had some things to go over and it needed to be kept behind closed doors.
“Amore.” I knocked on the door frame of our walk-in closet. “Are you ready?”
“No!” She sounded frustrated as hell, but I had no idea why. “I have nothing to wear.”
“Baby, it’s just a home visit. Something casual will do, a dress or whatever.”
“Yes, Roman, I know; that’s the problem. There’s nothing casual here. All those clothes are brand names and cost a damn fortune. And why are there more dresses than there were yesterday? Where does Paul find these things?”
“I think my personal shopper sent some more packages.”
“I don’t need so many clothes. I won’t even have time to wear them all.” I choose to ignore the sentence she mumbled under her breath. The past few days were good for us: Salvatrice’s smile was back, and there were no talks about her illness. I spent a lot of time on the phone with some of the best doctors in the country and one of them, Robert Sullivan, was flying in from Chicago to the private clinic we were using to take Salva as his patient. We were meeting him on Monday; he would form a diagnosis and treatment team for Salvatrice, and figure this out.
I already knew it wouldn’t be easy. Dr. Sullivan stayed with me for two hours on the phone while going through Salva’s file that I’d arranged to be sent to him from Genova and he said the same thing I’ve heard before – a match for a transplant wouldn’t be easy to find. But not impossible. There were a few markers that needed to be met in order for Salva’s body to not reject the donation, and I was going to find it. There was nothing that money couldn’t buy and fuck it if I wasn’t willing to pay every penny I had for my woman’s life.
“Baby, just put this on.” I grabbed a pretty yellow dress with a low cut that would allow me to sneak peeks at her amazing tits.
“That’s a four-hundred-dollar dress.” Maybe, I had no idea. Cat was the one who arranged for the clothes to be delivered. I had an unlimited number of tailors, but I knew nothing about women’s clothing.
“You’ll look beautiful in it and Remy has one that’s the same color. You two could match.”
“She’s already set on wearing the pink ballerina dress you got for her. I tried to negotiate with her for something with less glitter, but I had no chance. You should have known this would happen when you got the damn thing.”
“I really want to see you in this yellow dress.” And I was looking forward to peeling it off her body when we got back. I had plans on dumping my daughter on Muse until after we had the doctor visit on Monday.
I dangled the material in front of her face, and she took it with a smile.
“Fine, I’ll wear it if you want me to, but stop looking at me like that,” she said while undressing. “We’re already late.”
“Damn, I want you.”
“Absolutely not.” She changed clothes faster than a magician’s assistant. “No sex, not now. Today is hard for me, Roman. I’m trying to comprehend the fact that these are your people and I have to like them because all of them will be in my daughter’s life, but…”
“But the wounds are still open?” I finished for her.
“Yes.”
“Baby, I know. Trust me, if I believed there was one chance for the people who killed your parents to still be around, I would have hunted them down and skinned them alive in front of you. You’re safe with me and everyone you’re going to meet today would give their life to protect you.”
“They don’t even know me.”
“You’re mine, that’s all that counts. You’re famiglia.”
~~~
Muse and Gino were waiting for us outside their front door when I parked the car. Never in our lives had Gino greeted me at the door when I came to his home, so maybe it was a good sign.
I helped Salvatrice and Romina out of the car. Remy ran straight to Muse to say hello – I loved how comfortable she was around them – but on the other hand, Salva held tight to my arm. I could feel how tense she was.
“One second, baby.”
