I let my hatred fuel every step back along Bay Ridge toward the brownstone. I need the walk home to calm down before confronting anyone. The last thing I need is anyone accusing me of having baby hormones.
But I think any rational person would be annoyed if they showed up to work only to discover someone else had closed the club already.
My club.
Mia might still work behind the bar some nights, but I’m not afraid to pull rank on her if she tries this shit again.
It’s only been three months since we discovered the pregnancy, but if she’s already insisting that I need to be coddled, we’re going to have a problem.
I shake it off as I reach the familiar brownstone, my house keys jangling as I open the front door.
The walk home begins to bother my sensitive joints, and I absently rub my little swollen bump as I imagine stepping into a nice warm bath. Mmmm. Yeah, that will take the edge off.
I step into the foyer, kicking off my shoes as I go, and open my mouth to shout for Donatella…
“SURPRISE!”
One second, the two-story entrance way is entirely deserted. The next, about fifty people line the stairs, each throwing confetti and streamers over the railing, revealing a banner that rolls down from the topmost banister.
Written on it, in giant sparkling letters, is the phrase, “Baby Shower”.
I blink at the wild display of sound and color, trying desperately to orient myself when another body slams into mine.
“Happy surprise baby shower, bitch!”
I bury my face in Mia’s flaming red hair, returning her embrace just as tightly. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
She laughs as she pulls away, dragging me toward the row of my eagerly awaiting friends, all wanting to offer me congratulations.
The vast majority are from theCandelabra. The bar and wait staff I’ve come to know far too well, and some of the regulars who are coincidentally also mafioso are here as well. Even some of Rocco’s closest circle are here. I wave at Martino and Teo, who smile back sheepishly.
“Congrats, Bellini.”
I’m surprised when my gaze lands on the stunning blonde before me. “Thanks, Danny.”
Things had been awkward when I returned to theCandelabraas her boss. At first, she was treading on eggshells, trying to avoid me, probably out of fear that I might fire her. But as things settled, a tentative acquaintanceship had blossomed.
Now that I’m temporarily out of commission, she is, after all, our best performer.
“Will you all let me through!” a voice cries out from the back of the gathering crowd.
My brain short-circuits.
“Mom?”
Giuseppina Bellini elbows her way past the line of bodies and stands before me, radiant as ever, the soft lines of her face curving up into a huge smile.
My mother opens her arms for me and I run to her, a child all over again.
“Cassy, Cassy, Cassy!” she whispers into my hair, a near-perfect match to her own. “I missed you so much.”
“Mom!”
She pulls back, squishing my cheeks between her palms. “I can’t believe my baby is having a baby.”
I grin, although the snot and tears leaking from my face must make me look monstrous.
“Honestly,” she laughs, wiping it all away with a tissue. “And here I thought you’d forgotten me, now that you have this new fancy life in the big city.”
