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“Look at you two,” Carlos says, forcing a smile and again trying to adjust himself. “Bawling like a couple babies.”
“You will be too when you get to hold your little niece’s or nephew’s hand,” Mimi says.
Carlos smiles. “Okay. I’ll do that.” He finds her hand and squeezes.
I look back and see that Luca has squatted down with the Russian man. I look at the cars and realize that we’re trapped. They’re both completely destroyed. There’s no way out.
I make myself come back to Carlos and Mimi. To reality. I make myself look at him and know that it isn’t a dream. He’d died. And then he came back. And was dying again.
“Carlos—” But the paleness of his face stops me.
He knows he won’t make it either.
Mimi knows it because she’s kissing his forehead over and over.
Carlos swallows. “Tell ‘em I was good. Tell ‘em I didn’t betray you. Tell ‘em I always wanted you two together.” His voice wavers and falters, but he forces himself to go on. “Just tell ‘em that—|
“You are good,” I say. “The best.”
He smiles and blinks, and then looks at Mimi and stays like that forever.
A low whine slowly erupts from Mimi, and I crumble into her, taking her in my arms as she continues to rock with Carlos. My heart heaves with the second loss of the same brother I’ve always loved, and now seeing him, makes it permanent. We cry and sob as we clutch onto him, and only after what seems like an eternity do I realize that the sounds of the night have returned.
I eventually look around and see Luca standing there waiting. He’s made a tourniquet and tied off his arm. The Russian is tied off against the truck and not going anywhere. A fury erupts in my chest, and I run for him.
Luca grabs me around the middle and after a scuffle hauls me to a stop. “No,” he says. “We need him.”
“He needs to be dead.”
“And he will in time.” Luca puts his hands on my chest. “But tonight is not over. I need him because there were others. We need to make sure this situation is contained quickly. I have already called for Rocko to come and pick you up. You will be returning with Mimi and Carlos’ bodies.”
“I want to hunt.”
“No, my friend. You need to be with your family.”
Luca’s words stop me and almost break me again, but I clutch onto reality and keep calm. Luca turns me away and points me back to Mimi.
She looks so small next to her brother. The two of them could be children again. For the first time, I don’t see them as the separate people that I knew or always thought were different, but as one.I see the kids as the ones I met almost twenty years ago.
But I also see Mimi as the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. As the woman I hope our children will look like.
And Carlos, as the uncle who wasn’t just good, but great.
Chapter 30
Mimi
Thewetseasonhastruly ended, and we’re outside having a barbeque for the first time in what feels like forever. I guess that’s because Sebastian and I haven’t been outside in months; we’ve been obsessed with our little girl Louisa.
“Who wants a drink?”
Sebastian snaps his tongs at me; he’s by the barbeque and cooking up marinated chicken with Luca. A few of our friends are here, and we’re celebrating mom’s birthday and my book being finished.
Michael runs over, takes a drink from my tray, and heads back to the lawn. Mom’s house looks completely different with Sebastian constantly working on it. We moved in after Carlos’ passing. I wanted to help mom after the stroke, and she wanted to be around the baby. We all won. Although she might regret it with her sleep having seriously dropped off.
She’s on the lawn with Sophie, Michael, and Louisa.
I put the drink tray on the table and squat down on the lawn. “Is that you Louisa Carla Bravera crawling along?”
