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I poured another glass and offered more to my father, but he refused. “You’ll want to talk to me, Carlo. Right now, you think life will just go on as it always has. And it will, to some degree. But there will be times when you’ll still want to talk to your father.”
My throat grew dry, and I tossed back another swig of my drink. I wish he’d leave this part of our conversations out.
“I’ll still be here.” He moved his hand to his chest. “You’ll have questions. Frustrations. And you can still come to me. For anything. Like every time your wife’s belly swells with your baby. And you’re worried.”
He pointed at me. “And you will worry. It is normal. We men want to protect our women. But babies and birth are the only things we have no control over. And it’s hard, Carlo. So goddamn hard. To sit back and watch them suffer through—” he shook his head and gazed down at the patio tiles. “But in the end, you have a Daniella. The light of your life. And she is worth it. Just like all of your babies will be worth the worry and the pain.” His eyes met mine, and I nodded, even though I really fuckin’ hoped Giselle had easy pregnancies and deliveries.
“You call, and I’ll be here to listen. Do you understand?” My father set his hand back on my shoulder. “Whether you’re driving in traffic or out here, late at night underneath the stars. If you need me—I’ll be here. You’ll feel my presence. I promise you.”
Just like always, he’d choked me up.
I knew he didn’t have much time left.
Anyone with eyes knew that.
I still didn’t want to think about it.
“Okay, can we talk about something besides you coming back to haunt me?”
That made him laugh so hard that he started coughing again.
Christ.
9
Stefan
“They make a beautiful family, don’t you think?” my father asked me as I stared at Carlo, Giselle, and Dani playing with the new bunny. They were on the large patch of lawn off to the side of the patio.
Giselle had Dani on her lap, and Carlo was retrieving the bunny whenever she’d escape Dani’s tiny arms.
“Yeah, sure,” I said and quickly downed what was left of my whiskey. The ice cubes clinked in the glass as I tipped it.
“It is a good thing that your brother has found his happiness. You will, too. One day.” He picked up the whiskey bottle and poured more into my glass. And then he poured some into his own glass.
“The way Giselle looks at him—you can tell—you can see the love in her eyes.” My father drove in one more nail.
Fuck me.
I took a sip and set my glass back down again.
“Look at them, Stefan. Can you see the way she looks at him?”
If my father didn’t already have one foot in the grave—I’d sock one to his chin.
“Yeah, they’re a beautiful couple,” I said and briefly glanced at them again. The bunny had made its way up Carlo’s chest. Dani thought it was hilarious.
She was giggling and pointing at Carlo. “Dada!” she yelled and laughed.
“A woman who looks—and loves—like that,” my father coughed, and it unnerved me. I hated hearing him do that, “holds more power than even she realizes. Men will go to extreme lengths to win that kind of love.”
I wasn’t too sure what my father was getting at, but I decided to stay silent. There was no way he’d know what kind of—arrangement—I had with Giselle.
And my brother.
I wasn’t going to be the one to share that information with him.
“Yes, a woman like that can divide countries.” His hand landed on my arm. “Or brothers.”
