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23
ADRIANA
The day came when Daddy was officially cleared as being in good health.
His wounds weren’t too bad, but his health in general had been declining for a while.
I warned Brody: “Don’t let this happen to you, mister.” I couldn’t stand the idea of my future husband and father of my children being in poor health. At first, the idea of having more than one child seemed preposterous to me, but Brody had turned me around.
There were two things left for us to do: get married, and leave the gangster life.
Quite frankly, I was exhausted by the criminal lifestyle. Brody and I had agreed that a life together needed to be a life that we wanted. My father had built his empire along with Brody, and had had to do so in illegitimate ways in order to give me the “princess” life he thought I deserved.
Daddy had received excellent care, and he now appeared much stronger than when Brody and I had first met. I suppose the fact that he was ok with me having Brody’s child, was a sign of good mental health.
However, Brody did worry that my father would revert to his old ways.
So, when I proposed to Daddy that Brody and I would leave the criminal life behind, I was surprised that my father was all about it. Even more so, Brody had asked my father for my hand in marriage.
And, as if that wasn’t good enough, Brody had inspired me to bring my mother and sister back into my life. Doing so was the icing on the cake, but my father was still not happy with either girl.
“You know they said that they would stay, and they just up and left,” he said, referring to when my mother had cheated on him for another man, then took my sister away from him. Worse was the fact that when he tried to fight for custody, my sister had openly told him that she preferred to live with her.
Looking at things objectively, I understood why.
My mother and sister were both tired of the violence that surrounded my father. Father told me that he would make sure nothing happened to me, but, as things go, I had once been kidnapped and had my life threatened.
The fact that they left me behind was a bit insulting, but I decided to forgive rather than to let myself be overwhelmed with anger towards them.
On the day that my father had been cleared for good health, Brody had asked for my hand in marriage as I had mentioned. It was a cool February morning when he did it. It took me off guard as I had no idea that Daddy had been cleared.
Brody and I had arrived to eat breakfast with daddy, when Brody said, “Frank, I’ve been waiting for you to get better so I could finally ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
Daddy looked at Brody expectantly, then said, “Well. Out with it.”
Brody looked at me, then at my father. “Frank, it would mean the world for you to give me your daughter's hand in marriage.”
“Well you’ve already gotten her pregnant, so might as well,” Daddy said, which caused me to chide him. Daddy immediately took back his poor joke, and said, “Of course, Brody.”
I think that both men, and all men in general, are scared of me for some reason.
Luckily, that means I get what I want, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
My mother and sister finally arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, and Brody took me to pick them up. I hadn’t seen them in ages, so when I saw my mother, I was surprised that she still looked so young and beautiful.
Emma on the other hand was anything but, having gained the hair of the girl from that one horror movie. I couldn’t see her face, and she had suffered some form of heavy anxiety. I made a mental note to help her with that, because I wasn’t going to have it said that I let my family suffer even if they had abandoned me.
“Adriana, you’ve gotten so big,” Mom said.
Emma said nothing, and sulked.What’s wrong with her?
Brody was the perfect gentleman and offered my family all the assistance they could need.
“Who’s this handsome man?” My mother said. Knowing her tendency to flirt with every man in sight, I put a stop to any funny business right away.
“My future husband,” I said.
Mom pointed at my belly, then gave Brody a second look.
