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“What else about you don’t I know?” I asked, eyeing her suspiciously as I poured her another shot.
“Oh, my darling girl. If you only knew,” she said, giving me a mischievous little smile before taking her shot. “How are you?” she asked, reaching across the island for both of my hands. “Really,” she pressed.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Two days ago, if you told me I was capable of falling in love with a mafia man, then stealing his gun, and a car, and going on a rescue mission that would have me shooting a man after my mother stabbed a man, I would have said you were crazy. So, I’m… processing this new side to myself, I guess.”
“I don’t think it’s a new side, sweetheart,” she said, reaching out to run a hand down my hair. “I think it’s just a part of yourself you didn’t realize was there before. After all, you were someone who threw herself in front of a gun for a perfect stranger.”
“I guess,” I agreed.
“Also, did I just hear you say you love him?” she asked, giving me the softest smile I think I’d ever seen.
“I do,” I said, feeling my own lips curve up. “So much. I don’t even know how my feet are staying on the ground because I feel like I’ve been floating when with him.”
“Oh, I just love that. It is all I have wanted for you. And the way he looks at you,” she said, pressing a hand to her heart. “I have never seen a man look at a woman with such adoration and fierce protectiveness before. I love himforyou.”
“I still can’t believe you knew he was in the mafia and didn’t tell me.”
“I still can’t believe you didn’t hear the name Grassi and already know he was in the mafia,” she shot back, rolling her eyes at me.
“What? Is it common knowledge?”
“Around these parts, yes.”
“You don’t have reservations about him because of it?” I asked.
“I think it seems as though those Grassi men are very protective over their women. And their children, one can assume. Why would I have reservations?”
“Because they… kill people,” I said.
“Darling, I killed a man tonight. Do you have reservations about me?”
“No. But it’s… different. He was threatening us.”
“Yes. But, in my mind, I don’t imagine these very smart, very careful Grassi men are going out to look for a fight. If violence happens, I believe it is in direct response to some threat to them, their livelihood, or their loved ones. I know it is not all ‘peace, love, and light’ of me, but I can understand that. I can even support that. The question isn’t about what I can understand or support, though, it is what you can,” she reminded me.
My mom had always been good at that.
She had a knack for knowing when I was asking for her opinion on things in an attempt to base my own off of hers. It was something she didn’t stand for, always challenging me to make up my own mind, to follow my own heart. Even if it was different from her own.
“I think I love him enough that I don’t care what his job is,” I admitted. “Even if it puts me in danger. Which is probably not health—“
“Maybe analyzing your heart through the microscope of your brain is not the best course of action,” she suggested, reaching to take the coffee, clearly deciding two shots was enough.
And because that sounded like fair advice—not to mention that I didn’t want to come to any conclusion that didn’t mean I could have a life and future and babies with Nino—I decided to let any lingering worries about the situation fall away.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. “Nino’s mom dropped off a bunch of meals.”
“Amazing meals that I don’t need to cook? Sign me up,” she said, giving me a slightly tired smile.
Tired enough that after I fed her, I begged her to go upstairs and get some rest in one of the guest rooms.
“What’s the matter?” I asked as she looked up toward the loft, lips pursed.
“Oh, nothing. I am trying to decide which room is least likely for me to overhear anything… adult in nature,” she said, laughing when my face twisted in disgust.
“We’re not going to be doing anythingadultwith you in the suite,” I insisted.
“No, no, of course not,” she said in a placating tone as she patted my arm. “Thank you for coming to save me, my sweet girl,” she said, pressing a kiss to the side of my head.
