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“He already paid the price, Garon. Let it go.”
He tensed. “He didn’t pay enough. You don’t know.”
“Tell me.”
A drop of sweat gathered on his forehead and I wiped it away. Garon shook his head like he was trying to push his own thoughts away.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s dead. We’ll talk more later, OK? I want you to relax.”
“What will happen when we land?”
“We go home.”
“Does anyone know about me?”
“Not yet,Piccolina.”
I let out a breath and sat back in the chair. “At least we have a day to adjust.”
“Not really. I’ll go see Giovani tonight and I’ll tell him everything.” When he felt me shaking, he pulled me closer. “It will be alright.”
“It feels weird to be back. I missed this city every day, but it still feels strange.”
“Yeah, for me too.” He sighed. “I’ve been gone a while and like you, I didn’t leave on the best terms. I’ve made a mess of things, I’ve embarrassed my family, I fought with my brothers. You got pregnant with a shitty, shitty man, Pina.”
“Hey, stop.” He lived an outrageous life, more than any young man with money in Palermo, hell maybe even in the country. He refused to get involved in thefamigliaand take his place by his brothers and he was careless, drinking too much, talking to all the wrong people, everyone knew that, but it didn’t make him an embarrassment. He was still Garon Caputo, the most impressive man I’ve ever known.
“Maybe you should have taken a page from Ariana’s book and got pregnant with a better Caputo.”
Cold sweat broke on the back of my neck.
“Never say that again. I’m not like her.” I bit out the words. “And you are nothing like your father. Garon you are a good man. Wild and dangerous, but I know you, I’ve known you all my life, you have a good heart. You share the same honor and blood your brother’s do.”
“No,Piccolina, I don’t.”
“You should see yourself through my eyes.” I sighed. “If you’re trying to say I should be ashamed for having your child, don’t bother. I’m scared because we’re too young and worried about the future. I feel a million things, Garon, but shame isn’t one of them.”
He was actually worried about this, that I could be embarrassed to return not only pregnant, but with him. I could see the soft worry lines on his face and the turmoil in his eyes, but thinking anything like that was outlandish to me. I only had eyes for him, all my life.
“We’re going to land soon.” He cleared his throat and put on his seat belt. “Do you feel better?”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “We’re home.”
“We’re home.” He whispered back.
§
Touching Palermo ground was soothing for my soul. Every sun-soaked corner of this town was familiar and comforting, a place with no secrets and familiar faces. Maybe my family name had no value anymore, but it was still better to be here than in a city with no familiar faces. It meant I didn’t have to start over, but try and built on whatever was left of my life.
Garon’s car was waiting for us and he drove to his house, releasing Arno and Santo of their duties. The two men followed Garon all over Europe for the best part of the past couple of months and they were as eager to get home as I was.
We didn’t talk much during the ride, both deeply submerged in thoughts, some bothering, some comforting; but while I was taking in the image of crowded streets and decorated facades of churches, Garon’s face was twisted in a frown. He talked a big talk trying to calm me down, but he was worried too. We were about to be put through a brutal round of gossip coming from anyone who had ever heard about the Caputofamiglia, but I had to take a guess, Garon didn’t care about that. His brothers on the other hand, that was a different story. I don’t know what drove him apart from his family in the past few years, but Garon was suffering because of it.
He pulled into his driveway and stopped the car by the front door.
“We’re here.” He said.
I’ve been to his house a couple of times when Grazia brought me here, but never made it past the living room. Still, I felt more familiar with this place than I did with my apartment in Rome. Panini liked it too, he jumped out of the car and started sniffing around. He immediately started running around the yard.
