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I cover her hands with mine, laughing even as she rattles my brain. “Yes, I know. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“You could’ve fooled me.” She clicks her tongue, but there’s a familiar fondness in her wry grin. “There’s something I wanted to share with you.”
She tucks her hand in my elbow and leads me from the study to her sitting room. I look to my father for understanding, but he only shrugs.
“How is she?” Mama asks in a conspiratorial whisper once we’re alone.
I close the door, separating us from the study. I can breathe a bit easier without my father’s penetrating gaze reminding me of every mistake I’ve ever made. “Relieved. Probably still nervous.”
“Oh, your papa knew it would be a cold day in hell before I would let him kill that sweet girl.” She swipes her lower lip while I gape at her in surprise. “She was only doing her job. And he should know there’s nothing to be done when you fall in love.”
Patting the sofa after she takes a seat, she murmurs, “Come. Sit with me.”
I oblige, still shaken by the thought of my quiet, dignified mother stepping up to tell the great Rocco Santoro what to do. Her eyes shine as she leans in slightly. “You think this girl is the one?”
It’s not exactly an easy topic for me to speak about openly, but if I can stand up in front of the men of my family and confess, I can do it in front of her. “Yes. I wouldn’t go to all this trouble if she weren’t.”
Her eyes shine when tears start to well in them—tears of a happy mother. Finally, somebody around here is happy. “And does she feel the same way about you?”
Try as I might, there’s no hiding a smile. “I think so. She said she loves me.”
“How could she not?” She reaches out to brush my hair back from my forehead the way she’s been doing since I was little.
“She would have plenty of reasons not to.” I shudder to think how differently things could’ve gone if she hadn’t opened her heart to me. How dark life would be.
“I never imagined this life for myself.” She takes my hands and holds them tight. “I wasn’t raised in this world. When I met your father, I knew he was where I needed to be. You don’t always have to love everything a person does. It doesn’t mean you don’t love them. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that as hard as he trained you boys to be, I trained you to have good hearts. You’ll need both. Especially when it comes time to start a family of your own.”
A family of my own? Until the night I first set eyes on Emilia, I was sure that time wouldn’t come. That the sort of love my parents have basked in for decades is a fluke. Something from the old days that no longer exists.
I’m starting to think I was wrong.
“Here. I want you to have this.” She reaches into the pocket of one of her trademark cardigans and withdraws a small, black box. “I went into the safe to get it the day you brought Emilia to us. I knew right away this was the girl.”
“How did you know that?” I ask with a disbelieving laugh. “She wasn’t conscious.”
“I didn’t have to meet her. I only had to look at you and listen to you and see how it tore you apart to know she was suffering.”
She opens the box, and I gasp at the sight of an antique diamond ring. I’m overwhelmed, speechless, and I can only stare in wonder for a long time before whispering, “Mama, this is beautiful.”
“It belonged to my Nonna Concetta. When the time is right, you can give it to her.” Love rings out in her voice as she closes the box and places it in my hand, closing my fingers around it. “I would like it to stay in the family.”
My head is spinning. This is what I want. There’s no doubt. It’s still a lot to process, and it’s clear she understands when she chuckles and pats my cheek. “Go on, be with her. She needs you.”
“Thank you, Mama.” I kiss her cheek, and she smiles, teary-eyed again, before I follow her orders.
She’s right. Emilia needs me now.
Though she will never need me as deeply or as desperately as I need her.
25
EMILIA
What is taking him so long?
Craig is long gone, thank God. I have an appointment to meet him at the station tomorrow so we can go through an interview with Internal Affairs, in which he’ll give most of the answers while I claim shock. He swears this is going to work.
All I can do is trust him.
