Reformed (Gangsters at War #5)

Chapter Five

Jane

I woke to a soft knock on my bedroom door. Before I could answer it swung open, the hallway light shining in and illuminating the older woman standing in my doorway.

“Gran,” I croaked. “What are you doing here?”

She stepped into the room and quietly approached, and though her face was in the gloom now, I sensed the gravity of the moment.

She stopped at my bed, then stroked a worn hand over my brow. “It’s your mother,” she said softly. “She wants to see you.”

I was struck by a sudden sense of doom and desolation. I might only by six but I wasn’t stupid. My mother wasn’t well. “She’s ready to die now, isn’t she?”

My gran sucked in a shaky breath, then hesitantly nodded. “Yes, my darling. It’s her time.”

I pushed aside my bedcovers and stood on jellied legs, thankful then when my gran wrapped an arm around my shoulders to help keep me upright. She might be a tiny bird of a woman, but she was a mountain in that moment.

“Put on your slippers,” she said in a soft, weary voice. “These floorboards are chilled at this time of night. I don’t want you catching a cold.”

I did what she asked, then followed her out of my bedroom down to my mother’s, my stomach growing tighter with every step. I slowed as I entered the dimly-lit room, where my mother lay on her bed, her breathing ragged and her eyes sunken, her brown, shoulder-length hair stringy around her pale face.

She managed a smile as I approached. “Hi, baby.”

“Hi, Mom,” I said weakly.

She reached for my hand and as her fingers closed over mine I realized how cold and lifeless her touch was. I shivered. Like she was already gone.

“I’m sorry I had to wake you, but I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” she said starkly, her words dull but full of pain, as though uttering such raw honesty took out her heart piece-by-piece.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I said shakily. “You’re my mom, you can’t go.”

Her fingers squeezed mine ever so slightly, as though even that took all her energy. “I know baby. Mothers should never die before their children are grown up, but sometimes fate has other plans. I’m only thankful your gran will be there for you when I’m gone.”

My gran stepped closer. “Not that I’ll ever replace your mother,” she said with a break in her voice. “But I’ll do my best for you, Jane. You’ll grow up remembering the love of your mother and your gran.”

The home nurse stepped out of the shadows and toward my mother, her brow pleated with concern. “You need to rest. You don’t have any more energy to spare.”

My mother blinked. “I’ll use every last bit of it to say goodbye to my daughter, she deserves that much from me at the very least.” She turned back to me and reached out her arms. “Come here, baby,” she said weakly.

I collapsed, sobbing in her arms. “Don’t leave me, Mom.”

Please don’t leave me.

It was my tears that woke me, for real, this time. I sat up, wiping away the wetness on my face before I looked at the shadowed outline of Alessendro lying beside me. I exhaled softly, relieved I hadn’t disrupted his sleep. His nighttime activities had no doubt worn him out.

I only wished I was as deeply asleep, without recurrent dreams robbing me of my rest. And yet...though it made me sad revisiting the past, it made me as much nostalgic to see my mother and my gran again.

Their faces were fading all too quickly from my mind.

“What’s going on, little sparrow?” Alessandro asked, his voice husky with sleep.

“It’s nothing, just a bad dream,” I mumbled.

He brushed a big hand down my spine. “I’m sorry to hear that.” His voice deepened. “But I’ve got just the remedy to make you forget all your bad dreams.”

A smile twitched my lips. I didn’t doubt him for a second. He’d already proven himself.

Then he was drawing me back into his embrace, his mouth finding mine before our bodies came together as one.