Chapter Fifty-Five Lila
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
LILA
“What will you do with Harlem, now that it’s yours?” I asked as we drove to my baby shower at my parents’ house.
It was a last-minute gathering, but Mama insisted we should make up for some lost time.
She’d been the picture of a perfect mother since our talk at the hospital, dropping by with food and clothes, sometimes accompanying Tiernan and me to our weekly checkups at the doctor’s office.
I was excited to spend time with Tierney and Sofia. Really, I was excited to see everyone other than Vello.
I was relieved to find out he wasn’t my biological father, and unlike with Mama, I saw no reason to try to patch things up with him. It wasn’t my fault I wasn’t his, and it certainly wasn’t my job to make him love me. If he wanted us to be strangers, that was exactly what we’d be.
“Nothing,” Tiernan clipped out, his gaze unwavering from the road.
“You mean, you’re going to keep things as is?”
“I mean, I’m not getting Harlem.”
Rearing my head back, I frowned. “Vello refused to fulfill his side of the bargain?”
It wouldn’t surprise me. The man was a menace.
“He tried giving it to me. I declined it.”
“Why?” I asked incredulously.
“Because finding that asshole had stopped being about territory and prestige a long time ago.”
His veiny, big hand tap-tap-tapped the wheel impatiently. “And I don’t want you to ever doubt why I’m here. Besides, I’ve no interest in Harlem anymore. Alex and I have bigger plans. The Midwest is wide open, waiting to be claimed. Fewer feds’ eyes on it, too.”
“You should’ve taken what’s yours.” But even as I said this, I couldn’t deny the pleasure it gave me to know he gave up Harlem to show me his devotion. “I already know that you love me.”
“I have claimed what’s mine.” He ran his palm over my stomach, up my torso, thumbing my chin. “She’s sitting next to me, and I’m never letting her go.”
_______
Thirty minutes later, we parked in front of my parents’ house. The front lawn was decorated with arches of balloons in blue, white, and gold. The cobbled pathway leading to the doors was lined up with little stork signs that exclaimed: It’s a boy!
My heart pitter-pattered. Not only did Tiernan accept the baby, but Mama did, too. The two most important people in my life.
Tiernan rounded the car and opened the passenger door for me. He offered me a hand, keeping my palm in his as we made our way inside.
We were greeted by my family. Tierney was there, too, looking especially beautiful in a risqué black Balmain dress that clung to her killer body, black lacy gloves, and a pearl choker.
She was never going to get Achilles off her back if she continued baiting him, looking like she did.
A part of me suspected she didn’t want him to stop.
“You look so beautiful, bambina mia.” Mama kissed my cheeks with glittering eyes. “Glowing.”
“Thank you.” I held her wrists, kissing her back.
“And you’re wearing pink.” Tierney’s grin was conspiratorial. “To a blue-themed party. That’s so…you.”
Luca, Achilles, and Enzo hugged me, too. Sofia and I rubbed each other’s bumps, giggling. It was the first time I saw a genuine smile on her face. I knew better than to think that smile was because Luca and she were doing better. She still lived in Chicago, and he still lived in New York.
Vello wasn’t in attendance. Mama said he was feeling unwell, and I didn’t push. Frankly, I felt more relaxed without him being around.
There was food, cupcakes, virgin cocktails, laughter, and a game of trivia.
Mama brought out the big guns at some point.
Thick, dusty photo albums of me as a baby.
I held my breath the entire time Tiernan and Tierney examined them, knowing their infancy did not include baby pictures, smash cakes, colorful bikes, and Barbie-themed Band-Aids.
At some point, I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom.
Peeing every ten minutes was the unfortunate by-product of having a six-pound human using your bladder as a pillow.
I slipped into the restroom, did my business, and washed my hands.
When I got out, I saw Achilles and Tierney huddled in a darkened corner of the hallway.
I froze. She was pressed against the wall, him crowding her, his arms on either side of her shoulders.
It was the first time he paid her attention all evening.
He’d refused to look her way the entire evening.
I suspected it had something to do with the revelation she’d been sleeping with Angelo.
It was hard to think of Achilles as heartbroken.
Then again, his behavior had always been so weird around her.
Stepping back behind the door, I studied them, waiting to see if Tierney needed any help.
I loved my brother, but I was fully prepared to jump to my sister-in-law’s defense and protect her.
“Did you touch my mistress?” Achilles’s face gave away nothing.
“Hmm.” Tierney yawned in his face provocatively. “Which one?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Tierney.”
“Honey, don’t you worry your ugly head about that. I’ll never fuck you.”
I pressed my lips to suppress a giggle.
“I only have one. Tessa.” The corded muscles in his tanned arms flexed.
He looked like he was trying his best not to touch her and losing his control rapidly.
Every hair on my body stood on end. I really didn’t want to smash something on his head but could see it happening if things went south.
“She says her legs were broken with a baseball bat.”
“You mean, she can’t open them for you anymore?” Tierney clutched her choker in mock horror. She laughed, patting his shoulder good-naturedly. “Oh, come, Achilles. I’m harmless enough. The only thing I’ve ever killed is a sourdough starter.”
Achilles obviously wasn’t buying it.
“Did you do it yourself or send someone else?” he asked.
“I’m a hardworking gal.” She flipped her hair to one shoulder. “If I want to get something done, I always do it myself.”
“Thought you said you’d never hurt another woman.”
“That woman has a rap sheet a mile long,” Tierney quipped. “Have you read it?”
“No.”
“She’s not exactly a symbol of feminism. Child abandonment, child neglect, solicitation, statutory rape of a seventeen-year-old boy…” She listed the colorful past of my brother’s mistress. “Honestly? She’s lucky I stopped at her legs. That neck was sooo squeezable.”
Achilles’s mask slipped, and a flash of surprise crossed his face. A rarity in itself. “Didn’t know all that.”
“Even if you did, it wouldn’t have made any difference to you.” She shrugged.
He didn’t deny it. “This was your payback for Angelo.”
“If I can’t get some, Ferrante, then neither can you.”
“Listen carefully now, piccola fiamma.” He snatched her jaw, making her meet his eyes. “You’re making one fatal mistake after another. Don’t push my limits. That self-destruction button of yours will get you killed one day, sweetheart. And I just might do the honor.”
Unable to stomach any more of this, I stepped out of the bathroom and cleared my throat, making myself known. Both their gazes fluttered to me. Achilles stepped back, sneering at Tierney like she was garbage.
“Your little friend saved the day.” He rearranged the choker around her neck gently, without touching her skin. “I’m watching you, Tierney.”
“Keep looking, asshole.” She smiled serenely. “Because that’s all you’ll do when it comes to me.”
“You okay?” I asked verbally, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She nodded, putting on a brave smile, but the light in her eyes was gone.
“Me? Oh, grand. Don’t worry about me at all. What about you? Having fun?”
I nodded.
“Great. That’s all I needed to know.”
_______
When we got to the gift portion of the event, worry began nibbling at the corners of my gut.
Imma gifted me the most beautiful changing table, powder blue and carved lavishly, but it was ginormous and would never fit into our bedroom, unless we removed a few pieces of furniture.
Mama bought the baby a SNOO.
Luca and Sofia gifted us a bougie designer stroller, a baby tub, and a car seat.
Achilles and Enzo contributed a bunch of toys and the rocker I’d put on my registry.
Tierney, an entire wardrobe of designer onesies and extravagant Burberry and Gucci baby blankets.
While I appreciated everything, we simply didn’t have space for all these things. I already knew I’d have to send Imma back to live with my parents, since there weren’t enough bedrooms in the apartment.
I suppose I didn’t really need my vanity…or my walk-in closet. My clothes could fit into some drawers, and I could convert the closet into a space for the baby’s changing table and clothes.
An hour later, Tiernan and I got into the car and made our way to the apartment. I continued trying to shift things around in my head to accommodate our growing family. Maybe we could keep the stroller in the communal hallway? I was sure Tierney wouldn’t mind.
But the truth was, squeezing things into our apartment was the least of my worries. We lived above a crowded pub. Surely, the constant hustle and bustle would wake the baby. And how was I to take him for strolls when we needed fresh air? We lived in an unsafe neighborhood.
“I’m sorry I didn’t give you anything for your baby shower.” Tiernan snatched me out of my own thoughts.
“Please don’t be.” I shook my head. “We’ve both had so much on our minds lately.”
“I did get you something small.” He reached across the central console, took my hand, and pressed my knuckles to his lips. “I hope you like it,” he murmured into my skin.
“I’m sure I will.”
“Mind if we make a pit stop to see it? It’s just around the corner.”
“Not at all. I’m all yours.”
In every single way possible.
We drove from Massapequa to Huntington in silence. I drummed my fingers on my thigh, feeling the baby readjusting inside my tummy. It had become unbearably uncomfortable for both of us lately.