7. The Line Where the Ocean Met the Sky
SEVEN
THE LINE WHERE THE OCEAN MET THE SKY
N adia woke up sometime in the middle of the night. She had always been a light sleeper, so when she heard a door opening, followed by footsteps padding down the hall, her curiosity had her getting out of bed and throwing on her robe.
As she passed the slightly ajar bedroom door, she instinctively knew which boy it probably belonged to and who was most likely still asleep, snoring on the other side of the other bedroom door.
Letting her feet take her to the bow, she followed her gut, heading to the front of the boat. It didn’t take long to find the one who had snuck out of his room.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked quietly over the ocean waves.
The back of the dirty blond hair just slightly shook. He hadn’t needed to turn his head to know who it was.
Not taking a step, she stared at the silhouette of the boy in the night. “Do you mind if I sit with you?” It was always important to ask for permission to talk with a troubled teen. Forcing your way in to understand them would never work.
“Sure,” he answered quietly.
Lightly stepping forward, she took a seat beside him on the deck of the boat, about a foot away from him.
Nadia didn’t look over at him just yet, let alone speak.
They both sat there quietly for what seemed like an eternal moment as they watched the front of the yacht slowly cut through the sea.
Sailing during the day was beautiful, but it was a whole different kind of beauty at night.
Up above held the most beautiful night sky that was filled with a billion twinkling lights, while below, the now dark ocean sparkled back with every wave that broke the salted water.
They went on forever like a perfect picture until the different yet mirroring views seemed to meet miles upon miles away.
Thinking back to when Dante had left the table, Nadia had wanted nothing more than to do what his father should have—comforted Leo. But before she could get a single word out, Leo had left the table, like his father had, leaving her with Amo.
They had followed to bed shortly after, retreating from the awkwardness of what had taken place, making Dante successful in ruining the night for everyone.
“So, your dad … he’s quite … intense, huh?” she asked delicately, beginning to probe.
“You mean an asshole?” he said the word she clearly hadn’t used. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“Has he always been like that?”
“Yes and no.” Sensing she didn’t quite understand, he elaborated, “We always knew our father was an asshole, but he changed when our mother died.”
Nadia had probably been in her early twenties when Dante’s wife had died.
Melissa Caruso’s blood that had been splattered across the grocery store parking lot, along with the bullet casings, hadn’t even been cleaned up when practically the whole city had found out about her gruesome death.
No one had even needed to ask how or why she had been murdered.
Everyone knew why … because she had married the most dangerous man in all of Kansas City.
Even though at the time, Nadia had known nothing about Dante nor his crime family, but she had been smart enough to know he had enemies. She just couldn’t believe she would get firsthand experience of the enemies he had attracted later in life.
“I’m sorry about your mother. I remember when it happened. All everyone ever said about her was how kind and beautiful she was.”
Leo, who had his arms resting on his bent knees, hugged them a little bit closer to himself. “I don’t have many memories left of her, but from what I remember, she really was.”
It hurt her heart to think how young Leo must’ve been when she had been murdered, but before she could express that to him, he stopped her. It was as if she had popped a cork on a shaken-up champagne bottle; his thoughts began to just bubble out.
“Losing her was harder on my older siblings, since they had spent more time with her. My brother, Lucca, took it the worst out of us kids, I think.”
All the things Nadia had heard about the oldest Caruso sibling had her intrigued to hopefully meet Lucca one day. She could only imagine how good of a person he must be.
“But, of course, none of us took it as hard as our father did.” Leo’s single blue eye hadn’t moved from the ocean view, but he appeared to be seeing a different scene in his mind. “None of us lost as much as he did that day.”
With her throat going dry at his words, she swallowed hard. He changed , she remembered the words Leo had just said moments ago.
Sensing her exact thoughts, he continued, “Dad was always intense, but not with her. With her … he was just happy. And I don’t think he’s been happy since.” Leo’s voice turned to a whisper. “Not even his own children make him happy anymore.”
Nadia finally turned her head to look at Leo. From this angle, he looked perfect, untouched, but she knew what the other side held. Her heart absolutely shattered for the boy who was clearly lost at sea.
“It is never a child’s job to make their parents happy. That was never yours, nor your siblings’, responsibility. Happiness is something Dante needs to not only find but to accept all on his own.”
She doubted the man who had almost everything couldn’t find happiness after all these years. It was something the mob boss was no longer accepting into his life.
“Do you understand?” she asked seriously as she fiercely stared at the boy.
She desperately wanted him to understand that not an ounce of his father’s happiness ever rested on his shoulders.
Hell, she didn’t want Leo to blame any misfortune of his life on himself.
“The life your father has chosen is his to make, and I’m sure your mother knew the risks as well.
But you, Leo … you haven’t chosen this life. ”
Slowly, Leo turned his head as a single tear spilled down his perfect cheek. “I can’t choose anything now. I’m stuck with this.”
Her eyes drifted to the left side of his face. She didn’t know what crept below that gauze, yet she knew it was as gruesome as the color of it now. His words might not have told her everything, but she understood enough.
“Don’t think, for one second, that having only one eye will hold you back from the life you want. There are people out there who have done extraordinary things who have lost both.”
Was Leo sighted? Yes. But would Leo ever look the same or be the same? No.
“That,” she said fiercely, nodding her head to his lost eye, “is simply a scar of where you came from, and don’t ever let that keep you from the life you deserve.”
Wiping his cheek with the back of his knuckle, he went to wipe his other cheek, only to remember that not only would a tear not be there but could never cross that cheek again.
“How would you know?” he asked harshly under his breath. He appeared to be breaking.
Nadia took no offense, knowing he was lashing out in the only way he could. So, she calmly took a deep breath, looking at the line where the ocean met the sky. It was a reminder that, even if you came from two worlds, you could always find a place where they came together.
“I don’t remember much of my mother, either.
I just remember I loved her so much. Like your mom, she was so kind and beautiful …
” She let her eyes drift to the dark sky, looking at a particular star that sparkled brighter than the others.
Knowing where the story was going didn’t make it hurt any less, even after all these years.
“She was murdered by my father when I was five, right before he took his own life.”
Leo slightly turned his head to look back at her. His eye had lost all tears, and the deep blue orb had turned stormy …
“It was a classic domestic abuse case,” she told him, continuing. “But since their arguments were always about my mother loving me more than him, I blamed myself for my mother’s death”—taking a moment, Nadia had to clear her throat for her confession—“for a long time.”
It was apparent in Leo’s intense eye that he was beginning to understand, as it was obvious he, too, wanted her to know that she couldn’t blame herself for her parents’ mistakes.
“I was put into the foster care system after that,” she announced, her tone changing from something heartbreaking to somber, like this part of her life, while tragic, wasn’t as horrific compared to losing her mother and being in a domestic violence home.
“And with every bad home I was put into, I ran. While every good home I was placed in, I managed to ruin because I didn’t believe I deserved happiness after what I had done. ”
“I’m sorry,” Leo finally managed to say with a slight flex of his jaw.
“It’s okay,” she told him, letting him see she was now content with her past. “My social worker was overworked and frustrated, so she sent me to check out this charity that was just starting up when I was thirteen. And when I got there”—a smile finally touched Nadia’s lips—“Anna took one look at me, and I swear she understood everything I had ever been through, right there.” The brighter tone carried on in her story as she found her happy ending.
“She got me into an amazing program where I got to go to a boarding school for free in St. Louis, and there I met my best friend, Haley. When I graduated, I came back to Kansas City and started working for Anna, because all I wanted was to help others like me.”
“And now?” he asked curiously, wanting to hear the rest. “Do you still work for Anna?”
“Unfortunately, she passed away last year … from cancer,” she told him, letting him know that, while she had gotten a happy ending from her past, it didn’t mean that there still weren’t bumps in the road in the future.
“But she left her charity, Moonbeam, to me, and I still get to help so many teens today.” Proud of what she had accomplished was an understatement.
Moonbeam, which had started out in the same building it was housed in today, was about to get an upgrade in their mission to help shelter even more at-risk teens, thanks to her and Haley.
“That’s why I’m stuck here.” She laughed.
“I met your father at his casino hotel for a meeting.”
“Did you get your donation?” he asked with a slight smile, knowing why she must’ve come.
“Oh, I got a bit more than that,” Nadia joked, looking at where she sat in the middle of the freaking ocean.
The two sat for a few more eternal moments under the moonlight, not needing to say another word. The hardest part had come, and now she had to wait, for not only when Leo was ready to talk, but if. It hurt to know he would have to come to her first, as all she had done was open the door.
Feeling like she had accomplished enough with Leo for one night, she stretched out the next few moments until she yawned then got to her feet.
“What do you say to getting some sleep? That way, we can spend the day resting in the sun tomorrow?” she asked with a smile while she held out her hand to help him up.
“Sounds good,” Leo told her after a few seconds before taking it. As he did so, both of them had a silent understanding that he was taking the helping hand not only literally but figuratively as well.
The walk back to the cabins below was spent silently between the two as they were careful to not wake anyone else on the boat. Whispering good night to the boy, she then opened the door to her room when she heard him speak.
“Nadia?”
Nadia turned her head to look at Leo, who stood down the hall just a bit outside of his door.
“Thank you.” He said the words so gratefully that it almost broke her.
She swallowed, hoping her voice didn’t come out hoarse from too much emotion. “You’re welcome.”
Watching him slip into his room, she slipped into her own and wiped away the tears that were able to fall upon both her cheeks. There was always that fear she had when she dealt with teens who had extreme cases …
Nadia just hoped she wasn’t too late.