Chapter 43
Bella
The sunlight is warm on my face as Kaiser drives me through the countryside. He holds my hand in between shifting gears.
The wedding is tomorrow. My friends are going to be my bridesmaids. Honey is excited, and so is Elodie. Raine’s stepbrother agreed that she could come, as long as he was invited, too.
Kaiser and I even went to marriage counseling one last time. One thing led to another, and Kaiser and I started making out on the couch, and Father Francis had to leave the room.
We’re all set for the ceremony at St. Xavier’s. There’s just one more thing I need to do.
“Turn here,” I say, pointing to a small dirt road between overgrown fields.
Kaiser obliges, and we roll down the long, winding road. He slows the Jeep so we don’t kick up too much dust.
Finally, we come to a sprawling white farmhouse with peeling paint.
“Is this it?” Kaiser asks.
“Yep.” I point to a sign that’s hidden behind stalks of goldenrod and half swallowed up by morning glory vines. It reads Flowerwood. My mother’s family farm.
It should be mine now, but my father didn’t include it in the inheritance paperwork. I know he’s here, hiding out.
I jump out of the Jeep before Kaiser can initiate the child locks. “Be right back.”
“Bella—” he shouts after me, but I’m already running down the lane.
“I’m just going to see Papa!” I shout over my shoulder. “I’ll be fine.” I dart off the path and take the shortcut through the orchard. Kaiser will still chase me, but this will buy me some time.
The old barn looks just like I remember.
Red with a gray tin roof and Virginia creeper running up the side.
But it also looks smaller. Papa is there, not inside working in the lab like I expected, but outside with a gardening hat and gloves on.
Weeding the garden, like he used to do back when Mom was alive.
He straightens, plucking a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe sweat off his face.
“Papa,” I call, out of breath.
“Bella.” He looks so shocked, and I can’t help it. I run right up to him but stop before I can throw my arms around him. I want to. One of these days, I’m going to hug him whether he likes it or not. “You’re here.”
“I fought the Vesuvios. Hand-to-hand combat. I won,” I say in a rush.
His eyes widen.
“It’s all fine. Dominus wants war, but his forces are decimated.
If he tries anything, Fraternitas can defeat him.
Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I’m getting married.
To Kaiser. Because I want to. And I want Mom’s ring.
” I bite my lip, afraid to ask. “Please say you have it. Please say you didn’t throw it away. ”
He looks like I’ve struck him. Then, slowly, he reaches into his shirt and draws out a long chain. At the end are two plain gold bands. His and hers.
“You have them both,” I say. “I thought…” I stop before I say I thought you didn’t want them anymore. But obviously, he held onto them. He’s been wearing them on a chain around his neck.
He undoes the chain and starts sliding the smaller ring off. He pauses a moment when it’s free. I get the sense that he’s reluctant to let go.
All this time, I thought he wanted to forget my mother, but her wedding ring has rested next to his heart since he took it off.
“Wait,” I say. “You can keep it—”
“No,” Papa says softly. He’s so quiet, but there’s a load of emotion in his voice if I listen closely. “She would’ve wanted you to have it.” He holds out my mother’s ring and places it onto my upturned palm. I close my fingers around it, and a tremor runs through me. I slip it into my pocket.
“So you’re getting married.”
“Yes. It’s my choice this time.” Kaiser made sure of that. I realize now that my dad was terrified of my supervillain tendencies. He did everything he could to get me under control, and when that didn’t work, he made sure Fraternitas would protect me.
He did it out of love. As fucked up as that is.
Feeling bolder, I say, “I want you to walk me down the aisle. It’s a private ceremony, but no one has to know you’re still alive. You can wear a mask—except that Fraternitas kind of already knows you’re alive…” I’m about to apologize for telling his secret when he responds.
“I don’t know if I deserve that.”
The sadness in his voice rocks me back on my heels.
“You don’t. But I forgive you. And I want you by my side.” I take a deep breath and say the magic words. “It’s what Mom would’ve wanted.”
Papa hangs his head. I’ve never seen him cry. Not in all those horrible years after. But tears run down his face now.
Mine too.
My arms ache to reach out and hug him, but I just sniffle and say, “I want you in my life, Papa. I know it’s hard for you. I’m not the daughter you want me to be—”
“No, no. You’re everything. Everything she wanted. Everything she hoped for. I look at you and I see…”
Her. He looks at me and sees Mom. No wonder it was hard for him to be around me.
“She’s still with us, you know,” I say quietly. “I can feel her helping me. Watching over me. But I need you.” I take his hand. He doesn’t look at me, but he grasps my hand tight. “I need a father. As long as you’re still alive, I want you in my life. Will… will you hug me? Please?”
And then I’m in his arms. He’s holding me tight, like he’ll never let go. “My daughter, my belladonna. My flower. My beautiful flower.”
I don’t know how long we stand there, hugging. Long enough to release the pain of all the wasted years. When we break apart, I’m a mess of tears, and Papa’s collar is wet. Some of the grass stains on his clothes transferred to me. But I feel good. Lighter.
He straightens and studies me. “I’m glad you found me.”
“It wasn’t very hard. This was always your favorite home.” Even though we never came here after Mom died.
“It was a wedding gift. Your mother would want you to inherit it.”
I pluck a stray piece of grass off his shirt sleeve. “I think you should hang onto it. It’ll be good for you to live here, out of the city.”
“I thought so. I want you to know, Bella, I didn’t throw away anything of your mother’s. Everything of hers is yours if you want it.”
“Her paintings?” I remember the bare walls at the New Rome house. I was so devastated, thinking he had removed every trace of Mom from the place.
“I moved them here. All of her things, our photographs.”
“The money tree?”
“Of course. All her plants.”
I sigh, feeling relief. “I thought they were destroyed when you blew up the New Rome house.” He must have planned ahead. I’ll have to ask him to teach me to do that.
There’s a rustle in the bushes beside us. Kaiser is here, but he’s giving us a moment.
“Did you get the samples I sent?” my father asks in a soft voice only I can hear. I know he’s talking about the oxytocin packets. I guess they weren’t sent to me by accident.
“I did,” I say. “Turns out I didn’t need it. He loves me for me.”
“You’re all grown up.” Papa pats my back awkwardly. Maybe he’s just an awkward guy. He needs help with emotional stuff.
“Come on.” I twine my arm in Papa’s and lead him toward the house. “Let’s show Kaiser around. Kaiser, you can come out now!”
Kaiser stalks out of the brush. He’s got burs clinging to his pants and goldenrod pollen smudged on his face. There’s a morning glory tucked behind his ear, though, and I’d bet anything he put it there.
Sure enough, he pulls it out and hands it to me.
He and Papa nod to each other in silent greeting.
“I just got off the phone with St. James,” Kaiser says to Papa. “Someone poisoned Dominus Vesuvio.”
“Oh no, that’s awful,” I say without a trace of sympathy. “Who would do such a thing?”
“No one knows.” Both Kaiser and I look at my father.
“What a tragedy,” my father says with a straight face.
“How did he die?” I ask.
“He’s not dead yet. Just in incredible pain. Which is good, because we think he was about to move on us. Now he’s fighting for his life and might lose everything. If Dominus doesn’t defend his organization, the other families will move in.”
“Good.” I smile. Sounds like my father got his revenge.
“It’s more than he deserves,” Papa says. “Have you thought about an alliance with the Regis family?” He and Kaiser start talking strategy. Alliances and mafia families. Blah blah blah. Wake me when it’s time to poison someone.
We walk through my mother’s garden. The last of the summer roses are still blooming, the scent strong around us. Underneath an oak tree is a grove of lily of the valley. It’s not the right time for them to be blooming, but they are. The little white flowers are so lovely and delicate. And deadly.
I stop and stand under the oak tree for a moment, breathing in the sweet scent.
I reach into my pocket and take out my mother’s ring. I slip it on and it fits perfectly. I hold it up, letting it sparkle in the sunlight.
The wind picks up and rustles my hair. It swirls around me, and I smell a rich, floral perfume.
“Thanks, Mom,” I whisper, and follow my father and future husband into the house.