CHAPTER 12 #3
“Yeah,” I nodded. I gave him a nervous smile, then forced myself to lift my head and look around.
The kitchen I had walked into was large and modern.
The cabinets were a pale grey colour, high gloss with neat little round handles on them.
They lined the entire space on three sides, and the final side was a huge set of bi-folding doors that looked out over a small, grassed yard.
Light beamed in through the wide windows and flooded the modern room with brightness.
The cabinets were topped with dark wood counter tops that gave the entire space a warmer, more homely feel.
The floor was the same as that in the entrance way - polished, white marble - and that too shone.
In the centre sat the biggest central island I had ever seen.
On one side it seemed to be a work space for the kitchen, but around all three of the other sides sat tall, high backed stools that fit in perfectly with the aesthetic of the space.
Rafe had been sitting in one of the stools, and Dio was in another.
There was no sign of Arran, for which I was grateful.
I knew I’d have to face him eventually, but I’d happily put it off for as long as possible.
“I think you better hand her over before my Mum loses her shit, Rafe,” Dio laughed, and when I turned to look at him fully, I realised he wasn’t the only one in the kitchen.
Terza was standing in the corner behind Rafe and I, and she looked just as I remembered her.
She was dressed in dark trousers and a thick knitted sweater, just as she always used to in winter.
I wondered if her long floral dresses still came out in summer as I took her in.
She smiled and her blue eyes – so much like her son’s – filled with tears as she seemed to take me in too.
She had always seemed so tall when I was a child, but now I realised she was petite, slim, and standing just a few inches taller than my meagre height.
Her hair was cut short, just as it always had been, but there was a few grey hairs peppered through the dark brown tresses nowadays.
“Terza,” I squeaked emotionally as I finally broke down and fled from Rafe, right into her open and awaiting arms. She pulled me tight against her and I inhaled the perfect familiarity of her floral perfume, even that the same as I had always recalled it.
“Oh Cara. You’re home,” she sniffled. Her head was resting on top of mine and I could hear her whispering in Italian over and over again – “Grazie a Dio! Grazie a Dio!” Thank God.
And yes, I was aware that ‘Dio’ meant God, in Italian.
That wasn’t why I called Dario that though.
It was just the way I had been able to pronounce his name when I was tiny, and I’d never called him anything else since then.
Rafe and Dio used to joke about it when I was younger, but it never stopped me from calling him that.
It felt odd to call him anything else all those years ago, and it did right then too.
“I missed you,” I told her. She had been like a mother to me when I was younger.
Terza and Louise had been the only loving women we had ever known.
While Louise had been a lot like a cool older sister to us, Terza had been the one I had longed to be my mother.
Gia had even asked Rafe once if Terza could be our Mummy.
She had always been there for us, not just sheltering us from the worst parts of our life, but trying to make memories with us that would be good and happy.
Some of my best memories of my childhood were cooking with Terza.
“You have no idea how much you’ve been missed, sweet girl. We were all in a form of mourning, just waiting for you to come back to us,” she sniffled.
“I’m back now,” I tried to soothe her.
“You are, and you’re all grown up. Look at you! Such a beauty!” she told me, making me blush. “You’re too thin though. How long since you ate a decent home cooked meal?”
“Erm, a while, I guess,” I shrugged. I didn’t think it would do any good to tell her I hadn’t eaten a real home cooked meal since the last day she cooked it for me.
“We’ll fix that. Get you good and healthy in no time,” she told me as she released her hold on me and instead cupped my face between her hands. Her eyes locked on mine and she looked so filled with emotion I wasn’t sure what to do.
“Okay, Mum. How about you whip some breakfast up for Cara and let her breathe for a minute?” Dio cut in, his tone gentle and playful. I was grateful when she nodded. She leaned in and kissed the centre of my forehead, then released me completely.
“Yes, breakfast,” she exhaled as she swiped at her eyes and seemed to gather herself. “What would you like to eat, sweetie? Tell me what your favourite is nowadays.”
“I don’t usually eat breakfast, but honestly I eat anything. Whatever you have will be fine,” I answered hesitantly. It had been so long since anyone offered to do anything for me. It was overwhelming.
“I’m back!” I turned quickly and looked to the door with alarm as Callan burst through it violently, making it smash back into the wall with a crash.
“Fuck Cal! Where’s the bloody fire?” Rafe ground out, the whole thing having seemingly startled him too.
“Sorry. I just…I met Cara in the hall and she was cold. I was in a rush to bring her something warm to put on,” he shrugged.
He looked so sweet and innocent in that moment and I wondered to myself how old he was.
He looked older than me by a little, but the way he went slightly red as he spoke made him seem younger.
“You should have said, Piccola. We can turn up the central heating,” Dario told me as he got to his feet and went to a box on the wall, presumably to crank the heat.
“Didn’t Gia buy you any warmer clothes?” Rafe asked as he looked over my outfit with question.
“Here. Put these on for now,” Callan said as he came closer and handed me a thick green hooded sweater and some white, thick sports socks.
“Thanks. These are perfect,” I told him as I took the items and shrugged the sweater on quickly.
The kitchen was much colder than the rest of the house and I was feeling it.
The sweater was huge on me, coming down to almost my knees, but it felt soft and comfortable.
I rolled the long sleeves up to my wrists and instantly felt better covered up as I was.
I picked up the socks from where I had set them on the counter and looked for somewhere to perch while I pulled them on.
“Here, sit here,” Callan said, pulling a stool out in offering for me.
I smiled at him and went to climb into it.
It was too tall for me to simply lift into, so I had to set my foot on the rung that was half way up it and push myself up.
The second my butt was in the seat, Callan took the socks from my hand and bent down to a crouch.
“Oh no. You don’t need to…” I tried to argue, but Callan already had one of the socks gathered up in his hands and was pulling it onto my foot and up over my skinny jeans, bunching it a little on my leg so it didn’t reach my knee.
He made short work of pulling the second one on too, then he looked up at me with his wide smile firmly in place. He was adorable.
“Any better?” he asked.
“Much,” I nodded. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to wash them and get them back to you.”
“Keep them, gorgeous. They look much better on you anyway,” he threw me a wink that had me blushing furiously, then he stood and turned to Terza. “What’s cooking, good lookin’?” he asked playfully, and Terza burst out laughing.
“Nothin for you if you carry on like that, boy. Out of my kitchen!” she scolded him teasingly as she hit out at him.
“You’d never let me starve. I’m your favourite!” Callan defended himself as he stood holding his heart like she’d wounded him. It made me laugh out loud, and that actually startled me. How long had it been since I genuinely laughed like that? Too long.
My attention was pulled to Rafe as he came over and sat in the seat beside me.
“Are you feeling warmer?” he asked.
“Yeah. It was toasty upstairs. It just seems colder down here,” I tried to explain.
“We usually keep it cooler on the bottom two floors since most of us run warm most of the time. I’ll keep it warmer for you now that I know.” He assured ,me.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine when I wash my clothes and have a couple of sweaters to wear.”
“Is there something wrong with the clothes Gia bought for you, Cara?” he asked.
“I don’t think she knew my sizes. They’re too big,” I told him honestly.
“You’re sure?” he asked with some confusion in his face.
“I think so. I looked through everything,” I shrugged. “Gia probably assumed I’d be around her size, I suppose.”
“I thought you called Gia with the sizes you got from Cara’s old clothes at her apartment?” Rafe questioned as he looked over to the seat Dio had returned to.
“I did. She told me she wrote them all down,” Dio agreed.
“It’s fine, Rafe. I don’t need new stuff anyway. What I have is fine. I just need to do some laundry,” I assured him.
“Are the clothes in your closet mainly dresses and skirts? Bright colours?” Dio asked me, and I nodded.
“They’re really pretty, but they’re not really clothes I’d choose. Honestly, I’m happy in leggings or jeans, and a sweater.”
“And the shoes? They were too big too?” Dario pushed.
“She must have gotten mixed up with the sizing. Like I said, it’s fine, but you should definitely return it all, Rafe. It had to cost so much money,” I worried.
“What are you thinking?” Rafe asked, looking to Dio.
“That our precious little Gia went shopping for herself and put it in Cara’s wardrobe, assuming when none of it fit, she’d get her pick out of it,” Dio answered with a scowl.
“She wouldn’t. Not when she knew it was all for Cara,” Rafe denied.