Chapter 22 #2
“It was really nice of you to offer your kitchen,” I said to Maggie Beautiful as Carmen and Juliette took off. It seemed like Juliette was in the lead, and Maggie Beautiful cracked up, saying she had a reason to hightail it home. She suggested Carmen ask for a redo.
Maggie Beautiful sighed and looked at me, then started laughing again, even harder. “I don’t use the kitchen at all, Doll. Just ask Scarlett Gorgeous.”
“She does not, nor has she ever, used the kitchen,” Scarlett said. “I can attest to that.”
“Unless—” Maggie Beautiful held up her pointer finger, the color of her red nail polish reminding me of the famous color worn and designed by Monica Attigliano.
“You all right, Ari?” Scarlett asked.
I blinked at her, realizing she hardly missed anything.
I waved a hand. “Yeah,” was all I said, even though what I wanted to say was…
I was just recalling when one of the most famous faces in Italy exploded into our bedroom and told me to get out of our bed so she could have her way with my husband, who she had called her husband—yeah, eff off.
“—I’m making my famous candy bowls.”
Scarlett gagged, and Maggie Beautiful plucked her in the head. I fixed Scarlett’s hair after, because Maggie Beautiful had made it stand up. Maggie Beautiful laughed again and, stepping in between us, wrapped her arms around ours as we walked the “city” together.
Scarlett warned me about Maggie Beautiful’s candy dish and said I better take a dose of insulin beforehand, even if my pancreas was working fine. Maggie Beautiful called her dramatic in Italian, and then we all seemed to slow our steps by unspoken agreement when we heard dirt bikes in the distance.
“This property must be so deep,” I said. “I can’t see our men, but I can hear them. They must not be too close, though—the rev of the bikes is echoing.”
Scarlett sighed. “It’s deep enough to have a Fausti-built colosseum.”
“A colosseum?” I stood on my toes like I’d be able to see it for some reason. I lowered to my regular height when I realized it would take me climbing a mountain to see it.
“Not bad,” Scarlett said of my form. “You took ballet, right?”
“For a short time when I was really little,” I said. “I wasn’t all that great.” After the first couple of lessons, I gave up. Actually, I had cried not to go back. That was when I realized I’d rather shake my butt in time to the music instead of dancing on my feet to it.
Scarlett waved a hand. “No one is born great.”
“Except for you, my Scarlett Gorgeous,” Maggie Beautiful whispered, and even though Scarlett didn’t acknowledge what her mother-in-law had said, her cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink at the compliment.
Maggie Beautiful rested her head on Scarlett’s shoulder for a moment, then did the same to me. Her hair smelled sweet, probably like her candy bowls, but there was a hint of floral on her too. Maggie Beautiful was all soft and warm, nothing harsh about her, except for maybe the points of her nails.
“What’s the history on the colosseum?” I asked. “Has it always been here? A hidden one? Maybe one Rome rejected, and it came with the property?”
Scarlett kept her eyes forward, but in the moment, I had a feeling she wanted to send Maggie Beautiful a look, but she didn’t.
“It’s always been on this property, erected by the Fausti family. They use it for, er, their own personal reasons,” Scarlett said.
“One time, a lion escaped from its hold—Scarlett Gorgeous hypnotized it when it found her dancing in the snow,” Maggie Beautiful said.
“You did?” There was no denying the shock in my voice, and I could feel how wide my gaze was on her.
Scarlett grinned when she noticed my face. She shook her head. “All I did was show it respect. Love and respect.”
“Are there more lions?” I asked.
“No. They’re all back where they belong. In the wild.” This from Scarlett. She seemed satisfied at this. Then she brought up how Luca encouraged all the wives to find a charity they could represent. She said she felt strongly about championing the very animals that represented this family.
“That’s really cool,” I said. “I’d love to do something with children who have no one. Maybe even older people who have no one either.”
“I can sense that about you,” Maggie Beautiful said. “Maybe not a healer like our Tito, but a healer with your smile and warmth. You draw people in. Make their hearts and spirits feel safe. I’m touched, too, you know.” She tapped her temple.
“That’s really beautiful, Maggie Beautiful,” I whispered. “Thank you.”
“You should do those things,” Scarlett said. “I’m sure Luca will love you taking the initiative. And as the future queen of this family, I’m sure Italy will think it’s wonderful too.”
“I’d do it because I love it,” I whispered, “not for approval.”
Ermanno zipped in front of us. His breathing was labored, but he didn’t tire easy.
He had been behind us, talking to one of the younger soldiers, and he must’ve realized how far ahead I’d gotten.
He always wanted to stay close. He gave us his best smile and fixed his hair as he walked backward for a second.
“You are so handsome, Ermanno,” Maggie Beautiful said to him. “You’re going to break so many hearts. Isn’t he, dolls?”
Scarlett and I both agreed, and Ermanno’s cheeks turned cherry red before he turned and started walking ahead of us, his shoulders squared.
The three of us looked at each other and grinned.
No one was better for his ego than Maggie Beautiful.
As she did with all her grandsons, she made over Ermanno too. Shorty was likable.
“I have to say,” I whispered, “I made a good impression on Luca on the island. I’m not sure that impression lasted.”
Maggie Beautiful stopped walking, and Scarlett and I paused with her.
“Why do you say that, doll?”
Scarlett fixed her with a look, though Maggie Beautiful was looking at me. “Tell her, Maggie.”
“You know why Luca doesn’t care for me anymore?” I asked.
“He does,” Maggie Beautiful said, “care for you. It’s just that…well, I asked something of him, and ever since, he’s been…paranoid.”
“You’re not sick then?” I glanced at Scarlett, and then my attention went back to Maggie Beautiful.
She shrugged. “I haven’t been feeling all that well, and yes, before you lecture me like my daughter did—” she narrowed her eyes at Scarlett “—I’m going to get checked out.
My history—” she motioned to her breasts “—demands it. But.” She tapped her front tooth.
“I hate how this family is always going for the throat of other family members. I get it when it’s other branches.
“Sometimes they just like to cause trouble, I think, but…I can’t stand the thought of Brando at war with Rocco, or one of my grandsons at war with another.
It chills me to the bone. I’m not the favorite queen of the Fausti family, since my husband was married when he met me—an arranged marriage, like the one your husband had, but that’s neither here nor there. ” She waved a hand.
“What I’m meaning to say is this…I’m not favored, but I still carry favor with my husband.
One of my rights as his wife is to request something from him.
My mother-in-law, the late Grazia Angeli, asked Marzio to stop the fights in the colosseum and among our line.
This is why it was a race between Brando and Rocco and not swords when they first met.
My husband brought swords back. That’s his right.
I don’t want them either. I don’t want any man of the same blood to be able to shed the blood he shares. I want all the challenges to stop.”
My hand went out to Maggie Beautiful’s arm. The thousands of dollars’ worth of bracelets and rings she wore hit the light and glinted. “That’s an amazing thing to ask, but I don’t understand why Luca would take that out on me. I’m not asking.”
Maggie Beautiful looked at Scarlett, and Scarlett nodded to her. It was an encouraging move.
Maggie Beautiful sighed. “It’s not that simple. The request usually comes on the death bed. I don’t want to leave anything to chance.”
“Since you haven’t been feeling good,” I summed up.
“Yeah. Who knows what can happen tomorrow? One minute you’re here—” she snapped her fingers “—the next you’re gone.
I don’t want to spend eternity rolling over, fraught with anxiety, knowing there’s a chance one of the men I love could kill another man I love, or someone like that dope, Francesco, could seriously wound one of my men by underhanded moves. ”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
Maggie Beautiful took my hand and squeezed.
“My husband is trying to wrangle the future,” she said, her gorgeous hazel eyes, a different color than mine, holding a sincere apology.
For the first time, I noticed, or maybe felt, a weight that I hadn’t before.
“He’s attempting to predict it. He thinks me asking for this…
favor means I’m dying. No matter how many times I remind him we’re all dying, he’s…
paranoid now that my days are numbered. There’s nothing worse for a Fausti man, if his love is great, to lose his wife first.”
“Aunt Lola,” I barely got out.
Maggie Beautiful nodded. “A reminder of fate, and how out of control these men are when it comes to the women they love. Life will be life—even stronger than a Fausti.”
“The thing is,” Scarlett chimed in, “lately…I feel out of sorts. Broken. When it comes to…whatever it is that makes me feel. Maybe it’s a gift from above—not being able to feel everything has made me more comfortable—but on the other hand, I’m more paranoid too.
What if I should be feeling something? All this time, even if I struggled with figuring out what was going on, I felt so much, and now…
” She snapped her fingers. “Just about gone. The feelings come and go in huge waves.”
“Yeah, unless it comes to Brando,” Maggie Beautiful said.
“That’s true,” she whispered. “My connection to him hasn’t lessened at all.”
“Maybe it’s menopause,” Maggie Beautiful said.
“It can change all sorts of things. I was reading an article about a best-selling author the other day. Her fans were wondering why she just stopped writing. She said when menopause hit her, it just about erased all her creativity. That must be so awful.”
“Perhaps.” Scarlett shook her head. “But Luca isn’t looking to me for answers like he was before.”
“And Eva, that gorgeous woman, hasn’t had any dreams.”
They both looked at me.
“That leaves me,” I whispered. “He thinks I’ll be able to foretell the future for him—or warn him if something feels off.”
Scarlett nodded.
Maggie Beautiful squeezed my hand. “I’m going to get checked out. That way we know for sure.”
“Still,” Scarlett said, “life is not guaranteed. When you asked him for the favor, it made him superstitious. Like you asking called forward something dark.”
My eyes locked in the distance, on Ermanno, who was staring at me.
I couldn’t seem to look away. It wasn’t him I was seeing, but a future that seemed more uncertain than ever.
“It won’t make a difference,” I whispered to Maggie Beautiful.
“Scarlett’s right. Your request of him, plus what happened with Aunt Lola and how Uncle Tito is doing…
your husband is going to want answers. If Scarlett can’t feel and Eva is dreamless…
that leaves me. The thing is, though, I haven’t had the urge to write.
And that’s how I usually work my feelings out.
I found that out for sure on the island. ”
No one said anything, and then I grasped Maggie Beautiful’s hand.
“Is it true…do you think Luca would…help Uncle Tito get home to Aunt Lola?”
I could feel her stare on my face, and finally, I met her eyes. They were glossy with tears.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I do. It would be what Tito wanted. And one thing I know for sure: when Luca feels an action is worth the cause, he’ll do it without flinching, because he believes in it.”
So that meant, if he’d be willing to do that for Uncle Tito, he’d expect someone to be willing to do that for him, if his wife left him first. Maybe Scarlett couldn’t “feel” like she had before, but we both shivered at the same time, knowing wherever we were headed wasn’t going to be an easy path.
Not when Luca was possessed by the thought of his wife leaving him.
“Are you all right, Signora Fausti?”
My eyes dropped down to Ermanno, who looked like he might run and tell Rocco there was a problem. I wrapped myself up tighter in my soft sweater and plastered on a fake smile. Scarlett and Maggie Beautiful did the same.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice the only thing betraying me. It cracked. “Just thinking about that road up ahead.” I nodded to it.
It was rough looking terrain. We were close to the outskirts of the property. The closer to it, the wilder it became.
“Let’s go the other way, then,” Maggie Beautiful said, turning his shoulders around. “No use in making our life harder than it already is.” She sighed. “Candy bowls for everyone when we get back to Ari and Rocco’s place!”
The only one who cheered was Ermanno.