Chapter 23 #2
I’d never seen this woman vulnerable. Now she cried over the idea of a daughter. “Have you always wanted a daughter?” I probed, hoping she’d tell me more. Thank goodness, she offered a small smile. For the first time, I felt something akin to warmth in my mother-in-law’s presence.
“Yes.” She released a breathy laugh. “Even though I had two boys, I desired a girl. Once, when Enzo was a baby, I was even tempted to put him in a dress since I’d bought so much pink, hoping for a girl.”
I waggled my brows. “I have a few dresses he ordered in the wrong size… we can make him wear them, if you’d like.”
Her lips twitched, a clear struggle, but her laughter burst out in a snort. “He’d kill us both, Gemma.”
The sound of our chuckles filled the room, a balm to my soul. I’d missed this. The amount of times Mum and I would paint each other’s nails and laugh about silly topics… It was nice sharing this again, even with my unloving mother-in-law.
Carina’s laughter died, almost abruptly, her usually guarded self reasserting with a sharp clearing of her throat and her lips pressing into a firm line.
I winced. She’d shut back down. The almost-moment… gone. No. I couldn’t lose her now, not when I’d made progress. I shrugged and continued the second coat on her pinky. “How come you never tried for a girl?”
Her smile faded. “I’d been five months along when I learned I carried a girl.”
The weight of her words hit. I swallowed and set aside the nail polish. Carefully, I examined Carina’s grief-stricken face. “What happened to her?”
Another tear traced a path down her cheek. “I miscarried the day I learned Lorenzo committed suicide.” She shrugged, the act weak. “The grief was too much to bear. My body succumbed to the stress. My tiny daughter did, too.”
Tears now burned my eyes. The pain she endured…. “You really loved him, didn’t you?”
She sucked in a breath, the sound painful.
“We fell in love the instant we saw each other. He differed from my world, and I from his. Somehow, against all odds, we found a way to be together.” She shook her head as if the concept haunted her.
“I gave up my entire world for him… and in the end, he gave up on me.”
She left her criminal family, disobeyed her father’s wishes to marry another made man, all for Lorenzo.
She left her old life behind and handed everything to this man who broke her heart to the point the pain still defined her.
If she’d healed, there’d be no need to seek revenge.
She lost her husband and her unborn child in one day.
No wonder she hated my mother. “Why’d you wait so long?
Your father was a powerful don—why not exact revenge on my mother years ago? ” Not complaining. Just curious.
“I wanted to…” She bit her lip and eyed me. “Once I learned Elisabetta gave birth to you.”
“Me?” So I inspired her revenge?
“How could a woman like her be given a daughter, yet mine died before ever taking her first breath? I called my father and begged him to help me, but he refused. Since I defied his wishes long ago and chose Lorenzo, he said I deserved my fate for dishonoring him. He’d even removed the hit he had on me.
He saw my own suffering as worse than death. ”
Good grief. What kind of father wanted his child to suffer more than death itself?
Had anyone in Carina’s family ever shown her love with even a shred of tenderness?
No wonder she owned a heart of ice. In her eyes, my mother bore the daughter she always wanted.
Oh, how the news of my birth must have stung.
Carina let the pain fester too, waiting for her sons to grow into men, so she’d handle me as a bonus in her personal vendetta.
“I could be your daughter.” What made me say those words, I had no idea, but I meant them.
I wanted her to experience the bond she’d been robbed of, the friendship…
“Truly, Carina.” I gripped her hands in her lap, squeezing.
“If you give me a chance, I could be like a daughter to you.”
Her eyes shimmered with something unrecognizable, hope perhaps.
Then darkness shadowed her features, leaving the hard mask she wore so well.
She studied me with a chilling intensity.
“You think it’s that easy?” She brushed away my hand.
A cold rejection. “You believe you can simply replace the life I lost?” She let out a short, humorless laugh.
“Don’t be ridiculous. This is a game, and you’re a pawn. Don’t confuse it with anything else.”
For the first time since arriving here, I pitied Carina Calafiore. But pity wouldn’t save me. And if I didn’t keep my promise to Nicolo, he’d come back to finish the job. “So, does that mean you haven’t thought more about what we discussed? Ending this feud between the Calafiores and the De Lucas?”
For weeks, I’d been wrestling with this information, not sure whether or not to tell Enzo. I hated keeping secrets, but I’d seen how he retaliated with Franco and feared what he might do concerning the De Lucas.
She blinked out of her trance. “Why do you keep on insisting?”
I drew a breath, straightening my shoulders and choosing my next words carefully. “Give Nicolo back the ring. End this war before someone gets hurt.”
She avoided my eyes and twisted the material of her skirt in her lap. “I’m handling it.”
Was she considering returning the ring? Oh, please God. “What do you mean?”
Her sharp gaze found mine. “Tommaso and I have already arranged something. Like I said, I’m handling it.
” She stood from the chair, her gaze sweeping over the basins and nail polish.
“Clean up this mess.” A hint of softness colored the command, a far cry from her usual sharp rebukes.
Her posture straightened as she stalked out of the room.
I blinked, my gaze falling to the little setup I organized. Could that have been her way of saying thanks? A smile stretched across my face. Was I making progress with Carina?
I tidied the kitchen and headed outside for a stroll in the garden to clear my head. Lupo and Fico trotted alongside me, keeping me company. As I neared the front of the house, one guard, the same one who always manned the entry gates, jogged up the driveway.
“Morning, Mrs. Cammarata.” He held a small stack of mail in his hand.
“Good morning.” I pointed to the mail. “I’m about to head inside. I can bring those in for you.”
His face softened in relief. “ Grazie .”
I took the pile, waved him goodbye, and climbed the stairs.
Fico’s wet nose nudged my ankle. My foot caught the edge of the step, pitching me off balance as the mail scattered across the floor with a soft thud.
“Oh, Fico. Really? Were you hoping for one last pet before I left?” I scratched him behind his ear, causing his tongue to flop out. Satisfied, the two dogs bolted off.
Collecting the strewn letters, I paused.
One letter bore my name in an elegant scrawl.
I flipped it over. No return address. Slipping the letter beneath my thin cardigan, I entered the house, deposited the remaining mail onto the foyer table, and raced to my room.
I sat on the edge of the bed and tore into the envelope without delay.
Deal’s done. You were useful, after all.
N.
P.S.: Tell that husband of yours to buy you a phone. Letters are so archaic.
I pressed the letter to my chest, a wave of relief washing over me. So Carina had given him the ring. Nicolo would leave us alone from now on. It was over. This day couldn’t get any better.