Extended Epilogue
Sixteen Years Later
When I was young, the idea of someday having the perfect family felt like a dream so far out, I’d never be able to reach it no matter how far I stretched. My perception of family life was warped. The good, the bad, and the ugly somehow found a way to center around despair. Happiness was a fleeting dream, and sorrow was the norm.
And all it took to change that view of the world was a single night in a small town’s dive bar. That night, and of course, Luca Palermo.
I feel his hands wrap around my body before I realize he’s even in the kitchen with me. They settle over the swollen bump carrying our seventh child and rub gently. His sudden arrivals and soundless touches used to startle me, but in time I’ve gotten used to them.
Somehow, it’s the small gestures like these, those that have carried over since before I knew we were going to have Lucas, that enforce it in my mind that he still loves me more and more every day. It’s the way he smiles at me with a goofy grin that only grows wider with every day that passes from his old life. The way he clings to me like I’m the only life raft in the middle of an icy cold ocean. The way he stares at me with passion behind those eyes and a deep burning lust.
Hell, those eyes glow brighter when I’m pregnant.
“If I’m lucky, she’ll kick for me today,” he whispers the words against my head before pressing a gentle kiss against my hair. His voice sends a warm spike through my body that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. “She’s a stubborn one, but I will whittle her down.”
“Stubborn like her father,” I tease, giving him a side-eyed glance over my shoulder.
“You better believe it, baby.” Luca gives me another kiss, this time against my temple before reluctantly breaking his grip. He barely takes a step back, not wanting to leave my side further than he has to for me to continue chopping the vegetables for dinner.
“Is there anything I can do to help you out?” he asks, leaning into the counter. Tufts of gray line his jet-black hair, and a single strand runs down the right side of his beard. But even fine wine couldn’t age as well as my Luca. “You know you’re supposed to be taking it easy. The doctor said so.”
“It’s not my first rodeo, cowboy.” My eyes roll but I can’t help but smile. He’s been this way since Lucas was conceived. During the nine-month period, Luca does everything in his power to make me comfortable and safe. Like a Fabergé egg, too delicate to touch, yet always wants me to be on display. “Making food is hardly going to cause stress.”
“Yes, but you know I can do it too.”
“You’re good at putting buns in the oven.” I set the knife down on the counter and take his cheek in the palm of my hand. “But leave the cooking to the professionals.”
A cheeky grin cracks the corner of his lip. “Seven hardly seems like enough practice. By my estimation….” He checks an invisible watch on his wrist and mumbles fake math equations. “We’ll be able to go for another round in a month or so.”
“Mommy, mommy, mommy,” Brent, the youngest of our boys at seven years old, screams as he barrels into the kitchen. His clothes and blonde hair are coated in a thick layer of dust. “You wanna see something cool?”
“I’m looking at something cool,” I say, winking at Luca.
“No, it’s really cool. You gotta see it,” Brent whines, too young to understand the flirtation between his father and me.
Brent’s holding something in a balled fist at his side. The naughty smile on his face tells me it’s something I’m not really going to want to see, but I’ll do it for my boy.
“Let’s see it then,” Luca says.
Brent holds the fist out to his father, and Luca slides a flat palm underneath it. Releasing the content of his hands, three earthworms drop into Luca’s palm and wriggle around.
I scream, though quietly so as not to wake Naomi sleeping in her cot a room over. At one and a half, she’s been the easiest child to manage out of the lot when it comes to nap time. She seems to love her sleep as much as I do, but I wouldn’t want to risk disturbing it.
Brent bursts out laughing at my reaction. It’s what he wanted to see, just like his brothers who’ve pulled the same tricks through the years.
“Now do you want to see something reallycool?” Luca asks, eyes glued to the worms toppling over one another in search of soil.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Brent nods his head eagerly.
Luca lifts a single worm into the air, inspecting it as though it were some precious jewel.
“Yes, this one will do.” Luca holds it up by one end of the tail and raises it over his head. Tilting his head, he starts to lower the worm towards his mouth.
“Gross,” Brent exclaims, watching the worm disappear. “You just ate a worm. I’m gonna tell on you.”
Luca smiles, having pulled this trick on Brent’s brothers many times before.
“Come on, boy. Eat your worms, they’re good for you,” Luca says, grabbing another and holding it out.
Brent stares at the wriggling body with deep contemplation before shaking his head and running off. “Dad ate a worm. Dad ate a worm,” he sings while skipping through the halls back outside to join his siblings.
Luca grabs the worm he dropped on his shoulder and puts it back with the others before chucking them out of the kitchen window. A trick of the eye that’s helped by Luca’s towering size over the little ones below.
“Gotta do it to the girls soon. See how they like it,” he says, casting his eyes out to our children playing in the garden. Our older children are in the pool, while the youngsters have found their way into my flower bed for their archeological digs.
I throw an arm over Luca’s shoulder, standing on my tippy-toes to do so. “Like me, they’ll probably hate it.”
I can see it now, the same way I’ve seen it a thousand times before—Luca’s longing stare as he looks over at all his accomplishments. The fancy house, big garden, and rest of the belongings don’t seem to keep his eye for long.
But his children swell him with so much joy that on very rare occasions, I may have even noticed a twinkling tear in his eye.
“I love you so much, my little lamb,” he whispers the cracked words, pulling me tighter into his side.
“And I love you forever and for always, my mafia king. My gentle giant.”
THE END