Chapter 28
Lucrezia stretched on the couch, slowly blinking the sleep away.
She expected to see Romero there by her side but was saddened to see that he was gone.
Frowning, she swung her legs to the floor and stood upright.
Immediately, Lucrezia began feeling light-headed. Warm hands found her arm, stopping her from collapsing.
”Oh! Easy, honey! I”ve got you.”
Giulia”s voice reached her ears, and Lucrezia was comforted by a familiar face as she was sat back down on the couch.
”Unnhhh, I don”t know what’s wrong with me.”
She rubbed her temple, squeezing her eyes shut.
”You need to keep your strength up, here!”
She put a cup of tea in her shaky hands and fresh bread on a small plate by her side.
Lucrezia slowly sipped, coming back to herself.
”Where did Romero go?”
”He and Tony had something to handle out back, but they”ve been gone for a while. He wanted me to stay here with you.”
Giulia reassuringly rubbed her back, but it wasn”t hard to see her worry etched behind her kind face.
Lucrezia listened for any commotion, but the maids and other workers behind the doors just bustled about with their usual duties.
”Can I ask you something?” Lucrezia put down her tea and nibbled on her bread.
”Anything, sweetheart.” Giulia straightened.
”How did you handle being pregnant with Romero? Knowing that the second he took his first breath, the world would be a threat and there was very little you could do to shield him from it, especially once he was grown?”
Giulia”s shoulders rose and fell as she waited for Lucrezia to continue.
”This life is different, I know that, and I accept it. But Romero and I won”t live forever. Our children will follow his footsteps one day. This world gets crazier and crazier with each passing year. How do I come to terms with being unsure if the world we”re going to leave behind is a good place for these babies?”
Lucrezia felt herself getting emotional for maybe the thirtieth time that morning alone.
The questions didn”t stop there. She let every one of her deepest, darkest fears become known. And Giulia listened intently, taking her hand and patting it.
”Oh, honey. I wish I could tell you that the worries and anxiety quell with time and age. But I”ve found that they only grow.”
Lucrezia”s shoulders sank. That wasn”t what she wanted to hear.
”But I will tell you that you and my son”s situation is vastly different from my own. I was utterly alone when I was pregnant with him; his father was almost always absent. I had no family to speak of here. They were all back in Sicily. Once I stepped foot on that boat, I never saw them again. I talked to Romero in my belly every single day; I told him how loved and cherished he was. That I would do everything in my power to keep him safe.”
Small tears formed at the corners of her mother-in-law”s green eyes. They matched Romero”s perfectly.
”From the time he was a baby, I took it day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute. As he grew, and it became clearer that he would inherit this empire earlier than I would have liked, I had to face the reality head on that I couldn”t keep him attached to my skirts forever. He wasn”t too keen on that, either; he ran from me at nearly every opportunity he got so he could play or get into something he wasn”t supposed to.”
She began to laugh.
”One day when he was about six or seven, he was climbing a tree. I had told him not to hundreds of times, but he never listened because he wanted to get all the way to the top. Whenever he tried, he would get maybe a quarter of the way before falling. Then he made it halfway. I would catch him every time and grab him before he could go any further. So many people told me, ‘Leave him be, he”s just being a boy,’ but I was petrified of him hurting himself. Possibly to the point of stifling him.”
Lucrezia could visualize the scene perfectly with a young Romero. It made her smile.
”One day, we were in the yard together, and I was distracted for just thirty seconds. I turned my back to deal with it, and I heard him yelling. Sure enough, Romero had made it to the top of the tree and was so happy, he wanted me to see. He was swinging on the highest branch, and I nearly had a stroke right there.”
Lucrezia put a hand to her chest.
”So, you had to learn that he needed independence in order to grow and accomplish what he was born to do.”
”Yes, of course, after he fell and sprained his wrist. He barely made a peep, though. He dusted himself off and even tried climbing again. Romero was like that from the time he was born. If these babies are anything like him, they”ll climb that tree and make it to the top. Sure, they”ll hurt themselves, but it”s part of growing up. At some time, they”ll stand on their own two feet and make their own mistakes, meet their own challenges. Eventually, though, they”ll get there, and we as mother”s have to step back and let what will be...be.”
Giulia wiped a stray tear from Lucrezia”s cheek.
”But we”ll love them all the same. That never waivers.”
The French doors abruptly opened, and Romero burst through.
Lucrezia jumped up, wanting to run into his arms.
A man she hadn”t seen before was a few paces behind him, and she halted.
Giulia, however, immediately scowled.
”What is he doing here, Romero?”
She took Lucrezia”s hand protectively.
”It”s all right, Mother. Lucrezia, this is Luca Romano. An old childhood friend of mine.”
”And underboss of Salvatore Esposito Jr. Why is he here?” Giulia snapped.
Lucrezia backed away with her mother-in-law upon hearing that name. Why would Romero bring him in here?
She instinctively brought a hand to her swollen belly.
The man called Luca hesitantly stepped forward, patting his own torso down to show that he was unarmed. He even spun around to further prove it.
”Ma”am, Mrs. Mancini, I know you both have no reason to trust me right now. I wouldn”t trust me, either, knowing who I am and where I rank under Esposito. But I took a big risk coming here seeking Romero”s help.”
”Help with what? Why should we trust you?” Lucrezia suspiciously eyed him up and down.
Luca Romano and Romero looked at each other, both nodding.
Romero handed her and Giulia the folder, opening it and letting the contents slide out onto their hands.
After some minutes of scanning through the documents, Lucrezia looked up.
”I don”t understand. Are you...defecting, Mr. Romano?”
The man looked up as he pondered the word.
”If you want to call it that, then yes. I am. Esposito is out of hand. He”s losing his reason. I have grounds to overthrow him with your husband”s support.
Giulia, still suspicious, examined the documents more closely under her spectacles.
Lucrezia shielded her belly with her hands but approached the stranger.
”How exactly do you propose we do this, Mr. Romano?”