Chapter 11 #2
“Yeah.” Madison didn’t want to discuss her family life.
She never said anything to anyone else, but this time she wanted to share.
She wanted Dante to know more, and she wanted to unburden herself and find more out about Dante as well.
You couldn’t ask questions if you weren’t willing to give up some information yourself.
“Well, I grew up with my parents and older half-brother. I was a later-in-life baby for my dad since my older brother’s mom passed away due to breast cancer that hadn’t been caught in time.
My dad met my mom, and she didn’t think she would get pregnant and didn’t plan to have a kid, but here I am. I’m the oops baby.”
What had gotten into her? She had never shared with anyone. That knowledge didn’t stop her from continuing.
“As I got older, my mom got more jealous of the time my dad spent with me, so to make her happy he spent less time with me.”
“Your mom was worried you would like your dad more.”
“No, she was worried she would get less attention. So I spent a lot of time with my granny who was still young for her age since my mom wasn’t even in her thirties.”
“That must have been nice. None of my grandparents were alive when we were born.”
“It was nice. She taught me everything that I know. I know how to sew because of her and she inspired me to not just be a seamstress but to design my own clothes. It’s what pushed me to where I am now.”
“That is cool. It’s nice to have someone in your corner.”
“Yeah it was. She passed away from a sudden heart attack.”
“Oh no. I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand.
“It’s ok. It was a long time ago.”
“I’m sure she is watching over you.”
“I like to think that too.” She stared off to the side thinking how much she missed her granny.
“And you? Any siblings?”
“No. But Lucca, Enzo, and Gabe and I grew up together and were kind of raised like brothers.”
“Oh, that must be nice, and you guys are all the same age or close to it.” She didn’t even know how old he was. “My brother and I are ten years apart. So we haven’t been close up until his cancer diagnosis.”
“Yeah. Breast cancer, that must be hard.”
“Wait, how did you know?” She didn’t remember telling him, it was something she kept private because that’s what Henry wanted.
Breast cancer was still considered a woman’s disease.
She wished Henry wasn’t embarrassed by it and was an activist for it, using his platform of former pro baller to help other men get tested.
Dante’s face looked like a deer in the headlights. “Didn’t you tell me?”
“No.”
“I guess I just assumed because of his mother’s diagnosis.”
Madison didn’t believe him. Not that she didn’t think Dante was progressive, but many people didn’t know men could get breast cancer too.
She didn’t know why he would have come to that conclusion unless he knew more than what she was telling him.
He hadn’t seemed shocked with regards to anything that she had said.
“Did you have me investigated?”
The confirmation was on his face.
“I can’t believe you.” She pushed back from the table. “Why would you do that? What did you find out?”
“I wanted to know more.”
She stood up. “You could’ve asked.”
“This was right after we slept together. Enzo had told me you needed money bad, and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to scam me to get money if you were pregnant.”
That kind of made sense. She remembered when he came to her place, he had said he needed to protect himself, but she still had the air of being violated. How much did he know?
“I’m sorry, I know it was wrong and I should have told you once we were sleeping together on a more regular basis.”
“Is that why you made the exclusivity clause?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you think I was sleeping with someone else? I was a virgin when we slept together.” Madison walked away from the table. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to hit him, cry, leave, or do all three.
“I know, but I didn’t know you, and I had to be sure I knew what I was up against.”
What had he found out? But she didn’t want to discuss it anymore. It was already ruining what had been a pleasant day.
She knew they wouldn’t be together for much longer, so there was no point making a bigger deal out of it than they already had.
Dante stood and reached for her hand. “Can we start over?” He looked like he was repentant, and she was willing to move past it.
“You’re right, breast cancer is hard. He needs a kidney, and I’m a match so I’m going to give it to him once he is stable enough to go through the surgery.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? It’s a big deal to give an organ.”
“Of course I’m sure. I looked at all the options, and it’s what is best.”
“He must be lucky to have you.”
Madison didn’t think so. She could always be doing more than what she was doing. She agonized over never doing enough.
What about you and your cousins, are you all close in age?”
“Enzo is the oldest at thirty and then me and Lucca are twenty-eight and last is Gabe who is twenty-six.”
“Oh, that’s nice that you all are so close.
” She didn’t want to think of Enzo and what had happened when he came to her place.
She wasn’t sure if she should tell Dante, but she was worried he might not believe her, or worse it would cause a rift between the cousins, and she didn’t want that.
Besides, she didn’t want anything else to ruin the fun they were having.
“Does everyone work as a family?” Madison knew he mentioned il Signore was a family business.
“Yeah, I guess you could say yes, but I want to branch out. Do things in a different way than what we have been doing.”
“Oh wow. Change is hard. Is everyone taking it ok?”
“There is a snag in that I need to fix with some of my clients and the people we pay money to.”
Madison figured he was trying to get out of the protection money racket.
“And I guess some are harder to let go of than others.”
“Yeah, you could say that. I’ve changed a lot of things up. I have close to a month and a half left to finish cleaning up, and then I hope to move onto something else. I have something lined up.”
“That will be nice I guess. Is that what you want?”
“Yeah. I’ve looked to move in another direction since I hit college. It’s just taken me a while to execute it.”
“So what was the other direction you wanted to take? Where did you think you would be by now?”
“To be honest, married and with a few kids and working for my own company. You?”
Wow, Madison didn’t think Dante would see himself being married. He seemed afraid of commitment so to think he could see himself married was not expected at all.
Any hope of them maybe continuing on as they were was dashed. Had there been someone special that he had wanted to settle down with? Was that why he wasn’t married? Madison’s stomach was queasy.
“I think I’m where I want to be. Now in a year or five years that’s different. I hope to have won the competition and be working at Anastazia Stewart’s house of fashion and moving my way up the ranks and in five years My big hairy goal is to open my own fashion house.”
“Big hairy goal?”
“Like that thing that seems impossible, but you want it. Kind of like your biggest dream that is just shy of achievement. You have to push yourself to get it.”
“I like that idea. Then my big hairy goal would be to leave the, uh, family and do something above board on my own. And in five years I will open my own brokerage firm.”
“Sounds like we are both entrepreneurs and have pretty similar goals.”
“Yeah, you didn’t mention marriage.” Dante’s face looked hopeful.
“I hadn’t planned on getting married or having kids. Because of what it did to my mom and dad and to me, and I wouldn’t want that. My dad lost himself to whatever my mom wants to the point that he spent less time with me to please her.”
“From what I know, I don’t think that would happen.” Regret showed on his face.
“Maybe not. But I guess you could say at this moment I am unsure when it comes to marriage.” She wanted something permanent with Dante.
Something she hadn’t wanted before, but every minute that they spent together held more appeal.
Did they have to get married? Couldn’t things continue on how they were?
“I didn’t think you wanted to get married?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, with our arrangement and everything, I didn’t think you would be interested in anything serious.”
“I would for the right person. You? Would you get married for the right person?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, is there even a right person?
It’s not something I have focused on.” This whole conversation made Madison feel uncomfortable.
Dante would settle down for the right person, which it was clear it wasn’t her.
So even if there was a chance they continued as they were, there would always be the fear that he would meet someone else and end the arrangement.
She also didn’t believe Dante wouldn’t be able to handle it if they went full-on relationship. She knew it wasn’t what he wanted. At least not with her which made her heart squeeze.
“You don’t believe in soulmates?”
“No. I think a game is on. Do you want to go watch it?” Madison suggested.
Dante cocked his head to the side with a confused look on his face. “Sure.” He pushed back from the table. “Let’s clean up real quick, and then we can go catch the game.”
They worked side by side and then went into the living room.