Chapter 22 #2
I collapse beside her, noting her amused expression. “Leo, I’m pretty sure the whole town knows I’m spoken for, with or without jewelry.”
I pretend to ponder her statement. “How about a forehead tattoo? That will tell everyone in neighboring towns that you’re off the market as well.”
“I didn’t date anyone when we weren’t together,” she points out, raising her head to rest against her bent arm. “What makes you think I’ll suddenly go after someone else now?”
“The tattoo won’t be for your benefit. It’ll be for everyone else.”
“How so?”
I lean forward and kiss her softly. “So I don’t have to kill anyone who talks to you. I know how to avoid jail, Ladybug. But my brothers will try to help, and at least one of them will break under the pressure. Luca doesn’t look good in orange.”
Ella lets out a loud cackle. “Why not Alex or Dom?”
“I highly doubt that Alex breaks. And if Dom did end up in prison, he’d make someone his bitch immediately.”
The following morning, under the guise of having breakfast with the kids, I drive all of us to my parent’s house.
“Leo, what are you doing?” Ella asks, panic evident in her tone. “No! I’m not ready. I need to put on better clothes, and bring your mom flowers, and get the kids cleaned up. This can’t happen right now!”
I look over at her outfit. She’s wearing shorts, flip flops, and another one of my old tee shirts.
Not a lick of makeup on her face, but she’s glowing.
She looks stunning, happy, and maybe a little bit deliciously fucked.
Whitley kept the kids all night, and I kept their aunt up all night.
I’m proud to say I’ve graduated well past the two-minute-man mark of the past.
“I think you look gorgeous.” Grabbing her hand, I bring it to my mouth, kissing it. “Besides, they want to know the real you. Not some perfect version of you. They’re going to accept Oliver and Violet as their own, and they won’t care what they’re wearing either.”
“Is it just them? Or your grandmother too?” she asks worriedly.
“Oh. Uh, pretty sure everyone will be there, actually,” I say nonchalantly.
“What?!?” she shouts, making Violet cry. Ella immediately unhooks her seatbelt to kneel on the seat and see into Violet’s rear-facing car seat. “I’m sorry, baby girl. It’s okay. Auntie Ella was being silly.”
“Mmm-mmm,” Violet says, and I watch in the rearview mirror as she reaches up to touch Ella’s face. “Mama. Mama.”
Ella gasps, then begins to cry as Oliver chimes in. “Can I call you Mama too?”
“You can if you want, buddy,” I answer, reaching to rub Ella’s neck as I pull into my parent’s driveway.
Seeing the number of cars on the street tells me everyone is already here, and I assume we were given an arrival time later than everyone else.
Can’t have the threshold performance if someone isn’t in attendance, I guess.
As I throw the car into park, I pull Ella into my arms. She blubbers into my shoulder about not replacing her sister, and how are we to explain the dynamic in our household once the new baby arrives. “If they want to call you Mama, let them. You are the mother figure in their lives, baby.”
“It feels like I’m somehow stealing her thunder,” she murmurs, raising her head to meet my gaze. “Like I’m taking over when she did all of the hard work.”
“I’m sure my parents will tell you that every stage of childhood involves hard work. Ember handled the first few years, and now we’ve got the rest. It doesn’t make you any less of a mother simply because you didn’t give birth to them.”
Her face screws up as she starts to cry earnestly. “That might be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me. Thank you.”
“I want to call you Mama, Auntie Ella,” Oliver announces. “I miss my Mommy, but she gave me to you, and so I want to call you Mama. She’s my Mommy, and you’re my Mama.”
Craning my head around to smile at my favorite four-year-old, I chuckle when he gives me a huge grin. “You’re pretty smart, kiddo.”
“It’s cuz I drinks all my milk,” he replies confidently.
“Must be. Ladybug, do you remember the deal with my parent’s front door?” I ask cautiously. Her eyes widen.
“I completely forgot about that! Do I have to carry you? I remember hearing about Gianna doing that with Travis.” Ella swipes hastily at her face to scrub away the tears, then takes a cleansing breath.
“No, it’s just the Santo kid that does the carrying. So you’re safe.”
She looks confused. “What is the problem with that? Surely all the guys managed it.”
“Alex and Dom didn’t, until they did it with Natalie and Kate.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
“So you carry me over, and then the whole family knows we’re soulmates? Does that mean they won’t give me any shit over the breakup?” she asks hopefully.
“I don’t know about that. There’s bound to be some ribbing from at least one of my siblings.” I give her a big smile. “Gia’s on your side, and I bet Ari and Belle will be too. My brothers will probably be dumbasses.”
Ella opens her mouth to reply, but stops when my door is pulled open with gusto. I turn to find Sebastian, his face tense. “Dude. Your brothers just found out your grandmother has been involved in all the stories on The Eagle Has Landed. You better get in there before Nonna murders one of them.”
“There’s no fucking way she’s involved! How can that — wait.” I pause, looking at Sebastian as I unbuckle my seatbelt and step out of the car. “Why would Nonna murder someone?”
Sebastian gives me a pointed look. “Have you met your grandmother? If anyone is getting hurt this morning, it’s one of your brothers. She will take them down, one by one, and still sit peacefully for brunch.”
“Leo, your grandmother scares me,” Ella whispers from beside the car as she takes Violet out of her car seat. “Are the kids safe here?”
I scoff. “No one is going to murder anyone. I think.”
I pull Oliver from his seat, then wait for Ella to round the car. Sliding my arm around her, we march toward the front door, where the majority of my family awaits. “Everyone still alive?”
“For the time being,” Dom says ominously. He looks back into the house, then back to us. “She ran off with Sebastian’s daughter. We can’t kill her in front of the kids.”
“She ran?” I ask.
He rolls his eyes. “Figure of speech. She ambled slowly with her walker, but conveniently kept Camila behind her so we couldn’t take her out.”
Our dad snickers. “She’s going to make you pay for those comments.”
Dom shrugs. “She literally had that website print a story that Katharine was cheating on me with my own brother. Nonna is lucky I didn’t smother her as soon as I saw her.”
“They printed my high school picture before anyone even knew I was with Luca,” Hannah comments.
“They’re the ones that busted my romance book club,” Isabella adds. “We had to shut it down because of too many people showing up uninvited.”
“I really miss that club,” Arianna says with a pout. “It made for great foreplay with all the phallic shaped items we’d make to go along with the book.”
“I could do without that being broadcast to your parents, Princess,” Stone mutters.
Dad groans. “I really don’t want to hear any of this.”
“The Eagle Has Landed is responsible for Abbie running away from home when an article hinted that Natalie and I were in trouble,” Alex growls.
Natalie pats him on the arm. “In their defense, we were in trouble.”
“The whole town didn’t need to know that, though,” he replies. “That stupid website has brought a lot of pain on all of us, and I’m really pissed that Nonna was involved.”
“Has she always been involved? When did the articles start? Does anyone know? All I can remember is it’s been quite some time,” Ella asks quietly.
When everyone turns to look at her, I notice she visibly shrinks against my side.
“I wonder if something was a catalyst. Like maybe the articles helped her cope, or gave her a purpose.”
We’re all silent as everyone thinks back to the beginning. The Eagle Has Landed used to be the town website, welcoming tourists and new residents with good information on amenities, restaurants, and special events. Then it suddenly turned, going full-on gossip site. But when?
My mom gasps. “Oh, no. It was right after Nonno passed away.”
My eyes flutter closed as I think back to that time.
Our grandfather, Nonno, was the perfect match for our grandmother.
He quietly brought her back down to earth when she was so busy reaching for the stars, she forgot to keep her feet on the ground.
They balanced each other incredibly well, because she brought him out of his shell.
When he passed after a long battle with cancer, we were all worried Nonna might die of a broken heart.
We’re all somber as we think back to that time.
Was that what kept her going? Helping someone — or a group of someones — write blind items and Santo-centered articles focused on gossip?
“I really hope this isn’t true, because if it is, I feel like we failed her.
We could have done a better job of helping her. ”
“How would we have helped her? We didn’t even know she was struggling,” Gianna interjects. “And everyone was so young. We wouldn’t have known how to help her. We were all just kids.”
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Dom says with a loud clap. “Carry your girl over the threshold so we can go yell at Nonna.”
I turn to Ella. “You ready for this?”
“Do I have a choice?” she asks quietly.
I lean down to kiss her temple. We’re crossing the threshold one way or another.
I don’t care if I have to catapult us through the doorway, then turn so I take the impact, but I’m getting us through there.
“Of course, Ladybug. This doesn’t actually impact us in any way.
I’ll give you a full disclaimer though: if we don’t at least attempt it, my siblings will bring it up incessantly. ”
“So, are you carrying me like a bride, a sack of potatoes, or can I climb on your back?”
“Whichever you’d like.”
Gianna squeals. “No one has tried the sack of potatoes technique before! You should totally go with that one.”
I look to Ella, and she shrugs. “Whatever gets this done the quickest.”
Gia takes Violet out of Ella’s arms, then ushers Oliver to head into the house.
Without a second thought, I bend down, grab Ella’s legs, then throw her over my shoulder.
Pain shoots through my injured calf, but I ignore it as I strut through the doorway.
I let Ella slide down my body as I set her feet back on the ground, then kiss her hard. “Told you it would be fine.”
“Am I allowed to say that your family is weird?” she asks in a teasing voice.
Stone walks by, slapping me on the shoulder. “I’ll add you to the spouse group chat here in a sec.”
“Me?” I ask, confused.
Stone stops, staring at me. “No, dummy. Her. We all married into this nonsense, so we need a non-Santo chat so we can complain without any of you hooligans chiming in.”
The Santo Curse Is Broken
For anyone not local to Eternity Springs, here’s a quick rundown of the curse called the Santo Threshold.
Eldest child Alex jokingly bestowed a curse on all the siblings, stating they had to carry their one true love over the threshold of their parents’ home.
After multiple attempts were made with zero success, the curse took hold.
Then Gianna Santo carried Travis Anderson across.
Luca Santo carried Hannah Beauregard.
Arianna Santo carried Stone Dixon.
Dominic Santo carried Kate Reynolds.
Alex Santo carried Natalie Jackson.
Isabella Santo carried Sebastian Garcia.
And now, finally,
Leo Santo carried Ella Langley.
Is the curse fully broken because all seven Santo children found their true loves? Or will the curse carry on to the next generation? No one knows, but we’ll be here to cover it when the first Santo grandchild finds love!