“Then why do I feel like I’m making a mistake?”
Tenderly she frames my face in her hands. She forces me to look in her eyes. “Since you were a wee girl you always cared for others more than yourself. Your heart is big. Soft. But I’m telling you this now, Imogen, you are not wrong nor making a mistake for putting your feelings first. As your ma all I want is to see you happy. And my sweet deary girl, it would kill me everyday to see you in misery for marrying a man that your heart had no choice in the matter.”
I throw my arms around her, enveloping her in a hug that is both filled with love and sorrow. Her arms clutch around me. And I know in my heart despite her claims she’s afraid to let me go.
“I love you, ma.”
“I love you, too.”
We cling to each other tighter. “I’m going to miss you.”
She kisses my cheek. “I’m going to miss you every second of every day. But I’ll always be with you. In your heart I’ll forever be. And I’m just one burner phone call away.”
“Will pa hurt you when I become a runaway bride?” I hate to even ask the question but I worry about what will become of mawhen pa won’t have his heir. I’ve never seen him raise a hand at her in my life but I question nonetheless.
“No, sweet girl. As far as he’s concerned I had no clue of your intentions.”
“But he knows I tell you everything,” I argue.
Ma is the person I go to for everything. I can always talk to her or tell her about something that has happened without fear or judgment. We’ve always had a great relationship with communication. I’m fortunate. So very fortunate to find a safe place in my ma. It’s why she knows I lost my virginity at nineteen and not pa. Why I took upon self defense and gun training on my own. It was never extracurriculars at college like pa believed. Ma knew the truth.
She winks at me. “Except for this. I’ll protect you. This secret stays with us.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Don’t say that. Every daughter deserves a loving and understanding ma. And I am blessed to have a loving and beautiful daughter.”
I smile at that. “You’re making it harder on me to flee, you know?”
She laughs lightly and jokes, “Well, I can’t make it too easy on you, can I?”
Wrapping her back in my arms I whisper with so much gratitude, “Thank you.”
She kisses my temporal before clutching me tighter. “You never have to thank me.”
I hold on to ma as long as I can because I know this may be the final time before I make my escape.
CHAPTER 3
Rico
“You’re sending Pietro with me and not Gino?” I ask Constantine dryly. From my peripheral vision I can see the cheeky bastard wink with a shit eating grin. This supposedly three day trip is going to feel more like three months.
Constantine’s lips twitch and if I didn’t know better I would think that he’s either playing a cruel joke or punishing me. “Pietro has been chomping at the bit for some excitement. This will be good for him. And you.”
“I’m failing to see how this will be good for me.” The comment may seem harsh but my tone isn’t. It’s apathetic.
Pietro, however, feigns offense by dramatically inhaling a sharp breath and placing a hand over his heart.
Always the jester and I’m never entertained.
“I can’t believe this,” he says dramatically as I mentally prepare myself for this performance to be over. “You’re showing favoritism, which I didn’t even think you were capable of, and for Gino? No offense to the man but he can be a little uptight.”
“He isn’t uptight,” I say.
He scoffs while rolling his eyes. “Of course you would say that.”
“Just because I prefer to cut pleasantries and not entertain idiotic and pointless conversation that doesn’t pertain to anything remotely interesting doesn’t mean I’m uptight.”
