After he felt she was properly taken care of, he was covered in blood, human and animal, and mud. Smears of it imbrued his face, hands, and clothes.
He was as silent as a ghost himself, and he seemed as lost. I said nothing as I went into the bathroom and turned the hot water on, steam filling the room with warmth and the scents of our bath products. Melon and something muskier, one of his.
I undressed him, and then myself, leading him into the warm spray so I could wash clean all that stained us.
Even after we had both been washed, he stood with his back to me, head pressed against the tiles, his muscles quivering. I rested my head in the space between his shoulder blades, kissing his smooth skin, as we let the hot water run cold. Sick of bitter cold, I dried him, helped him into a pair of sweatpants, and tucked him into bed.
“Scarlett.”
“Yes?” I whispered.
“He’s never going to forgive me.”
We stared at each other for a while.
“He will. Time. He needs time.”
Juliette had lived—she had a concussion, but no one was prepared for the news that she had been pregnant. Not even Romeo.
Early, the doctor had said. The accident had caused her to miscarry. Romeo had to be restrained from going after Brandon, who was sitting in jail. We all understood that compared to what Romeo had in store for him, jail was the safer of the two evils. Even the sheriff knew it.
Romeo redirected his rage toward Brando and Rocco, though, who he felt had double-crossed him.
Louisiana wasn’t Italy, and the Faustis didn’t have full power to do as vengeance saw fit. Even in New York, they were the at the top of the food chain. Here? One wrong move and the sheriff would’ve made a move on Romeo, leaving Brandon the minor of the two scenarios.
Brando made sure to stop by the sheriff’s house on the way home, giving him an update on the situation—someonehadbeen killed, an innocent life taken, as innocent as his wife and unborn child had been.
I said nothing, but I felt it, a surge of satisfaction coming from the sheriff at the news.What goes around comes around. Even though the people getting the come-around were innocent.
The reaction felt like salt against my own unhealed wound.
How could someone take comfort in the loss of an innocent life? His joy at the expense of someone else’s pain wouldn’t resurrect all that he had lost. It would only stain his heart with spite.
“You did the right thing, Brando.” I sat beside him on the bed, running my hand through his damp hair. “You made the choice—your brother or Brandon. You chose right. Juliette will thank you, and so will Romeo, after he can think this through. Allow the law to do its job this time.”
He released a trembling breath and, taking my wrist in his hand, brought me forward, into the bed. My hair was wet, and only a robe covered me. He released me from the material, throwing it to the floor, and pulled me against his chest so that I faced him. He covered us and then made love to me, a balm to our shared pain.
I fell asleep in his arms, my head pressed against his chest, his heart a lullaby to my ear, and then I dreamed of wicked things that he couldn’t shelter me from.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Scarlett
Brando refused to divulge his secret. For our anniversary, he was taking me someplace special. New Orleans was the place. The planetarium at the Audubon Nature Institute was the specific destination.
A frisson of excitement made me tremble as we entered, the stars a magnet to my heart.
He leaned over after we had taken our seats, putting his mouth close to my ear. “Pay close attention. It’ll only be up for a second.”
I smiled when the pattern appeared. Somehow, he had arranged for the constellations of stars from the night we connected to be revealed in the sky during the show.
It lit up and disappeared a second or two later, no one the wiser but us. I had memorized the journey of our stars from the framed map Brando had given me for our last anniversary. If the stars created a map, our constellations would lead me home.
It was one of the most romantic things he had ever done for me.
The trip did him some good. Romeo and Juliette had gone back to Italy, to take a break from all they had been through. Dario and his family went with them. Rocco stayed with us.
Romeo had thawed some when Juliette made him stop by our place on their way out of town, to thank Brando for what he had done. She couldn’t have survived two losses, she had said, as she stood on her toes and kissed Brando’s cheek.
