After Scarlett had accepted a position as Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre in New York, where she hoped to retire from, I sat down with Rocco and we had a chat about Ettore.
Scarlett needed a break from Italy, from Europe in general. I had to know that we’d be safe from whatever threat met us at home in America. Apart from Nemours, Ettore was the only other thorn in our sides. (Lothario probably sent up an almighty amen after our departure.) Rocco assured me, though, that Luca had had a chat with Ettore. For the time being, we had time to come home, retrieve my ’57 Chevy Bel Air, and drive to New York, secure in the knowledge that whatever lay ahead, we had time to deal with. I knew a road trip, just the two of us, would do us some good. Scarlett was a collector of memories, not things.
“All right.” She sighed once again, bringing me out of the traveling fog I had been in. “But what does he want in return?”
“Luca?”
Even under her Ray-Bans, I could see that her narrowed eyes had answered my question.
I slowed the rental car down, looking over the houses along Maggie Beautiful’s street. We had been away from home so long that this small town felt worlds away from where we had been. At the same time, this was home to the core, and it fit better than anyplace we’d ever journeyed.
“He wants me to head thefamiglia.”
“He wants you to challenge Lothario.”
“Yeah. He doesn’t like what he’s hearing.” Even talking about this here felt wrong. “He wants me to be the strong arm and Rocco the brain.”
“He doesn’t want a war to break out between his two sons, you mean. Rocco might get offended if he’s not involved. The age gap between you two is too little to really certify oldest-son credentials.”
I nodded. Luca could give Rocco the entire thing—I didn’t want it. I didn’t get to shift Luca’s thoughts, though. In fact, I doubted the word “shift” could ever be applied to Lucious Leone Fausti.
Knowing him, he had fathered us close together on purpose, so that his two sons could take over instead of one. He was of the high opinion that it took two men of his blood to rival one of him. He’d stop a war between us before it could ever get started. But you had to want something to go to war for it.
“What did you say to him?”
I pulled to the curb, in front of Maggie Beautiful’s, and then put the rental in park. Maggie Beautiful had rented the house to a guy who worked with Mitch at the auto shop. He and his wife had a baby. I wanted to drive by to see how they were taking care of the place.
First, I had to settle my wife’s worried mind. “Tell me what I said, baby.”
She watched me for a minute or two, a serious look on her face. Though the winter light was dull compared to the summer sun, it was still fierce, piercing the windshield and picking up the red sparks in her hair. It made her eyes seem even greener.
“Ci penserò,” she finally said.I’ll think about it.
“Corretta. While I think aboutnotthinking about his offer, we have time for peace.” I took her hand, kissing her cold knuckles. “Let’s enjoy this. We have our entire lives to worry.”
She grinned, leaned forward, and kissed me on the mouth. Hot chocolate tasted good on her lips, and it made me lick mine to taste her again. She sighed, such a sweet fucking sound, and then turned toward the house.
“The place looks festive.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. Christmas lights were strung from one end to another. A plastic Santa stood in the center of the yard. A wreath hung on the door. “I’m glad a family’s living in it.”
The words had slipped out, surprising me. Scarlett turned, those sharp eyes going right through my armor. “A father, a mother, and a son, you mean?”
“Yeah.” My voice did a funny thing I didn’t like. “They seem to decorate for the appropriate season. Or just be traditional about it. Sometimes Maggie Beautiful would create a paper-mache Cupid for Valentine’s Day. She’d go crazy with the hearts. She made them all seem like they were floating around the porch. Then she’d take the Cupid she made and stick him on a pole in the front yard.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, if you don’t mind seeing Cupid’s arrow stuck in his back with a blood mark. His ass rammed with a rod. His tongue hanging out of his mouth like this.” I stuck my tongue to the side of my mouth and closed my eyes in a death pose.
Scarlett threw back her head and laughed and laughed. At least it wasn’t manic this time. I grinned, her happiness doing insane things to the beat of my heart.
“You know, Brando Fausti, most people don’t know how naturally funny you are.” She wiped her eyes. “If women knew, they’d be even crazier about you.”
“I saved that part of myself for my one.”
“Oh, the old Swiss hag at the chocolate shop?”
“If all of those men lining up to protect your honor knew what a venomous mouth you had, they’d be running in the opposite direction.”
