Even though he was guarded, I could feel his respect for his uncle. I also respected him for having the balls to bring it up. Most men cowered when a Fausti was in the room. He was giving his uncle a name and life, even though my family had killed him.
I nodded but was as honest as he was. I spoke in Italian. “Some rules cannot be broken. We must know which ones we can break with a clean fracture, and those that will destroy us.”
“Love,” he replied in Italian. “Or what he felt was.”
“Love is the only rule worth destroying ourselves for,” I said, continuing in the same language. “Your uncle died as a man of honor.”
“Honor.” He spoke in English. “That word means something different to me now. I do agree about love, though. It gives meaning to life and death.”
Honor. The word means something different to me now.
He had been a man of honor but was exiled from his home because of a dispute with another man in the same life. Perhaps from that experience, the shape of his honor had reformed to fit hisfamiglia.
“Sì.” I nodded. “We are in agreement then.” I turned and found Lucila staring at me. She nodded once, and so did I. It did not seem like my place in her sister’s life needed to be announced. She already knew.
“Come on, Ava,” Minnie said, pulling her in the opposite direction. “I want to show you my room! Lilosays I can have a pet. I had to leave Milkshake behind. Remember my bunny? Luci said no snakes, though!”
“Come on,Luci,” Ava said dramatically. “No snakes? What kind of bullshit rule is that?”
Lucila laughed. “One that will keep me sane, because I won’t be up all night worrying if it got out or not.” She rubbed her stomach. “Especially with the baby coming.”
Ava rubbed her sister’s stomach after, and it was such a loving embrace, Lucila took her hand and held it. They started talking about Lucila having the baby in Naples, Florida as Minnie pulled Ava toward the direction of her room.
Brio stared after them, the lines around his eyes relaxed.
One of the workers asked him about a paint color, and after he watched the ladies disappear, he answered. Then he went into the kitchen and started working. I took off my jacket and set it aside. I rolled my sleeves up and grabbed a work bucket.
He stopped gazing at the space where the cabinets should be and looked me over. “This is where a Fausti proves he has more than just a legendary name to carry around.”
“I do not have to prove anything.”
He nodded. He turned toward the refrigerator. “Birra? Wine? Water? We’re having pizza for lunch. Lucila and Min love the pizza here.”
“Birra.”
He grabbed a Morena and handed it to me, then took one for himself. We each took a drink and set the bottles on the counter as we started to work on installing the cabinets.
“You don’t give me Fausti soldier vibes,” he said, his eyes concentrating on the job in front of him. “I get the feeling you’re directly connected to Marzio.”
“My grandfather.”
“Yeah, you resemble him.” He told me the cabinets were custom made and how they were going to go. “I bought the entire line of villas here. The one-euro places. I’ve always wanted to give back to the country most of my relatives immigrated from. It’ll be nice to raise our children here. Give Minnie a place to always call home. We bought one for Ava too.”
We looked at each other.
He shrugged. “The Girardi sisters are like birds. Lucila is the songbird. Ava’s the wild bird. Then you have Min, who thinks she is a bird.” He grinned. “She loves all animals. Ava, though, she’s never found a place to land that hasn’t felt like a cage. I thought if we found her a place, close to her sisters, and just bought it, she’d at least call it home sometimes.”
A worker came in and told Brio two men were at the door with bags.
He looked at me. “Yours?”
I nodded and went to meet them. I gave them the name of a hotel and told them to bring our things there instead. It was not far. The Valentino’s villa still needed a lot of work, and I did not want to impose on them.
One of the guards handed me a small leather bag. After they left, I set five thousand euros down on the counter in the kitchen and told Brio the rest of the money would be in his account before sundown. It was a good idea to keep Ava close to her sisters, but he would not be paying for it.
Anything she needed, I would give her.
He took a drink of his beer, eyes on me. He set it back down on the counter. “She looks different. Softer, even though she lost some weight. She looks healthy.”
