“You know how hard the future is to predict and how cruel life can be, so don’t make promises you can’t keep...but then again, love is a stubborn thing, and it endures even if it doesn’t always take the form we want it to take.”
“I know.”
“And the men who did this to you, to Dom?”
His eye blazed for the first time, a sick, chilly pleasure shining bright to remind me that no matter what happened or how long it took, there would always be that vicious killer in him. “Dead, but not before I made sure they knew just how badly they fucked up by coming for him.”
“And...you’re not in The Family?” she asked, moving along easily as if the glimpse into the monstrous, brutal side of him didn’t faze her a bit. Then again, I had watched her go to bat for each of her children over the years. It had left me with the distinct impression that she would do anything for any of us,no matter what it cost her. Maybe there was a monster in every person that sprang into existence the moment they became a parent, but it was chained and trained by love. So perhaps she understood what it meant to feel the call for blood when she watched someone she loved suffer.
“No.”
“And won’t be going back? No matter if you and Dom don’t work out?”
“Never.”
She smiled. “Oh, sweet child, you’re free. I hope you understand that, and if you don’t, I hope you understand it soon. And no matter what your reasons, even if it was just a consequence of trying to save everyone, especially Dom?—”
“No, it was everyone.”
“But especially Dom,” she said, smiling when he didn’t answer immediately. “That’s okay, expected even. But even though you did it mostly for him,youdid it. Not me, not even Dom, you. Maybe you were stuck for years because of something you chose when you were young and full of more pain than you knew what to do with. But you were given the chance to make a different choice, and you did it without hesitation. You found a way out on your own, never forget that.”
Levi stared at her, and I could see him struggling to find words, but failing, as a tear threatened at the edge of his remaining eye. “I?—”
“Just as someone can choose evil in a moment of weakness, so can someone find strength and choose good...and you chose love and freedom,” she told him firmly. “Your mother...Lana would be so proud of you. And before you argue, I’m a mother, and I knew her as best I could back then, and she loved you as fiercely as I love my own. So I know she would be proud of you because I’m proud of you.”
It was the final blow, and I watched as Levi’s face collapsed, his eyes closed, head bowed forward as he let out a sob. I moved forward, but Matty was faster, wrapping him up in her arms and bringing his face to her chest as she hugged him tightly. I was left to stand there, tears leaking from my eyes as I stared over her back at Marcus, who had tears of his own while he rubbed her back.
“It’s okay,” Marcus mouthed to me, but it wasn’t necessary; I knew it was okay, not totally and not in a way that was going to feel that way for a long time, but yeah...it was okay.
I didn’t know how long we stayed there, suspended in a moment of shared grief, love, and hope. Eventually, Levi’s sobs petered off, and Matty backed up, Marcus handing over a box of tissues for Levi to rub furiously at his nose.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry like that,” Levi said, his voice rough before blowing his nose and wincing. “Ow.”
Matty snorted, wiping a stray piece of hair off his forehead. “I think you’ve been drowning in grief and loneliness for too long, Levi. It’s time you got to cry at least in part because you’re happy and feel loved. And you are loved, keep that in mind.”
“God, stop,” he whined, and I winced at how pitiful he sounded. Between that and his repeated emotional display, he was going to be insufferable for days. I was already having to count how long it would be before I could get him to ‘face’ my family after tonight. Between almost getting them killed, them bringing him hesitantly into the family, and him crying in front of most of them...shit, it could be next year.
I was going to need Matty’s help.
“Now,” Matty said, with a sniffle of her own. “There’s still so much that has to be dealt with, but that can wait for another day. It can wait, because we’ve got time now. But what you don’t have time for is the next family dinner, which is this Sunday. And you’re going to be there.”
Levi’s eye went wide. “But that’s in?—”
“Four days,” Marcus added with a smile. “But seeing as how you’re unemployed now, I can’t imagine you have a schedule that will prevent you from showing up.”
“But—”
“Uh uh,” Matty said, patting his hand. “None of that, I won’t hear any of it. If I have to show up and bring you myself, and remind you that you put me through a world of hell over the past couple of weeks to make you show up, I’ll do it.”
“She can wield guilt like a warhammer, don’t push it,” Marcus warned him. “Just be a good boy and show up.”
“And that’s the sign of a well-trained husband,” she told Levi as if she wasn’t just as bad when it came to Marcus. “Take notes.”
“I’m already wrapped around his finger,” I said with a shrug.
“He went to war and threw away his whole life to save you,” Marcus said with a snort as he helped Matty off the bed. “I think the feeling is mutual.”
“I’d do it again and again and again,” Levi said with a sigh. “That goes for all of you.”
