She nods at me as I take her hand and we head inside.
“Hey, Simone. Is my mamá around?”
“Yup! She’s in the back baking.”
We thank Simone and head into the kitchen. All three of the mamà’s are back there laughing and prepping things. My mamá comes over and gives us both a hug.
“You both look so serious, what’s going on?”
“Do we need to give you some space?” Aintín Graínne asks.
“No, I’d like you all here.” I say to them.
“Gabriela got a call from her papá and he’s told her that she needs to come back home on Friday. I was hoping that you or papà could talk to them. She told them she wanted to stay here and he said no.”
“Did he say that everything’s been resolved? I haven’t spoken to Lourdes since last week. But it also seems really fast if it’s resolved.” My mamá frowns.
“We didn’t know if we should talk to papà and my zio’s or not.”
“I think you should.” Aintín Graínne says to us.
“Yes, I agree, I don’t like the sound of this. There’s no way their situation has resolved in just a few weeks.” Caitríona adds.
“We’re going to head to the office, do any of you want to come?” I ask all three of them.
“I think we should all come with you. Simone can handle the bakery and we can call Emilia to come and help her.” Mamá says to us.
We wait for Emilia to come down to the bakery. Then we head into the city. Our family owns the Legacy hotel in downtown Chicago. The sixteenth and seventeenth floors are where all the offices are. My papà and zio’s all work there. Along with my cuginos, Sebastiano, Lorenzo and a few of our other family members.
When we get to the hotel, we park in the area that’s reserved for family and head up to the offices. My papà’s secretary, Kylie smiles as she sees us.
My mamá hands Kylie a box of pastries as we all head into my papà’s office. He stands up and kisses my mamá before he greets any of us. I love that about my parents. You can see the love that they both have for each other.
“Is everything okay?” papà asks.
I tell my papà everything that had happened and he looks at Gabriela and me.
“Tell me what you want, Gabriela.”
“I want to be with Gianluca and Giancarlo.”
“Are you sure? You have to be positive. We will always be willing to fight for what you and Gianluca want. But you have to be sure.”
“I’m sure.” She nods.
“And you, figlio?”
“Gabriela is my future.”
My papà nods. “Okay. I’ll call your family and see what I can do. You might have to go back for a bit. But if you do, we will send a few of our guys with you.”
“But if I go back, I don’t think my papá will let me come back.”
“Trust us on this. I promise you that you’ll be back with Gianluca.”
Gabriela nods, but I can see the tears in her eyes and it’s killing me. I want to protect her from everything. And I can’t. I can’t even go with her to make sure she’s okay.
“Let me make make this phone call first. And then we’ll figure out what our next step will be. Why don’t you all go and have lunch and I’ll come and join you as soon as I’m done. I also need to talk to Enea and Antonio, they need to know what’s going on.”
