“How? We don’t change our names when we marry.” Lourdes says.
“Yes, I know that.” Papà says as he looks at my mamá. “She will still be a Mancini. And for Ivan, that means something.”
I look at Gabriela. I thought about telling her we should get married now. But I didn’t want to scare her off. But now that my papà has suggested it? I want it.
“I suppose it’s not my decision, it’s Gabriela’s.” Ramón sighs.
I look at Gabriela’s mamá and her brothers. They’re all watching us and for once, I see her mamá smiling at us.
“Can Gianluca and I step away and talk for a minute?” Gabriela asks.
“Of course. This isn’t something you should be taken lightly. Marriage is a sacred thing in our family.” Zio Enea says.
“If we merge our families, how will this help my situation back home?” Ramón asks.
“We have a deal in place with Ivan. We might be able to sit down with him and talk.” Enea answers.
“We’ll be right back.” I say as Gabriela and I stand up and leave the room.
I take her to the main area and sit down with her.
“I don’t want you to marry me because you’re being forced to. We can find another way.” She says to me.
“First of all, what do you want, Gabriela? I know what I want. But I want to know what you want.”
“I want to be with you, but I want you to choose me because you love me and not because it will help our families.”
“I do choose you. And I won’t lie, part of it is because I know that being my wife will keep you safe. But even if that wasn’t the case, I would ask you to marry me anyway. I wanted to bring it up before, but I didn’t want to scare you by asking you too soon.”
I hug her tightly. “When I said I loved you, I meant it. There’s only been two women before you that I loved. And neither of them made me feel what I feel for you. When they left me, they both said that they couldn’t deal with my life. And it wasn’t the mafia side. It was my baseball side. I can’t stop the women from doing what they do. But I can promise you that I’ll never hurt you by cheating. I just need you to promise me that if you start to feel differently, talk to me. Don’t just decide to leave.”
“I’ve seen the way women act around you, I’ve even heard the things they say. But I know that you’d never cheat on me. So I promise, if I start to feel insecure or worried? I’ll talk to you first.”
I lean down and kiss her. “Then let’s tell everyone what we’ve decided.”
“Do you think Giancarlo will be happy that we’re getting married? I don’t know if he’s too young to realize what that means. But I also don’t want him to feel like I’m taking you away from him.”
“We can talk to him first if you want. He’s downstairs with the other kids. I can text Hollis and ask him to bring him up.”
“I think that’s a good idea. He might be too little to really understand. But we can still try.”
I text Hollis and ask him to bring Carlo up for us.
Gabriela
I hoped that Gianluca loved me the way I loved him. And knowing that he does is incredible. But I worry that Giancarlo won’t like it. He’s been through so much in his little life. I don’t want him to feel like I’m taking his papá away from him, like his mamá was taken.
“Thanks.” Gianluca says to Hollis as he takes Carlo’s hand and brings him over to me.
Carlo smiles and hugs me.
“Papà and I wanted to talk to you.” I say as I hug him.
“Otay.” He says as he nods.
“Would you like it if Gabriela moved in with us?” Gianluca asks him.
“Forever?”
