Brian smiled at a distant, but happy memory. “I know, and I guess I knew it from the very start, deep in my heart, although I wasn’t completely aware of it, otherwise I wouldn’t have given you the permission to court him.” The librarian paused, then looked at Magick, who was meowing again, this time with a tinge of impatience. “We are about to get in trouble with momma cat,” he grinned.
Reardon’s brow pinched in confusion. “Why? She's such a good girl...when she doesn’t steal my feathers, that is,” he accompanied the last part with an amused grin.
“She's gotten demanding when it comes to showing her babies to everyone. She is proud of them and has every right to be. They are as precious as their mama,” Brian tenderly smiled, petting Magick’s soft fur and earning himself a gratitude-filled look.
Later that day, both the momma and her super-sweet snowballs got all the attention they were after from the children coming to the library. The white cat greeted them carrying one or another of the kittens in her mouth, then led the kids to the cat bed. After putting the little fur ball inside, together with its litter mates, she was proudly poised next to the nest, waiting for the audience to praise her for the great job.
Magick repeated the ritual with each child or group who came to the library, until she got tired and joined the snowballs in bed, purring loudly as the kittens were filling their bellies with warm, nourishing milk. After giving everyone another bath, she curled around her kittens, an expression of utter contentment, almost happiness, on her cute face.
Brian, who was typing at the computer, introduced a new batch of to-be-banned books into the library’s central system, smiling at the sight. He took a pleasant walk down memory lane, thinking about his family, by blood and by choice, and about all the additions, especially those over the last three years, who enriched and expanded it.
First, it was Gianluca, the much-awaited heir of Luca and Martino, who, from more than one point of view, was a child of joy. Firstly, it was because his bearer found out he was pregnant firstly after the love of his life voluntarily left with Ottavio, in exchange of peace between the one who was obsessed with him and The Council of The Ten.
Carrying Gianluca meant the world to Martino; for him, Luca, the love of his life, was never lost or dead in his soulless brother’s captivity, because a tiny piece of him would live forever in that tiny baby and his descendants. Every minute of the pregnancy was filled with happiness, hope, and daydreaming about how life would be once Gianluca would come into the world.
For Luca, his baby son was exactly what he needed to heal his almost broken spirit after spending five months away from his loved ones, pretending to care about a man he hated more than all his other enemies combined. From the moment he found out about the baby, his universe was reduced to two persons: the child and the one in whose artificial womb he was growing.
Gianluca was a source of happiness for Brian, too, even before he was born, because he represented the first living proof that the librarian’s efforts in keeping the heirs out of harm’s way paid off, and his sacrifices were not in vain. Martino’s pregnancy gave the librarian the strength and motivation to continue fighting against all those who wanted to dissolve The Council, replacing it with chaos.
Little Gianluca was also the one who brought Stephanie closer to her birth family, Brian continued the retrospective on family additions. His thoughts took a turn from Luca’s and Martino’s baby boy to his sister, her reluctance to keep distance from Edward, Edwin, and their families, and her decision to consider him as her best friend and nothing more.
And it was also Bailey, who came into Brian’s life after a desperate call in the dead of the night to the wrong number. Stephanie was immensely grateful to him and Luca for responding to her poor sibling’s cry for help, although they had no obligation to them, taking them to the hospital, then getting rid of the source of their problems.
At this point of his walk down the memory lane, Brian shook his head, smiling amused when he remembered Stephanie’s reaction when she found out he and Luca were Mafia. Instead of being enraged, as the librarian expected after telling him she and Bailey didn’t want their blood relatives in their life, the young woman was just very, very curious and expressed her wish to become part of that lifestyle.
Stephanie became even more interested in it since Bailey started dating Lennox, who was the underboss of an Irish Mafia organization and, out of loyalty for his father, took the fall for him and served time in prison. Although, from time to time, the young woman still had doubts, like the ones she voiced during the defensive driving lesson, she had a great respect and affection for her brother-in-law.
Stephanie was also there for Brian through the last pregnancy, especially the days that followed Adam’s visit at the library, when his sleep was plagued by nightmares and he woke up in the middle of the night shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. Every time, he called her and the two of them spent hours on end talking about anything and everything.
Stephanie was the only one in Brian’s entourage who could calm him down and soothe his aching soul when he relived in his sleep the most horrible moments of his captivity. She instinctively knew what to say, what words to avoid, and how to act around him when Bart, Luca, and Martino didn’t have a clue about how to help him.
Brian sighed in frustration; his gut was telling him Stephanie had some serious problems lately, and the thought that he couldn’t do anything to help her drove him crazy. The librarian knew his sister well enough, and she wouldn’t talk to anyone about what was weighing her mind and heart down, unless her arm was twisted into it.
Brian wanted to talk to Stephanie right after the defensive driving lesson, ask her what was with all the questions she askedabout the number of people he and Lennox eliminated. He was sure she didn’t do it out of curiosity; just like when he and Luca got Grant out of the picture, she must have had a very serious reason.
“Hey, daydreamer!” Stephanie’s voice brought the librarian back from his thoughts. “Let me guess: Luca, Bart, Martino, or all of them? Who were you fantasizing about?”
“It will come as a huge surprise, but it wasn’t any of them,” Brian grinned. “Actually, I was thinking about the future.”
Stephanie frowned. “The future? Whose future?” She covered her mouth with a hand, eyes widened. “Please, don’t tell me you broke up.”
“Not at all, on the contrary,” Brian assured her with a warm smile. “By future, I mean the next generation; my children, Gianluca, Bailey’s, Edwin’s, and Edward’s kids, and all the others from the extended family.”
“No wonder you were so lost in thought.” The smile that graced Stephanie’s face vanished after only a few moments, replaced with a serious expression. “I came to talk to you about the same subject.”
CHAPTER 18
“Go ahead, I’m all ears.” Brian shifted in the chair, so he could focus better on his sister and her expression as she spoke. “To be honest, I've been waiting for this conversation for quite a long time, and I intended to pay you a visit over the weekend, so we could talk.”
Stephanie gave the librarian a weak smile. “From the first moment I walked throughthe library’s door, I was impressed by how you guessed what book each of the kids or adults who come here needs, until I realized that this rather uncanny ability was based on another great quality you possess: you’re a great listener.” She took a deep breath. “Seven years ago, I got married; no one knew, not even mom or Bailey.”
Brian wasn’t expecting that, but he managed to keep his emotions under control. “Let me guess,” he spoke in a neutral tone, “he was the one who insisted on keeping things secret.”
Stephanie stared at the man in front of her, visibly shocked. “How do you know that? I don’t remember ever telling you about this part of my life.”
“You didn’t.” Brian sighed heavily. “Been there, done that, with a small difference. Cole, the fucker who stole five years of my life, obstinately refused to accompany me to my parents’ house, to meet them. Eventually, he accepted, but it took me years to understand why he did it.”
Stephanie pressed her lips in a tight line. “I bet he found out your folks were seriously loaded with money, richer than rich. The bastard I was foolish enough to get married to chose me because I had access to a lot of investment portfolios belonging to important clients. Of course, I didn’t agree to be part of his embezzlement scheme, when he told me about his plan, and he unleashed hell on me.”
