Page 125 of Roman

He held me tighter. “She is,” he assured me. “He made sure her body was buried. She will never harm you again.”

I told him what she had said to me. How she admitted she’d tried to injure me when I was younger. He was quiet until I finished.

“I wondered when you told me about some of your incidents,” he admitted.

“She tried to hurt me, then saved me for the attention it got her. I recall people making a fuss over her for being such a great sister. No one paid extra attention to me since I wasn’t hurt. She was the star. I never saw it.”

“No one did. Someone watched over you all those years,” he muttered. “How she didn’t kill you… Jesus, how no one saw…” He became quiet. “She was a danger to you for your entire life.”

“Not anymore.”

“No one will ever harm you, Effie. I will not allow it. You were meant to be mine so I could protect you. And I will always do so.”

I let his words soak into my head. Let his warmth soothe me. His determination was clear, his promise real. I was safe with him. I always would be. He would surround me. His love would surround me.

I looked up, meeting his gaze. The fierce tenderness raged in his eyes. His love was on display, and even if I only ever saw that when we were alone, it was enough.

He bent, capturing my mouth. The action made him grimace. That made me grimace too, but we kissed endlessly until he eased away.

“Stop causing trouble, Mrs. Costas. The nurse will come in and threaten us.”

“You can handle her, my love.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I can.”

And wrapped in his embrace, I slept.

ROMAN

I walked the rows of vines, stopping on occasion to lift a branch, checking on the grapes. I breathed in the rich scent of the soil, the fruit, the evening that surrounded me. For the first time in my life, I knew the sensation of peace.

I had been home from the hospital for a week. A week of rest, time with Nonna and Aldo and Vi. A week of my wife. My Effie.

She brought the peace to my life. With her, I found silence. Acceptance. A rhythm I never knew could exist.

Footsteps behind me made me look over my shoulder. Luca approached, a smile on his face. “Brother.”

He hugged me, careful not to press too hard. I shook his shoulder. “Good to see you. How are things?”

We began to stroll. “I have everything arranged. We will meet in two days.” He paused. “Are you sure you’re all right with this?”

“I am,” I replied without hesitation. “I want something different now. We both do. O’Reilly can have it. He’s agreed to our terms, and you trust him.”

“He has never been anything but up front. And he is forward-thinking. Like us, he wanted to break away from his father’s way of doing things. He’ll leave the hotels and casinos alone. He will not touch Niagara.” We walked in silence for a moment. “But he has a request.”

I chuckled dryly. “Of course he does.”

“He wants Maple II.”

“I’m not surprised. He was my toughest competition when they opened up the possibility of private casinos. He needs a place to clean his dirty money. The casino is the perfect spot.”

“I know you’ve offered it to Aldo…” He trailed off.

“Who has turned it down.”

Luca stopped walking. “What?”

I turned and faced him. “We had a long talk the other night. We had a fire outside under the stars. Nonna went to bed. Our wives fell asleep. We talked for hours. Aldo doesn’t want the twenty-four seven life running the place would entail. Vi is pregnant. He wants to be part of his child’s life. Vi no longer craves the city, and neither does he. He wants to stay on here with me. I gave him fifty percent of the Maple. I’ll sell the Toronto one to O’Reilly. But he has to change the name.”