Page 14 of Mafia’s Dirty Secret

“Lots of things, boating on the river or out in the spillway. Swimming in the lake or drive down to the Gulf. There are bars, dance halls, and I think there might even be an illegal strip club or two, out in backwoods.” It was a rumor she’d heard many times, as she sat in waiting rooms, so still, people would forget she was even there.

“Nah, those don’t interest me. What about films? Theater? You got anything like that?”

“Up towards New Orleans, yeah. Down this way, on the outskirts, not so much. I can take you out in the bayou, show you huge snakes, spiders, and bats if you’d like.”

“Could you indeed?” He looked intrigued.

“If my mom didn’t need me I would.” She pulled her lip between her teeth, for the billionth time in her life, and tried to think of what to say next. “I don’t know how long that will be, Matteo. You should know that. It might be that I can only give you an hour every now and then for a long time. Or it might not be. I don’t know.”

“I’ll take what you can give me.” He leaned back, comfortable under the umbrella at the table. “I’ve got time.”

“I’m glad one of us does.” She took a final sip of her coffee and glanced at her watch. “I can’t believe it’s that time already! I have to go. I’m so sorry, but I’ll be late if I don’t go now.”

“It’s fine, I’ll see you again soon. Just text me, alright?” He gave her a wide smile, held out his hand, and when she gave hers to him, he pulled her closer to him. “I have all the time in the world for you, sweetheart. Don’t worry so much, alright?”

She gasped but nodded, as his lips came down. She held her face up to him, wanted him to kiss her lips, but instead he brushed his lips against the side of her cheek. Somehow, that was better than a kiss on the lips. She pulled back to look up at him, completely befuddled.

“Drive home carefully, alright? You’re precious cargo.” He winked as she stood up and left.

The grin on her face couldn’t be dimmed, even when she got home and found out the doctor wouldn’t admit her mother to the hospital.

“Maybe when she yanks her IV out and bleeds all over, he’ll realize she needs to be hospitalized. Until then, call me if you need me, honey.” Jane was in a hurry to leave and Marie knew her mother was still being a terror. She sighed and went into the bedroom her mother occupied, but even the glare of hate her mother sent her way couldn’t dim the warmth in her chest or the way she felt, deep down inside. She was… happy.

9

“I can’t believe a month has passed already,” Marie whispered to herself as she got dressed to meet with Matteo. She said it out loud, even though there was no one to hear her because she had to make it real. Thinking it didn’t seem to make the fact a fact, so she tried saying it out loud.

It helped, and she smiled as she slipped into an old but still wearable pink dress. She’d bought it for her high school graduation and hadn’t worn it since. She was amazed it still fit and smooth the panels down with careful hands. It was an A-line dress, cut into panels that had been stitched together, with a deep V at the top. The skirt went down to her calves and was more respectable than the top.

It wasn’t exactly out of fashion and it was a more mature dress than she’d have bought back then, but she’d felt like a grown-up, so she’d bought it. She liked the way the material swirled around her upper legs. It was a classic dress and to Marie, it was classy. Her mother had even said so when she saw it. Even if she had ruined the moment by telling Marie not to act like a trollop at the graduation ceremony just because she was out of school now.

Marie rolled her eyes at the memory and went about finishing her getting ready process. That meant putting her hair up in a ponytail and making sure her fingernails weren’t jagged or dirty. She had no idea how to style her hair and had no makeup. She didn’t have to do a lot to get ready. She was clean, not sweating yet, and presentable.

She slipped her feet into a pair of her mother’s old black stilettos, the only fancy shoes she had, and went into the living room. Her mother was asleep, so the woman Jane had arranged for waited in there for Marie to come out. The woman was from another town and Marie didn’t know her, but she had only asked for $20 to watch her mother for two hours, and Jane recommended her. It was worth giving up her favorite snack for a week or two to go on this date with Matteo.

Over the last month, they’d spent every hour they could together, and he’d asked her if she could arrange for two hours, in the evening, so she could go have dinner at his house. She’d agreed, and now, she was ready to go.

“Jane’s explained everything right? And you have my number?” Marie asked the woman. Carol, that was her name!

“Yes, honey. You go on now, we’ll be fine. You deserve a break from what Jane said, so you go on now, cher.” Only, when the woman said cher, the old French word for dear or darling, it came out as sha. Marie smiled at the endearment and thanked the woman.

“I’ll be back by 9. I promise, no dillydallying.”

“Take your time, cher. I’ll be right here taking care of your momma for ya, go on now.”

Marie finally left and picked up the directions Matteo wrote down for her. She thought she knew where the house was, but like the bayou, some of the houses around went deep back into the woods and were hidden away from view. She wasn’t as familiar with some of those places, despite living in the town for all of her life.

She knew she’d found it when she spotted a discrete fence with one of those ornate steel gates in the middle that slid away to allow a car through. There was a box just in front of the gate where she stopped and pressed a button.

“May I help you?” a bored voice came out of the speaker in the box.

“Uh, hi, yes. I’m Marie Hebert, here to see Matt… er, Mr. Mazza please.”

“Just a moment, Ms. Hebert, I’ll open the gate for you.” The speaker went quiet. A new sound came as the gate started to move to the right, and inside a panel hidden in the fence.

Marie drove through it carefully, and then up a long driveway with grass and live oak trees all around. It was almost like driving through the forest, she thought as she made her way up the cement driveway. She arrived at the house and stopped to stare up at it. Three floors of white palace greeted her. At least, it looked like a palace to her. There were six tall columns along the front of the house and rows and rows of windows.

More trees peeked out from each side of the house and she wondered what was in the back. She finished the drive up to the house before she came to a stop in a wide spot on the path. She stared up at the house some more. There were jasmine bushes along the front, and she noted that, despite the heat, none of the windows were open. His power bill must be huge to keep a place that big cool.