Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
She says it so calmly, so naturally, that I do a complete double-take sitting further on the edge of my seat, and I know I’m all ears as much as Rocco is.
“I never left. Not really. Just stepped back for a while. But then, one thing after another, and when it was clear I couldn’t come home safely, I went back to Italy. And there I stayed until it was safe. But by then, your Papa was so big, so powerful himself, and everyone assumed I was gone for good. It was just easier to stay gone for the family’s safety,” she says, looking at her feet.
Obviously wishing they’d made better choices years ago.
“But…why? Why show up now?” he asks both his parents earnestly.
“We don’t have long, Rocco,” his father pipes in, resting his hand on his wife’s knee.
“I only got one thing wrong…everything!” he exclaims, laughing a little bitterly as his hands shoot skyward and he shakes his head, lamenting the past.
“But now I’ve gotten older and now weaker with age. I don’t want to live the rest of my days with your Mama in hiding. Or without my boy by my side. I want the whole family to be together again, Rocco. All of us,” he adds.
With Catriona giving me an icy look.
Not you, though.
Those are the words I’d put in if I had to caption her face right now.
And then Rocco clears his throat, ready to speak. I know it doesn’t matter what his Mama or Papa thinks of me.
It’s clear from his eyes as he looks at me that he’s not going to do what he’s told anymore, especially if the only reason is that his aging mother has come back.
But Rocco surprises even me with what he has to say, and I’ve never felt more in love with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Rocky
The first things outta my mouth should be questions for both my parents, but seeing the two of them so close after all this time.
Knowing it’s their own version of how I know I feel about Jasmine deep down?
It leaves a hell of a lot unanswered but I’m happy to keep it that way.
If anything, I’m struck by just how important it is that I tell Jasmine, not just my mother and father, exactly how I feel about her.
About how much I want a whole life with her, not just a few days, weeks, or even years.
A whole life together, that’s what I want.
But before I can say that, I guess I am dying to know what they’re both doing in the suite opposite us.
“I knew you’d be out of town for a few days, and your Mama and me, we meet up on special occasions,” he says with a stern face at first. But the way both of them stare and giggle at each other makes me wonder just how often these ‘special occasions’ are.
Every year? Every week?
By the looks, it’s not often enough, but whatever reasons they have for keeping it the way it’s been? I can’t say.
I can’t judge them for it either, but I’ll make damned sure that Jasmine and I don’t ever feel we need to be apart.
“I’m out, Papa,” I tell my father.
No real emotion in my voice but a clear explanation for him.
“I want out of this life. The family…all of it. I’m done. If Mama can disappear, then so can I.”
My father frowns for a moment, and my mother clutches her hand over his. She tries to say something, but he speaks over her.
“I knew you weren’t boss material,” he says in a low, slow voice. Repeating something I’ve heard him remind me of a thousand times.
It used to annoy me until it hurt until finally, I didn’t even hear him anymore.
I knew he was right.
“But…I love you as my son all the same,” he says, smiling suddenly, which is a rare sight.
Come to think of it, I don’t ever remember seeing my Papa so happy as I’ve seen him today.
“I had my doubts about the girl,” he adds, moving his eyes briefly toward Jasmine before looking away again.
“Who could know there’d be two girls roughly the same age in the restaurant when our men went in for revenge? The plan was to grab his daughter. To keep her comfortable, but let Portello think we’d stooped to his level.”
Which I’m glad they didn’t.
“Once you found out who I really was, I thought you’d get rid of me,” Jasmine says suddenly, and both my parents look at me instead of at her.
I feel a mild confusion, but it’s replaced with annoyance once it dawns on me that maybe Mama and Papa don’t automatically approve of Jasmine, just because I do.
When Jasmine fires another question about what actually happened to the real Maria Portello, along with the rest of the family, it’s clear my father is losing his good mood.