part0011

CATALINA FRESHENED up her bedroom. Since she fired Bionca, she was left to tending to her room alone. The staff was never allowed to pass through the door. She didn’t mind. She preferred the tasks to keep her active and focused on more than her problems. After removing the linen and compiling all of her laundry she felt a sense of accomplishment. Then she heard a soft knock on her door.

“Come in,” she said.

The door opened. She didn’t bother to turn. Only Zia came to visit her now. “How about we have cappuccino in the solarium this morning? Before we pick tomatoes? I want to talk to you about Giovanni’s visit. You’ve been keeping to your room since his visit earlier this week—”

Catalina’s head turned to the answering silence.

The pillow in her hand dropped to the floor.

Dominic stood before her. He didn’t seem the least bit disappointed or affected by her shock. And Catalina was so rocked at his sudden appearance in her room she couldn’t react.

“I think a cappuccino sounds good. I wanted to let you know that I’m here.”

“Here? In my house? Why?”

“Zia had to leave this morning. She’s headed to Sorrento.”

“But? She would have said something.”

“She’s returning with Mirabella and the children. Mirabella wants to have the baby in Sicily.”

“I don’t care. Zia wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Dominic’s smile was slight to his lips. “You aren’t alone. I’ll see you downstairs.”

She watched him leave before she found her voice and demanded he do so.

MIRABELLA TURNED OVER and hugged Giovanni. He kissed her closed lids and then her nose. She relaxed in his embrace.

“You sleep well?”

“Yes, I, oh no!” she pushed him away and sat up. “The baby!”

Giovanni grabbed her wrist. “Cecilia has Lorenza. She woke when you were sleep. I took her to Cecilia’s room.”

“Room? I thought Cecilia and Nico had gone back to Sicily?”

“They’ll leave later today. Right now she’s taking care of the baby until your surprise arrives.”

Mirabella smiled. “What surprise? I told you I don’t need any strangers in this house. I can handle Lorenza. Actually I prefer too. Until we get her back with Marietta.”

“Then you agree with me?”

“The baby will be born in Sicily. I agree.”

Mirabella grinned. She squeezed him and hugged him tightly. He had shaved for the wedding but his goatee was welcoming and sexy. She stroked his jaw. “I’m surprised you’re here. No trips to Puglia? No meetings in Rome or Naples? No Russians to chase? No Santoro’s to spar with?”

“I’m here. The men are handling things. La Camorra is under control and Palermo is ours. Peace is here Bella, in time for our little one to arrive.”

She kissed his lips. She didn’t bother to ask about Lorenzo and Marietta. What she didn’t know was a safe place for her after that little discussion they had regarding Carlo. He dropped his forehead to hers and kept his hand to her hip when he spoke. “I think I want to know what we’re having.”

“You do? But we agreed to wait.”

“I know. It’s not that I can’t wait. I don’t think we need too. Not anymore.”

“You really want to know?”

Giovanni nodded. Mirabella rolled to her right side. She reached for the drawer on the dresser and removed the doctor’s envelope. He’d sent her latest results from her tests and said the sex of the baby was included. She’d forgotten to tell him. Now she was glad he asked.

“What’s this?” Gio took the envelope from her and held it up.

“Our baby. The sex.”

“You opened it?”

“No. I didn’t want to know. Besides. I kind of already do.”

“What do you think we’re having?”

“A boy,” she said. “I feel the same as I did with the twins. Same cravings and everything.”

“I think it’s a girl.”

“You said that before. It would be great to have more girls in the family.”

Giovanni ripped open the side of the envelope and pulled out the letter that was folded three times. Mirabella moved from her snuggled spot next to him to give him room. Giovanni read the doctor’s note on her health and the tests. He did so silently. And she stared at his face and not the letter to see his reaction. His lip reading froze, and then a smile tipped the corners of his mouth.

“What? What does it say?”

“A girl. I was right.”

“I knew it!” Mirabella exclaimed.

Giovanni tickled her until she nearly peed herself.

“You did not know it! Say it! Say I was the one that was right! I was the one that knew it!”

“Okay! Okay! You knew it.” Mirabella shouted to the ceiling.

Giovanni let her go. She laughed against his chest. He held her in his arms. He was right. She didn’t know but she had prayed for a girl. God had answered her prayers.

“A girl. We’re having a girl, Gio. What should we name her?”

“I’ll know when I see her,” he said and stroked Mirabella’s hair.

“Me too,” Mirabella said and closed her eyes. “I guess we should get up.”

“Let’s stay in bed today, for as long as we want. Me and you,” he said.

“Really?” Her eyes flashed open.

“For as long as you want Bella.”

“Grazie, Gio. Ti amo .”

CATALINA HAD GROOMED her hair into a slender ponytail. She wore a maternity green and white polka dot shirt and a pair of tan shorts. She made no effort to jazz up her looks and had only put lip gloss on because her throat and mouth kept going dry. When she emerged from her room she found Dominic exactly where he said he would be. He sat at the table in the solarium sipping his cappuccino, reading a paper. He didn’t look up but she knew he heard her enter.

Catalina took a seat in the chair opposite him. She glanced at her favorite pastries in a basket at the center of the table. She lost all desire for food.

“Why has Zia been avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t aware she was.”

“She has been. Ever since Gio visited. She’d even started taking her meals in her room. And now she’s gone? Why? What happened between them? And why can’t she face me?”

“There’s no conspiracy.”

Dominic folded the paper. He looked her in the eye. “Did you not ask Giovanni for this place. For permission to raise your son in Palermo as a Mancini instead of back in Sorrento as a Battaglia?”

“There are no buts. If you want the life Catalina, then I have to make it happen.”

“You can’t. You’re consigliere.”

“I haven’t been a good one.”

“Dominic, you can’t get involved—”

“It’s not all pleasure, Catalina. It’s business. La Camorra has strengthened their alliance with the Mafiosi . Giovanni territories extend from Palermo, Bagheria to Mondello. I will run the business along the coast.”

“He’s making you underboss?”

Dominic picked up his cup with the two fingers and took a sip of his cappuccino and then toasted her. “You always wanted me to be in charge. Thanks to you, sweetheart, I am.”

“You were consigliere. You were to finish Flavio’s work and make us legitimate, not help Giovanni embed us deeper into the life. Without you giving Gio reason to pull back he will not turn back.”

“There is no pulling back. Lorenzo has made that impossible. After he is dead, we will control it all. That is the future Giovanni wants, and that’s the future I want. Fuck being legitimate.”

“I don’t know what you think you are doing, Domi, but you can take me out of your plans. What we had is done. I’m not in love with you anymore.”

“So you say,” he chuckled.

“Then my staying here should not be a bother at all to you. Consider it business.”

“You’re such an asshole.”

“Am I really? Am I the bad guy?”

“What are you smiling at?” she huffed.

“You. You look beautiful this morning, princess. Even when you’re angry for no reason,” Dominic replied.

Catalina swiped her hand across the table and flung breakfast from it sending the pastries rolling away over the floor. Dominic didn’t flinch. He stared her in the eye. He held the challenge. She wanted to scream at him, demand he get out of her house. But it wouldn’t work. She knew him so well. For many years she owned his heart and he controlled hers. Tantrums used to bend him to her his will. Something had changed about him just as it had changed for her. She felt powerless in the face of it.

“Don’t come to my room again! Do you hear me? Stay out of my room.”

He gave her a curt nod that her wishes would be honored. He then picked up his paper and opened it again. Catalina got up from the table and started away. She stopped and stared at him. When he didn’t even glance her away she decided to leave.

“Oh, and Catalina... one more thing,” he said.

She paused with her back to him.

“Giovanni knows you are helping Lorenzo. I plan to find out how. You’ve betrayed his trust in you.” Dominic glanced up from the paper. “He won’t forget.”

Dominic’s gaze returned to his paper. Catalina walked out of the solarium with her head held high, and her entire body shaking.