HELEN
Was I supposed to be annoyed or happy that he never changed? I wasn’t sure, and the more I stared at the text message on my phone, the more confused I became.
Dona was usually a light sleeper; however, her mind must have overworked itself, explaining the almost comatose state she was in. Rising from the bed, I changed into jeans and one of her shirts, before leaving her room. Part of me felt like I was sneaking around, afraid my father would catch me and wonder what the heck I was doing out bed so early in the morning… But the much more rational part of me knew I was old enough, and free enough, to move about the house however I chose. It still felt weird though. It must have been the goody-two-shoes in me.
Stepping into the elevator, I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, nearly drifting back to sleep. Had it not been for the chime as the elevator doors opened, I would have crashed. Walking forward into the kitchen, there he was, making damn waffles.
“How many do you want?” he asked as he carefully took his seventh waffle out of the iron and reached for more batter.
“Wyatt, can’t you think of healthier foods to make when you’re annoyed?” I asked, moving to sit at the kitchen island in front of him.
“Nope,” he answered, setting a plate of three waffles topped with bananas and chocolate chips in front me.
“Where’s the chocolate syrup?”
“I was making it healthier,” he mocked me as he poured syrup over his own stack of waffles.
“If you’re determined to make me fat, you should commit to it.”
“No one’s forcing you to eat.”
“Fine, I’ll go—”
“Here,” he snapped, drowning my waffles in brown, sugary, artery-clogging syrup. “Happy?”
“Over the moon!” I grinned, cutting into the waffles and stuffing my face. “So, what are you upset about?”
“I’m not upset,” he said as he rammed a forkful of waffles into his mouth.
“Okay,” I nodded, knowing he’d spill soon enough. Since we were young, whenever he’d felt bad or annoyed, he’d come to the kitchen for chocolate and banana waffles.
“Who do you think this Gabriel guy is?”
“An arranged fiancé for Dona,” I answered. He exhaled through his nose, chewing angrily. “Not the guy you wanted?”
“I don’t like him. I don’t trust him. He’s a stranger who knows too much about us—”
“Us or Dona.”
“Dona is us and he knows too much. He acts as if he’s already family!”
“I mean, seeing as how your parents gave him their word, it looks like—”
“Why are you being difficult?”
I coughed, almost choking on a piece of banana. “I’m being difficult? Me?!”
“Yes, you!” He pointed his fork at me. “You should be saying let’s hack into whatever mumbo-jumbo zeros and ones computer system to find out the truth!”
“First, mumbo-jumbo is a phrase used to describe a meaningless language; hacking into multiple agencies, departments, and/or personal databases is simply called a background search.”
“There you are, being difficult!” He groaned, waving his fork at me.
Smacking his hand away, I held my fork out to him. “I’d rather be difficult than be a sourpuss just because your sister might be engaged.”
“This!” He shook his head in confusion. “Why is everyone so okay with this idea that he’s legitimately engaged to Dona? We don’t know him. He could be a serial killer.”
“If he’s one, you’re are too; so, Dona will be fine,” I answered. He glared at me and I glared right back.
“Dona is my sister.”
“Dona could be his wife.”
“Could…could,” he replied angrily. “As in, not yet. So why the fuck is he on such goddamn high horse?”
“It’s a very strong possibility…” I drifted off when his eyes met mine, this time stuffing more of my waffles into my mouth and telling him to do the same. “Eat or they’ll get soggy.”
He pouted like a child before eating. He only managed two large bites before his head snapped up again. “He tried to kill her.”
“No, he didn’t.”
His Italian side came out as he dropped his fork and started to talk much more passionately, his hands moving with each word. “Are you kidding me? He flung her into the water and held her under. It was only when she lost consciousness that he took her out. It was your body chain she wore that alerted us she was in distress and your cameras that let us zoom in, only to see him trying to kill her!”
“Dona hit him.”
“So, what?” he snapped. “He can’t handle being hit—”
“Donatella is abusive!” I snapped at him and he paused like he wasn’t expecting me to respond and I went on because I wasn’t in the mood to hear him yell at me. “She is physically and verbally abusive…to everyone! It’s not her fault. In fact, everyone in this family is abusive to some degree. But Dona… She’s harsh and she became that way in order to protect herself from all the people constantly trying to worm their way into this family. If she wasn’t harsh, people would walk all over her. It’s how she protects herself. How we all protect ourselves. A man who is cold-hearted is seen as sexy and mysterious, but as a female you’re just seen as bitch. Imagine what would have happened if Dona had warmed up and been forgiving to Tobias? He’d have become even more bold. Men want us to be soft and kind and gentle. But she’s a Callahan; anything soft, kind or gentle in her was buried long ago!”
“What does any of that have to do with the man that almost killed her!” he yelled at me.
Urgh, he was so dumb!
“He’s the first person that fought back!” I hollered back at him. “For once, someone who wasn’t family stood up to her. He’s the first one who said I can take the abuse and I will dish it back. And why? Because he’s not afraid of her or you or Ethan. He acted without giving a damn about who she is, other than female. He wasn’t trying to kill her. He was showing her that she couldn’t bully him like she does everyone else…at least not without getting herself hurt. Tobias betrayed the family because he wanted to be on the same level as Dona. He wanted her respect… and years later, he still couldn’t get it. Gabriel earned it in a day. There is something different about him. He’s not like the others. He can actually stand toe to toe with her. Ethan sees it, I see it, and so does Dona. Dona, for the first time ever, is excited, Wyatt. She doesn’t know she’s excited yet but if you saw her tonight, you’d know she was. Finally, someone is in front of her, ready for anything she might dish out. Everyone needs a rival or balance. A positive to her negative. I’m excited for her… I’m excited to see what’s under those ten layers of rock and ice around her heart; why aren’t you?”
He hung his head, giving up. He kept eating, completely silent as he leaned against the kitchen island. He didn’t say anything, and neither did I as I reached for the orange juice on the counter, quietly waiting for him to process what I had said.
“We know nothing about him. Why didn’t anything come up on Ethan’s background check?”
I shrugged. “I’m guessing grandmother had my father or someone else to wipe his records…”
“I know you. You could put it together, if you wanted.” His eyes looked like he was begging…and I almost caved.
“I could.” I nodded slowly. “But I don’t want to.”
“Helen…”
“Wyatt… In normal relationships, you don’t know everything about the other person before you start dating them.”
“Which is why normal people end up hurt.”
“And know-it-alls end up alone,” I countered.
“Better to be alone than hurt.”
“Says who?”
He shrugged. “Me.”
“You’re wrong.” He hadn’t been hurt in that way, so he had no right to talk. “When you’re hurt, it means you had reason to smile and laugh before. Being alone is like sitting in darkness; there is nothing to look back on or hope for.”
He flinched and made a face at me. “Stop talking like you speak from experience.”
I did.
“Stop being worrying about Dona. She’ll handle whatever comes her way; just let her be a woman. Let her explore this. Let her, for once, not worry about mafia this or that, and just care about looking pretty and watching a cheesy movie with a man she might be developing feelings for.”
“You have this all set up in your head; maybe you’re the one who hid all his information.” He eyed me carefully until I leaned over and smacked him. “Ouch! Just kidding.”
“Promise me you’ll stay out of it.”
“Nope.” He grinned, getting up and moving to the big fridge.
“Man, I’m glad you aren’t my brother. You’d think Dona was your daughter; not your sister with the way you’re trying to hold on to her.”
“What are you talking about?” He laughed as he pulled out some chocolate ice-cream. “Any guy you bring home will have it just as bad; you’re basically my second sister.”
There was that stab to my chest again.
Shoving more food into my mouth, I tried to suffocate my desire to scream at him with the waffles.
“Slow down; I’ll make more,” he said, refilling my glass. “Least I can do for your cousinly therapy sessions.”
I hated him.
“Seriously though, Helen, I appreciate it,” he said, patting me on my head.
I really hated him.
“But you aren’t allowed to get married for at least two years while I get over this Dona nonsense, you hear me?” He smiled genuinely, like a kid.
And all I could do was smack his hand away and flip him off, causing him to laugh.
I fuckin’ hated him…
Liar.
WYATT
Get over this Dona nonsense?
Impossible.
How do you get over losing a part of you?
Losing… That’s what it felt like. Like I was losing touch with her. She didn’t even seem to remember I was near her anymore. Every time I looked, her mind was on Gabriel and it was starting to piss me off.
I shared with one person and that was my sister; but I didn’t share my sister.
I wanted him gone. But… Did she?