Chapter 20
It is one thing to be scolded. It is entirely worse in Italian.
“Have I raised a fool?”
Dom could feel her eyes boring into him while he was chopping the onions.
“No, Mamma.”
“You could have fooled me.”
“I was never fooled,” Luca yelled from the couch where he'd been listening in. Dom knew that he enjoyed every moment of it because Luca himself had spent the majority of his life on the receiving end of her scolding.
“Don’t get me started on you, young man. Conning a loving girl into telling you all of Dom’s business. It’s a wonder he even fell in love.”
Dom’s mouth fell open. Sofia patted his cheek before turning to put another dish in the oven. “Close your mouth, dear; flies will get in.”
Grazianna drew small designs in the flour while waiting for her brother’s response, but he stayed silent.
“I loved your father more than life. It was a pleasure to be his wife, but I was only able to do so because he asked!”
“Mamma, I can’t.”
“You’re being stupid,” Grazianna interrupted.
“Hush,” she interrupted with a withering look for them both before continuing. “He made me a happy woman, and even now I can feel his love in my heart. The only thing that would have made me happier was if I had some grandchildren to spoil.”
She proclaimed the last sentence like an announcement to all her children.
“But seeing as Luca is determined to be a bachelor all his life, Grazianna is married to her art, and Graziella is more ambitious than passionate, I am betting on you.”
Talk about pressure. Dom sighed, forgetting he had flour on his hands as he ran them through his hair.
“Mamma, it is not that simple.”
“Love never is,” she said while flattening dough. “It shouldn’t be. Love is complicated. Messy,” she said, throwing a tendril of hair back from her face before looking up. “But that’s what makes it fun.”
“I am a murderer, Mamma. I lied to her, and worse, I let her leave. She probably hates me now.”
“So you go to her.”
“But…”
She pursued her lips and frowned. “I have also not raised a coward.”
She wiped her hands clean and then slid off the ring she had worn for thirty-seven years. “Here. Your father gave this to me under our favorite tree in Venice. He asked me to be his partner for life, and I said yes. Now you must do the same, or else you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
He took the ring, turning it over in his hand. It was a simple gold band with a small diamond in the center. The only thing a poor fisherman could afford, but it had held the lasting love of a couple for almost forty years. He only hoped he could have that and more with Anna.
Sofia returned from the bathroom and put her hands on her plump waist. “You are still here.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not for long. Grazie, Mamma. Love you,” he bent to kiss her cheek, and she kissed his.
“You must also buy flowers!” Grazianna called out as he grabbed his keys and wallet.
“And apologize,” Graziella yelled out as he ran through the door.
“I know!”
“Don’t rip your pants,” Luca screamed right before the door closed.
Siblings. They’re the worst.
But he loved them.
Dom drove like a wild man and was grateful he hadn’t pulled over as he parked in front of her apartment. The entire way he focused on driving, just getting there, but now that he was here, he wasn’t sure what to say.
Apologize. His sister was brilliant. He figured he’d start there and let his heart take him the rest of the way.
With trepidation, Dom knocked on Anna’s door and held his breath.
“Just a minute, let me get some change,” she yelled before the door was yanked open and he took her in.
Her eyes widened and he dropped to one knee just as she slammed the door in his face.
“Oh my God. Dom! What are you doing here?” she called through the door.
“I’ve come to ask you to marry me.”
“What?” She screeched before opening the door again.
There he was, on one knee, though the ground hurt, waiting.
Her makeup was more than smudged, and it was clear that she had spent the better part of the last hour crying.
“You can’t do this right now; I look a mess.”
He took her left hand. “I don’t care. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Then with a deep breath, he let his heart lead. “Anna, I am sorry. I am so sorry I wasn’t man enough to tell you what I already knew. I love you. I love you so much it hurts, and I’m hoping you love me, too, even though you deserve more than what I am. I didn’t have the best childhood, and I’ve done some things I regret, but I promise you, if you let me be your husband, I will spend my life giving you everything I have. All of my love and more is yours. Please be my wife.”
“Yes,” she said through tears and a horrible hiccup. “Yes!”
He slid the ring on her finger, pleased that it fit and took her into his arms.
Eight Months Later
“I hate you,” she groaned between patterned breaths like she had learned in class.
“I know,” Dom said from her bedside. “But I love you.”
Another intense contraction passed through her, and she squeezed his hand until it passed.
“This is all your fault!”
It was his fault. Never mind it took two to tango, or the fact that she had said yes when he had asked her to marry him.
With his hand that still had blood flowing through it, he wiped her sweaty forehead with a cool rag and kissed her. “Remember when we first met? Remember when we thought my brother was the mafia?”
The doctor, who sat in between Anna’s legs checking how far she was dilated, raised an eyebrow in question. Dom chuckled but didn’t explain. It wasn’t for her to know what they were talking about. Right now, it was only to take his wife’s mind off the pain.
“Remember when you met mama and the twins? Remember when you thought we would never be together? That was the best day, wasn’t it?”
Even though she was exhausted and felt like a stuffed chicken, she nodded.
“It started off pretty bad, but it ended perfectly. You walking out of my life was the worst feeling, second to thinking my family was dead. When Luca drove away with you in the car, I realized how stupid I had been. I’d made the worst mistake of my life. Mamma knew just by looking at me that I loved you. The twins just said I was being stupid. She held my hand and told me to not make the same mistake I had made once before by letting the good things in life escape my hands like sand. Then she pulled her wedding band from her finger, even though she hadn’t taken it off in the almost twenty-five years Papa has been dead, and told me to make an honest woman out of you. And I did. Remember?”
Anna teared up just thinking about it. It had been perfect. She had been sitting at home crying and trying to convince herself not to eat the rest of her Bluebell ice cream before the pizza had been delivered, and when the doorbell rang, she had answered it, wet eyes, smeared makeup and all, thinking it was her pizza delivery. Not the man she loved on one knee ready to propose. It couldn’t have been any more awkward. She had said yes, and the rest was history. He hadn’t moved back to Italy. He had decided it wasn’t safe and built a brand new cabin beside his for his family to live in, so they could all be together. Anna spent her days using her degree by helping the family run their new business, selling Sofia’s desserts, and in between the business lessons, learning Italian from her sisters-in-law.
She, Dom, and Gelato stayed in their cabin, though Dom was already building onto it in preparation for the family he wanted to start. When Dom set his mind to something, he always got his way, and in the case of one pregnant Anna, they started working on it immediately, and it hadn’t taken long. Now, only eight months later, she was giving birth to a son who was just like his father – stubborn. He decided he was going to come when he felt like it – not when he was predicted to enter this world.
“Okay, Anna, we’re almost there. On the next contraction I need you to give me your best push, the head is crowning, he is almost out.”
So much pressure. So much pain. Anna wanted to escape her own body, but couldn’t. She took a deep breath, and even though she knew she could do it, she turned to Dom with frightened eyes. What if she couldn’t do it? As always, there was assurance, confidence in her and love in his eyes.
“You can do it, il mio fiore,” which she had come to learn meant my flower. She nodded and pushed with all she had, straining every muscle in her body, and then she heard it, the smallest of cries, and she forgot all the pain she was in. All she could focus on was the tiny bundle the doctor put on her belly.
“It’s a boy.”
He had ten fingers, ten toes, and a small tuft of black hair on his head.
“He’s so quiet,” she whispered, not sure she wanted to know why he was already not crying.
“That’s okay,” the doctor assured her as they took him to clean, weigh and swaddle him. “Some babies scream, others need a good spanking before they make any noise” he said with a wink.
So he was as mysterious and slow to speak as his father. Figures. She did all the work for almost nine months, and already he was just like his father.
She took his swaddled body in her arms and smiled. She couldn’t be mad; he was still perfect.
“Have you thought of a name,” the nurse asked, ready to write his name on the birth card.
She and Dom nodded, unable to take their eyes off the tiny miracle.
“Daniel, after my father, Antonio, after his father, Costa.”
“That’s a great name,” she said, writing it down with his birth weight and length.
“Daniel Antonio,” she whispered to the sleeping baby. “Momma loves you.” Dom kissed her on the forehead, and she leaned into his warmth. “Your daddy loves you, too.”
THE END