Sharon
Sharon leaned back in the seat as the plane took off, her ring catching the sun from the window as the plane rose into the clouds. Beside her, Vittorio gripped the armrest, his eyes closed as the plane ascended. Who would have thought that her big, bad mob boss hated to fly?
“It’s almost over.”
“Shut the fuck up, Sharon. No it’s not.”
She laughed and placed her hand on top of his, her giddiness hard to contain. They were on their way to Kansas, to see her parents and give them the good news. She had purposely withheld the announcement until she could tell them in person, knowing that they would have to get over the initial shock of Vittorio himself. Her parents would never tell her to not marry him, but she wanted them to see the man she knew, the one who slept beside her at night and held her like she was made of glass.
The plane leveled out and Vittorio’s hand relaxed, his eyes focusing on her.
“Tell me again why I didn’t drive to Kansas?”
“Because,” she said, gripping his arm lightly. “This is a heck of a lot faster to get there. All you would see is corn fields and cows. Not exactly the best road trip, I promise you.”
He blew out a breath, his normally tanned face starting to gain its color back.
“Next time, we take the private jet. That way I can be fucking you on takeoff.”
“Vittorio,” she said, flushing as the people around them looked over their way, some in disapproval.
“What?” he asked, interlacing their fingers. “They are just fucking jealous. Ignore them.”
She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.
“What are you going to tell them that you do for a living again?”
Vittorio chuckled.
“I’m going to tell them that I owe several businesses in the city. We met at a bar, right?”
Sharon thought about the lie she told her mom long ago, when she thought Vittorio was gone for good.
“Yes, and not the strip club either.”
“So, you want me to lie to your mother,” he said with a laugh. “Alright.”
She blushed again, thinking that, well, he was right. They had met in a strip club and, at the time, she had thought she was going to die. Not once had she ever thought it would turn out like this. “And don’t tell my dad that I’m about to marry into the mafia. He might need time to warm up to the fact.”
“You know they could just look me up on the internet.”
“If they had it,” she countered.
Vittorio’s eyes grew round.
“What the fuck? Where are you taking me Sharon?”
Laughing, she stroked his face.
“I’m taking you to Kansas, Vittorio.”
“Shit,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “No internet, no strip clubs. No wonder you were so naive.”
Sharon grinned, thinking of how not naive she was now. Vittorio had showed her things in both life and in the bedroom that she never knew she would experience, taking her places that she had thought she would never see in her lifetime.
And now he was about to be her husband.
Her parents would likely think that she was too young to get married, but Sharon knew she wanted nothing more than to marry him. When she looked at her fiancée, she didn’t see the head of the most powerful mafia in New York. She saw the man who had protected her more than once during their time together, the one who had tried to break her but she would never bend to. She saw the man who never once gave her pause to think she was making a mistake, the man who had taken her life and turned it upside down when she had least expected it.
Most of all, when she looked at Vittorio, she saw the man she loved, the man that would eventually give her children and she would grow old together with.
And when there was nothing left, they would have each other, for all eternity.
“What?”
Sharon sighed.
“I was just thinking about how happy I am.”
He brought their joined hands up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of hers, squeezing it gently.
“I’m happy to.”
“Even with me dragging you to Kansas?”
“Even so.”
***
The trip took a little over three hours. Vittorio nearly raced Sharon out of the plane, causing her to laugh at his aversion to flying. She would have never imagined a man who lived such a brutal life would have been so scared to fly.
They walked through the terminal, hand in hand, Sharon starting to feel the butterflies in her stomach.
She had talked to her parents numerous times since she had moved in with Vittorio, attempting to prepare them for the man they were about to meet. Of course, she had left out some of the bigger, heart attack issues, such as he was a mob boss and she had wild sex with him almost daily. Sharon didn’t think her parents were ready for that tidbit of information. She wanted them to love him as much as she loved him, putting all her favorite people in the same room together.
Rounding the corner, she spied her parents waiting near the entrance to the airport, her heart swelling as she laid eyes on them for the first time in forever.
She was truly home.