Page 86 of The Capo's Nymph
I laugh, and Nico avidly watches my reactions to every twist and turn in the narrow, private road. Every mile lifts a bit more of the gloom of that warehouse from my shoulders. We pass through woods and past various outbuildings, through a steel gate, patrolled by armed guards before the main house comes into view. It’s a rambling two-story painted yellow with blue shutters, cheerfully at odds with the rifle-bearing men pacing nearby.
“Are there always guards?”
“No, Uncle Leone prefers solitude.”
“Is that why he did not attend our wedding?”
“Partly, but more than that, he’s not friendly with my father.”
“Oh.” Arturo Morelli isn’t a man who inspires much friendliness from what I've seen. “The children will love visiting this place when they are older if he will allow it.”
“Leone may allow it sooner than that.” Nico’s odd phrasing has me turning toward him, but the SUV stops, and he climbs out to open my door.
A man dressed in a flannel shirt and dirty blue jeans steps onto the front porch as we approach. “You’ve come to invade my privacy, I see,” he says in a surly tone. Strongly built, he stands tall with his arms crossed over his chest, but laugh lines surround his gray eyes. The resemblance between him and the other Morelli men is clear.
“I told you I would.”
“Is my asshole eldest brother dead yet?” The youngest of ten children, Leone Morelli is closer in age to his nephews than their father.
“Not yet,” Nico replies, apparently amused by the question.
Leone gives me a quick up and down glance before turning back to Nico. “I thought you said there were six of them, Nikki.”
“Nikki?” I repeat.
Nico ignores that. “There are six, and this is mywifewhich you know perfectly well.”
“The last girl you brought to me took off in my favorite pickup truck.”
“I didn’t think she’d steal it.” What on earth are they talking about? “Stop trying to break my balls, Leo. It’s freezing cold out here. Matilde, this is my uncle, Leone.”
“Benvenuta, signora.”His greeting reminds me of my first interaction with Nico, though he’s warmer by far. “Sorry you had to marry this sourpuss.”
Working out the word, I grin, and by the time he mentions hot soup by the fire and visiting the farm’s animals, I’m completely won over.
***
“I liked him,” I declare as we’re leaving.
“Good.” Nico's intent on the snowy road conditions.
“I loved the farm.” He gave us a tour, introducing the chickens in their coup and the grumpy goats in their shed before spoiling me with a trip to the sheep barn. Memories of my farm nearly brought tears to my eyes as Nico made calls to begin moving the girls there. “I want to visit the girls again. Is tomorrow too soon?”
“I’ll arrange the helicopter to bring you back.”
“I did not know you had a helicopter,” I say, my eyes growing wide. He shrugs as though it’s nothing, but he was raised with wealth. “Can Maddalena come, too?”
“As long as she gets her schoolwork done. You can visit as much as you like, but Leone will make sure the women are safe and want for nothing.”
“But Leone is unmarried.”
“He won’t bother them that way if you're concerned.”
“How can you-”
“Because he’s gay.”
“Oh, I did not realize.”
