Page 204 of Dark Angel
This time, she laughed. “You are strategic, Gabriel. This is not a social visit.”
“You’re right, as always. I need your advice. I’ve fallen in love with someone who also leads a dangerous life.”
“Caroline mentioned a friend who had been gone for a while. She said she’s very smart, very pretty and that you were spending time with her. Is she the one?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the problem? Isn’t love what we all seek?”
“How did you know Luca was the one?” he asked.
She broke eye contact for a few seconds, got busy fiddling with her napkin. “My father introduced me to two men. He told me to choose one. Neither were Luca.”
Gabriel had never heard this story.
“I met Luca at church. I was fourteen and had arrived late to mass one day. He was outside. I asked him why he hadn’t gone inside. He said, ‘God is in there and He doesn’t like sinners.’”
“God loves sinners,” Gabriel pushed back. “Those are the ones he wants to save.”
“I was intrigued,” Elsa said her eyes lighting up. “I invited him in with me. He accepted, even though we weren’t allowed to sit together.”
“Why?”
“The custom in Italy. Men on one side, women on the other.”
“One day, I didn’t go in. I stayed outside and talked to him. That day we fell in love. He was from a poorer family than ours and my father had selected wealthier families for my husband. When I refused, it created tension in the home. I introduced Luca—who had secretly proposed to me—when I was sixteen and he eighteen. Only my mother liked him. She told me he was going to provide for me because he adored me completely and would want the finest things for me.”
“And?”
“She was right. We had a strong marriage. He rose to power in Cosa Nostra. Never took a mistress.” A smile filled her pretty face. “He told me I was more than he could handle and everything he’d always dreamed of.” Tears moistened her eyes.
Again Gabriel put his arm around his small grandmother, gave her a loving hug. “A beautiful love story, Elsa.”
The waiter delivered their lunches, returning with the coffee carafe to top off Elsa’s mug.
After he left, she clasped Gabriel’s hand. “Heavenly Father, thank you for my Gabriel. He is so much like Luca. Help me to help him with the answers he seeks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
“Amen,” Gabriel murmured.
Elsa dug in, but Gabriel didn’t.
“I was taught not to trust,” he said. “Taught to control, manipulate, and manage people like cattle. Steer them where you want them to go. Tell them what you want them to do and how you want them to do it.”
She nodded before forking a piece of fish into her mouth.
“Someone tried to kill her last night and I stepped between the killer and her,” Gabriel continued.
“Were you hurt?” she blurted.
“I’m wearing body armor. It protected me.”
“It must be love for you to do that.”
“She has a dangerous job,” he continued. “I don’t like?—”
“Not being in control?” Elsa asked.
“Exactly.”
