Page 76 of Mafia King
She looks at me, breathes through a hitch, blinks. “It is fast. I think that’s freaking me out a little, but Papa says he can’t go home until the money’s paid or the man he owes…” She lets out a little laugh. “He exaggerates. So much drama for a man.”
“Stay with us,” I whisper.
There’s a shadow over our hands and I follow it, thinking Santino’s trying to rush us, but it’s Paola, putting on lipstick in the window’s reflection.
“I’ve got it all set in my head.” Gia touches the corner of her eye as if her mascara’s bothering her. “It’s going to be the most glamorous wedding you’ve ever seen.” She sniffs. “And Damiano? He’s renting the perfect place in the hills.”
She’s pretty and innocent, naïve even, but not stupid.
“Gia,” I say firmly, and the smile melts off her face. “Come home with us.”
“Are you not happy for me?”
“I want to be happy for you in ten years.” I squeeze her hand. “I don’t want someone to sell your tomorrows for a wedding today.”
“Don’t say sold. I’m not being sold. I would have married him anyway. It’s just the timing that changed to help Daddy.”
She’s ashamed, but I don’t know if she’s ashamed that she was sold into marriage or that the man she’s crowing over doesn’t love her.
“You don’t have to do this,” I say. “Santino will get you out of it. I’ll make him.”
She turns her whole body away from me and faces front. “Did I tell you? Damiano’s paying for everything. I’m going shopping from the minute I get off the plane until the minute I get back on. He says to get real confetti almonds, not these horribly fake things you get here.”
“Gia,” I say, intending to offer her a place to stay while we deal with Damiano, but she ignores me.
“I’m going to bring back pounds and pounds of them. And custom figurines for the cake! There’s a shop onCorso Meridionale my mom wants to get them from. I’m even making a special trip to Burano Island to get lace for the gown!”
When Gia finally looks at me, her brows are knitted—pleading me to go along with it all. The confetti almonds. The lace. The cake. She wants my permission, and if I don’t give it, I may lose her.
I grit my teeth, gather every bit of energy I have, and pretend to be happy for her. “Wow! I can’t wait to see it all when you come back. We’ll go get lunch and you can show me pictures. Whatever you don’t get in Italy, I can help you do here.”
“That’s perfect.” She sighs happily and reclines in the seat. “You just had your wedding a few months ago and know what it takes.”
She was there. She knows it took nothing, because it was nothing, but she’s telling herself a story about me and I’m not even an active character in it. Which is more or less how my story started.
“Americans take so long to plan a wedding, but we can do it like that.” She snaps her fingers. “We could have ten huge weddings in the time it takes them to have one. Don’t you think?”
“I do.”
To her, this may be close enough to what she always told herself she wanted.
Am I the terrible person for rejecting it? Am I the selfish wife who can’t appreciate the privileges of marriage because they’re going to someone else?
Maybe. But I’ll still spend the coming days trying to find a way to stop this madness. I have two weeks with Santino to put an end to this bullshit charade. It’s not like Gia can’t live without the guy for the duration of a real engagement.
But only a couple of months ago, Santino walked me around the four corners of the block to make me his, and I knew less of him.
They have to turn four corners together or she will not bear children.
Gia may return to see me prove the efficacy of that superstition.
“I think you’re going to be a great wife, Gia.”
“Thank you for everything.” She throws her arms around my neck. “Next time, we’ll have to go to Italy together while our husbands work.” Her voice hitches up an octave in false excitement when she says the wordhusband.
“Seeing you safe is all I could ask for,” I say honestly, and hug her tightly. “You have become a very important person to me. I wish you nothing but happiness.”
“You’re the sweetest.” She kisses my cheek. “I know I will have the best life because you will be in it.”
