Page 75 of Mafia King
Paola takes off her sunglasses, revealing that she’s not wearing any eye makeup.
“What does that matter?” she says, looking at my ring, then back at my face, as if asking who the fuck I think I am.
“I guess it doesn’t.”
She puts her sunglasses back on. “You can say hello. She’s in the car.” Paola points at a Lincoln. “She didn’t want tan lines. You know how brides are.”
“Yeah. I do,” I say without irony before going to the Lincoln Continental and rapping on a back window.
The door unlocks and I take a deep, calming breath. If Gia wants to be married, she’ll tell me. If she doesn’t and I’m tense, she won’t. So I put on my happy face and get in. Gia throws her arms around my shoulders. The door clicks closed behind me.
“Hey,” I say. “I had no idea you were leaving!”
“Totally last minute. Look!” Gia thrusts her left hand under my nose to show off a huge round diamond solitaire. “Damiano asked me this morning.”
Fuck. She’s accepted his proposal. Maybe she’s not being forced like I was, but she’s still being sold. She’s still shackled to a man for reasons that have nothing to do with her at all.
“It is… Gia, this is so fast.”
“Isn’t. It. Beautiful?” She needs me to weigh in on the ring, and I need to stay focused.
I take her hand to move it out of my face, and it’s shaking. Her eyes are puffy and her lips are pink and swollen. Wadded up tissues litter the seat and floor of the car. She’s been crying.
“I’m going to miss your birthday,” she says quickly. “I’ll bring you back a present to make up for it.”
“Are you all right? Gia, talk to me. Did you have a choice?”
“Please don’t make a big deal about it, Violetta. The engagement’s fast, yeah… I don’t have time to do everything… and I’m a little—” She cuts herself off. Was she going to say leery? Angry? Sad? Scared?
“Did you have a choice?” I ask again. She’s allowed to make stupid decisions for herself, but I can’t walk away without knowing if this stupid decision was hers.
She shakes her head, but if it’s an answer, she tries to cover it up. “It’s not like what happened with you. Not the bad parts.”
That’s enough to tell me she didn’t have a choice, but my arguments die on my lips. The bad parts are close enough to what happened with me, and the good parts she imagines are not guaranteed for her. The worst for me was the lightning-fast speed of the wedding though. Gia has time, which means I have time.
“I might have married him anyway.” She shrugs. “It’s just confusing. I don’t know how to feel and…” She sucks in a hitched breath as if she’s about to cry. “The idea of being traded bothers me, but…” She clears her throat, swallowing her tears. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I am too.” I am sure of no such thing.
“Do you ever wonder…?” After a deep breath, she finishes her thought. “What if we could have all the things that come with being married, the house and the kids and you know… therespect.” Her voice hammers that last upside of marriage as though it’s the last nail in a coffin. “Even the big party with all your friends and family… and everyone congratulating you and being happy and proud… but without the guy?”
It’s called liberation. I thought it was woven into the fabric of my life, but it was just a stain Secondo Vasto wiped away.
“I’m sorry, Gia,” I offer sympathy, but her affect swings again, and she waves it away.
“It’s fine! Hey, I can have it allplusa cute guy I have a lifetime to get to know. Right?”
I can’t keep up with her shifting attitudes. I don’t envy her mother or anyone she meets on the other side in the next few days, but mostly, I don’t envy her. The constant changes must be painful.
“Have you set a date?” I ask, trying to sound excited and casual.
“Right when we get back!” She takes my hands. “Will you be my maid of honor, Violetta?”
Fuck no. I want nothing at all to do with this. I’d rather set the church on fire.
But my preference for arson doesn’t matter.
“Of course, but…” I can’t let my complicity sit there unchallenged. “When you get back, if it’s still all too fast, you can stay with us. Santino will protect you. You can just wait a bit.”
