JADE
Love is really one of the most beautiful feelings anyone can ever have.
It brings you with so much delight. Just the mere thought of your beloved and spending time with them is enough to keep you going and standing strong.
Luciano has proven to be my rock, shoulder, companion and bestfriend. Getting married to him was indeed not part of the plans but I am glad I did.
After the confession of my pregnancy, I saw Luciano change from being an overworking husband to a careful and compassionate father.
He did go to work but he rarely ever came late. I wondered if it wasn’t affecting the numerous workload in his office.
But Luciano did not care to concern himself with that.
He always cared for me, handled my tantrums and my cravings too.
He would never even let me put a foot down without helping. I am pregnant not ill. His overcaring personality made me blush always.
I am definitely lucky.
As the day drifted into evening, Luciano orchestrated a lavish dinner at the mansion to celebrate my pregnancy. The rooms were adorned with warm hues, echoing the joy that reverberated within the walls.
Around the grand table, laughter mingled with the clinking of glasses as Luciano raised a toast to the growing family, “To my wife and love and to our baby! The future heir to this mafia!”
“I am so happy for you sweetheart” Elisa hugged me. The atmosphere was filled with joy and peace.
“Thank you dear. You really have to tell me what pregnancy is really all about because my cravings are becoming terrible” I said to her.
My words caused a stirr of laughter, even Aurora and Mariposa seemed happy with my pregnancy.
“You would learn how to cope with it” Aurora told me.
“Once again this is such a wonderful celebration. Your father really made the right decision with this alliance. If only he was here to see it” Uncle Giovanni spoke, his words carrying a bit of sadness in it as he took a sip of the wine in his glass cup.
“Today is not a day to grieve uncle. Our brother and capo is expecting a child. A new life! Leave the dead out of this” Raffaele uttered, a smirk on his face as he gazed right at me.
I broke our stare and turned my attention at Luciano.
“Whoever thought you had it in you to be a father” Arturo laughed, Raffaele still smirking.
These two were always up to something bad. And even now in this joyful dinner, they want to shatter everything.
Luciano’s face hardened and his jaw clenched, “what do you mean by that?”
“No no don’t get Arturo wrong now big bro. Nobody actually believed you would one day actually want to settle down and even get a child. Man its such a wonder” Raffaele said with a sinister smile.
I reached for Luciano’s already balled fists and placed my tender small fingers over his. It could barely cover his hands but it did justice in calming his nerves.
“Well what can we say? Love is quite powerful and changes people” I spoke up for Luciano placing a tender kiss on his hands.
He smiled at me. “Jade is right. I love my wife and I am very happy to be a father. Ecstatic even!”
Luciano’s reply was not enough for Raffaele. His demeanour darkened and I knew he sort more ways to try to tear down our happy occasion.
Dinner went on normal from here after, thankfully.
But I knew amidst the celebration, Raffaele, nursed a venomous seed of resentment.
“I am so happy for you brother. Welcome to the fatherhood club!” Raffaele chuckled.
“One of the worst things that can happen to a man is not being a good father to his kids. And Luciano you endured that from father. He was always too hard on you. I really hope you don’t pass it on to your child” he added, his inflection a farcade of fake sympathy.
“Do not bother yourself about that. I would be the most loving father to our baby” Luciano gave a mild response which stunned me.
“Can we all eat now and less talking? I can’t even focus on my food anymore” Mother ordered. But that didn’t stop her sons from shooting there expensive jokes, like poisoned arrows, across the table.
The atmosphere, once vibrant, became shrouded in discomfort.
“Or what is more worse than being a bad father? Finding out the kid ain’t yours” Arturo guffawed and Raffaele laughed to his careless statement.
“That’s enough from you two!” Luciano barked.
“Seriously Raffaele? When will you and Arturo grow up and become sensible?” Jose scoffed.
“I beg your pardon?” Raffaele growled.
Oh God!
“Enough! Quit all these in this instant. We are here to celebrate and not to fight. And I will not have anyone fight here today!” Uncle Giovanni thundered.
All the sons nodded, bottling up their animosity for each other.
I rubbed Luciano’s hands and gave him a doting smile.
* * * *
After the final guest departed, Raffaele returned home, his anger an unrelenting storm.
“Fuck them! Fuck them all!” He yelled curse words, throwing off his shirt and breaking the vases in his home.
“So that bloody fool wants to pass the mantle of power to his unborn child! He wants the family’s power to only be in his name and his alone! Who the fuck does he think he is!”
The walls of their home absorbed the echoes of his frustration. Aurora, his wife, saw the storm in his eyes and tried to calm the tempest.
“Raffaele, please, this thirst for power is tearing you apart” Aurora implored, her voice carrying a delicate plea.
“What the hell do you mean?!” Raffaele thundered at his wife.
Aurora gulped and held on to his hands softly, “Look you are breaking everything in the house. Jade is pregnant and the deed is done. Luciano as the capo has the right to dictate who becomes the next capo and he has chosen his unborn child. We can’t dictate that for him. And it is done already. It is better we just accept rather than plotting unnecessary schemes that will lead us to nowhere” Aurora tried to talk sense to her husband.
His anger, however, knew no restraint. In a moment of blind rage, he struck Aurora, the sharp sound reverberating in the hushed space. Regret etched across his face, but his words, like shards of glass, cut through the air.
“I regret marrying you,” he confessed, the weight of his discontent hanging in the air. “I wish I had chosen Jade. She has more sense and sophistication than you”
“You regret marrying me?” Aurora’s words carried tears.
“Yes! Fucking yes! Look at Jade! She is ambitious and not a weakling like you. You bring me nothing but badluck! Man I hate you so much. Even now you can’t offer me anything sensible. You just spit rubbish!” Raffaele hurled unforgiving words at her before shoving her off his way and going up the stairs.
Aurora, nursing the sting of both the slap and his words, felt the impact of the discord that had infiltrated their home.
“Enough is enough Raffaele. I have endured your torture for way too long. You would pay for hitting me today I promise you”