Camden
Carlo scoffs. “Some businessman in Chicago happened to her when she was on a trip out there. They ran away together. But I have to admit it was at least half my fault.”
“How’s that?” I ask. I don’t know very much about Kendall’s home life, and I can’t help being curious. I want to know more about her, and I tell myself it’s because she’s the mother of my child.
Carlo shrugs. “I took her for granted. Ran around on her, didn’t care which mistresses I rubbed in her face. I got too caught up in the wiseguy lifestyle, you know?”
I swallow hard. This is beginning to sound really familiar.
“But she left you for another man. Aren’t you bitter?”
Carlo looks at me for a long moment. “I’m not bitter that she left me for someone else.” He pauses. “I’m bitter that she left Kendall. That little girl didn’t deserve to lose her mother.”
I promise myself in that moment that I will never leave my child like that. No matter what happens between me and Kendall, I will be part of that child’s life. I’ll be a real father, and I’ll do my best to protect the mother of my child and my child.
I feel a pang of sympathy for Kendall. She lost her mother at a young age, and I can’t imagine what that was like. I lost my father at a young age, but my mother and I have been close ever since.
“Dinner’s ready,” Mia calls, standing at the door heavily pregnant. I look at her, thinking she looks ready to pop at any moment.
“Thank you, baby,” Dante tells her, and then stands up, going to the doorway to give her a kiss.
Carlo smiles at the two of them. When Mia walks away, he speaks to Dante.
“Congratulations,” he says. “Looks like you’ve got it all.”
“I do,” Dante agrees, and sometimes it is hard to reconcile the man Dante used to be with this new family man.
We head down to dinner and it’s lambchops and creamed potatoes and I’m all but salivating. We’d only had a few home cooked meals while we were on the run, and most of those I’d prepared.
It would be nice to eat something prepared by Marisa. I love eating at Dante’s because I love her cooking.
Kendall’s already sitting at the table next to Elora . I want to sit next to her, but she still seems angry with me, so instead, I sit next to Mia.
“It’s delicious,” Kendall says to Marisa as she finishes setting the table, and Marisa frowns.
“You’ve barely touched it,” she scolds. “You better eat to get your strength back.”
Kendall smiles weakly at her and cuts into her lamb, taking a small bite. Marisa nods, seemingly satisfied, and sits down to eat with us.
It isn’t all that common for the help to eat with the family, but Dante’s always been anything but common. Marisa is like a surrogate mother to him, and he treats her like family.
I respect that about him. Coming from a household that doesn’t have staff or worked at other families’ mansions as staff, being from a household that didn’t always have what we needed, it’s refreshing.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Kendall, a bit worried about her morning sickness which seems to last all day.
“I’m fine,” she says shortly, eating some of her potatoes.
I frown but don’t press her. Elora is looking at me like I’ve grown a second head, and I look away, focusing on shoveling down my food.
Dante and I both praise Marisa’s cooking, and she dismisses us with self-deprecating remarks. It’s the Italian way.
I’m hoping that I can talk to Kendall after dinner, but she excuses herself early, saying that she needs to bathe and rest. She kisses her father goodbye, who is also eating heartily and praising the food.
Carlo and Dante chat a bit while I stare after Kendall. I’m not fully present at this dinner because I keep thinking about how angry she is. I also keep thinking about what Carlo said, about how he’d taken his wife for granted and lost her.
Is that what I’m doing with Kendall?
I shake my head to clear it. I’m not in love with Kendall and I certainly don’t want her to be my wife. We’ve just been in such close proximity for so long that it feels weird to be separated from her, that’s all.
Right?