In the afternoon Mom, Dad and Christian came to visit us. I had seen my parents at Mansueto’s funeral, but we had exchanged only public pleasantries.
We hadn’t spoken since our fight. They probably resented the fact that I asked Luca to threaten them. That’s why I was surprised to see them. Alessio stopped by the window, without greeting any of my parents as they entered.
He shook Christian’s hand, however, which made me smile. My brother turned to me and hugged me awkwardly because I was cradling Gabriel in my arms.
“Congratulations. Also from Corinna. She would have come, but she often feels sick.” His wife was pregnant with their third child.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Mom and Dad won’t give you any more trouble. I talked to Dad and told him clearly that he needed an outlet if he didn’t want to lose you and me.” A wave of gratitude flooded through me. Christian squeezed my shoulder before stepping back to make room for Mom and Dad. Mom crawled toward me, her eyes filled with tears.
“Oh, Gianna.” Her joy was sincere and dampened my resentment. It was a new phase in my life and I did not want to be burdened with the baggage of the past. I smiled. He hugged me, being careful not to crush Gabriel. She stroked his cheek and took his tiny fingers in her hand.
“God, I forgot how small babies are.”
Dad waited a few steps behind her, looking embarrassed, but his eyes also brimmed with emotion. I smiled at him and he stepped forward. “Congratulations.”
“Don’t you want to hug me?” Relief crossed his face and, like Mom, he hugged me gently. She didn’t really know what to do with Gabriel, but she stroked his head once before stepping back. Alessio’s gaze could have frozen on a furnace.
“I hope you heed Luca’s warning.”
“Alessio,” I said under my breath.
“My parents will never talk about this again. Right?”
I looked at them expectantly. If they loved me, if they wanted me and their grandson in their lives, they would forget what Mansueto had told them. Father sighed and nodded.
“If it is your wish, we will take the secret to the grave.”
“It is.” It was resolved. We never spoke of it again, and when Simona and Daniel joined us later, my parents hugged them and treated them almost as if they were their own grandchildren. This was proof of how much they feared losing me-and Luca’s wrath-but I focused on the former, not the latter. Life was definitely more enjoyable if you chose to focus on the positive and not the negative. And I had so much to be thankful for.
A loving husband, a fairly well-behaved dog, and three wonderful children.
Epilogue
Alessio
In the past, I had visited my family’s beach house to find inner peace and remind myself of the beauty of life. I had gotten up early to stand on the veranda and watch the ocean crashing on the white beach, to listen to the soothing hiss of the water without being disturbed. I often brought work with me.
Today I slept late. Something Gianna had taught me. It was already past nine o’clock when I entered the porch. Gianna and the children were already up. Laughter came to me from the beach, not the quietness of yesteryear. I had not missed it. I had not come here to find inner peace or see something beautiful.
Inner peace had found me when Gianna had come into my life. I didn’t have to drive hundreds of miles to look for a beach house for that. Now I just had to get home to my wife. Too beautiful to describe, inside and out.
I closed my eyes, tilting my head toward the early morning sun, letting it warm my upper body and face.
Many aspects of my life remained dark points of brutality, but my home had become my safe haven.
“Love, won’t you join us?” Gianna called out. I looked at her. She cradled our two-month-old son with one arm while with her other hand she clutched her giant sun hat against her head.
The wind lashed the ugly thing incessantly. I had made peace with her extravagant clothes, but some things were beyond my tolerance.
“Love?”
That word was not a casual habit-born vexation that came from Gianna’s lips. Every time she said it, it had meaning. Gianna encompassed that word “love,” that feeling, in every action, in every smile, in every fiber of her being. I walked toward her, sand clinging to my bare feet as I crossed the dune toward the beach.
Simona and Daniel were taking a dip in the cold ocean, chasing each other and laughing.
It was warm for late October, but the water was freezing.
Back in Philadelphia, these carefree childhood moments were few and far between for Daniel. At twelve, almost thirteen, he was just over a year away from becoming a Made Man: his fourteenth birthday would mark the day of his investiture. His eyes found me for a moment and he gave me a boyish smile before Simona threw water in his face and their pursuit continued.
I joined Gianna, wrapped an arm around her waist and grabbed the hand that held her hat down to pull her against my body, Gabriel between us. A gust of wind carried the straw hat away until only the bright yellow of her one large sunflower flashed in the distance.
Gianna gave me an indignant look.
“You did that on purpose.” I kissed her and she softened against me. Gianna handed me Gabriel, who peered at me with my dark blue eyes. It filled me with pride to see our physical similarities, but it was no stronger than the pride I felt when Daniel and Simona did something I had taught them, like play pool. Both of them were quite good at it. I loved all three of them equally.
“I have other hats like that,” she said sharply.
“I know. I made up for your love of sunflowers.” Gianna had planted some of those giant flowers in our garden. What had once been a well-kept lawn was now filled with toys (for the children and Loulou), wildflowers and those yellow atrocities.
“You have brought chaos into my life.” “You like my kind of chaos.”
Daniel and Simona continued their pursuit on the beach. Loulou leapt up from her place on a beach chair and joined them barking happily. The floor of our beach house would be littered with sand tonight. In the past, that would have infuriated me.
“Yes. More than anything else, I love our life. In my eyes it is perfect.” Gianna kissed my chest on my heart, then on Gabriel’s forehead.
“We did it this way. We work every day so that it stays that way. Happiness is a choice.”
I wasn’t sure if this was true for everyone, but for me, especially since Gianna had come into my life, it was. Gianna continued to paint almost every day and also took classes to improve her craft. In one of them, the teacher had asked them to create a painting that expressed their vision of happiness.
Gianna had painted our children, Loulou, and me while walking on the beach.
It was so easy. Every time I looked at the picture of Gianna and our little family that I carried in my wallet, an overwhelming feeling filled me: happiness.
End of Book 1