The Mancini Saga (Book #1) I.O.U.

by April M. Reign

  “Do you want some coffee? I made some for us.”

  “Sure, I could really use some; it’s been a long night, as you know,” he smirked.

  When she came back with two mugs of freshly brewed coffee, she sat down next to him and searched his eyes. She was not scared to tell him anymore; she knew he was going to love her, regardless of her past.

  “I want to finish where I left off on the night of our misunderstanding,” she smiled at her own subtlety.

  He nodded, urging her to tell him everything.

  “I packed a backpack full of things I thought I might need and then I escaped. I left my family behind. Having never been outside the Compound, I didn’t know how the world worked. I didn’t even know about money because we didn't use it behind the walls. We used the bartering system, planted food, and survived like a self-reliant community.”

  Carlo held his coffee mug and took drinks while she talked. He was careful not to interrupt her because he wanted her to tell him everything.

  “I hitchhiked with a trucker who took me into Manhattan. I was hungry and alone. I slept in Central Park, ate where I could, and stole what I needed and only what I needed.”

  She saw his eyebrows come together, but they straightened out quickly, and he reached over, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it.

  “I wrote an IOU note and documented what I took in my journal. It was a complete description of what I had taken.”

  “You wrote it in a journal? I thought you just gave the notes.” He was shocked that someone who stole something would care enough to write it down for future reference.

  “When I saw the urn in your car, I thought it was an expensive jar. All I could think about was getting enough money to get a room for a couple nights, so I could take a hot shower, sleep in a bed, and put in some job applications. I had no one in New York to help me, and I was learning the system. I took the urn to a pawnshop and the owner, who had bought things from me before, asked me if I knew there were human ashes in the jar. He said he could pour out the ashes and give me five hundred dollars.”

  “Yeah, he saw the quality and expense, but he was ripping you off with an offer of five hundred,” he smiled.

  She nodded but did not respond. She just wanted to get out the facts for him before her family returned. She wanted this behind her once-and-for-all. “That would have been enough money to get me off the streets for a short time and put food in my stomach; but, I could never do that to someone’s loved one. I ran back to where your car was, but you had left. I sat down on the curb and cried. That’s when Miesha saw me.”

  “How does Miesha play a role in this?” he asked, still holding her hand and drinking his coffee.

  “Miesha was something like a social worker. She had seen me distraught, and homeless, and she wanted to help.”

  “She told me you borrowed money from her to put an article in the New York Times.”

  “Yes, I did. It took me two years to pay her back, but I did. I also took out periodic classified ads. No one but kooks ever answered them.” She handed him a copy of the newspaper where she had placed the article. Earlier, she had pulled everything out of a box in her closet, in preparation of her explanations to him regarding her history.

  He stared at the words on the newspaper, his face showing signs of longing while he remembered that day so vividly. “I had no idea you went through so much to try to return it.”

  She nodded and then she grabbed an old paper notebook and handed it to him.

  He opened the notebook and saw entries with dates and descriptions of items she took and from whom. Next to the description column was a column where she wrote down what she returned and on what day. The last one was the urn, and it was open. Carlo picked up a pen on the coffee table and wrote, “returned urn” and then initialed it.

  Mia was smiling when he looked up at her. “So, that’s my story.”

  He nodded and squeezed her hand. Her past was her past and he now felt like they could move on to the present and their future. “Now about your random nightly adventures. Can you let Miesha know that you will no longer work the frontline, saving people from cults?” He looked at her with love and concern from his dark, hazel eyes.

  “I know it’s dangerous, but there have to be people out there willing to do it.”

  “I’m willing to do it, and if she needs people, then I will assemble a team to help.”

  “You would do that?” She threw her arms around his neck.

  “I love you and am bound to protect you. Putting yourself in dangerous situations does not make me happy.”

  She understood how he felt, and she was willing to work behind the scenes with the organization. All she cared about was that Carlo was there with her at the end of the day.

  “All our secrets are out, right?” he asked.

  “Yes, you know all about me now. Teenager escapes cult and becomes homeless and then makes it big as a waitress in New York. A real rags-to-rags story. But I got my freedom. It was all I wanted, to get my family free, too. The last ten years have been spent trying to make that happen. Now it has. Short story, huh?”

  “Mia!” Carlo reached into his pocket and got down on one knee. “I had suffered a small amount of time when I thought you were no longer in my life. I can honestly tell you that a part of me was missing; a part of me was with you. I don’t want to feel that much pain again. It’s some sort of fate that our paths crossed twice in this lifetime, and I don’t want to mess with fate. Mia, will you marry me?”

  Mia’s hand cupped over her mouth, her eyes gazed behind a puddle of tears. “Yes, yes, yes,” she whispered excitedly, letting him slide the beautiful solitaire diamond ring on her finger. Then she jumped on top of him, pushing him to his back on the floor.

  Carlo and Mia sat on the couch talking, when her family and friends walked through the door. It was time to talk with them and decide what everyone planned to do now that they were free to make decisions and choices. Mia got up from the couch and walked over to her family, hugging them again. It had been ten years since she had seen them, as far as she was concerned, she could not hug them enough. After a few moments, Mia pulled away and decided to start the formal introductions.

  “Mom, Dad, I want to introduce you to my fiancé, Carlo.”

  Fredrick gasped. “Cream puff! When did this happen?” he asked, jumping up and down, clapping his hands.

  The whole room laughed at Fredrick and then congratulated both Mia and Carlo on their engagement.

  Angela and Daniel hugged Carlo and thanked him for saving them and their daughter.

  “This is my completely grown little brother, Kyle, whom I believe you know pretty well, now that you two are shooting buddies,” she giggled.

  Carlo reached over and shook his hand. “Yep, he was my right-hand man last night.”

  Kyle smiled and nodded, “This is my girlfriend, Sara,” he said pointing at a sulking girl, tucked in between his arm and side.

  Then Mia pointed over at Miesha, Tania and Fredrick. “Of course, you all know my best friends.” She walked over and hugged each of them tightly. “I cannot thank you enough for cleaning my apartment when I went missing in action,” she whispered to them.

  Tania reached over and grabbed Fredrick around the shoulders. “You can thank this girl right here. He wasn’t going to leave your apartment until it was livable.”

  Fredrick giggled. “I love it when you call me one of the girls,” he said to Tania, tilting his head and resting it on her shoulder. Then he looked at Mia. “Pumpkin, I would move the heavens and earth for you.”

  Mia walked over to Miesha, singling her out, “You are my best friend and an amazing woman. If it were not for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I can’t thank you enough for the love and support you’ve given me through the years.”

  “You would do the same for me,” she said, giving Mia a strong embrace. “And you have.”

  “So, my apartment is very small, and we have to think of something we
can do to make your transition successful and give you all some space,” Mia said to her family as she started back over to the couch.

  “Honey,” Angela said to her daughter, “Your father and I would love to stay here in New York and share some time with you, but we want to make plans to go see Grandma.” She did not know how much time her mother had. She and Daniel talked about going there for a while until they could start a new life.

  “You do know about your mom, right, Dad?” she asked solemnly.

  “Yes. I’m just glad she had the chance to meet you before she passed away,” he said, sitting on a kitchen chair next to his wife, holding her hand.

  “Kyle, I want you to stay with me,” Mia said. “We will make this apartment work until you graduate from school. If we find it’s too small, we’ll just move into a bigger place.”

  Kyle threw his hand in a fist and pulled it down saying “Yes!” to the idea. He looked at his parents, and they agreed that he could stay, as long as he finished school.

  When Mia looked at Sara, she could tell that she seemed lost. Kyle had his arm around her shoulders holding her close the whole time. “Sara, are you okay?” Mia asked.

  “I know my parents did some terrible things to me, but James had brainwashed them. I miss them. I want to know if they’re okay and I want to see them.”

  Carlo interjected. “That’s my first priority today. I’ll find out about your parents and reunite you all, okay?”

  She smiled and nodded her head. Then she looked at Kyle, “I love you, but I need to be with them right now.”

  Kyle did not want to talk to her about it in front of everyone. “Okay, we’ll talk later today.”

  She agreed and leaned her head against his chest.

  Mia looked around at her family and friends. She could not believe they all made it out of the Compound safely. She knew if her friends, Carlo, and her brother were not there, it would have ended up much differently. She was eternally grateful to each of them.

  Although her parents and she had much to talk about, things could wait until another time. Just seeing them alive and content set her mind at ease. She realized they would have years of healing ahead of them, and she was ready to be there for each of them every step of the way.

  Carlo leaned in and whispered in her ear. She nodded and then directed her attention to the group. “Carlo’s brother Giovanni is leaving to go back to the Marines today. Carlo has asked us all to join him and his family in a party to see him off. Would you like to go?”

  Everyone happily agreed. Carlo called his mother to tell her there would be more guests at the party than anticipated. He turned to the group huddled in Mia’s small apartment. “I want to marry this woman as soon as possible. How long would it take for us to put a wedding together, worthy of her?”

  Mia smiled from ear to ear. “Worthy of us,” she corrected him.

  “Give us a year, and you will have the event of a lifetime,” Fredrick said with enthusiasm. Tania, being her wedding planner, quickly agreed.

  “Can we wait a year?” Carlo asked Mia.

  “I’ve waited twenty-seven years. What’s one more year when we have our entire lives ahead of us?”

  “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Carlo leaned in and pressed his lips to hers while Mia’s family clapped and cheered. “I will always love you and always protect you, amore mio.”

  Mia looked at the ring on her finger and then back up to Carlo’s warm and loving eyes. “I have always loved you, Carlo. That will never change...”

  Epilogue

  Mia stood in the hotel bathroom, looking at her slim body in one of three bathing suits she’d brought on their honeymoon. They had already spent half a week in a fabulous resort. The white sand and blue beach water was nothing short of paradise. The Jamaican resort catered to their every need. They had been parasailing, snorkeling, surfing, and horseback riding. They needed the rest and relaxation after their enormous wedding.

  Over two hundred relatives and friends turned out for their wedding. An extravagant production of romance and friendships encompassed the beautiful day. Mia looked stunning in a wedding gown that Fredrick had made especially for her. Tania had planned her entire wedding, and Miesha stood along with her friends next to her during the ceremony.

  Mia, pleased with her royal-blue bikini, left the bathroom to join her husband on their terrace for breakfast. She sauntered her way from the hotel room to the balcony that overlooked the beautiful sea.

  His gorgeous hazel eyes opened wide when he saw his wife strolling out to the table where he waited for her. He jumped up and grabbed her, twirling her repeatedly, feeling a form of pleasure that he had never before felt. Their wedding took a year to plan, and when the day finally arrived, he could not have been happier.

  Mia sat down across from him and felt the warm sun on her face. The sound of waves crashing on the shore was the music that enveloped them in romance. She took a sip of her orange juice and glanced down at her wedding ring set. She felt whole. “I’m glad you were able to find the evidence you needed to close the case on Denise. It took quite a while to obtain the evidence you needed.”

  “Yeah, I’m just glad that we were able to take care of the entire situation. James had his followers following God and then killing those that didn’t. It may have taken a year to close the case, but I’m glad we were able to close it.”

  Mia nodded and then changed the subject. “You know, it was a little strange to have both Antonio and Tania in the same room. Do you know if they ever talked?”

  He smiled at her; she was always worried about everyone else. “I think they were cordial toward each other, but there was nothing more. I thought things would work out for them.”

  “Me, too, but Tania was a little overanxious to get married. Then with Antonio’s career taking off as it did, I just don’t see how it would have worked.”

  Carlo took a bite of scrambled eggs and sipped his piping hot coffee. “I guess we should be lucky that Antonio was able to fly home from California for the wedding. Considering it was right toward the end of shooting his next movie.”

  “I know, I didn’t think he was going to make it. Your mother sure was happy.”

  “It’s been difficult for her having him and Giovanni gone.” He flashed his gorgeous smile. “You know how much she cherishes Sunday dinners,” he winked at her.

  Mia had never been as happy as she was over the past year. She valued Carlo’s strength. He protected her at every turn, loving her with his whole being. She could not help but love him with the same fervor.

  “So, what would you like to do today?” Carlo asked.

  “We should make today a stay-in-bed holiday. Order room service, make love over and over, and then order room service again.” She lifted her bare foot and ran her toes up his bare leg.

  “Woman, do you want me to attack you right here on our balcony?” he said getting up from his chair and pulling her into his arms, nuzzling his head against her neck. She laughed.

  “So, my love, when do we get to make babies?” he whispered into her ear.

  Mia pushed him back and looked him in the eyes. “We’ve never talked about that. How many babies do you want?” she questioned through her grin.

  “How many can you give me?”

  “Carlo, we better set limits right now because I am not going to be barefoot and pregnant for the rest of my life.”

  “Why not, I like you barefoot and I know I’m gonna love you pregnant.”

  Mia slapped his arm and laughed. When she tried to push him away, he held her tighter in his arms.

  His voice was deep and rich when he whispered in her ear. “Why don’t we take our time and decide how many babies we want after we spend a year together as husband and wife. I’m not sure I want to share you with bottles and dirty diapers yet.”

  “Excuse me?” She laughed, “I’m not sure I want to share you with bottles and dirty diapers. Those are duties that both of us will take care of!” />
  “Can I give you an IOU on that?” He burst out in laughter when he felt her push at his chest. “Nope, you’re not going anywhere. . . Dance with me.”

  She smiled from ear to ear when she laid her head on his chest and danced to the rhythm of his beating heart.

  When Carlo heard his cellular phone ring in the hotel room, he looked at Mia, puzzled. “Doesn’t everyone know we’re on our honeymoon?”

  “I don’t know, but you might want to check, it could be important.”

  Carlo ran into the room, grabbed his ringing phone, and answered it while he walked back out to the balcony. The smile on his face started to fade as he shook his head and then nodded. He asked a few questions while he paced back and forth.