by Mynx, Sienna
Caesar Minetti was devastated. He and his sons took Franco’s body back to Sicily. Giovanni remained behind closed doors for several days. He ate his meals at Villa Rosso. He changed and showered there as well. Mira was denied access to him. She lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, lost without the warmth of his body or his comforting words to reassure her. Abandoned to all the turbulent thoughts regarding Kei’s fate and how he could send an assassin to Italy to kill someone. Not her gentle caring Kei. It made no sense.
In the night Eve constantly woke up cranky and whiney for no reason. They were miserable. Mira also feared Christmas was ruined. However, today, the day before Christmas Eve Giovanni had joined her and the family for dinner and announced it was time to trim the tree. He winked at her from the head of the table. As if a switch was thrown and the dark and foreboding mood everyone wallowed in was cast away.
Under Mira’s instruction Rocco and Carmine pulled out the elaborate Nativity scene, placing it in the front cadenza. Mira had learned that the manger scene was originated in Italy. Catalina said the family was supposed to meet each morning in front of this Nativity scene to recite prayers or novenas. This would take place for nine days beginning on December 6th. With her resurrection and all the drama unfolding in Melanzana, they hadn’t continued the tradition. Zia informed them all that they would honor this custom on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Mira could barely contain her excitement.
Family was important. This evening she would remind them all of this. Mira walked over to the stereo panel on the wall. She pressed the release button so the CD door would open. On their first and only shopping excursion she had found a Christmas CD. Catalina wasn’t familiar with all the songs but Mira had to have it. Her grandfather would play soulful tunes on Christmas Eve, and it was just the touch she wanted to make the place feel more like home. Pressing play, the little disc door slid back into the wall panel and began to spin. Silent Night, by the Temptations was the first on the play list.
The Temptations crooned. Mira smiled and headed for the family room. The music filled the lower west side of their home through the internal speaker system. She stopped and peered in at everyone. Dinner had finished late, but everyone was still up and ready to decorate their Christmas tree. Mira was a bit relieved. She wanted the immediate family together so they could work on healing.
Giovanni, with the help of Lorenzo, finally got around to setting the tree straight for decorating. His sleeves were rolled up into the crease of his arms. She watched them argue over its position and try again to move it as branches scraped the side of their faces and their hands.
Traditionally Italians didn’t use a Christmas tree. Giovanni told her they built a creppo, which was formed by two wooden planks with shelves they decorated. However, their mother Evelyn always wanted a tree for Christmas. And for as long as Giovanni could remember, his father made sure they had one.
Zia spoke sweet words of encouragement in Italian to Eve while once again feeding the toddler sugary scoops of her homemade gelato. She would make Eve pronounce a word, and Eve did marvelously for her reward. After each lesson Eve would run off and get caught up in her father’s legs throwing her arms around them causing him to stumble. He’d try to send her back off to Zia, but Eve would refuse. She’d fuss in her little voice and continue to hug him tightly around the legs. The bond between them grew stronger each day. No one took notice of Mira observing them from the archway of the door.
“Evie,” Zia said. Her daughter released her father and returned to her aunt with her mouth open to eat more from her spoon. Mira smiled at the nickname. The relationship between them was reminiscent of hers with her grandmother, and though she felt jealous at times with the way Eve took to Zia, she understood their bond.
The staff was sent home. Zia had taken over the kitchen and constantly had something in a pot simmering, or in the oven turning golden brown and crisp. When she reviewed the menu with Zia for Christmas day, she was told the meal would consist of no meat. It was custom to have fish, seafood, soup or stew. Of course Mira was now taking lessons from Zia’s kitchen on how to make everything fresh, from pasta to homemade sauces and wonderful sweets. The no meat rule did disappoint her. She loved making her famous cranberry turkey and wanted to do so for Christmas day. What was Christmas without a turkey? But alas, she gave in and respected Zia’s wishes.
To the right of the room Catalina sat on the back of her legs rummaging through several boxes that Carmine and Rocco pulled out of the attic. The ornaments were all family heirlooms collected by her mother. Mira’s gaze almost always drifted to Dominic when he and Catalina were in the same room. Dominic would sit across from her with longing in his eyes, but never speak to her directly or get close. It was the only way Giovanni could tolerate them both being present that evening.
Rocco and Dominic were toward the front of the family room fussing over the tangled lights. Rocco kept plugging them in as Dominic tried to unwind the string. Dominic would get exasperated with the old man and give up, only to have Rocco claim he was just testing them and unplug them again. The tug of war was continual. Maybe Dominic welcomed the distraction. It made him feel included in some way.
The song skipped over to the next. Stevie Wonder’s Ave Maria began to play. Mira had only disappeared after dinner to change into a dress and fix her hair. Giovanni hadn’t touched her for several days. Part of her resented everything that had him so distracted. But he’d kept his promise, and he was there now.
She’d chosen a red wrap around dress that reached just below the knees. Her hair was curled and pinned up by a red and green-jeweled barrette. She hoped Giovanni liked it. When she entered the room Eve and Zia noticed her first. Giovanni had his back to her now pulling on the oversized tree.
“Ma-ma!” Eve went straight for her. Mira knelt and picked her up. Everyone else turned their gazes her way. She blushed.
“Merry Christmas everybody.” Mira smiled.
No one spoke. All seem a bit taken with her glamorous appearance. She set Eve down and straightened her back. Tossing her chin up, she walked over to Giovanni. He hadn’t bothered to even glance her way. She tapped his shoulder, and he released the tree, standing tall. His eyes registered approval after he swept her appearance. “Dance with me,” she said. Mira lifted on her toes and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Here? Now?” he said with an amused smile. “What is this you’re wearing?” He tried to separate to get another good look at her, but Mira wouldn’t allow the separation.
“I’ve missed you Giovanni,” she whispered up at him. “So much.”
He paused for a moment and his gaze became soft as his smile faded. “Forgive me Bella. I’ve missed you so much too.”
“Show me.” She pressed into him and began to sway.
A week ago an assassin had tried to take his life. He’d done everything in his power to keep the threat from Mira, even avoided their bed. But tonight was hers, and he intended to make sure she and his bambina welcomed Christmas Eve in a very special way. The music that drifted around them in melodic waves made him warm over with love for this holiday. He swayed with Mira, and his arms circled her waist. They didn’t hear Dominic arguing with Rocco about plugging in the lights once more. Neither of them noticed Catalina walking over with ornaments telling Lorenzo he needed to pull the tree from being so close to the wall. Instead they danced together. His head bowed so his brow rested on hers. They continued to move lightly with each other’s rhythm. He kept reminding himself of their audience and only stroked her back but not lower. Oh how he wanted to touch her lower. Eve stood by them sucking her pacifier staring up at her parents curiously. Giovanni looked down at her and winked. His daughter exploded in giggles.
He inhaled his soon to be wife’s charming scent and felt closer to heaven than he’d been in a long time. She was soft in all the right places. And she was his. From this day forward every holiday, birthday, any day he’d have Mira Ellison at his side. Love filled him
to the point of him shouting it to the roof. He had half a mind to take her upstairs and unwrap his Christmas present early. Then his daughter decided she would join them, and she wrapped her arms around her parents, joining them in the dance.
“Lucciola,” he said.
Mira let go of him, and he reached down and picked her up and held her with one arm. Together they danced near the tree. The family continued to bicker and decorate. Giovanni could hear nothing, feel nothing, outside of the love he had in his arms. The song ended, and Mira let go. Giovanni lowered Eve. The Jackson Five entertained them next. Eve showed her daddy her dance moves. She shook her hips and clapped with the song. Zia let go a warm gust of laughter. Giovanni frowned at his daughter, watching her perform. He couldn’t make up his mind if he appreciated the innocent dance or should ban it from their home.
Mira approached Catalina and Lorenzo. “You two ready to decorate this baby?”
“It’s crooked.” Catalina said frowning.
“Christo! You are just like your brother. It’s a damn tree and that’s how they lean!” Lorenzo snapped.
Catalina glared at him. “Trees don’t lean you bully. They stand straight. Whoever heard of a crooked Christmas tree?”
“The tree’s fine. I really like it.”
Domi came over with the lights and Zio Rocco in tow. “Let’s string it from the top down.”
Rocco frowned shaking his head. “No! Dobbiamo verificare ancora le luci.” He told them they needed to test the lights again.
“Rocco what is it with you and the damn lights? You’ve tested them at least six times while I was trying to untangle the stack!” Dominic groaned.
Mira touched Rocco’s shoulder. “Go ahead, test the lights again, we can do it one more time can’t we Domi?”
Dominic swallowed his smile. His bruises on his face and throat had nearly faded away. Mira was happy to see him working with them. Before Rocco was assigned to lights, they had a bit of a moment. Giovanni had discovered that Rocco had taken off the back panel from a floor model flat screen television. The wires and internal circuit boards had been removed. Giovanni almost went into cardiac arrest at the sight of it. Rocco explained he wanted to see how it worked, but the hell raising silenced his excuses. Mira was able to calm everyone. She prayed Rocco would keep his tool belt off the rest of the night.
Under the watchful eye of Dominic, Rocco plugged them in and the multi colored tiny bulbs illuminated red, blue, green and yellow once again. Eve stopped entertaining her daddy and Zia to run straight for the tree. Lorenzo caught her before she got too close, scooping her up in his arms. Giovanni and Zia joined as they watched Dominic and Rocco string the lights on the tree. When it was done, Catalina along with Mira and Zia retrieved the ornaments and began to hang them.
“Where did this music come from Bella?” Giovanni asked, dropping his arm across her shoulders.
Mira passed Lorenzo an ornament so he could help Eve hang it on a branch. “You don’t know Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson?”
He laughed. “Yes, I know of them but those songs aren’t quite how I remember American Christmas carols.”
“It’s a Christmas CD with a soul. Something you have plenty of even though you don’t realize it.” She winked.
“Oh really?” His brow arched. Giovanni accepted his daughter whose arms were now outstretched for him. He heaved her higher and Eve reached for a branch, taking a swipe at it to make the ornaments bounce. Mira stretched upward to kiss his jaw. Eve pushed her mother’s face away with her little hand then rested her head on his shoulder. “Exactly how do you think we got you missy?” she chuckled shaking her daughter’s foot. Eve kissed her daddy on the cheek, and Giovanni laughed.
“Grazie mia lucciola,” he said kissing her forehead. Opening his arm to Mira he pulled her close. “And thank you too, Bella.”
Mira leaned over and kissed Eve’s cheek and then kissed her man. “I’m here as the reminder. It’s all about family.”
****
“We haven’t had this kind of family time since Papa Tomosino died.” Lorenzo drank a long swallow of Spumante. He faced the fire staring at the flickering flames. Giovanni sat next to him on the same sofa. The decorating and family time ended too soon. Eve began to cry and cling to her mother. Mira said she probably needed her bath and bed. One by one the family filed out leaving him to his thoughts. Everyone but Lorenzo and Dominic obliged him of course. “It feels like we’ve taken many things for granted cousin.” Lorenzo said.
“É la vita, that’s life,” he replied.
Dominic stirred the ice in the bottom of his glass and cleared his throat. Giovanni’s gaze slipped over to him. He was seated on the sofa chair to his right. Giovanni had to admit that he would miss Dominic once exiled. He was the strongest counsel he’s had since his father died. Flavio just wanted to control him, but Dominic seemed to understand him. Giovanni sighed. “Don’t you boys have business tomorrow?”
Dominic glanced up. He nodded. Lorenzo smirked and nodded. Normally he wouldn’t conduct business of this nature on Christmas Eve but the task he’d assigned to them required immediate attention. With Bonaduce’s son dead and the assassin caught, they needed to control every aspect of this before those in the Polizia di Stato decide to sniff into his business again. The old man had the nerve to say that Giovanni set him up. Now any peace between the Cammora and Ndrangheta was done.
Giovanni chuckled at the irony. Where had that man gone who wanted peace? How could he find his way back there again? And with Lorenzo at his side was it even possible?
“Che será será,” he said. “I want no drama for the next two days.”
“And your plans to marry? How are they coming along?” Lorenzo asked in a nonchalant manner that seemed a bit forced. Giovanni rose without answering. He and Mira hadn’t worked out their nuptials. His Bella was quite gun-shy when it came to revealing that she lived, when the world believed her dead. He sure as hell wouldn’t discuss his plans for her with Lorenzo. He’d given Dominic the order to leak the news to the press after the holidays. It would be a way to force her hand. Now he felt like an ass for trying to manipulate things. He’d talk to her and work it out. They’d agree mutually before anything was done.
“Good night.”
Exhausted, Mira barely made it to her room. The celebration would begin as soon as everyone rose from their beds. Her little girl and Zia had retired two hours earlier for little Eve’s bath and then sleep. Mira debated on where she slept, but Zia insisted Eve sleep with her. Rocco agreed to take another guestroom. Mira relented but vowed to keep her with her on Christmas Eve. She wanted to wake with her on Christmas morning.
Hearing the door close behind her she turned. “Merry Christmas,” she said smiling.
“Buon Natale,” he winked. “Is it Christmas already?” he asked.
“It’s after midnight so that makes it Christmas Eve.”
“Can I have my gift now?” he reached for the sash to her dress, pulling on it gently. The knot unwound and the belt fell free to her hips as her dress unfolded revealing her semi nude body underneath. Mira looked down at herself and then lifted her eyes to meet his lust filled stare. “This isn’t your Christmas gift.”
“Sure it is,” he said running his finger over the swell of her breasts, circling her nipple. “It’s all I want for Christmas.”
“It’s all you want period.” She shrugged the dress off her shoulders so that it fell free of her arms. Giovanni moved her hair from her shoulders, revealing the contour of her neck. She put a hand flat to his chest. “No love bites okay? The family will be here, and I don’t want to be around them with hickies on my neck.”
He chuckled. “I will restrain myself.” He kissed her neck.
“Good.” She rubbed the sides of his chest.
“You know I still don’t know much about your life in America.”
She smiled at him. “Of course you do.”
“I know what happened t
o your mother, but you never told me what happened to you. Why did you choose to move to New York? How did you meet Fabiana? Hell I want to know it all down to your very first kiss.” He massaged the side of her neck with his fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she tilted her head back deciding on giving him the watered down version of her history.
“I graduated high school and a friend I knew—.” Her voice trailed off. His hand slid into her panties. “Don’t stop,” he said against her ear before he slid his tongue inside.
“A friend helped me. I was accepted into Parsons School of Design in New York.” A sharp sting pierced her clit. He stroked her with light rubs of his finger to soothe her after. She sucked in a tight breath, and shuddered hard. He moved on to the hooks of her bra. The action aroused her even more.
“Where did you meet Fabiana?” His lips brushed her closed eyelids.
“School,” she said weakly before he slid his tongue inside her mouth. Mira lifted her arms to his broad shoulders and returned his passion. The kiss sent the pit of her stomach into a wild swirl. Giovanni walked her back to the bed. Tasting him, feeling him, being with him, it was so addictive, and she never tired of the adrenaline rush she received both before and after he claimed her body. Raising his mouth from hers he gazed into her eyes. Mira lowered slowly to the bed and scooted back toward the stack of pillows up against the headboard. Giovanni reached for her ankle and pulled her shoe off then removed the other, massaging her foot. He placed a soft kiss to her ankle. A single kiss, such as this one, made her blood fiery hot in her veins. She desperately wanted him.
