She folded her arms and looked around the room. “Gabriella, you look as if you have something you want to say.”
“Are you practicing safe sex?”
All four Romano brothers groaned and grimaced and looked anywhere but at their mother, who arched a brow and said, “Gabriella, I learned the consequences of having unprotected sex when I was fifteen years old. It is not a lesson one forgets. And since you brought the topic up, I will add that I trust you all are acting in a sexually responsible manner.”
“Can we change the subject please?” Zach asked.
Lucca couldn’t have agreed more. Especially since the memory of the recent incident when he hadn’t acted sexually responsible suddenly flashed through his brain.
He sat back in his chair. He hadn’t thought about it, that first night when Hope had come to him. He hadn’t used a condom. He never made that slip, but that night, he hadn’t been thinking.
Maybe he should bring it up. Just check and make sure that she’s okay and not worried about … consequences.
“Do you have any comments or questions, Zach?” his mother asked.
“My situation is different from the others. I didn’t know Marcello Romano. I just … well … you have my phone number. Feel free to call me anytime. And I mean anytime.”
His mother smiled at him, then looked at Lucca. “You?”
He winced and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t have anything against Steele. I do want you to be happy, Mom. It’s just going to take some time to get accustomed to you … uh …” He couldn’t come up with a word.
“Living again?” she suggested.
He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
Maggie Romano turned to her next eldest. “Tony?”
“I don’t have anything to say.”
The mulish look on his twin’s face told Lucca that Tony wasn’t going to surrender his anger easily. His mother recognized it, too, but rather than try to coax any more from him, she continued calling roll. “Max?”
Max stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. He glanced from Tony to Gabi, then said, “More than anyone I’ve ever known, you deserve to be happy, Mom. If Richard Steele makes you happy, then I say have fun. Be careful, but be happy.”
Maggie offered up a tremulous smile. “Gabi?”
“I … I …” Tears swelled in her eyes and overflowed. “Excuse me.” She shoved herself from her seat and fled the room.
Lucca pulled his gaze away from his sister and back to his mother to see that now, she’d started crying, too.
Maggie grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and dabbed at her eyes. She cleared her throat, then said, “I expect you all here for Thanksgiving dinner. My kitchen will be complete by then, and it will be my first meal in Aspenglow Place. As is our family custom, you are all welcome to invite friends. I intend to invite Richard. Celeste plans to join us. I ask you to give me a final count on Tuesday before.”
Her gaze shifted once more toward the powder room where Gabi had disappeared, then she drew a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and asked, “Anything else?”
The boys shared a look, and their gazes all fell upon Tony. “I’ll be bringing two of my players. They don’t have family to go home to.”
“That’s nice.” Maggie crossed the room toward the entry hall and the coat rack. “I trust one of you will convey my request to your sister?”
They all answered at once. “Sure.” “Will do.” “Of course.” “Got it covered.”
Maggie nodded, then pulled on her coat, her hat, her scarf, and her gloves. “Good night.”
The door shut firmly behind her, and one by one, her sons let out a sigh. “That went well,” Zach said.
“Oh, yeah,” Tony replied, his tone saying the opposite. “Just effing peachy.”
Max rose and lifted a fireplace tool from the rack to poke the fire. “It could have been worse.”
“Yeah,” Lucca said. “She could have brought the steel dick with her.”
Max groaned. Tony buried his face in his hands. Zach rose and said, “I’m outta here. I’m working a double shift tomorrow and it starts at five in the morning. I’m going to hit the sack early.” Addressing Tony and Max, he said, “So, I guess I’ll see you guys at Thanksgiving.”
“Yep. Nothing like a family holiday to look forward to,” Max said, shaking his brother’s hand.
After a short discussion, Tony and Max both decided to leave Eternity Springs and drive partway home to Boulder and Denver, respectively. When they knocked on the bathroom door to tell Gabi they were leaving, she finally exited the room. Soon, just she and Lucca were left. Lucca told her what their mother had said prior to her departure. Gabi rubbed her red-rimmed eyes and said, “I’m a mess. This whole thing has stirred up my grief. It’s like we lost Dad last week, not going on two years ago. I’m so sad and so angry, and I know it’s wrong of me to be angry. I just can’t seem to help it.”
Lucca was angry, too, only he was angry with their father, which was wasted energy, considering that Marcello Romano lay in his grave. For a moment, he considered sharing the bombshell that Max had dropped, but he decided against it. While his siblings had all looked up to their father, Gabi’s status as the only daughter had always made her relationship with their father a bit different. She had truly been Marcello Romano’s princess.
“Mom loves you. You love her. Remember what Nana always used to say? This, too, shall pass.”
“But she’s having sex with him. He took her to a sleazy motel. I didn’t expect her to throw herself onto the funeral pyre, but they were married thirty years. How can she move on in less than thirty months? And why is it that you guys can all smile and be nice about it?”
He chose his words carefully. “We can’t know what went on inside their marriage. We have to trust Mom to know her own heart.”
Gabi sniffed, then stalked over to the fireplace and held her hands out toward the flames for warmth. “Maybe I should follow your lead and run away to South America.”
“Because your mother has a new boyfriend?”
Her rapid blinking began again, and Lucca wished he’d kept his mouth shut. “Because I am in such a bad place right now. I’m adrift. I’m not a cop anymore. I don’t have a job. My only constant was my family, and now there’s a biker in Mom’s bed and a kindergarten teacher in yours. I don’t have anyone special, and dammit, I’m lonely.”
Gabi drew back and looked up into his eyes. “And your better place? It’s with Hope?”
Slowly, he nodded.
“Are you going to hang around that better place for a while?”
“I’m not looking to leave.”
“So are we talking something permanent? Say, buying a house in this better place? Putting down stakes? Maybe, with a ring?”
Lucca’s heart did a little hitch. Marriage? How had they gone from talking about their mother’s sex life to a ring on Hope’s finger?
“Well?”
Lucca was glad to see the spark of interest in his sister’s eyes. Anything was better than those great big sad puppy dog eyes. “Can I trust you to keep a secret?”
Interest brightened to sheer delight. “Absolutely!”
“Okay, then. It’s too soon to tell, but this is the first time in my life that the m-word hasn’t made me shiver in my shoes.” He tapped his index finger against her nose. “Now, I know the kitchen here isn’t officially open, but since I work here I keep a stash. The coals of this fire are just about perfect for roasting marshmallows. Want to make s’mores?”
