Mafia Ghost: Chapter 25

Joseph and I just laid there on the pavement, watching the sky darken. “The first time I met your brother, it was early in the morning, and i ended up getting out of bed at four in the morning. I mentioned it wouldn’t kill me to be awake earlier than usual,” I said, a little out of the blue. “He gave me this strange look that now I could probably figure out, but then I couldn’t, and he said 'No, you wouldn’t think it would.' I didn’t really think into it at the time, but now I have. I don’t think anything made Lucio get up that night. I think he was just awake and couldn’t sleep.”

He didn’t say anything at first, but then after a pause he said, “I think maybe I’d consider giving that sort of information to the investigation, or tell my family, but that would involve a lot of explaining.”

“Yeah, yeah it would. God, what have we been through?”

“A lot.”

“And we’re not even done,” I sighed.

“Unfortunately, no. But we’ll get through it. Don’t worry. I’ll be here, you’ll be here, and our families will be here. If that doesn’t get us through, nothing will.”

I smiled at his confidence. I knew he was right, above anything. And I also knew that I should not be worried, at least not now. I rubbed my face with one hand and said, “It just blows my mind how much happened in such a short span of time. I mean, I met him at the end of March. It's been barely more than a month.”

Someone walked by, taking an evening walk, and I didn’t think to look at them until they spoke to us. “Joseph, what are you doing here?” Gianna, walking again, preceded by her daughters and trailed by Cynzia.

I sat up and waved. “Hi, there.”

“Gemma, lovely to see you in the neighborhood,” Gianna said. “Why do you live so far away?”

“Could be further,” I replied, propping myself up on my elbows.

“It’s a long way to walk.”

“She used to do it everyday,” Joseph pointed out.

“So what are you doing all the way out here?” I asked.

“Walking after dinner like we girls do. Thought we should stop by and see how things are going here. Of course, I wasn’t expecting to see my nephew here.”

The twins looked a little annoyed with the talk, so they came and sat down beside Joseph and I. “So they let you out of the hospital, huh?” Sienna asked. After that one day of knowing who was who, I was almost completely sure I had it down.

“Well, there wasn’t much point in keeping me there, anyway. It was getting kind of old, too.”

“Yeah, you did mention hospitals suck,” Saveria said.

“And I stand by that. No matter what, avoid any situation in which you may wind up in the hospital. So stay away from those punks your dad warned you about.”

“I still feel you are in no position to say that sort of thing,” Gianna said, also sinking to the asphalt. “I mean, after all, you were friends with Rebekah.”

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault, I had no idea what was going on then. Once I started talking to Joseph at all, she started acting all weird,” I said in my defense.

“Then she up and shot you,” Cynzia said with a laugh, also joining us on the ground.

I for one laid back down, feeling comforted by the company surrounding me. Then I heard the front door open and shut, and once more turned my neck at a bizarre angle to see my parents walking down the walkway to join the rest of us. “Gemma, you can’t offer your guests a more comfortable arrangement?” my mother said to me.

“Sit down, Lena, you’ll find you have a very comfortable driveway,” Gianna said, patting the ground beside her. “The only thing that would make this a more priceless moment would be if my brother just drove up, half the family in tow.”

“I doubt that will happen, Gianna,” Joseph said with a smile. “But if you want it to, you could call him up.”

“You just said more priceless,” I said, thinking grammatically out loud. “That’s almost contradicting itself.”

“Hey, I can't help it, I'm speaking my second language!”

“Speaking of that, when’s your mother taking us all to Italy?” Cynzia asked.

“Hey, ask her. Personally, I think she’s going to wait until she’s just about to fall over dead so she can be buried over there. I’ll never understand why she left that place. She loves it so much.”

“Why did she never go back?” Saveria asked.

“She didn’t feel it was right to. Her family is here, and she wants to be with her family. We told her over and over again that we would be perfectly happy to go with her anytime she wanted to go, but she always said there was no way everyone could get away.”

“She’s probably right,” Joseph said.

“Why don’t you just take her?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“If she won’t tell you she wants to go and have you to take her when she says, why don’t you just plan it all out and take her? Say it’s a gift or your way of saying thank you or something. I can’t imagine she’d exactly protest.”

“You know, I think you’ve got something there. I’ll talk it over with my brother.”

“So we’re going to Italy?” Sienna asked excitedly.

“I said I’ll talk to my brother. Nothing’s sure.” Gianna was trying to prevent her girls from being excited in case it fell through, but clearly they were getting excited anyway.

“Don’t stem their excitement,” Cynzia said. “Like hell Agostino won’t go through with whatever you tell him.”

“This is true.”

A car did pull up then, but unfortunately Gianna did not get her Kodak Moment. Her brother was not driving, and her husband did not step out of the passenger side door. Instead Rebekah did. I sat up and waited for her to speak.

She looked around at everyone else staring – glaring – at her, then looked down nervously. “Gemma?” she asked quietly. “Could I talk to you?”

I sat up even more, and I was getting ready to stand up when Joseph grabbed my wrist, protectively. I looked at him as if to say, “Like hell she’s going to shoot me again,” and he reluctantly let go. I didn’t lead her more than two feet away from our bizarrely shaped almost-circle, though, just so no one would feel any need to worry.

“Gemma, I really need to say I’m sorry.”

“No shit,” I muttered.

“I don’t know what got into me, deciding to do all that and.... I’m just really, really sorry.”

I looked at her carefully. Odds were, she meant it, at least halfway. She wasn’t exactly apologizing to me for doing it, for ruining a whole lot, but she certainly was sorry the whole thing had happened. I was considering asking how her stay in prison had been, but I figured I could be nice for the time between now and when prosecuters were beating her down.

“Rebekah?”

“Yeah?”

“Save your acting for when the judge is around.” I turned away from her and sat back down to fill in the almost-circle. I didn’t look back at Rebekah as she got back into the car and drove off.

My father suddenly smacked his arm. “How are there mosquitos out when it’s hardly May?” he asked angrily.

“I guess we should take this inside then, instead of on the driveway?” my mother offered. We all stood and walked inside, everyone taking various seats in the family room. I knew there couldn’t be enough seats for everyone, so I waited with Joseph and the twins for the adults to sit down. My parents and Cynzia lined up along the couch, and Gianna sat in a nearby chair. Her daughters sat at her feet, and Gianna began artistically French braiding Sienna’s hair. Joseph and I also settled on the floor.

My mother then jumped up and walked to the kitchen, ordering everyone to tell her what they wanted to drink. After brief chaos, everyone was sitting around, sipping their drinks, and talking. The adults traded stories while we the children laughed along with them.

Gianna even told my parents about her husband’s drinking issue and how it rubbed off on her son, and drove her completely crazy. She then told the tale of the two of them from the previous Sunday, when I was there.

“Speaking of which,” Cynzia said at the conclusion, “we’d love to have you all this Sunday. Even if it is somewhat short notice.”

“There won’t be too many people?” my mother asked.

“Alfonso’s taking the kids to his mother’s house, and Silvio’s already left,” Gianna filled in.

“The number doesn’t matter, there’s always room,” Cynzia replied. My parents accepted, of course, and Cynzia promptly began talking to herself. “Mariella and Alessandro are coming. I still have to convince them to get a sitter for baby Caterina. Really, who brings a baby to Sunday dinner? That would only make things that much more confusing. That should be it, unless someone calls tomorrow and ruins my plans.”

“I think you’ll be okay, Cynzia,” Gianna said.

“Why wouldn’t you want the baby there?” Saveria asked. “I like babies.”

“We won’t be there,” Sienna reminded her sister.

“Right.”

Gianna laughed and said, “I think ten is plenty. We did eleven last week. We’re fine.”

“And you do this every single week?” my father asked.

“Somehow, yes,” Cynzia replied. “Agostino’s mother lives with us, so there’s that much more pressure to do it every Sunday. His family comes, say hello to her, and eat my food. It’s a vicious cycle. It’s even worse when Gianna brings her family over because they end up staying for the next few days, and I have to put up with her for that much longer.”

We all laughed as Gianna threatened to pull off her shoe and throw it like her mother did.

“Your grandmother throws her shoes?” my mother asked Joseph, shocked.

“When someone needs sense knocked into them, she’ll throw a slipper. She used to whack us with her wooden spoons when she was doing the cooking.”

“What can you say, the woman’s resourceful,” Cynzia added.

We ended up staying there talking for a few more hours. I didn’t say much myself, but I watched happily as our families molded together so well. I’d been pretty worried about my parents picking up on the mafia thing, but even after they knew, they were still fine with being around the Salvatores.

I guess the whole hospital thing had really forced them to be close. Really, the reason I was still alive was because Gianna had called 911 so quickly. And all of them had waited for me to wake up even though it was so late.

I didn’t bother to worry about the upcoming trial. Because right then, everything was right. I didn’t really care what came out of the trial anyways, as long as everything stayed like this. Rebekah could get off, for all I cared, as long as this was the same.

Cynzia’s cell phone suddenly went off. “Hello?” she answered. “Yes, we are at Gemma’s house.... No, we’re not dead.... Yes, your son is here.... Yes, fine, come.... Alright, see you then.” She hung up and said, “My husband’s on his way. Is that alright?”

“Of course, that’s fine.”

“He might bring Alfonso, I don’t know. Don’t offer him anything with alcohol.”

“Naturally,” my mother laughed.

Cynzia jumped up first when the doorbell rang a few minutes later, letting in her husband, brother-in-law, and even nephew. Luca quickly understood he was to go on the floor as well, while his father pulled out a chair hiding in the corner, and Joseph’s father sat in the rocking chair my mother and I occasionally sat in.

I looked around and couldn’t help but smile. Two nearly opposite families pulled together over a near-tragedy. And even after it came to pass, with more on the way, they were still in it together.

a/n: WOW. The end!! Before the Ghost (prequel) on its way. Anyways, thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all the nice reviews! You guys are awesome for reading this!