Page 144 of Married With Malice

The responsibility for Richie’s fate lies mostly with Richie himself. Soon, he and Albie Barone can argue about it in hell.

Nearby, my dejected cousins are being comforted by their husbands. They’re startled at the sight of Anni with her sling and her bruised face but nod absently when she explains she simply had an accident.

I bring my wife with me to say goodbye to the man who raised me. A single chair is parked beside Richie’s hospital bed. Though Anni insists she’s fine, I want her to sit. As I stand behind her, I gaze at my uncle one last time.

He’s so small and weak lying there, barely alive, attached to machines, his skin already turning a mottled grey. It’s almost hard to believe he’s the same man who was a nightmare for so many, including me.

My hand rests on Anni’s good shoulder. She reaches up and squeezes my fingers to give me strength as I bid my uncle farewell.

“Richie, I meant everything I said to you today. I did love you like a father. But you know what? Now I’ll be relieved when those beeps on the screen over there go flat and you’re gone. And yet I can’t deny that I owe you one considerable debt. If not for all your scheming, I wouldn’t have Annalisa. She’s my world now. So thank you for that. I’d tell you to try and explain yourself to my mother when you see her, but you won’t be seeing Angela at all, not where you’re going.”

The monitor that was beeping steadily briefly accelerates, but within seconds it returns to the baseline. I know it’s just about impossible that he heard me but I like to think he did. He deserves to know where he stands before the end comes for him.

I’ve said what I needed to say. Now I just want to get away from the antiseptic smell, the sound of the machines and the sight of the shriveled man in the hospital bed.

Anni gazes up at me with sadness when we’re outside the room. “Are you okay?”

I take a big gulp of air and hug my wife to my chest, careful not to jostle her sore shoulder as I gently rock her in my arms. “We’ll both be okay, Anni.”

We remain there in the hospital hallway until the bitter end, partly out of courtesy to my aunt and cousins.

But mostly because I want to make sure the son of a bitch is truly dead.

33

ANNALISA

Daisy has a gift when it comes to makeup. She successfully covered the fading but still visible bruise beneath my right eye. My shoulder remains sore but it’s healing and I’ve left the sling off for today, despite Luca’s worry that I’m doing too much.

My husband guards me as if I’m royalty and made of glass. No complaints about that. I’ll take any excuse to be close to him. I know his concern comes from a place of pure love.

He keeps his hand on the small of my back as we move through the funeral crowd. We’re not really here to pay respects to Richie Amato. We’ve quietly cheered his death and we’re ready to never mention his name again. Luca just wanted to say goodbye his family.

As for my father, there was no funeral. My mother refused to have one. She wouldn’t even accept his ashes after the cremation. My Uncle Vittorio took them instead and promised he would find a proper place for the remains of the Baron of Brooklyn.

If I had to guess, I’d say my father’s remains have either been poured into an open sewer or scattered in a Jersey landfill. Fine by me.

In the week since she became a widow, my mother has begun a transformation. She walks taller and smiles more. She’s left all business affairs in the hands of Uncle Vittorio and looks forward to the new life she’ll have in Sicily where she’ll be living in one of the villas owned by her brother. She’s made us promise to visit. She’ll have a view of the sea.

And she’ll have Sabrina.

I tried to talk my younger sister into coming to Colorado with me and Luca. She could even stay here in New York. Our uncle set up a significant trust for her and she can live anywhere she wants and finish her video game design program. Daisy and Big Man Bowie are staying here. They have big plans for expanding their burger truck franchise.

But Sabrina just smiled and shook her head at both suggestions. “Your husbands need you both. But Mama needs me. At least for a while. And who knows? Maybe I’ll find some strapping Sicilian hunk to sweep me off my clumsy feet.”

She and Mama are leaving tomorrow. Luca and I are leaving tonight. We have tickets for a red eye flight to Denver and then we’ll drive to Bright Hearts Ranch, where we’ll be staying until we get a place of our own.

Uncle Vittorio grumbled a whole lot when I said I didn’t want any of my father’s fortune. Between us, Luca and I have a little money. Enough to put a down payment on a house. He’s already looking at getting his legal credentials in Colorado and wants to open his own law practice.

My uncle seems sure that I’ll change my mind, that I’ll miss access to unlimited wealth. He’s wrong. The trust he’s insisted on setting up for me will remain untouched until I can figure out a way to funnel the funds to charity. I want absolutely nothing that came from my father.

Coping with the upcoming separation from my sisters turns the day into a bittersweet one. I’m trying not to think about the goodbyes I’ll need to say in the hours ahead.

Luca notices how quiet I am as we make the rounds and offer subdued greetings to the other mourners. He draws me into an unoccupied corner and puts his arms around me. My cheek presses to his chest and he gently rubs my back.

“We’ll leave soon,” he promises and kisses the top of my head.

I nod, although at the moment I’m in no hurry to move as I listen to his robust, steady heartbeat and enjoy the feel of his strong hands on my body.

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