Page 30 of Franco
Franco pulls me closer, his arms encircling me completely. "Because for all my life, I had nothing that mattered. Nothing I couldn't walk away from. Now..." He presses his lips to my forehead. "Now I have everything."
"Mom! Franco! Let's goooo!" Tommy calls from the top of the stairs, his baseball bag slung over his shoulder. "I can't be late if I'm pitching!"
Franco and I break apart, both smiling at Tommy's impatience. "We're coming," I call back. To Franco, I whisper, "We'll finish this conversation later."
"Count on it," he murmurs, his eyes promising more than words could say.
As we head out to Franco's car—he finally traded in the Audi for a more family-friendly SUV last year—I watch my son chattering excitedly to Franco about baseball statistics, Franco listening with genuine interest. In a few months, we'll add another child to this unconventional family we've built. It won't be easy, nothing with Franco ever is, but it will be worth it.
Three years ago, I was a struggling single mother working two jobs and barely staying afloat. Now I'm running my own small physical therapy practice (completed my degree with Franco's encouragement), raising an amazing son, and building a life witha man who most people fear but who looks at me like I'm the miracle.
As Franco helps Tommy secure his baseball bag in the trunk, he catches me watching them and smiles. One of his rare, full smiles that transform his entire face. My hand drifts to my stomach, to the tiny life growing there, and I silently promise our baby the same thing I've come to count on myself:
Your father may be dangerous to the rest of the world, but to you, he will be nothing but protection, love, and absolute devotion. He will move mountains for you, just as he has for Tommy and me.
Because that's who Franco Salvatore truly is. Not just Dante Veneziano's feared right hand, but a man who found his heart in the most unexpected place: a chance encounter in a dark alley with a woman and child who needed saving.
What he didn't realize then, but I hope he knows now, is that in saving us, he also saved himself.
