Page 52 of Savage Vow (Mafia Marriages 3)

* * *

“Is it true you just got married?” Cora asks.

She’s fourteen and one of my favorite patients. Cora has been in and out of the hospital since I started working there.

“Who told you?” I laugh. No one can keep a secret.

“Nurse Jocelyn was blabbing about the donuts this morning. Do you have a picture of him?”

“I don’t,” I say.

She gives me a confused look. “You don’t have a picture of your husband. How about when he was your fiancé?” Cora is smart. A little too smart for her own good sometimes.

“Nope.”

Her eyes narrow. “Not even on your phone?” Cora holds out her hand, expecting me just to hand over my device.

I love the kid, but she has no boundaries, just like Jocelyn.

“My phone is toast. I have a cheap replacement, but it’s not a smartphone.”

“Lame,” she says.

I check her vitals and make notes on her chart for the doctor.

“Tell me what he’s like. Let me live vicariously through you,” Cora says. She sits up farther in bed.

I’ve never seen Cora quite so eager before. She’s perked up, and her cheeks are a little more rosy than usual. I’d worry it’s due to an infection and fever, but her temperature is normal.

“He’s got lots of tattoos on his arms, tall, handsome, and has an accent.”

“What kind of accent?”

“He’s Italian,” I say.

“Oh man, he must be hot!”

I scribble down a few more readings. “Scary is more like it,” I mutter under my breath.

“What was that?” Cora asks.

Nothing gets by her. Ever.

“You have a kid, right?”

I nod slowly, not sure where she’s going with this new line of questioning. “That’s right, a boy.” She’s seen his photograph on my phone. He was my background picture practically since he was born.

“What’s your new husband think of becoming a dad?”

I groan. The kid might be fourteen, but she’s a world ahead in the way her mind works. Right now, I wish that I’d checked on Molly next door, who is six. She’s sweet, a chatterbox, and doesn’t ask me anything personal.

“He’s still adjusting,” I say.

“Ouch,” Cora says and smirks.

It’s like the kid can see right through me.

Maybe everyone can, and that’s why they’re asking me about Aurielo?

---