Page 20 of Sins of the Son

He poured two cups and handed me one. I nodded my thanks and took a sip. We both stared silently out over the vast Cavalieri grape fields.

I rubbed my eyes. Fuck, I was tired. “Enzo told me, you know.”

I could feel his gaze on me but continued to stare straight ahead. “I just want to say that I feel the same way he does. I don’t blame you for Mom’s death. I was young, but even I knew how much pain she was in. And the medicine was no longer helping. It was horrible to watch.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “I hope you understand. I never meant to lie to you boys.”

I sniffed and looked into the distance, clearing my throat as I blinked back the tears that were threatening. “I know, Papà. To be honest, it was a relief to learn about what you did. I had felt guilty for being glad she died. She was just in so much pain, I wanted her suffering to end. It was comforting to know you felt the same and took control of the situation.”

He squeezed my shoulder but said nothing. He didn’t need to.

We drank our coffee in silence.

After several minutes, he asked, “So what has you out here so early?”

“I could ask the same of you. Honeymoon over so soon?”

His jaw tensed. “Amara has to say yes to the wedding first, for there to be a honeymoon.”

My eyebrows rose. “She turned you down?”

He shot me a narrow-eyed look. “Not exactly. She won’t even let me propose yet.”

I smirked as I raised the tin coffee cup to my lips. “Good for Amara.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Yours, of course. I like Amara. Always have. Despite my earlier objections to the two of you getting together, I realize now she’s good for you. It’s also good for you to hear the word 'no' once in a while.”

My father turned to face me as he patted his horse’s neck. “Speaking of the word 'no,' how’s Milana?”

I flicked my wrist, tossing the rest of my coffee onto the ground. “What have you heard?”

“Amara is worried Milana will leave for Rome to get away from you.”

I flicked open the knife and ran my thumb over the sharp blade. “That’s not going to happen.”

I would be damned if I told him I'd stopped her from doing just that only a few hours ago. Or that I had her suitcases and purse locked in my truck and a security guard posted at the cottage so she couldn’t leave again. After she tore out my guts with that admission last night, I'd left her in peace and spent several agonizing hours just sitting in the hallway outside her bedroom door until I thought I would go mad. I just kept turning over every memory, every moment, every conversation that I had ever had with Milana to try to figure out what I could have done to have traumatized her so badly.

Finally, I'd had to get out of there. The walls were closing in on me. I needed to be outside. I needed to breathe. So I posted a guard to watch over her and came into the fields. My sanctuary.

I could feel his hard gaze on me as I turned my attention back to the vines.

He sighed. “I love you, son, but there is absolutely nothing I won’t do to make Amara happy. If you chasing after her friend upsets her….”

I gripped the knife handle harder. “I’m warning you. Stay out of it. This is between me and Milana.”

He pushed on my shoulder to turn me to face him. “The hell it is. I’m still the head of this family, and as Amara’s friend, Milana is under my protection.”

I threw my knife to the ground and wrenched off my leather gloves, tossing them to the dirt as well as I approached him. “Seriously? I said the same goddamn thing to you not two months ago about Amara, and you told me to fuck off, so I suggest you take your own advice, Papà. Milana is my concern, not yours, and I won’t have you interfering.”

“Do I have to separate you two again?”

We both turned to watch Enzo approach.

I bent to pick up my knife and gloves. “What the fuck are you doing here so early?”

He pulled the thermos of coffee he knew would be in Papà’s saddlebag out and fished for another tin cup. “I told Renata after the harvest I was dragging her to a doctor of my choosing whether or not she liked it.”

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