Page 60 of DeLucas After Dark

Our kiss lasts several seconds before I realize that his family will be here soon. The last thing I want is to be caught having sex when they arrive.

“Nora thought of everything, didn’t she?” I say, turning over boxes of hand-blown glass decorations in specialty boxes.

“That’s what she’s paid for,” he says in a distracted tone as he glances at his phone.

“She’s paid to be your PA, babe, but this is well beyond the usual.”

I turn as Marco walks away. He places a call and steps back outside, and I sigh, sitting on the bottom step. He’s been distracted a lot lately, and I wonder what he’s stressed about. He doesn’t discuss family business with me, but something must be brewing.

Late-night phone calls, lots of meetings, and him holed up with Nora more than normal tell me that something is off. It scares me the thought of losing Marco again in any way. In the past, I’ve lost him because he was married, but this time, I’m afraid of losing him to the streets.

I know that’s the life that I’ve signed up for, but I can’t help but worry. I also can’t help that I love a man who’s in the mafia.

It would be easy to say the last few months together have been beautiful. They have been, but they’ve also had moments of tension where I’m worrying whether he’ll come home. I can’t always call him, and I don’t want to stress him out, but I am worried about what’s going on.

Sighing, I head upstairs to shower and change into something comfortable. By the time I return downstairs, I hear lots of laughter and Italian speaking, and for just a moment, I feel lonely. I think about my brother and my parents and wish they were here.

Although Grant and I aren’t extremely close, having my brother in my life is important. Yet, since my parents and I have been on the outs, he seems to be avoiding me, too, though he hasn’t cut me off completely. Then again, that might have something to do with him and Samaria spending so much time with her family lately.

Grant told me that they would be spending the holidays with her family in Alabama this year. It worries me that my parents might be alone. It’s not something I can help, though, since they’ve pushed me away.

“Hey, beautiful!” I hear a squeal that has me pulling myself from a trance.

I turn away from the large, fluffy, but naked spruce Christmas tree, and my eyes widen.

“Mila!” I scream, wrapping my arms around Alessandro’s wife. She’s the only black woman in their family that I can completely relate to.

“Someone missed me,” she laughs, squeezing me back.

When she pulls away from me, she stares knowingly at me. “You’re going to be fine.”

We laugh. “I wish my parents could be here.”

“Still not speaking much.”

“No. I can’t believe they’re being like this, Mila. I mean, don’t get me wrong, my brother Grant was always the goody-two-shoes, and I always stayed in trouble.”

“Sounds like the perfect match for Marco,” she says, trying to make me smile.

“Yeah. I don’t get them being pissed at me for not marrying Kenneth and getting engaged to Marco instead.”

She grabs my hand and leads me to the library. Closing the French doors behind her, she makes her way to the bar and prepares a drink for me.

“Here.”

I take a sip of the strong drink, blink rapidly, and then shake my head.

“Girl, you’re gonna need it to deal with all the DeLucas. But…you’re going to have so much fun that you won’t have a minute to be sad. Your parents are missing out on the memories that you’re making, and one day they’ll regret it. Just relax, enjoy yourself, and just let go, girl.”

I plop down on a tan leather couch and kick my shoes off so that I can pull my feet onto the couch with me. I watch Mila prepare a drink for herself as she talks.

“Honey, I get that your parents are worried as hell about you hooking up with a man who’s in the mafia. If it were Bianca, I’d freak the hell out.”

“Your parents accepted Ales.”

“My daddy was one of the biggest drug dealers in the South. He was a badass muthafucka, and my mama was and still is a bad bitch. So, they look at this like their daughter has the best possible protection she can ever have. Your situation isn’t the same. You told me your parents are church deacons and on the board of a few nonprofits. That explains why your brother is a goody-two-shoes.”

She sits beside me.

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