“Okay missy. Slow down.”
Eve dropped on her butt and laughed. Zia reached down for her, and Eve crawled then walked to her aunt. Before Zia could fully get Eve situated upon her lap, her daughter reached in Zia’s apron, snatched out the pacifier, and popped it in her mouth. Zia blinked shocked. Mira laughed. She glanced over to the door in time to see Catalina pass her in tears. Dominic held her up. It was apparent that their meeting with Giovanni was over.
“I’ll be back.”
Zia nodded. Mira rose and slipped on her coat. Eve scrambled to get down from Zia’s lap to follow but was prevented from doing so. Mira had to smile at how helpful Zia was. She left the parlor and headed straight out of the back veranda doors. The men didn’t stop her when she marched up the path to Villa Rosso. They let her in.
“Giovanni?”
Turning his chair by the heel of his foot he looked up at her. Within his blue eyes she saw a deep resolved sadness. Extinguishing the cigar, he smirked, reaching for his glass of amber liquid and taking it down. “It appears you forgot to tell me the most interesting part of the love story,” he said.
Mira closed the office door, smiling weakly she walked toward him a little confused by the remark. “I don’t understand.”
“The baby.”
“Baby?”
Giovanni had to consider that his sister was lying again. He hadn’t decided Dominic’s fate. Carlo and the boys were instructed to teach him a well-deserved lesson before dropping him off in Palermo to give him time to think it through. Mira walked around the desk and sat on the edge of it next to him. “What happened?”
When he didn’t answer, she picked up his whiskey glass and moved it from his reach.
“So she’s pregnant?” Mira asked.
“That’s what she says,” he answered dryly.
“Ironic,” she said.
Giovanni shrugged. “Irony seems to be the foundation this family is built upon. It doesn’t matter. The damage is done. Anything I do will just make me a monster to her, and to you.”
“I would never think of you as a monster.”
“Just the other day you all but called me one.”
“I hated what you did but I understand why. You love Domi. Please at least admit that.”
Giovanni rested the side of his face between his thumb and index finger. “I don’t know him, and though he will keep his life, I want him out of mine.”
“Don’t say that.” She took his hand and forced him to rise. Together they went to the sofa in his office and sat down. He leaned back into the sofa cushions staring up at the ceiling. “Do you know that the Minettis were supposed to come here for the holidays? Can’t wait to have the conversation with Franco’s father explaining what happened to his son.”
Mira ran her hand over his then placed it in her lap to hold it. “This is hard, and I know you are trying to make sense of it all, but it’s still Domi, Giovanni. Does anybody around here care it’s four days before Christmas? I want my Christmas. Our Christmas. We have our baby to think about. She has grown so close to you so fast. She deserves her family Christmas too.” Mira brushed her lips over his and stroked the side of his jaw. “Can we have the family Christmas we both want?”
“So now the fate of Christmas rests upon my shoulders?” The cynicism in the remark grated her.
Mira ignored the bitterness in his voice. “You’re the head of this family. Our fate always rests in your hands.”
“You’re asking me to pretend that my consigliere hasn’t knocked up my recently widowed sister?”