3.

TABBY

"Wow. He was right!"

"Who was?" Darlene asked as she looked at me over the top of her glasses.

"This guy came into the bar Thursday night and was spouting random trivia facts. I just had a chance to look some of them up and found out he was right."

"That must be a new pick-up strategy." Darlene laughed softly. "At this point, I thought I'd heard them all."

"I kind of hope he comes back today," I mused as I set my phone aside. "What do you have planned with Ember?"

"We're going to the park for a while, and then I have some errands to run. Nothing big, just some shopping and . . ."

"Do not buy that child any more clothes, Darlene."

"I'll buy what I damn well please, thank you."

"Or anything for the babies! Simon's apartment already looks like a toy store, and y'all have bought them enough clothes to last until their first birthday."

"It's not my fault."

"How is it not your fault? Did the shopkeeper . . ."

"God, it's so cute when you say shit like that. Reminds me of home," Darlene interrupted.

"Shut it!" I said with a mock glare. "Nobody forced you to whip out your card and . . ."

"Whose whipping stuff out? Where? Why didn't you call me?" Rey asked as he walked into the kitchen. "What did I miss?"

"If Darlene doesn't quit buying things for the kids, I'm going to have to stuff the mattresses with clothes just to have enough space to walk around."

"Where's the princess? We're going to get our nails done."

"I'm taking her out later, so have her back in time for her nap," Darlene said firmly as she set her tablet aside. "You have an appointment at four."

"That's why I'm getting a manicure," Rey said as he looked down at his hands. "We've got to find some better soap for the glasses at the bar. It just sucks the . . ."

"Who is sucking what?" Simon asked as he walked into the kitchen from the living room. "What did I miss?"

"For fuck's sake," I said as I put my hand over my face. "Can we have one normal conversation, please?"

"When did she get so uptight? Is it the hormones?" Rey asked Darlene.

"Don't ask me!"

"Have her tell you what she wanted for dinner last night," Simon tattled. When Darlene and Rey looked over at me, I glared at Simon, and he laughed. "White rice and ranch Dressing."

"Ew," Darlene and Rey said in unison.

"It was like a fucked up lumpy soup. So gross."

"She had a ranch fascination when she was pregnant with Ember too," Darlene mused. "I think the worst thing I ever saw her eat was celery and peanut butter dipped in ranch."

Rey audibly gulped and all three of them looked at me in horror when I said, "That sounds delicious!"

"Ranch dressing?" Ember squealed as she skidded into the room with her tablet in one hand and the new mini clutch purse Rey had given her yesterday in the other. "What are we eating?"

"I guess she absorbed it through her bloodstream because her fascination still hasn't gone away," I mused as I picked my daughter up and set her on what was left of my leg. My lap was getting smaller by the day. Soon, I wouldn't have room for her at all, so I had to take my cuddles while I could. "Do you want to have your nails done with Uncle Rey and then come back for a nap before you go shopping with Grandma?"

"Yes!" Ember said excitedly. She pulled her purse onto the table and then reached into it and pulled out a sloppily folded sheet of paper. "Can we go to the mail place and send Coco a letter?"

"I'll send it for you," I whispered as I took the paper out of her hand.

"Can you ask him if she sent me a letter back? I miss Coco. Why can't we call her?"

"We just can't, sweetie," I said softly before I kissed her temple. "Are you ready to go get your nails done?"

"Yes! What color today, Uncle Rey?"

"You'll have to pick when we get there," Rey told her. He could tell that her question upset me, so he plucked her off my lap and set her on his hip. "Wave bye to your loyal subjects, princess."

Ember put her nose in the air, lifted her hand, cupped her fingers just so, and then slowly moved her hand from the wrist, keeping her elbow perfectly still. After a few seconds, she giggled and asked, "How'd I do?"

"Fantastic!" Simon cheered before he put his fist out to bump hers. "I'll see you when you get back."

"Will you read me a story, Uncle Si?"

"Absolutely," he promised. "I've been looking forward to it for days."

"After your nap, we'll run some errands," Darlene told her. "We can hit a few boutiques and go to the bodega for some fresh produce." She looked around at us and asked, "Any requests?"

"Um . . ." I bit my lip nervously and then gave Darlene a cheesy smile. "Celery?"

"Oh, jeez. You're an animal, Tabby."

"It's not her. It's my hoagie rolls that she's cooking in there," Simon argued.

"A hoagie sounds delicious," Rey mused.

"I'll pick up stuff to make them for dinner," Darlene said with a dramatic sigh. "I hope all of you appreciate how spoiled you are."

"Will you bring one down to me?" I asked.

"Absolutely rotten."

◆◆◆

LUCA

"I packed you some leftovers," my mom said as she sat down across from me at the table. "Now, tell me why your brother is so grumpy today."

"I don't know," I lied. Mom gave me a bored look, and I laughed. "It's a woman." When she raised her eyebrows, giving me that look she'd perfected when we were children and she knew we'd done something wrong, I added, "He's stuck in the friend zone with no way out."

"Still?"

"Still."

"Bernadette mentioned that she was worried about her employee because she was dating someone new."

"I think it's funny that you and Bernadette talk all the time."

"Why is that funny?"

"Well . . . Dad, obviously."

"Your father and I were over before you and your brother were even born, so that doesn't affect our relationship now. As far as your brother goes, your papà was in the friend zone for a long time, and look at us now."

"Papà had an in since Nonno wanted the two of you to get married. Matteo doesn't even have that going for him."

"I would have married Papà anyway, regardless of what our parents wished."

My papà married my mother when she was a few months pregnant and claimed me and my brother as his own from the start. Since our father, Valentine Russo, the heir to the Russo family, was sentenced to prison for at least twenty years, leaving our mother pregnant and unwed in a culture that frowned on that situation, she hadn't had much choice but to marry our dad, Carlo Robono. Given the fact that my great-uncle used the vacant space at the head of the table to dig in his claws and run the family, marrying Papà gave her and her unborn children a measure of protection against the new head of the Russo family since the Robono name had some power behind it. Luckily, it was a friendly union that soon turned into a lasting love.

The Russo family had close ties with the Robonos, connections that spanned for generations and went all the way back to Italy before any of our ancestors had immigrated to America. In Italy, the Robonos had more power than they did in the States, so they were a formidable ally to the Russos. My mother had grown up on the edge of the life since her father was a loyal foot soldier to my grandfather Russo. She understood that carrying the heirs to the Russo family was an important and somewhat dangerous task, especially with the family in turmoil since the death of my paternal grandfather and with my father on his way to prison after avenging his mother and sister's death. In my father's absence, his uncle had taken over as head of the family and took the Russos on a dark path that included lots of bloodshed in the war between the mafia families that ruled New York and most of the east coast.

Luckily, our father had taken on the task of raising us to become not just good men, but leaders who would someday take back the power of the Russo name, which we had done not long ago by creating an alliance with some unlikely allies - the Morettis, the Campana family, and the Romanos.

Papà hadn't taken that task on as a whim. The building of the alliance that we now called The Four Families had been a long process that spanned almost my entire life. Vicente and Antonio Moretti, the heirs to the Moretti family, had grown up hating their father, but that hatred turned to rage when the elder Moretti married off his young daughter, Paola, to the Campana heir, a worthless and abusive bastard that made every day of her life miserable.

That union had created Zach Campana, a boy who became mine and my brother's best friend and closest confidante. On the surface, it made no sense that we'd become friends - our families had been at war for ages. However, my parents had been working with Vicente and Antonio Moretti as well as Federico Romano since the beginning and encouraged our blossoming friendship and helped turn it into a brotherhood. When we were old enough, Vicente, Antonio, and Federico brought us into the fold and helped us plan the takeover of the Russo and Campana families from the leaders who didn't deserve the position.

Our great-uncle had stolen the power that rightfully belonged to our father, Valentine Russo, and with their help Matteo and I had wrested it back. In the process, we'd lost a lot of men - friends we'd grown up with who we found we couldn't trust to join us in the new venture of peace we were all embarking on and others who had watched us grow up in the life and didn't want to see things change.

Through it all, our parents had stayed strong for us, encouraging us at every turn. They were still doing that to this day.

Our dad, Valentine Russo, had spent years in prison for killing the man who shot his mother and sister. Even though he had never met us, he'd watched us grow up through the pictures our mom sent him over the years. Rather than take over the family when he got out of prison, he'd made a life in Texas doing what he loved. He was a chef and had become a very popular celebrity since his release. Now he had a woman in his life who was also a native New Yorker that was happy to live down south with him. We had met Bernadette just last year and loved her from the start, and in that time, she had become good friends with our mother.

"Dad and Bernadette will be coming to visit soon. He's got some filming to do, and she needs to check in with her employees."

"How is that going?"

"Beneficial," I answered with a grin.

Mom raised one eyebrow and asked, "Does Bernadette know what you and your brother are doing?"

"She knew from the beginning, and if she hadn't, one of us would have told her if Dad hadn't first."

"I can't believe I'm sitting at my dining room table discussing laundry with my child," Mom mused, speaking in code out of habit rather than necessity. She suddenly changed the subject and asked, "How are things going with Zach?"

"Stressful. His life has taken a drastic turn in the last few weeks."

"That bad?"

"I don't think so. There's a spark there between him and Brett."

"A spark?"

"Well, at first, it was anger, but it's changed. He's gotten used to Brett and Coco living with him, and I don't think he'd know what to do without them there now."

"Lui è innamorato," Mom whispered as her eyes filled with tears.

"I think you may be right. He is in love, but he hasn't admitted it to himself or anyone else yet."

"I want that for you and Matteo," Mom said before she sniffed and then gave her head a shake. "At the rate you and your brother are going, Stefania will be married and happy before you."

"I doubt it. Papà said that Stefania wasn't allowed to date until she's eighteen, so that . . . ."

"I changed his mind."

"You did not."

"I didn't know half of what you and your brother were doing when you were fifteen. I'm afraid that if I try to imagine it, I'll develop an ulcer and a tic in my left eye. Your sister should be allowed the same consideration."

"I know what we were doing at fifteen, and let me just say . . ."

"Why is there a boy at the front door asking for Stefania?" Matteo interrupted as he walked into the kitchen. He motioned for me to come with him back into the hall as he said, "Luca, come on."

"Do not intimidate that poor boy," Mamma snapped. "Your sister invited him over to watch a movie with her this afternoon."

"Alone? She's not allowed to date until she's eighteen!" Matteo argued.

"Cazzate!"

"Where's Papà?"

"He's at the club. Sit down, Matteo, and let them be."

"I'm not leaving her alone in there with him!" Matteo exclaimed in outrage.

"Oh my! They're alone in the living room in the bright light of day, and I'm just down the hall with you goons. What could happen?"

"I remember what we were like at fifteen, Mamma!" I said again.

Matteo scoffed and said, "A whole lot more can happen than you think. You're just gonna let her sit in there with that . . . boy? What's next?"

"You're right to be concerned, Matteo. What Stefania is doing is a gateway drug to dating and growing up. The next thing you know, she'll do something crazy like get her driver's license and graduate from high school. And then . . ." Mamma leaned back and put her hand on her chest as her eyes got wide. She gasped dramatically before she asked, "What if she goes to college?"

"I'm calling Papà," Matteo threatened.

"Your brothers aren't much younger than Stefania. Would you have the same issue if they were having a girl over?" Mamma asked. When we didn't answer, she narrowed her eyes and said, "You will leave your sister alone and be pleasant to her friend, ragazzi. Sono ancora tua madre e non sei troppo grande perché io possa prenderti a schiaffi."

As usual, when Mom got upset, she started jumping back and forth between Italian and English, but it didn't make any difference to us since we were fluent in Italian and a few other languages. However, what did make a difference was the change in her demeanor. She wasn't playing around anymore. Matteo and I might be the leaders of a mafia organization, but she wouldn't hesitate to slap the shit out of us if she thought we needed it.

"Sarò gentile ma dovresti chiamarmi se ci sono problemi," I replied.

"You will be nice until there is a reason to be otherwise, Luca. I know that. And if there is a problem, I will not call you. I will go to your father, and if he needs your input, he will call you." Mamma gave me a pointed look and then narrowed her eyes at Matteo. "I don't know what made all of the men in my family believe that women can't take care of themselves, but I don't like it. Mario and Junior are twelve and thirteen, and they are already acting like cavemen. It must be in the DNA."

"She's our principessa, Mamma," I said as I walked around the table and leaned down to give her a kiss. "Just like you are our regina."

"I am the queen, and don't you forget it," Mamma said primly. "At least until the two of you find women of your own, and then I will gladly step aside and let them keep you in line."

"Sure you will," Matteo scoffed.

"I'll give them pointers, of course, but they'll take their place in your lives."

"Not any time soon," I reminded her. "We're only twenty-eight, Mamma. There's plenty of time for us to enjoy our lives before we have to settle down."

"You act like it's a chore when in reality, it's a blessing," Mamma muttered. She smiled up at me and said, "Silvia Agosti's niece is visiting from Italy next month . . ."

"No!" Matteo and I said at the same time.

In a little gentler tone, I said, "You're not gonna set us up with the perfect little Italian woman, Mamma. Absolutely not."

"She's beautiful and would give me lots of bellissimi nipoti, Luca."

"You'll get plenty of beautiful grandchildren from Stefania and the boys."

"In about twenty years when she's allowed to date," Matteo grumbled.

"Bambini testardi!" Mom exclaimed before she reached out and took my hand. "Stai attento, Luca."

"Of course. I always pay attention, Mamma. And, yes, I am stubborn, but I think I got that from you."

"For that, I blame your father," Mom scoffed.