Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
“I’m happy to go at your pace, Adele.”
She nodded her head and then licked her dry lips.
“Then we can try.” She got to her feet.
“Your mother asked me to find you someone who I thought could love you. Who could fall madly in love with you, and I thought Enzo was … if he gives you any trouble, I can help you.”
Adele couldn’t help but laugh. “I love Enzo,” she said. “And he loves me.” She saw Hank breathe a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
This made her laugh. “I better go. We’re heading to the doctor’s.”
“Is everything okay?” Hank asked.
“Yes. Just a checkup, possibly an ultrasound.” She went to walk toward the door, to make her escape, but then stopped and turned.
She hadn’t done this in a very long time. She walked up to Hank, threw her arms around her father, and hugged him. In a strange way, he felt and smelled exactly as she remembered him. She had wanted him to remain a monster in her world, but feeling him now, he was the furthest thing from a monster. He was her father.
Hank held her tightly and then after a few minutes, she pulled away. It wasn’t much, but at least it was a start.
Hank saw her to the door, and she quickly moved down the steps, to where Enzo waited. Climbing into the car, Enzo was waiting for her, his driver behind the wheel.
“Are you okay?” Enzo asked. “Do I need to start a war?”
“No, you don’t need to start a war.” She turned to look at him. “I hugged my father today. It was the first time in nearly ten years.”
“And how do you feel?”
“I don’t know. Happy? Sad?” She felt the tears building in her eyes, and she swiped at them.
Enzo wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
“Your mother wants you to have a family, Adele. You love your father, and there’s nothing you can say or do that will change that.”
“I know. I do love him.”
And it was good to finally, in a way, make peace with that love. She didn’t know how long it would last, if it would even last, but either way, it was a start. This was what her mother’s final wish was, and Adele loved her enough to give it a try.
Epilogue
Five Years Later
“I can’t believe you have never been camping,” Adele said.
“I don’t consider it a vacation, camping out in the wilderness.” Enzo watched as his wife gave a little twirl and smiled at him.
She had been talking about going camping for the longest time, and he’d done everything in his power to put her off. Over the past five years, they’d enjoyed vacations in Italy, Spain, Rome, Mexico, and when he got very desperate, rainy England.
He had come to the conclusion that England was the bad choice, seeing as during their journey they had seen many people camping. Of course, that had made Adele determined to have them vacation in a tent, in the wilderness, enjoying all the little things.
Of course, he had to have a contingency plan, and that happened to be Hank, Isabella, and the rest of his family. If Enzo had to go camping, then so did all the others.
He watched as Adele and Aurora walked hand in hand. The two half-sisters had hit it off on their first Christmas together, after his son was born.
The first Christmas, he had with his pregnant wife, all alone. Then, Hank convinced him the second Christmas to visit him and the family, with his grandson, and of course Adele was pregnant again.
He and Adele now had three children—two sons and a daughter. Both his sons were running around their feet, while he had his little girl in a carrier attached to his chest. If anyone could see him now, they would laugh. The fierce and scary mafia capo out camping with his wife, family, and kids. It was unheard of.
A lot had happened in the last five years. Adele had made peace with Hank, and that had eventually extended to Isabella. Their relationship at times was still … formal, but he knew they both tried.
He couldn’t imagine being Isabella. He didn’t agree with what she did, but looking at her from her perspective, he imagined was what gave Adele some peace.
Isabella loved her husband very much, but he loved another woman. A woman who was dead. Hank had even admitted to him, that since Carla, there had been no one else. He didn’t have any other mistress, nor did he have his wife. Carla was gone, and there was no one.
At first, Enzo thought that was crazy, but looking at his wife, he didn’t even realize what he’d been missing in his own life. Adele was the flame, his reason for breathing, she was his everything. He loved her more than sense, and he’d do whatever her heart desired to see her smile.