The Life - Rebirth (The Life 4)

I’d been able to put my fears aside for the first day, at least, after meeting all the women and children and the other men. I’m not sure, but I’m almost certain that everyone, especially the men, seems to treat me a little bit different once they know that I’m Colton’s cousin. And then I met Catalina, who her father so fondly calls Mengele, and spent more time than is warranted trying to figure out who Colton had meant all those times when he kept mumbling about another Mengele.

For sure, we look alike, like sci-fi clone movies alike, but her brain is more like Gabriel’s offspring than mine. Spending time with the women and talking to grandma every day on the phone and then Facetime had helped make my transition back into the real world much easier than it would’ve been.

Colton had given me the choice of whether or not I wanted to tell grandma about my pregnancy, but I decided to hold off until we met face to face. I imagine it would be a shock, but there was also the fear of her slipping and telling Gabriel’s Nana with whom she’d grown close again.

I was afraid that now I was back, it might be hard to go back to my old name, but Mancini took care of it like it was no problem. I wasn’t sure what to think, though, when he said we should wait on changing the birth certificate until I realized he was hinting that the name might be changed to Russo instead of Antonelli or even Fontane.

The one thing I hadn’t heard and sort of expected, especially from the women, was how stupid I was for what I’d done. In fact, they all seemed to think it was a boss move and nothing less than an infuriating man deserves, their words not mine. Colton took umbrage to this and asked Kat if I was going to take the ass whipping for her if she ever pulled a stunt like that, whatever that means.

He tends to do that a lot, threaten her in some way or the other, but all she does is laugh until he leaves the room grumbling, which I now find hilarious. It didn’t take me long to realize that for all their brawn, it was the women and not the men who ran things here. I can’t count how many times in those two days I saw a man with a baby or a toddler on his hip and seemingly happy to do it.

So, all of these nuances have kept me from dwelling too much on the upcoming theatrics. I think that if they wanted to fool Gabriel, they should’ve let me take at least one year of acting classes because I get the feeling that they don’t know him and his mind. That morning when I woke up with my heart in my lungs, I was sure I couldn’t go through with it.

My nerves can’t take it, and I’m this close to calling the whole thing off. But what if I did and something happens to him that I could’ve prevented? How would I live with myself then? So, it was with that thought in mind that I bit the bullet and got on the plane reservations and all.

GABRIEL

It’s been two days, and I still can’t get over what I’d learned that night, the night I came back to find Sal and the kids in his rooms. I’d made Sal go to bed since he looked dead on his feet. “Let me talk to you two,” I ordered the siblings as soon as we left the old man’s room.

Either they were still traumatized by the night’s events, or the wind had shifted. They both followed without question. As soon as we reached my rooms, I found a robe to wrap around Natalia and removed the quilt she’d had wrapped around her this whole time. “Sit down.” I made her comfortable before going to the desk chair across from the bed.

I turned the chair around and sat facing the two of them, who were sitting on the edge of the bed. I looked at Jr. when I asked my first question. “How long has this been going on?” They both tensed up, but I did not change my stare. Jr. looked down and away, and his sister reached for his hand.

“It started a long time ago, but not with dad,” Natalia spoke almost lifelessly.

“What do you mean?”

“It started with that woman, Luna; she paid my father….” She started to shake, and her brother wrapped his arm around her.

“It’s okay; take your time.” I kept my voice steady, but I was afraid I already knew where this was going.

“When I was much younger, about ten, I think. She offered my mother and father a lot of money to sell me to someone—a dirty old man. Papa had needed money so that grandpa wouldn’t find out what he’d done, that he’d lost a very big deal. So, they did it. They let her take me.” Now she wrapped her own arms around herself and rocked back and forth.