“Sasha took over a lot of the visits,” Taviano pointed out. “Emmanuelle showed her the ropes, although she didn’t have the amount of time she needed because she was very involved with her brother’s care. His brain injury is very severe, and she’s determined to spend as much time with him as possible while she can. She knows she’s going to lose him soon.”
“Isn’t there any hope at all?” Nicoletta asked. “Sasha loves him so much. She’s lost everyone in her family.”
Taviano hated to tell her otherwise, but he wasn’t about to lie to her. “I’m sorry, amore mio, we had the best doctors available, and all of them came to the same conclusion. There is no recovery for Sandlin, and he’s slowly deteriorating. Sasha is aware of it. Giovanni and Sasha spend most of their free time at the care facility with him, or they bring him to their home. He’s used to both places now. A nurse accompanies him if they bring him home. They are amazed he has lasted this long. We believe it is his bloodline that has managed to keep him going, but even that will not save him forever. We all see the signs.”
“I hate that for her.”
“We all do,” Stefano said. He turned his attention to his cousins. “You’ve met Giovanni’s wife, Sasha, of course.”
Severino nodded. “Yes, a beautiful woman. I actually have met Sandlin on two occasions as well. I needed to speak with Eloisa on an urgent matter and she was visiting him at the medical facility where he lives. He’s quite interesting. He had the capability to be a very powerful rider. I imagine Sasha did as well.”
“Eloisa visits Sandlin?” Nicoletta asked.
Her voice was so filled with disbelief that everyone turned to look at her. She didn’t seem to notice, but Stefano’s eyebrows went up and his eyes met Taviano’s in a question. Why was it that Nicoletta was so adamant that Eloisa wouldn’t ever go visit Sandlin? Especially when Nicoletta was aware Eloisa often visited the elderly and sick in the Ferraro territory. She looked incensed. She vibrated with outrage.
“Piccola.” He tried his gentlest tone to calm her, to remind her that one didn’t ever give Stefano any kind of a puzzle. He always solved it.
“Is Eloisa still a terrible trial to everyone?” Velia did her best to turn the attention onto herself. “My aunt is a holy terror when she gets going.”
Taviano shot her a grateful look. “She’s made it very clear to both of us that she doesn’t like Nicoletta.”
“That’s not unusual,” Stefano said, leaning back in his seat, one arm stretched casually along the back of the chair, his piercing eyes on Nicoletta. “So far she hasn’t approved of any of the women we’ve chosen. You’ve been around a long while now, bella, and she’s been bad-mouthing you every chance she gets. How is it any different now that you’re married to Taviano and a part of the family? There really isn’t much she can do about it but make herself miserable. She can’t tear your shadows apart.”
“She would if she could,” Taviano said, to keep Nicoletta from answering. He wasn’t certain what she would say. She was still too angry with Eloisa for her choices when he was just a little boy.
“She was here,” Nicoletta said, making an effort to smooth out her tone. She sent a smile to Velia, silently thanking her for the diversion while she got herself under control. “I lost my temper with her. It’s just that this is our home and I feel that if she wants to be rude to me, that’s all right, just not here. Not in my home and not in Lucia and Amo’s home. It distresses them and I told her that. She doesn’t have to speak to me, and I won’t speak to her. But if she comes here, that’s different. This is where Taviano and I live. This is where we should be able to have peace.”
Taviano leaned into her, tilted her face up to his and brushed her lips with his. “I’m so in love with you, woman.” It had taken one small reminder, and she’d gotten herself under control in seconds and immediately given Stefano a very good reason for her to be angry with Eloisa.
“I applaud the fact that you refuse to back down from Eloisa,” Stefano said. “If you show her weakness, she will eat you alive.”
“I made that mistake,” Velia said, with a mock shiver, her fingers stroking her throat. “I thought she was going to rip my heart out.”
Severino froze. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “When was this, angioletto?”
There was a sudden stillness in the room. Velia uncrossed her legs and pressed her lips together. “It was nothing, Sev.”
When her brother continued to stare at her, her fingers stroked her throat again. Taviano recognized that gesture as a nervous habit. It surprised him that his cousin, so sophisticated, could have developed such a tic.