A shudder runs through me. I’m so out of my element, I don’t even know any of the terminology. All my knowledge comes from television and cheesy novels.
“There’s more to it though,” Nate says. “As I’m sure you can imagine, this isn’t exactly the, uh, safest occupation. Prison is an obvious risk, but there are other threats as well. As far as such things go, and despite the events of the last year, we are in a good position compared to a lot of families.”
“What do you mean?”
“In comparison to the big families in big cities—Chicago, LA, Seattle, New York—we’re small potatoes but also very much in demand. Everyone needs what we have to offer. No one wants to deal with it themselves, and they’re happy to pay us to do it for them. They all want us to stay in business, and that gives us an advantage.”
“But not the Ramsays.”
“No, not them.”
“Why the rivalry? I mean, what exactly are you fighting over?”
“I think we’ve been fighting for so long, we don’t even remember,” Nate says with a humorless chuckle. “It started decades ago when both families were doing forgeries and involved in the drug trade. Territory was an issue as well. That’s why my father and Roland Ramsay came up with the treaty that we currently abide by.”
“What does the treaty say?”
“The obvious,” Nate replies, “would be the division of the town. That way we aren’t constantly arguing over which warehouse belongs to which family or what business can be done in what area. The bigger though less obvious division was the business itself—the Orso family kept the documentation business, and the Ramsays kept the drug trade. For the most part, it keeps us out of each other’s hair.”
“If everything was resolved all those years ago, why the fight now?”
“Because Janna Ramsay thinks they got the shit end of the deal. She’s not wrong, either. The Orso family has been doing a lot more business since the treaty was formed, and the Ramsays have sunk into oblivion. The other families have no use for them, see them as a potential competitor for the heroin and cocaine, and don’t see them as an asset.”
“But they do see your family as useful because you provide the forged documentation they need.”
“Exactly. It puts us in a better light, and sometimes that makes all the difference. Janna knows that and sees us as a threat.”
“All the difference in what? I mean, if you aren’t in the same business, why does she care what you do?”
“Because if it ever comes down to it, and there is another conflict, the Chicago and Seattle families would side with us. They know we produce a good product and would come to our aid if we needed it. Even the Irish, Russians, and Japanese would help us out if we asked, though we never have. We also don’t get pulled into the larger competitions.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, let’s just say that sometimes wars are decided in a rather brutal manner of competition and leave it at that.”
“I probably don’t want the details.”
“No, you don’t.”
We sit quietly for a minute, and Nate lets me take it all in. Strangely enough, this part is easier to tolerate than the rest of it. It’s even easier for me to accept that I am likely a member of a family in direct opposition to Nate’s than it is to realize my boyfriend has been influenced by delusions of his dead father.
“There’s something else,” Nate says quietly.
“I’m not sure I can take anymore.”
“I need to say it.”
I sigh and nod.
“We have a tradition,” he says slowly. “For us, family is everything, and numbers matter. Family means people you can trust, and the bigger the better. When we lose someone like we lost Micha…well, we have to replenish the numbers. That means marriage, marriage and children. If someone in the family dies, someone has to get married so we aren’t weakened.”
He reaches out to me with one hand. His fingers rest lightly on top of mine, but I don’t move to entwine them.
“Nora is older than I am, so when Micha died, she was supposed to get married right away. She didn’t, and that…well, it’s like a curse or something. If no one marries, you risk losing someone else. And we…we lost Pops. I remember it now. Nora married right after that.”
“And then her husband…died.”
“Yeah, he did.” He can’t look me in the face when he says this, and pauses for a long moment before letting out a sigh. “So I had to get married next. It had to be soon, or we’d risk another loss. That’s when I met you.” He looks up at me with those pleading eyes again. “You were so different from anyone else I’d known. That first night at Big O was one of the best times I’d ever had with someone. You seemed perfect, so I decided…well, I decided you were the person I needed to marry, and I’ve been planning it ever since.”