Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
I didn’t think I could sleep and being there in that group felt comforting, so I curled up on the sofa with them and we watched the rerun channel with all the old comedy shows on it until well past 4:00am when I noticed that Lisa had fallen asleep. Bianca’s mom and aunt were sitting at the table talking softly over mugs of tea, and Sarah had fallen asleep sitting up beside me.
I just kept staring at the TV, not really paying attention, just mulling everything over. It was nice to be part of this group, to have these other women to lean on. And Bianca was family. Her mother was my aunt by marriage. And now Lisa, Tessa, Luciana…they were family too because they were Tommy’s family. It felt good to belong. Amid the stress, the worry, the tragedy, it really felt like I belonged here with these people, despite what I knew of Tommy’s father.
As I pondered the group around me, I heard noise and then Nino, Eddy, Dario, and Tommy were here. I’d been holding my breath watching the guys enter in single file and when I finally saw him, I bolted to my feet and ran to him. He gripped me tight.
“Is it over?” I asked into his ear.
“Yeah,” he answered.
Dario spoke to the others and then Tommy looked to Bianca’s mother and spoke to her in Italian. She motioned toward the fridge and was talking with her hands gesturing. He shook his head and said some more in Italian. And then she motioned toward the stairs. Tommy took me by the hand.
“Goodnight everyone,” I said. “Thank you so much for everything.” I looked to Bianca, her mom, and her aunt and they all smiled at me.
In the bedroom, Tommy shed his clothes and took off mine and then just held me tight, my naked body against his. I could see in the dimness of the room that his lower back and thigh were badly scraped.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Road rash,” he said. “It’s fine.”
“I should put some ointment on it, bandage it.”
“Leave it. It’s fine.”
“What about the other stuff?”
“Can we just go to sleep? Talk later,” he spoke softly into my throat as he nuzzled closer. “I just needed to feel you against me. So fucking tired.”
“Kay,” I answered and closed my eyes.
“Love you, baby girl,” he whispered.
“Love you, too, baby,” I said as my eyes drooped and I fell asleep feeling warm, feeling safe, feeling immensely relieved. Everything wasn’t totally over, there were a lot of unanswered questions, but I was relieved that progress had been made and that he was here beside me.
16
I woke up to Tommy’s hands and mouth on me. My back arched as his fingers prodded between my legs and I let out a little moan. Then I heard squeals of laughter outside the door, and he put his hand over my mouth and winked. The kids were awake and sounding like a herd of elephants running down the hallway. Tommy ignored their ruckus and kept at me, hand over my mouth the whole time.
When, I wasn’t too far off an orgasm, the door burst open and Luc’s two girls and Tessa’s older boy all barreled in and were on the bed with us. Tommy had been on top of me, thankfully we were covered by the blankets, but the three of them were jumping on the bed, “Uncle Tommy, Auntie Tia! Breakfast is ready!” Tommy blew out a slow breath and said, “Okay, guys. Get downstairs and tell them to pour coffee. We’ll be right there.”
The kids all scattered. I felt my heart warm at being called Auntie.
He looked at me with a wicked grin. “To be continued,” he said, then got up and we both got dressed.
“What happened last night?” I asked.
“We’ll talk later. Let’s go down for breakfast. I smell bacon and I think I can hear it calling my name. And if I can’t be inside of you hearing you call my name then I need to answer to the call ‘o the bacon.”
I giggled and pushed away annoyance at not being answered. But, maybe it was better that I knew as little as possible. Plausible deniability and all. I followed him down thinking that maybe the one threat was done with but that there was at least my father to still worry about, not to mention Tommy’s father. Was my dad still alive or was he gone?
The mood downstairs was strained. Obviously a cloud still loomed. Coffee was handed to me and to Tommy as we entered. Tessa was sitting on the sofa in a bathrobe with her hair up in a towel turban with Luc and they were talking quietly. Tessa still looked awful. The kids were all eating pancakes and bacon. Nino, Eddy, and Dario were eating. The other women were all busying themselves in the kitchen, buttering toast, washing and drying frying pans, another putting clean dishes away from the dishwasher.