Chapter 0341

But somehow, I manage to simply laugh at Natalia’s suspicion that Daniel might like men — as if it’s the most ridiculous thing I've

ever heared?

“Really, Natalia?” I ask, scoffing pleasantly. “I mean, I know we're not a very handsy couple or anything, but I didn’t think we’d

pushed you that far along into the realm of the ridiculous.”

“Ah well,” she says, wrinkling her nose at me a little bit. “I suppose that it is just that you are Americans. In Italy, when the young

are in love, they cannot keep their hands off of each other. You know?”

laugh and nod along with her, giving a little shrug as if I can believe it.

“Well of course you do,” she says, chuckling a little as she fingers her martini glass, “you saw it with Kent and I, at the house.”

Again, I tuck my true emotions deep, deep inside myself. “Yes,” I say, smiling at her. “I could tell that you two...really had

something.”

She nods, looking out at the ocean wistfully. “Perhaps, in another life...” she sighs.

I murmur something in assent, wanting nothing more than to grab her damn drink and splash it all over her face.

“But family and children are so important to us,” she says, blinking out of her thoughts and turning back to me. She gives me a

warm smile, apparently dismissing the thought of Kent and reaching out a hand to stroke a tendril of my hair.

I force myself not to tense up under Natalia’s hand, to not clench my jaw or swat her away, instead smiling pleasantly. “Anyway,”

she continues, “you will forgive me for trying to get Daniel to meet some other girls, yes? I had to try to find him a girl he might

like, so that he could start a family. But!” she laughs now, drawing her hand away. “I was wrong — he found the girl he wanted,

without my help! As so many do.”

“Yes,” I say, glancing over at Daniel with what I hope looks like hero-worship in my eyes. “I understand that others don’t always

see what we have. But Daniel and I love each other very much.”

“I can see it now,” Natalia sighs, pleased. “And soon the world will have evidence of it, when your little baby is born.”

I turn back to her and grin, pretending a motherly pleasure that’s absolutely fake. Because Natalia wants me to be a very specific

type of mom, and I have a strong suspicion that I want to be precisely the opposite type.

“Well,” Natalia says, sitting back and smiling at me peacefully. “I hope you will accept my apology -! was trying to do my best by

my boy. But I was wrong. And now, forever, we will be friends. And I will try to do my best by your boy — for Lenai’s sake.”

I smile at Natalia, and nod, but a rush of feelings flood me as I come to understand that Natalia basically understands herself as

this child’s grandmother. And that Lenai...well, that she probably would have very mixed feelings about this baby, if she ever

knew about it.

Luckily, before I start to feel even weirder about this, Daniel's phone rings.

Distracted by his conversation with Alessi, Daniel glances at the phone’s screen, but then his face falls when he looks at it. One

by one, we all go silent as we watch Daniel stare at his phone.

“What is it?” Alessi asks, sensing that something is wrong.

“Um,” Daniel says, glancing at his uncle and then at me. ‘“It’s...well, it's the prison.”

My muscles tense, but I force them — one by one — to relax.

“Well then,” Alessi says, leaning back in his chair with a sad and empathetic expression. “I suppose you should answer it.”

Daniel's face is tight as he lifts the

phone to his ear and says “hello?” But

the rest of us don’t hear any MEte PS

he gets t his feabantvalks to the

dedk’ St il, leaning against it. He

turns about thirty seconds into the

phone call to give us all a thumb’s up,

letting us know that all is well, but

then he turns away again. Please

read the original content at

.

Hoping, quite desperately, that Natalia can’t hear how hard my heart is beating, I turn back to everyone at the table and give

them a bright smile. “Dad?” I say, turning to him. “Weren’t we saving a peach pie for a beautiful night like this?”

Dad hesitates for a second, staring at me, but I force my smile to deepen, to will him not to giving anything away. “You remember

dad, right? Unless Janeen ate it,” and then I turn, laughing, to smile at my sister.

A huge grin breaks out on Janeen’s face, not a moment of it looking fake. “You know me too well, sis,” she says, giving me a

wink. “But I used self-restraint!” she continues, laughing and putting up her hands. “It’s still there!”

Dad gets up then, heading into the

kitchen to get the pie, and Janeen

leans forward acrogsthiejabieO""

ingatalia Something about

Italian fall fashions this year that I

know she doesn't care a damn about.

Still, Natalia leans in as well, speaking

eagerly. Please read the original

content at .

Gratitude for Janeen sweeps through

me then, because she picked up her

role seamlessly. So much of her}

at the clu denendsior her ability to

read t room and act appropriately,

after all. I lean back in my chair,

thinking she’s a fabulous sister to

have when you're pregnant with a

baby whose mafia daddy is a secret,

and in jail. Please read the original

content at .