Making Plans
“My love, are you certain?”
“Yes. I am. I want us to be together in every sense of the word. I don’t want to wait any longer.”
“We’ve talked about this.”
“Yes, we did. We agreed to wait the ten days and review our plans. By the time you do all your revenge and clean up, it’ll be ten days or thereabouts from when we last discussed this.”
“Zorah.”
“Icaro, I’m terrified of losing you before actually having you.”
“You already have me, love. All I am, is yours.”
“I want it all,” she bit her bottom lip. “I keep thinking of all we are missing out on.”
“We will discuss this when I have you in my arms next.”
“No.”
“No?” his eyebrow hiked up at her refusal.
“I want your word, Icaro. I want you to promise me when we are together next, the next time we get to hold each other, we will be together, really together.”
“Why are you pushing this when I’m so far from you?”
“Because of my dad.”
“Thinking of your father makes you want to have sex?” Icaro deadpanned as Zorah gasped at his words. “I have to tell you thinking of my father makes my dick want to crawl back up inside me.”
“Icaro!”
“Zorah!” he teased her.
“When I was nine, my dad discovered me. At every turn, there was a barrier to him coming for me. There were so many lost opportunities. There was one time he was ready to come for me and then his buddy asked him to do one more job to get extra money to go up against you since he thought you were backing my family. It was during the job he was ambushed and incarcerated in another country. He was locked up eighteen months. Then he came home and almost had to go back and do one more job for his old employer or go to jail. In doing that job, he wound up with a bullet in his low spine. Then he was going to try again to come to me and he was selected for a medical trial which would allow him to learn to use his legs again. He got back one day after I was gone.”
“He has missed so much.” Icaro said quietly.
“He has, Icaro. I don’t want to live with his kind of regret. Today we spent the day together and I couldn’t help but think of how many days exactly like today I’ve missed out on. I deserved to have my dad doting on me and loving me and being able to spend time with me. It’s not fair, Icaro.”
“I agree, my love. You deserved to have a father who would be there for you.”
“He admits he made wrong choices, and it’s cost him and me. I don’t want to follow in his footsteps. I don’t want to spend my time regretting the things I didn’t do.”
“And you think you’re ready to make love?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted you to be in love with me,” he turned his eyes from the camera. “You aren’t there yet, Zorah.”
“What you want doesn’t necessarily match what I want, Icaro.”
“But.”
“Unless you don’t want me anymore. Maybe you’re realizing now I’m gone how much easier your life is without me hanging around and getting on your nerves and pissing you off.”
“Did you just swear?”
“Maybe?”
He laughed, “we both know I am barely functioning without you near me. Today my father commented my bloodlust rivals that of my ancestors and it is likely my great-grandmother Binita is rolling in her grave over my behavior. I even,” he gave her a sad smile, “punched Vodingo in the face today.”
“What? Why?”
“He fought with Sidonia today. She was sad and arguing with him because she’s out of sorts and instead of appreciating the fact he still has her near him, he was yelling at her. He has the chance to hold his wife, cherish her and love her and instead he’s telling her to stop crying because she should be content to be safe while you were out god knows where being exposed to whatever. I was furious he was not appreciating what he had.”
“He said this?”
“I swear he is not thinking straight. I fixed his crooked thoughts by rattling his brain.”
“You punched him?”
“Right in the face. Hit him harder than I did Walrus.” He chuckled at Zorah’s outrage, “Sidonia kicked him in the balls. He threw her over his shoulder and carried her back to the hotel room. He limped the whole way with his face bleeding.”
“Hotel room?”
“Yes, we’ve relocated to Rome. We’ll be leaving from here to head back to New York.”
“Is Sidonia, okay? It’s not normal for a Lucchesi groom to be so mean to his wife.”
“He’s not being purposefully mean, Zorah. He’s struggling with his own guilt for hurting her by losing her best friend. Sidonia blames him the way I do. He doesn’t know how to fix it and he’s making it worse every time he opens his mouth. His mother and mine arrived today. They were going to sit down and counsel the pair of them this evening.”
“They need to sit down with Father Tarantino.”
“It is not a bad idea.” Icaro said quietly. He leaned his head sideways and then sighed, “my father is here. He’s banging on my door.”
“Can I say hello?”
“Of course.”
Zorah watched as Icaro rose from his chair and headed to the door. A muffled conversation and then Dagoberto was grabbing the phone from Icaro, almost as if he wrestled it away.
“Daughter, how are you? Are you okay? You are unharmed?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“I hear you’re replacing me with a biological father.”
“You can never be replaced,” Zorah giggled at his words. “However, my dad did find me, and I am looking forward to having two dads to spoil me.”
“I will look forward to it. Now, I know you’re missing Icaro, but I do need to take him from you to finish one of our tasks before we head to New York. I promise you Zorah, the family is coming for you. We will deal with all this silliness with your security and then we will come for you. We will be the family you deserve.”
“I know,” she smiled as Dagoberto blew her a kiss.
Icaro sighed, “I’m afraid duty calls my love. The sooner I get this accomplished the sooner I can hold you.”
“Do you think it would be okay if I called Sidonia?”
“I think it would do both her and Vodingo a world of good.”
“Then I will call them soon.”
As they said their goodbyes, Zorah’s anxiety rose again, worried once more they were missing out on opportunities, they might not be able to recoup.
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