Amapola

After we took a brief nap, since we had been awake all night, Salvatore told me that we would have an engagement dinner that evening, and I freaked out, of course.
How could he come to Palermo, convince me to return to him, ask me to marry him, and already have an engagement dinner planned for that night? He did all of this in less than twenty-four hours.
I shouldn’t have been surprised because this was Salvatore Dalla Costa, the most intense and insane man I had ever met in my life, but still, I was going crazy.
We stopped by my father’s house to bring him with us; he would be present at the engagement when I was introduced to the capos as his future wife. I still had a lot to figure out since I had established a new life, but at that moment, I could only think that in a few hours, I would officially be Salvatore Dalla Costa’s fiancée.
When we arrived in Rome, we went straight to the mansion. Papà preferred to go to our old house, saying he needed to rest a bit. During the trip, he told me he would rather return to Palermo; living there was doing him good.
I knew that, mainly because of a certain widowed neighbor, they were still getting to know each other, but I was sure that after everything they had been through losing the loves of their lives, this new relationship would be good for both of them.
It would break my heart to be away from him, but on the other hand, it would be selfish of me to ask him to come with me. Like me, he needed to live and be happy.
In a way, I even liked it because we would have an excuse to spend more time in Palermo. The city not only welcomed me and healed my wounds but was also the backdrop for my best moments.
The mansion was chaos; the dinner would happen here, and we would receive all the capos and their families for the announcement. I was panicking; I wanted to act like a perfect mafia wife, I wanted everyone to see that I was the ideal woman for Salvatore, so I ran around checking if everything was as it should be.
Around three in the afternoon, I hadn’t even drunk water, even with Angela behind me at all times, saying that the people hired to do my makeup and hair had arrived more than two hours ago.
When I was in the kitchen with an apron tied around my waist, I saw the man I loved burst into the room with an annoyed expression, followed by an equally irritated Angela.
“Put me down, Salvatore, I have things to sort out,” I shouted, slapping his back as he climbed the stairs two steps at a time, like the handsome ogre he was.
“Enough, Amapola.” He set me down as soon as we reached the room where the hired professionals were. “Everyone out.” In seconds, it was just the two of us in the room; the fear people had of him made them evaporate in no time.
“But Salvatore, if everything isn’t perfect…” I began, and he interrupted me.
“I don’t care, amore mio, I just want you to be perfect. I’m sure everything is under control, and any issue that arises Angela can handle.”
“But I want to—”
“I demand that you stop and rest a bit. We didn’t sleep last night, and since we arrived, you’ve been running around this house. Take a shower, get a massage, relax your body, and be even more bella for me tonight.” He kissed my lips. “I love you, Amapola. It doesn’t matter about the dinner or the other people; this is just ours. I’m only announcing it because of my position in the mafia, so just worry about yourself.”
“I love you too, Salvatore. I’ll do what you said.”
“Good girl.” He left a kiss on my nose before turning his back.
“Can I just sort out one more little thing? I swear I’ll come back and lock myself in this room after.” I clasped my hands, pretending to be innocent, but knowing I wanted to go down and see everything with my own eyes.
“If you pass through that door, I swear I’ll lock you in here, mio amore,” he said. “If you need anything, call Angela, but stay in this room, per l'amor di Dio.”
“Va bene, Salvatore, va bene,” I replied irritably, but that quickly faded when he closed the distance, hugging me and kissing me passionately. We still needed a lot of time together to make up for all the longing we had accumulated during those months.