Enchant (Eagle Elite 0)

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

            They said the body was too mangled for a funeral, they said that after he was shot, the men beat him until he was unrecognizable. So even in his death, I was never given closure. Most people get a funeral, a viewing, pretty music, lovely speeches. I was taken to a hole in the ground and allowed to mourn on my hands and knees in the dirt while Frank held an umbrella over my head. And when I was done crying---I cried some more. ---Joyce Alfero

            Joyce

            “He’s really dead.” I said for the hundredth time while sitting in the limo beside Frank. He merely nodded his head and said nothing, allowing me to lean against him, allowing me to use his body as comfort as I’d done for the past week.

            “And the Nicolasi family is in Sicily, never to return.” Frank nodded, “We made sure of it.”

            “Good.” I sniffled, “That’s good, right?”

            “The Abandonatos helped us rid the states of their filth. It is very good. You’re safe Joyce.”

            “I miss him.” I sobbed against his chest. “So much.”

            “I know.” Frank swore and pulled me into his lap, “But know this,” his thumb tilted my chin up. “I’ll protect you. I swear it. You won’t follow his death with your own, we’ll treat the cancer, we’ll get you better.”

            How he’d known about the breast cancer I had no idea, Frank knew everything.

            I was a medical marvel. To get cancer so young? But since I was healthy, all I needed was money for treatment and the doctors imagined I would survive.

            I was willing to take my chances with no money as long as I had minutes, seconds, with Luca.

            And now, I was facing a forever without him.

            “Marry me, Joyce.” Frank kissed my cheek, “I know you loved him, but marry me. Let’s try to be happy. We’ll always mourn him, but with us married, I can protect you, provide for you, I can never replace him, I know this, but let me at least take away some of the pain.”
            I nodded, unable to speak.

            I had no love for Frank.

            Not like that.

            But I also wasn’t stupid. He was offering me a life raft and I’d be dead if I didn’t take it.

            Eitehr from a broken heart.

            Or from cancer eating me from the inside out.

            Frank’s eyes blurred. “Promise me one thing.”

            “What?”

            “That you’ll find it in your heart, one day, to forgive me.”

            Confused, I stared into his eyes, trying to find an answer. “I don’t understand.”

            “I know you don’t…just promise me.”

            “Alright, Frank. I promise…that one day, one day soon, I’ll forgive you.”

            His shoulders sagged.

            Words, Tracey, remember what I said about words? They hold so much power, they introduce you to new things, they curse, they uplift, they say goodbye. My words in that limo, they were the beginning of the end for me and your grandfather.

            Five years later, after the birth of our first son, I was at a gathering, one of the famed commissions, though a small one.

            I thought I saw a man who was familiar to me.

            I felt a pull in my soul, because Trace the thing about soul mates? They recognize each other, even when they’ve been separated.

            My breath hitched as that glorious man, now packed with more muscle, turned and glance din my direction.

            “Luca!” I’d screamed and ran for him.

            And you know what he did?

            He turned back around.

            As if I didn’t exist.

            When I pounded his back with my fists, he ignored me.

            When Frank finally pried me free, I slapped him as hard as I could, confused, angry, so, so angry.

            And your grandfather told me a story…about how his father had made him take a vow on his death bed. Take care of your brother, he won’t be boss, people will compare you, he will suffer if he is under your thumb…he needs to lead. Make sure he leads, one way or another, swear it to me under oath you find a way for him to lead.

            That’s exactly what Frank did.

            You see, our story was written before I was even fifteen years of age.

            Frank made a blood oath to his dying father.

            He was going to protect his younger brother, provide for him, give him everything their father never had.

            And he did it in the only way he knew possible.

            After all, it’s the mafia, there is no room for love it the mafia, Tracey.

            Years went by, and I found it in my heart to forgive your grandfather. What choice did I have? Either die with bitterness or pour what love I had left for Luca into my children, into my lovely granddaughter.

            I write this as I’m on my death bed…the cancer finally returned, then again, I felt it in the wind, just like I felt it when I noticed that blinking sign. The times are changing, war is upon us. And it will be up to you to define your own future. Will you choose love? Or will you choose war?

            Do not hold this against your grandfather. I know I don’t, not anymore.

            After all…my dying wish was for you to go to that school.

            My other wish?

            That before I breathed my last breath…Frank would play me the song…the one playing in the casino that night when time stood still, when Luca looked at me the way I’d always imagined.

            I loved him with a fierce love that I cannot describe.

            I loved him with a part of my heart that I didn’t even know existed.

            I wrote him a letter, one I hope he one day reads.

            Luca Nicolasi is your uncle, yes. But he’s also your friend, your ally. He’s ruthless, he’s cold, and your grandfather helped turn him into a monster.

            But in the end. He is your salvation.

            He will go to the ends of the earth for those he loves.

            And his weakness?

            True love.

            Always.

            True love.