Courage

Chapter Twenty-Five

[Maya]

The football game wasn't as bad for me as I expected it to be. I didn't score a touchdown or anything like that, but at least I caught the ball.

Later, when Francesca and I were together in private, Francesca decided to tell me about her family.

"Okay, so, when my mother was in high school, her parents and my father's parents had organized an arrange marriage between my parents. My mother and Salvatore (she didn't like referring to her father as her father, she told me) were told by their parents to pose as a couple for a few months before they would announce their marriage. In the mix of all of that, my mom did find real love, Xavier. Xavier and my mom soon created Serenity . . ."

"May I ask why your mom and Salvatore had to get married?" I asked quietly.

"It's this old immature thing that the men in my family do. When my really great-grandfather started Russo Industries, part of the reason he was successful was because he married a rich woman. And so, he made his kids do the same, they made their kids do the same, and so on," she explained.

"W . . . Was your father going to make you . . .?"

"Yes," she breathed. "But, in a way, it wouldn't be as bad as Eliomar had it."

"As bad as Eliomar had it, what do you mean?" I entreated.

Fran gave me a sorrowful look, that made me angry with myself for urging her to talk about this.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," she assured me. "I trust you, which means I feel fine talking to you about this."

She sighed.

"So, if you're part of my family then you know that we have a history of being sexist vultures," Francesca began. "The oldest Russo quadruplet is obligated to run the family business. And there's a 'rule' that they must be male, so that 'rule' has been passed down all the way to my generation. Salvatore wanted Eliomar to marry this girl, Jackie Anderson. And this was last year, so he'd already been infatuated with Lia. But Luckily, it worked out."

"Because your father . . ."

"Maya, Salvatore was a terrible man. I'm grateful  my brothers didn't turn out like him," Fran admitted.

"You're a good person, too, you know," I reminded her.

"Yes, well, I don't compare to my girlfriend."

I rolled my eyes. How could she not see what a wonderful person she is?

"So who runs Russo Industries now?" I asked.

"My Uncle Daniel."

I nodded. "So, I have more questions about your family."

"Go on, ask them."

"You said a man has to run the business, what happens if the oldest Russo is female?" What would happen if Francesca came before Eliomar?

"Well, there was this one incident where that happened and instead of just letting the oldest girl take over, the parents adopted a boy who was the same age as her, just a few months older, and they let him take over and marry the oldest girl."

"Why do you say 'they'? I mean, aren't 'they' your grandparents?" She kind of talked about her family as if they weren't her family and just people she knew of.

"Sadly, yes. I don't like referring to them as my family."

"Ok, okay. So, Serenity?"

"What about her?"

"Did Salvatore know about her?"

"Um, well, see, my mother and Xavier hid her from Salvatore."

"Hid her?" How do you hide a child?

"Yes, hid her. They didn't want Salvatore hurting her in any way."

"Hurt her how?" I questioned.

"Look, I promise I will tell you this later." She kissed my forehead.

"Okay," I whispered.

For the rest of the day, Francesca and I pretty much hung around her siblings. It was weird to me how they would insult each other and not get offended. I can't even argue with someone without feeling like crying.

"You're a mistake," I heard Fran say to Eliomar.

"So are you," Eliomar replied while laughing. "You came four seconds after me, if I'm a mistake then you're a mistake."

"Four bastard babies," Leonardo added.

"Exactly," Eliomar agreed.

Camila, Eliomar, Leonardo, and Francesca then shared a laugh.

Another thing, Francesca assured me that it was okay for me to shorten her brothers' names.

"Just say Elio and Leo. Eliomar and Leonardo are mouthful names," she'd told me.

I liked hanging out with Fran and her family, especially since they considered me family because I'm with Fran. I didn't feel out of place with them, I felt right where I belonged.