A picture of the interior of Gio and Giulia's house is located above.
One Month Later
Within the first month of her marriage to Gio, Giulia had taken him up on his advice and completely redecorated their home. She had redone all of the bedrooms and was now working on the larger rooms. She had decided to have marble floors installed, and had opted for a Grecian style for the home that would compliment the large gardens. The only thing that Gio did not want was for her to flood the house with flowers. He also wanted her to leave his office alone, not that she ever went in there anyway.
The contractor had been employed by the Graziano's for many years and was more than happy to assist the newest Graziano in getting her house exactly as she wanted it. He had made sure that everything was running smoothly and ahead of schedule, it was all about making sure that Giulia was more than happy. Most of the work was installing the marble flooring but his workers also had to carry boxes, install appliances, and change out the fixtures that Giulia replaced. She had a massive crystal chandelier installed in the foyer and a slightly smaller one in the dining room.
She was spending most of her time in the city shopping for new furniture and fixtures. Gio was amazed when she came home every afternoon and had managed to purchase more things. But he was grateful that she had something to occupy her during the day, and it was something that she was excited about. In the mafia life women were kept occupied by children and social events, but Gio and Giulia hadn't discussed kids and when they would have them. Gio planned to bring the topic up soon, they had sex frequently and had not taken any precautions.
"Have you seen the new guest rooms yet?" Giulia asked as she stabbed a piece of her lasagna with her fork. "No I haven't," Gio responded, "I'm sure they look nice, a lot nicer than they did before. The parts of the house that I have seen look great, you made it look like a whole new house"
"Thanks," Giulia smiled. She had worked hard and hoped that Gio appreciated the time and effort that she had put into making the enormous mansion their home, a place that they could live in the rest of their lives. But Gio was genuinely surprised at what Giulia was able to do. It didn't look like a house anymore, it looked like a palace. The only thing that he wasn't complimentary on was how expensive it all was, he may be rich but watched his money like a hawk. However Gio had decided against bringing it up to her, mostly because she was so excited about the finished product. He didn't want to damper her spirit.
They finished dinner and then went up to bed together, as they did most nights unless he had more work to do. Giulia showered a slipped on a short, silk teddy and waited on the bed for Gio to finish his shower. They usually showered together but Gio had decided not to.
Once Giulia saw him come out of the master bathroom with only his towel wrapped around his waist she jumped off the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tip-toes to smash her lips against his. Gio found it hard to resist his wife but he pulled away, forcing himself to remember what he had to discuss with her.
"What is your problem?" Giulia said frustrated. He was acting so weird tonight, usually he loved it when she threw herself at him. She was starting to feel foolish that he was resisting her.
"We need to talk," he said as he pulled on a pair of black boxers.
"That's never a good thing to hear," Giulia said as she sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him pull on a wife beater and sweatpants.
"Are you on birth control?"
"What?!?" This was definitely not what she was expecting to hear from him.
"Are you on any type of birth control?" Gio repeated to his shocked wife.
"No, you know how my mother is," Giulia shook her head. Dontella Bellucci was a diehard Catholic and didn't;t believe in the use of birth control, hence why she had five children so close in age.
"Are you ready to become a mother?"
Giulia was silent, she wanted to have a baby but she still wanted to be young. She couldn't imagine becoming pregnant after a month or two of marriage. She was just getting settled in her new life as wife to a future mob boss. After a few moments she responded, "I don't think so." She hoped that Gio wouldn't be upset, he was nearing thirty and was probably wanting to have an heir born soon.
"Is that okay with you?" Giulia tried to gauge his reaction through his typical poker face.
"Yeah it is. It's not a good time to be having a baby" Gio said.
"Is something going on?" She asked knowing that his concerns about having a baby right now were completely different than hers.
"Don't worry about it, it's just business," was his answer before he diverted the conversation away from the topic of mafia business. "Sometime this week you need to go see your doctor about getting on birth control. How long do you think you want to wait until you're ready to get pregnant?"
She shrugged, "Three years?" That would give them enough time to have time together, just the two of them, before having a little baby to care for.
"That sounds good," Gio said as he stalked towards her. A smirk spread across Giulia's face, knowing that the conversation was over. He opened the bedside table drawer and pulled out several condoms.
"You just happen to have those?" Giulia scooted higher up on the bed as he crawled after her.
"I came prepared," his voice husky and low as he pinned her down on the mattress and attacked her neck with his mouth.
The next morning Giulia applied her mascara in the mirror of the bathroom as Gio stood next to her tying his usual black tie. "I'm not going to be home for dinner tonight," he informed her.
"Okay," she opted not to question him, knowing that he wouldn't elaborate. They walked downstairs and to the dining room where breakfast was already laid out. He took his usual place at the head of the dining room table, and she took her place next to him. They typically ate breakfast in silence with Gio reading the newspaper and Giulia flipping through a fashion magazine. They both enjoyed the routine that they had developed within the first month of their marriage. The mafia world was a dangerous lifestyle and to have a sense of normalcy was important to Giulia.
"I'll see you later," Gio left Giulia with a quick kiss on the lips.
Giulia scheduled an appointment with her obstetrician for later on in the week, and then decided to visit her family in Long Island. She hadn't been to her parents home since the day she got married, so she was excited to see them after a month. Monica and Giulia talked on the phone every few days, but Giulia had become annoyed with Monica's behavior and turned to talking to Isabella more frequently. Monica was acting jealous of Giulia's new life with her husband.
In the afternoon after the contractors and delivery men had left, Giulia decided to make the two hour drive on her own to the Bellucci Mansion. She didn't drive often, usually taking a driver with her when she went out, but she hadn't had an opportunity to drive one of Gio's cars herself. She had her pick of luxury vehicles, from Mercedes to Audis, but she chose the new white Porsche Cayenne.
As she backed out of the garage and approached the iron gate she fumbled around before finally finding the button that opened the gate. The guards watched warily as she drove through, the boss hadn't given them specific orders about whether Giulia was allowed to drive herself around but they also did not want to get reprimanded or fired for upsetting the boss's wife. Any form of disrespect towards a mafia boss's wife was a direct sign of disrespect towards the boss himself, and that was unforgivable.
The two hour drive gave Giulia an opportunity to herself and a chance to reflect on the past month of her life. So much had changed in such a short amount of time. She even felt like a different person, even though she was still only twenty years old she felt older and more mature. Maybe it was marriage, or maybe it was the man she was married to. Gio needed a wife who was capable and mature, someone independent who was fine with being alone most of the time. Her mother had warned her of that, as had Gio's mother. Whining and pouting wasn't going to change Gio's responsibilities or priorities and it wasn't going to get him to stay home.
Halfway through the drive to Long Island Giulia noticed a blacked out Range Rover driving behind her. It had been switching lanes in an effort to get directly behind her most of the drive and it was beginning to alarm her. It was obvious that this person wasn't experienced in following people, they were driving much too closely and being too obvious. Giulia remained calm and drove as if she wasn't aware of anyone following her but she kept an eye out and whenever the Range Rover made a move.
When she got off the exit and to Long Island the Range Rover remained on the highway, opting not to follow her. Giulia thought about calling Gio but shook her head, she just hoped she was being paranoid. Besides she was on her way to Salvatore Bellucci's home, nobody in their right mind would try anything.
After she got through the gate she pulled the Porsche in front of the front door and used her old key to let herself in. "Hello? Mama?" she called and walked to her mother's favorite sitting room.
"Giuliana?" The slightly accented voice of Donatella Bellucci responded. "My bambina," Donatella rushed to hug Giuliana. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd pop in," her daughter shrugged.
"We've missed you," her mother hugged her again. Donatella never imagined that it would be so hard to see one of her children leave the nest and begin their own family.
"I've missed you too," Giuliana said as she let her mother lead her into the living room. "When the house is finished I want you to come see it. Giovanni told me to do whatever I wanted, and you know me, I never say no to shopping."
"I can't wait to see what you've done with it," Donatella said. "I've been wanting to come over but your father said that I need to give you time to adjust."
"I'm glad that you two understand," Giulia responded.
"I know Monica has been giving you a hard time," Donatella sympathized with Giulia, she knew how obnoxious Monica could be.
"She's always asking to come over but I tried to tell her that the house wasn't done yet, and I wanted everyone to see it when it was finished. Then she suggested that I come spend the night over here and that we could have sleepovers," Giulia sighed exasperated. "She doesn't get that I want to stay in my home."
"You want to be with your husband," Donatella gave her daughter a small smile.
"Yeah, I want to be with Gio," Giulia affirmed. "Monica's acting like her and I are supposed to be attached at the hip. She just doesn't understand that I'm married now."
"I'll talk to your father about her," Donatella patted Giulia's knee. "But how is your marriage so far?"
"It's fine. We see each other in the mornings and in the evenings, he tries to make it home before dinner but sometimes he isn't able to."
"What about grandchildren? Will we be getting any grandchildren soon?"
"Not anytime soon," Giulia answered. "We just got married a month ago and we decided to wait a few years."
"What?!?" Donatella said incredulously.
"It's only three years," Giulia tried to reassure her mother.
"Fine," Donatella sighed. "Tell me more about what you've done to the house." Mother and daughter continued their conversation for several more hours until the rest of the Bellucci family members arrived for dinner.