After Filomena’s shocking death, the foot soldiers removed all the bodies from the house, and the servants began to clean up the blood.
While they did that, Adriano went with a half-dozen men to set my father free.
I wasn’t there to see it – I stayed at the house at Dario’s insistence – but Papa said later he almost died of fright when the trunk opened up.
Adriano calmed him down and told him everything was alright – and that I was alive and unhurt.
When he got to the house, Papa hugged me and started sobbing. “I’m so sorry, Alessandra… I should have told you…”
“It’s alright,” I comforted him, then introduced him to the six brothers and Lars. “They saved my life – multiple times.”
My father thanked them all profusely. Everyone was kind to him, which I appreciated more than I could say –
Especially since Papa and I were the reason their house had been invaded by murderers in the middle of the night.
After my father thanked them, Niccolo asked, “What were you saying earlier? About what you should have told her?”
“Oh,” I said. “About that…”
I repeated everything the Turk had told me: how my father and mother had escaped 20 years earlier…
And how the Turk had planned to use me as a pawn to get the Oldanis as his allies.
My father confirmed the parts that involved him, including his and my mother’s escape from Genoa.
Everyone was astonished –
Although Dario seemed the least shocked.
“So you’re a mafia princess?” he asked in amusement.
“I wouldn’t call myself that,” I said distastefully.
“I think your grandparents might.”
Grandparents…
I had never met them. Papa had told me both his parents and my mother’s parents had died before I was born.
The idea that some of them were still alive, but were in the Cosa Nostra…
I didn’t know how I felt about that.
“Wait… so the Genoans were never out to get us?” Valentino asked in astonishment.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Niccolo cautioned. “We have no idea how much the Turk said was true. His discovery about Alessandra’s heritage might have conveniently overlapped with the Oldanis’ desire to wipe us out.”
“Please, sir,” my father begged Dario, “you have to protect me – the Oldanis will kill me for what I did!”
Dario put his arm around me. “Your daughter is under my protection, and thus you are under my protection. No harm will come to you, I promise.”
I snuggled up under Dario’s arm. To me, it was the safest place in the world.
My father didn’t seem quite as happy to see us so close.
Probably because of what Dario had said in the café.
You know…
The part about not taking my virginity until I begged him to do it.
But then Dario surprised us both.
“I have something to ask you,” he said to my father, who turned white as a sheet.
He probably thought Dario would demand some sort of mafia favor, like burying bodies on his property.
To be truthful, I thought the exact same thing.
Then Dario told my father, “I would like your blessing to marry Alessandra.”
Just about everyone in the room gasped (me included) –
Except for Dario and Niccolo.
Niccolo grinned and handed a tiny object to Dario that I couldn’t see.
“I… I…” my father stuttered, then turned to me. “If she wishes to marry you, then yes, I give my blessing!”
I turned to Dario in disbelief –
At which point, he knelt down in front of me and took my hand.
“Alessandra… when you left earlier… that was the first time I realized I loved you. Madly… passionately… deeply. You are the only thing that has brought me true happiness. And when I nearly lost you tonight… I realized that I couldn’t live without you. I love you, and I never want to part from you ever again. Will you marry me?”
I burst out crying – with happy tears, this time! – and nodded yes as I smiled and laughed.
The brothers all cheered.
Adriano, Massimo, Roberto, Niccolo, Valentino –
And Lars. By now, I thought of him as one of the brothers, too.
Dario grinned and held out a stunning diamond ring. It looked old-fashioned, with tiny rubies and pearls in a setting around the diamond.
I gasped at the sight of it and realized it was the object Niccolo had given him just moments before.
“It was my mother’s,” Dario told me, then glanced at his brothers. “I hope you don’t mind.”
They all cheered again and yelled their approval.
“You know you have my blessing,” Niccolo said.
Adriano grinned, the first time I had ever seen a smile on his face. “I can’t think of anyone I would rather see wear Mama’s ring.”
I cried even harder at his words –
And then Dario slipped the ring on my finger, stood up, and kissed me.
For a moment, the world stopped… and I felt like I was in a fairy tale.
Then I was brought back to reality as everyone clapped: the brothers, the family’s foot soldiers, and the servants who had heard the commotion and come to see what was going on.
Dario smiled at me, and I beamed up at him.
All the brothers gathered round to congratulate us. They hugged me and slapped Dario on the shoulder.
Niccolo was the last.
“So good to have you as my sister,” he said as he hugged me. “I always wanted one… and now I do.”
I hugged him back. “I always wanted a brother… and now I have six!”
Valentino laughed. “Did you hear that, Lars? You’re an honorary sibling!”
“I better be after tonight,” Lars joked.
Niccolo sighed theatrically. “A true Cosa Nostra engagement – love and death in equal measure. All the men beside Alessandra’s father, follow me – we have some graves to dig in the orchards!”
Then my brother-in-law-to-be looked at me and winked. “Don’t worry – I promise the wedding will be a bit more conventional.”
