by Serena Light
Unlocking it, he pulled it open and groaned at the sudden brightness that greeted him.
"What?" He rubbed his eyes and looked up, raising an eyebrow to see Alessio stand before him, looking paler than he remembered him, his hair an unruly mess and his green eyes dull. "Alessio?"
"I heard you went to the high school reunion yesterday," His brother-in-law spoke in a voice that sounded coarse compared to what it had been.
"I did," Salvatore nodded, not understanding what his visit had to do with the reunion.
"Thank you for going,"
The mafia boss could only raise his eyebrows at the words, not grasping what he was trying to say.
"Thank you for going because it reminded me that no matter what your current situation may be, life goes on, and you have to follow," Alessio scratched the back of his head. "Thank you for that, and well...for looking after Marina and Michele, I let myself fall into despair over Serafina and I need to get back on my feet if I want to help, and I know she's not going to get better with me wallowing beside her, she would probably have hit me with a shoe and told me to get my act together..." He let out a small chuckle at the thought of his wife's actions.
"Or shoot you," Salvatore suggested as he held up his right forearm, showing the surgical scar.
"Or shoot me," Alessio's lips quirked as he shuffled on his feet and rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to ask if it would be possible for me to stay here for a while..."
"Of course you can stay," The Mafia Boss nodded. "Choose whatever room you like-"
"-I think I'll stay in Serafina's room, it smells like her,"
He just nodded to the words, looking over his shoulder at the darkness of his bedroom before stepping out and closing the door behind him as Alessio took a step back to give him space. Beckoning him forward, Salvatore opened the door to his left, leading his brother-in-law inside.
The nursery was kept in very neutral colors with beige walls, a tree painted on one while the one opposite had their cots pushed against the wall, the letter M hanging above their beds, a couch placed beneath the window with a play mat rolled out and their toys in a chest in the corner. As they entered, the room was illuminated by their night light which made it look like stars were spinning around the room.
Salvatore stood by the door as he watched Alessio step inside and between the two cots, looking down at the 8-month-old little twins.
"Hey," Alessio spoke softly to the baby in the cot, a smile on his face to see his babies again, gently caressing Michele's cheek with the back of his finger before he looked down at Marina who had been rolling around her cot and ended with her blanket thrown off. "My little princess," He murmured adoringly and fixed the blanket around her figure.
"Thank you," He looked up at Salvatore with a grateful smile as he nodded and left him to be with his kids.
Walking back into his room, he wasn't surprised to find the lamp turned on. Stepping across the corridor, he found the bed vacant of his wife's presence. Going over to his side, he stretched out on the bed, and let out a yawn, knowing he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again.
"Who was at the door?" Nicole's voice asked as she stepped out of the walk-in closet, looking just as weary and tired as Salvatore felt.
"Alessio,"
"Alessio?"
"Yeah, he's currently with the kids and said he'll be staying here,"
"That...good...isn't it?" She retook her place on the bed, looking at her husband questioningly.
"It is,"
A silence fell over the two as Nicole looked at how weary he lay on the bed, but his blue eyes were wide awake and looking around him.
"You think you can go back to sleep?"
"Not likely," He sighed as Nicole inhaled deeply.
Lying back on the bed, both of them silently stared up at the ceiling, his wife sighing before turning to be cuddled into his side, Salvatore quick to drape an arm over her and place a kiss on top of her head, neither one of them saying anything other than lying in the other's embrace.
Later in the day, Nicole watched her husband get dressed in a white slim-fit t-shirt and khaki pants, pulling on his brown loafers and grabbing his essentials.
"Give my love to dad, yeah," She pushed herself off the doorway when he approached and stopped before her.
"Will do," He nodded and gave her a quick peck on the lips before interlacing their fingers together.
Walking out of the room, he made his way over to his music room, picking up the case bedside the door before heading downstairs. Giving Nicole one last kiss, he put on his aviators before stepping out in the 11 a.m. sunlight and getting into his black Chevy Camaro.
The drive to the hospital was an hour-long, but once he arrived there, he found his father sitting beside his sister's unconscious figure, his temple rested on his knuckles with his gaze fixated on the blanket. Sliding open the door, he stepped inside and placed a hand on his father's shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze as he patted it with a grim expression.
"How's she doing?" Salvatore asked when his father stood.
"Nothing's changed," Arcangelo shook his head before taking note of the violin case in his son's hand. "Going to play her a song?"
"Yeah,"
"She would like that," He gave him a weak smile and began to walk towards the door, ready to head home.
"Nicole was sending her love,"
"Give her a kiss for me," His father spoke over his shoulder before stepping out of the room.
Sighing, Salvatore looked back at his sister's unconscious figure as the swelling around her face had gone and they had removed the bandage from most of her head, making her look like a sleeping figure of herself. If only she had actually been sleeping. Her arm and legs were still in a cast, and her ribs still gauged. Placing a kiss on her forehead he settled down on the seat his father had vacated.
"Alessio is at the estate," He spoke to her unconscious figure, the doctors having told them to talk to her and update her on things. "He missed Marina and Michele; both of them are doing well, by the way. Crawling around and babbling in gibberish. Hades is downright terrified of them and runs away when they start crawling towards him, but Persephone loves playing with them, and they love crawling over her and pulling her ears. Michele finds that very hilarious," He chuckled at the memory.
"Mom is still reading those researches on comatose patients, probably tells you about them when she comes. Angelica has refused to take up any more architecture projects for a while and wants to finish the one she's working on currently. Marco is handling the nightclubs quite well, but I'm not sure if he has what it takes to run a Mafia. I know you'd say that he can handle it, but he's still a kid, Reena, still playing around, and games get you killed."
"Anyways, Arsenio is flying around, and Aurora and Irene come over after school whenever one of their parents is here. They made you get well soon card as well, it was huge, but they made one." He reflected. "Nicole is doing well, better since the reunion, spends time working or looking after the kids, sometimes manages to squeeze an hour in her greenhouse, loves that place to death, she does. And well...yeah, I guess that's pretty much everyone,"
He looked up at his sister, a part of him hoping to see her eyes open but he knew it was pointless wishing for things like that. There had been no improvement in her condition, she wouldn't just open her eyes out of the blue.
"So, I brought my violin today," Salvatore informed and opened the case, looking down at the slender instrument and picked it out of its case and into his hands.
There's something about the way the violin sings that sets his heart into the deepest of symphonies, deeply harrowing and torrential in the way it encompasses his body. Salvatore could never find anything as which holds as much capacity in power as does the violin. It can be a friend, a mortal enemy, however, for always, it would always be in his accompaniment, helping him to portray his feelings to the crowd. Its slender strings caressing his fingers, its curves tenderly traced under his palm, and to
the Mafia Boss, nothing in the world can possibly compare to the sense of empowerment which is achieved with the most marveling mix of notes.
Inhaling deeply, he placed it on his shoulder, resting his chin before putting the bow to the strings.
Waves of sound rolled against the walls, flowing into every crevice and surging towards everywhere. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and grasped for the music in the air. Salvatore poured every ounce of emotions into the symphony, getting lost in a restless sea, feeling weightless and lost. Closing his eye, he focused solely on the music, letting the emotions surged through his body and into the violin. The tones reached to his core and swept away all her senses. All the sorrows and tears he had repressed throughout his life poured out of her body and latched onto the beautiful lament produced by the violin.
He had learned long ago not to fight against the tidal wave of sounds and emotions the violin eliciting. The rawer the emotions, the more beautiful the symphony. It was powerful and haunting, like ghosts whispering past the veil between life and death, and his skin flared alive with anticipation.
Salvatore had no idea how long he sat playing for, the sound coming from inside him and not from the instrument in his hand. The device a mere use of expression as he poured all the fear and anxieties he harbored for Serafina's condition, his worry for his parents and siblings, his nephew and nieces, his wife. The pain of the past, the pain of the present, the fear of the future. As the emotions built inside him, the more the strings wept, the more he bled them. He felt the sweat beading the back of his head and he even noticed the drop roll down the side of his face. He had been so lost in the music that he never noticed a person enter.
"Sir," The nurse called out in a trembling voice. "Sir,"
It wasn't until the person spoke loudly did his music come to an abrupt halt. With slightly labored breathing he looked up at the woman before him, her eyes glassy and her lips trembling as if though she were on the verge of tears.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry," She choked out, trying to keep herself from crying. "But I'm going to have to ask you to stop,"
"Stop?"
"Yes,"
"Why?"
"Because..." She sniffled, inhaling deeply. "Because you're rendering everyone into tears sir, and there are some patients here who aren't very mentally strong and it's affecting them,"
"Oh," Salvatore spoke in a small voice, not having realized that's the effect he had and looked down at the instrument in fascination.
"I'm sorry, but-"
"-It's alright," He assured her and started packing it away. "I understand,"
Salvatore spent the rest of his time in the hospital either talking to Serafina's unconscious body or sitting in silence; having gotten up twice to grab something to eat from the cafeteria. In the middle, he had even attended a few phone calls from his parents and wife, even his brothers. He met and talked to the doctor, and at 12 a.m. Angelica stepped in with Arsenio behind her.
Greeting the two, he brought them up to speed with everything before waving farewell to Angelica as Arsenio followed after him and into the parking lot. Hugging his brother, Salvatore got into his car and braced himself for the long drive back.
By the time he pulled up into his driveway, it was 1 a.m. and the entire estate quiet and deserted. Making his way into his bedroom, he closed the door with a click and was instantly greeted by his wife.
"You're back," She gave him a soft smile and a hug before pulling away. "How's she?"
"Nothing so far," He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
"It just takes time,"
Salvatore nodded in silence before going to take a shower. When he stepped out in plaid pajama bottoms, he was taken aback to find Nicole restlessly pacing before the bed and gnawing at her nails, a sign he learned meant that she was anxious.
"What's wrong?" He asked her from across the room.
"I quit!" She exclaimed too loudly as Salvatore looked at her in confusion. "Okay? I quit! And you can be mad or pissed off or whatever but-"
"-Wait," He halted her, trying to make sense of her rambling. "You quit your job?"
Nicole fell quiet; looking like a little girl caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.
"Yes," She responded in a small voice and looked down.
"Why?"
"Well...because..." She tried to formulate her thoughts as Salvatore approached. "Because it was pointless."
"Pointless?"
"Not pointless, no I mean..." Nicole grew flustered as her husband stood before her and she took a step back from him. "I mean it was useless of me having a job when I've been taking so many days off to go to the hospital and look after the twins and going over to mom and dad's and help out here that there was no point of me having a job I hardly show up to and I'm needed here more and I was missing on so much work and people's work was constantly pending because I wasn't there and the work burden was just so much and sooner or later my boss would have fired me so before she could do that, I quit,"
She looked up at Salvatore uncertainly, afraid of seeing the disappointment in his eyes as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay," He shrugged.
"Okay?" She breathed out uncertainly. "You're not mad at me?"
"Mad? What, no. Why would I be mad?"
"Well...because...I quit..." Nicole spoke in a small voice and fiddled with her fingers.
"Baby, I'm not Rhea." Salvatore cupped her cheek into his hand, rubbing his thumb over her cheekbone. "It's okay, you felt that it was all too much and you quit your job to lower the burden then that's fine. As long as you feel comfortable with it, I don't have a problem."
"You sure?" She repeated, looking at him from below her lashes.
"Yes, I'm sure," He nodded with an amused glint in her eyes.
"Oh thank God," Nicole let out a relieved breath, a wide smile overcoming her face before she jumped up, taking Salvatore by surprise as she wrapped her legs around his waist and encircled his neck. "You're amazing, you know that?" She smiled at him as he just rolled his eyes in half-hearted exasperation.
"You really are," Nicole insisted before connecting her lips to his, Salvatore chuckling against her mouth and holding her.
Chapter XXX: “Ready?” “As I’ll ever be,”
Nicole lay sprawled across the bed, one of the twins sitting before her and playing with her hair while the other tried climbing onto her back.
"You two are adorable, but I am exhausted," She sighed at the little boy before her who took a fist full of her brown tresses and tried to eat them. "And this isn't food," Nicole pried her hair out of his hands and placed a kiss on his cheek as he giggled.
"Hello," A voice spoke from the entrance as she lifted her head up to see her mother and father-in-law standing in the doorway with warm smiles.
"Oh! Hey!" Nicole greeted and sat up, the little girl whining as her stepping stone disappeared.
Getting off the bed, she went and hugged them both as they returned the gesture before they were ushered inside. Rosalie went over to Marina while Arcangelo grabbed Michele and lifted him in the air, laughing in triumph when the baby giggled.
"Salvatore isn't here-" Nicole began to speak while fixing her hair, no doubt about it being a complete mess.
"-He's at work," The couple before her spoke in sync, playing with their grandchildren.
"We know our boy, Nicole," Rosalie chuckled as her daughter-in-law flushed with embarrassment.
"Uh...right..." She stammered. "So, coffee? Juice? Lunch?"
"I think juice for now, and then we'll join you for lunch later," Arcangelo coddled the little boy.
"Salvatore comes home for lunch, doesn't he?" Rosalie inquired.
"Uh...when he has a chance, he does," Nicole shuffled on her feet. "I'll get juice,"
With that, Nicole excused herself and went to get some refreshments before informing the kitchen staff that both Arcangelo and Rosalie would be staying for lunch, so they should prepare
accordingly. Grabbing a trey she set it up with a pitcher of juice and some light edibles before taking it upstairs, finding her in-laws seated around the coffee table, each with a baby in hand while she put the trey down. Offering a glass to both before settling across from them.
"So, how are things with you, Nicole?" Arcangelo inquired as he let the baby sip the juice in his hands.
"We heard you quit your job," Rosalie added in as Nicole tensed.
"Yeah...well...it was getting too much to deal with so I quit,"
"You feel better now?"
"Much,"
"That's wonderful to hear," Her mother-in-law smiled tiredly, the bags under her eyes had become a lot more prominent and her complexion having gotten a bit pale. "If only Salvatore had that much common sense..."
"Rosalie, you know him,"
"All too well,"
Nicole looked between the couple, not quite sure what they were talking about before the three of them started talking about the little babies in their arms, asking after their health and how Nicole was faring looking after them.
"It's mostly Salvatore who looks after them," She admitted shyly. "He's better with them than I am, and they know him, so they calm down with him,"
"Have they begun speaking?" Rosalie inquired with a smile.
"Just small words for now, like ma, or pa, they can even say mam, but that's food and water. They try to copy the dogs, though," Nicole chuckled at the memory of the two infants having crawled after Hades and snuggled into his sides afterward.
"The dogs aren't violent?" Arcangelo inquired as he put down Michele, watching as the white Husky instantly came bounding over and lowered her head in front of the baby who instantly hugged her snout.
"Not at all," She assured with a dismissive wave. "Persephone is really gentle with them and Hades often stays away, but they just love him so much."
Nicole spent the rest of the morning talking and laughing with her parents-in-law, the three of them watching the babies playing with the husky who appeared to be playing tag, tapping a baby with her paw before bouncing around the room or circling them as the twins crawled after her.