by Ciara Shayee
Marley had matured in a multitude of ways since their return to England, but she was still a very literal thinker, particularly when Indie or Laker told her things. She took their words to heart—she trusted that they’d always tell her the truth. In times like this, Indie wasn’t sure what was for the best, and she desperately wished she had Sarah or her dad there to lean on for reassurance and guidance.
“La, la, la!” Bodhi babbled, leaning almost out of her arms to reach for Laker, who opened his arms to scoop Bodhi into his lap alongside Marley. “Hey, Tesoro. Now I have my two favourite little ones; my Little Sweet and my Tesoro,” he murmured, snuggling them both close.
Indie rose from her seat, gathering the forgotten plates from the table and carrying them to the kitchen. Laker looked like he could use a moment, and if she was honest, she needed a moment to herself as well.
She’d thought her heart was breaking when she was kidnapped thirteen years ago.
She’d thought her heart was breaking when she was systematically abused by her abductor.
She’d thought her heart was breaking when she gave birth to a helpless baby girl when she was still just a child herself.
She’d thought her heart was breaking when she’d escaped, returning home to her family only to be stolen away once again, almost losing her baby, her best friend, and her life in one day.
And she’d thought her heart was breaking when Laker left her behind yesterday morning.
But Indie was wrong.
Watching Laker drawing strength from her babies, his Little Sweet and Tesoro, was tearing her to pieces. Watching him come to the realisation that he was going to lose his beloved Nonno was absolutely gut-wrenching.
And watching Laker, her sweet, kind, loving, family-oriented Laker, knowing how much pain he was in, was breaking her heart into a million pieces.
chapter thirty-eight
“Nonna Connie!”
“Marley, no—”
“It’s okay,” Laker murmured, reaching for Indie’s hand to stop her from grabbing Marley. She looked up at him, seeing the tiny smile curling his lips. “She could probably use a hug from Little Sweet right about now.”
Indie nodded and sighed, returning her gaze to Contessa. Having sprinted down the hall to throw her arms around her beloved ‘Nonna Connie,’ Marley was now sitting in her lap as the older woman held her face and told Marley how pretty she had gotten.
“Laker says I’m the prettiest princess ever,” Marley told her sweetly.
Contessa laughed—the sound was soft but tired.
Indie could see, even from ten feet or so away, that Contessa appeared drawn and pale. She had dark circles under her eyes and stood on shaky legs; the summer dress she wore did nothing to brighten her appearance. Indie struggled to reconcile this woman with the vibrant, cheerful lady she’d spent time with just a few, short months ago.
“Nonna, mi sei mancata cosi tanto.”
While Indie had been busy cataloguing the changes in Contessa’s appearance, Laker had let go of her hand and carried Bodhi to join Marley and Contessa further down the corridor.
His grandmother held the back of Marley’s head with one hand, looping her other arm around Laker’s waist as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head and admit that he’d missed her, too. Laker held her close, not wanting to let her go until Bodhi let out a squeal and whined to garner Contessa’s attention.
“Oh, ragazzo dolce, such a sweet boy,” she breathed, taking him from Laker to pepper loud kisses over his chubby cheeks. Bodhi chuckled delightedly and offered her a slow smile when she finally halted her attack. “You just get more and more handsome every time I see you, young man.”
“Ess, ess, bah!” Bodhi babbled, leaning into her chest. “Ahhh.”
Indie teared up at the sight of Bodhi giving Contessa a hug. It was his favourite thing at the moment—giving hugs. He loved making the ‘ahh’ sound, too. As she watched Contessa’s eyes fill with tears, her smile wide and genuine despite everything that was going on, Indie couldn’t help but adore her son’s affectionate nature, even at the tender age of only ten months.
~ oOo ~
Later, Indie carried Bodhi down to the cafeteria, Marley beside her holding Sarah’s hand, to leave Andy and Laker to spend some time with Enrico. He was only occasionally lucid enough to open his eyes, but both men had remained at his bedside since their arrival at the hospital.
“Mamma, can we get an ice cream?” Marley asked, swinging hers and Sarah’s joined hands.
“If you can remember what ‘ice cream’ is in Italian, I’ll treat you to one,” Sarah murmured quietly, shooting a wink in Indie’s direction.
Marley scrunched up her face, thinking hard for a few moments. As her mother gestured for her to press the ‘down’ arrow for the elevator, Marley’s face lit up. “Gelato! It’s ‘gelato,’ Mimi!”
“Bene, ragazza intelligente!” Sarah laughed at the confused look on Marley’s face as they stepped into the elevator and began their descent to the lower floor. “I said, ‘good, clever girl.’”
“I am clever! Mamma says I’m even cleverer than she is.” Marley turned to peer up at her mother. “Right, Mamma?”
Indie smiled, reaching down with the hand not holding Bodhi, to tuck a loose curl behind Marley’s ear. “You’re incredibly clever, baby girl. So, so much smarter than me.”
Marley beamed with pride all the way to the cafeteria where she politely requested, ‘Vorrei un gelato medio, per favore,’ which meant ‘I’d like a medium-size ice cream, please.’ Sarah coached her during the short walk from the elevator to the cafeteria and positively glowed as Marley managed to repeat her newly-learned phrase perfectly.
“You’ve got the knack for language, Marley,” Sarah told the little girl when they sat down.
Indie sat Bodhi in a borrowed highchair and dug through the diaper bag, fishing out one of his favourite yogurts to distract him from trying to twist around to grab at his sister’s ice cream. She couldn’t help but laugh when he opened his mouth wide and whined for more of the yogurt if she took too long.
“Og, og!” he bleated, his cheeks smeared with strawberry fromage frais, his puppy-dog eyes pleading and irresistible.
“Okay, okay, little man. It’s coming.”
“Baby Bodhi is getting good at talking now, Mamma. D’you think he’s gonna say my name soon?”
“Definitely, baby girl. He can already almost say it. Bodhi, can you say, ‘Marley?’ ‘Marley.’”
Bodhi swallowed his mouthful and craned his neck to look round at Marley, grinning toothily when he spotted her. “Mawi!”
“That’s right, baby Bodhi! I’m Marley.” Marley quickly crunched the last of her cone, hopping down from her chair to join Bodhi. She rested her elbows on the highchair tray and leaned in to give her baby brother an Eskimo kiss—his adorable belly chuckles drew a few stares and smiles from the other occupants of the cafeteria and proved too cute for Indie to resist videoing the interaction.
“I’m your big sister, and I’m gonna teach you loads of cool stuff. I’ll teach you about drawing, and eating ice creams real quick without getting brain freeze, and how to get Pawpaw to do what you want.” Marley’s gaze darted toward Indie—seeing that her mother was amused, not mad, she grinned and continued talking to Bodhi. “He’s real easy to persuade. You just gotta blink at him, basically. Mamma says it’s called ‘patting your lashes.’”
“Batting your lashes, baby girl,” Indie giggled, fishing a wet wipe from the diaper bag at her feet to clean Bodhi’s face. “Don’t tell Pawpaw, but I think he’d do pretty much anything you ask him to, even without batting your lashes.”
This news pleased Marley immensely. She flashed her mother a wide, toothy grin before turning back to Bodhi. “See, baby Bodhi? Pawpaw is easy, ‘cause he loves us a whole lot. Mamma, can I feed Bodhi his fruit?”
“Sure, baby girl. Make sure you break the really big bits up a little.”
“Okay, Mamma. Here we are, bab
y Beesy bear. No, silly! You gotta chew!”
“Oh…” Sarah’s shocked gasp drew Indie’s attention away from her babies; she registered the phone in Sarah’s hand and the distraught pull of her brows—the downward curve of her lips as a shaky hand rose to her mouth.
“Marley, baby, please can you run and grab me some tissues from the table just there?” Indie murmured quietly, already sensing the cause of Sarah’s distress. She didn’t want Marley to hear the words Sarah would undoubtedly utter when Indie asked what was wrong.
“Sure, Mamma.”
As soon as Marley darted away, Indie still able to see her in the corner of her eye, she shifted in her seat and reached out to hold Sarah’s forearm. “Sarah…”
Sarah’s eyes lifted slowly to meet Indie’s gaze. They were heavy with sorrow as she exhaled shakily. “He’s gone. Enrico just slipped away.”
~ oOo ~
Indie felt the heavy, leaden weight of sadness settling itself in the pit of her stomach as she made her way down the hall toward Enrico’s room. Bodhi was fast asleep in his stroller—Indie had fetched it from the car when he began to droop in her arms and became too heavy to carry any longer—and Marley walked solemnly beside Sarah. The skip in her step, which had been present on the way to the cafeteria just a short while ago, was now noticeably absent.
Telling Marley that Enrico had gone with the angels was heartbreaking, but Indie hadn’t wanted her to go charging up to Laker and Andy without knowing. She hadn’t said a lot about it as yet, instead falling quiet as her little mind attempted to wrap itself around this new scenario. Indie hated that her young daughter had to deal with a loss, especially of someone so dear, but there was no way around it. Marley was far too perceptive and loved Enrico far too much to just let his prolonged absence go unmentioned.
Andy and Laker were slumped in chairs outside Enrico’s room when Indie, Sarah, Marley, and Bodhi reached them.
Andy stood as Sarah rushed toward him, his tall frame bending around her much-smaller body. Indie felt her stomach twist as she watched the way they melted together, Sarah holding her husband up despite their vast difference in size and stature. It was both heartbreaking and uplifting to see their bond and the strength they found in one another.
“Mamma…” Marley whispered tearfully, tucking herself into Indie as she clutched at her waist and buried her face in her mother’s side.
“It’s okay, baby girl. It’s okay.” She scooped her daughter into her arms and held her tight, tears pouring over her cheeks as she watched Laker raise his head and blink away the moisture clinging to his long lashes.
“Cazzo.”
She saw, more than heard, the Italian curse fall from his lips. He raked a hand through his already-messy hair, his beloved cap noticeably absent, then stood and passed his aunt and uncle to loop his arms around Indie and Marley. He was almost holding them too tight, but neither Indie nor Marley complained, simply reaching around to hold him just as firmly. They shook with the force of his shaky exhale, his lips trembling when he leaned back just a little to meet Indie’s worried gaze.
“Thank you. For being here,” he whispered.
As the soft sounds of Andy crying and Sarah soothing him found their way to Indie’s ears, her daughter twisting to tuck her face into Laker’s neck as she wrapped his hair between her tiny fingers, Indie inhaled a deep breath and forced herself to blink away her tears. Just like Andy needed Sarah’s strength, Laker needed Indie. She was determined to be there for him.
“Laker…there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you and the babies.”
Laker’s dimmed, sad green eyes flitted around her face, trying to read her—they finally settled on her blue-green gaze. They beseeched him to believe her, to relax and trust in her.
So, he did. He let the stress and sadness leak from his body, letting himself lean on her both physically and mentally as she tightened her grip around his body and let him bury his face against her shoulder. His salty, warm tears reminded her that this wasn’t just a cuddle or a quick embrace between friends.
It was the sharing of strength and sorrow.
The sadness at the end of a marriage, a relationship, and a life.
And it was the beginning of a new era for her, and for Laker. For their budding bond and the way they saw each other.
No longer was Laker a solitary pillar of strength having to support them both.
Indie could support him, too. And she would.
She did.
~ oOo ~
In the two weeks that followed, Laker’s house once again became a hive of activity. A base, of sorts. Within two days of Enrico’s passing, the rest of the Ashbys made arrangements to travel out to Italy. They were followed by the Davieses and Ryan a few days later, then Mark, Josie, Clarke, and Dave at the end of the first week. Laker put them in touch with the family contact with the airline he often used and covered the airfare for them all, insisting they didn’t need to come right away but grateful for their support and willingness to come and be with him at such a difficult time.
Contessa moved into the house, too, unable to bear returning to the villa in which she’d lived with Enrico for the past fifty years.
This meant that Laker’s large house felt rather cramped, with hastily erected blanket forts providing spaces for the children to sleep while the adults split the bedrooms.
Much to Laker and Andy’s disgust and annoyance, Antonio didn’t show up until the day before his father’s funeral—at this point, his brother and son had already taken care of everything, and neither of them were happy to see him or his belligerent wife.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s all done?’ Should we not have been consulted?” Amy had haughtily complained when Laker informed her that everything had been organized ahead of Enrico’s funeral the following day.
Laker’s lips had pursed, his brows furrowing. The expression wouldn’t have looked out of place on Carl-Roman’s seven-year-old face. “If either of you had bothered to show up sooner, you would have been consulted.”
And that was all he’d said on the subject. In fact, that was all he’d said to either of his parents. He’d marched away from his horrified mother and hadn’t spoken to her, or his father, since, instead choosing to spend his time with Contessa or Indie and the children.
~ oOo ~
The night before Enrico’s funeral, Indie couldn’t sleep.
She sat upright in bed against the headboard, Marley snoring in the bed to her right, Bodhi sprawled out in the travel cot to her left. Soft moonlight filtered into the room through the gap in the drapes, the thin material billowing inward every time the gentle breeze snuck through the window left slightly ajar. Indie could just make out the silhouette of the simple black dress she would wear tomorrow hanging on the front of the wardrobe; Marley’s matching dress was there too, along with Bodhi’s impossibly tiny black suit.
The thought of her babies being at the funeral weighed heavily on Indie’s mind, but she knew there was no way she’d be able to leave them alone—everyone they knew would be at the funeral. Bodhi was too young to understand what was going on, but Marley knew. Marley had seen the tears, heard the conversations about flowers, the burial, and what Contessa would do afterward. Laker was trying to insist that she fly back to England with him, but she’d been understandably reticent to make any decisions thus far.
Indie’s thoughts moved to Antonio and Amy. She couldn’t understand how two, seemingly uncaring, selfish people could come from wonderful parents like Enrico and Contessa, or create such a giving, loving son like Laker. But it quickly occurred to her that they hadn’t, not really. Sure, they’d created him in the biological sense, but Andy and Sarah had raised him for the most part and provided the nurturing, stable upbringing that had moulded him into the man he was today.
They’d given him the stability his own parents hadn’t been able, or willing, to provide.
“Bu’ I don’t wanna eat my broc’li, Mamma…”
Indi
e stifled her laughter into her shoulder, turning to listen to Marley’s sleep-talk for a few moments.
“Laker won’t make me…Pawpaw loves sandwiches.”
Eventually, Marley rolled over onto her other side, and her sleep-talking ceased. Indie’s full bladder made itself known, so she clambered out of bed without waking her daughter and tiptoed from the room to head toward the nearest bathroom. With business taken care of, she decided to quickly nip to the kitchen for a glass of water.
As she reached the doorway, Indie paused, noticing the door leading outside to the rose garden had been left ajar. An unexpected feeling of longing and nostalgia barged into her like a truck; she couldn’t resist heading out for a few moments.
Just as they had been back in March when she’d last visited, the roses were in glorious full bloom, this time joined by a variety of other flowers in various colours, sizes, and shapes. As she walked slowly through the line of arches, the intoxicating scent of the mingling flowers proved surprisingly gentle. It was still warm enough outside for her to be comfortable in her jersey pyjama shorts and teal tank top. The stone path was soft and only slightly cool under her bare feet, and the gentle breeze played with the loose tendrils of her hair as the trickle of the fountain ahead called her forward. Kneeling, Indie trailed her fingertips over the surface of the water and released a long sigh.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“OhmyGod!” Indie yelped, falling back on her butt.
Laker stepped out of the shadows, a contrite, apologetic tilt to his downward curved lips and tightly knit brows. “Cazzo, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Indie’s heart rate slowed to a more normal rhythm as she accepted the hands he held out to help pull her back to her feet. “I’m okay, don’t worry. I just didn’t expect anyone else to be up, is all.” She cocked her head, reaching up to stroke the troubled knot between his dark eyebrows. “Couldn’t sleep?”