Capello Brothers 3 Train My Heart

by J'aimee Brooker

  "Miss. These are for you" he said, passing her the flowers.

  "Wow, thank you" she said inspecting the gorgeous bouquet and finding a glorious arrangement of orange tulips, there had to be 40 or 50 flowers, all the same gorgeous hue, what an unusual yet breathtaking choice of flower and colour, "is there a card?" she asked the driver.

  "Yes Miss, there is—I have some other gifts for you too, couldn't carry them all.. I'll go grab them from the truck" he said, shuffling off to his delivery van.

  "From you, Luca?" she asked.

  Luca leant over her shoulder and beamed, "Nope, but I should have" he replied embarrassedly. "I reckon they're from my Ma. Tulips are her favorites".

  "Your Ma? Why would she… Hang on, you told her about tonight?"

  "Of course I did, you make me proud—I wanted my Ma to know how wonderful you are" he smiled, landing a peck on her cheek before grabbing the flowers and taking them to find a vase.

  "Miss, these are yours too" the delivery man spoke from the door, before passing her a bottle of Champagne and an envelope.

  "Thank you" she replied politely before closing the door and following Luca's footsteps.

  Setting the Champagne on the bench, she opened the envelope and found a folded note and an antique brooch. Puzzled, she set the brooch aside and opened the letter:

  My dearest Imogen,

  We are all so deeply proud of you and your achievements. You will do beautifully tonight, of that we are sure.

  My wonderful Luca is in awe of you and the qualities you possess; I certainly hope he tells you this as much as he tells the rest of us!

  The orange tulips are my favorites, orange for you because of the warmth and happiness you bring to all you meet. This brooch is for you; my mother gave it to me when I was 23 and embarking on a new path in life—I hope it brings you as much happiness in your life as it has for me.

  Love always,

  Adelina

  Imogen barely held back the tears; her own parents had sent her a congratulatory text message after she told them about being a finalist but had hadn’t made any attempt to wish her well for the Awards Ceremony. Looking at Luca, he too looked a little overwhelmed.

  "Your Ma is… wonderful" she finally said; a mass of emotions coursing through her mind.

  "That she is" Luca agreed, pinning the brooch to Imogen's dress, "Now, let's get going—can't have you be late to your award winning night!"

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  "Imogen," Luca shouted above the applause, bringing her back to the moment, "it's you—you won!" and pushing her to her feet.

  "Oh, gosh, I know! Luca, I won!" she cried, burying her face in his neck.

  Holding her back at arm's length, Luca spoke quietly, "I am so proud of you Im. Enjoy this moment; you've achieved what you set out to achieve. You're amazing. Now go get your award, everyone's waiting".

  The party continued well into the night, with Luca watching on proudly as Imogen handled a swarm of journalists interviewing and photographing her followed by well-wishers and eventually the publishing house representatives. When the night finally came to an end, Luca escorted her to the Jeep, kissing the back of her hand as he helped her up into the vehicle and causing a massive smile from Imogen.

  "Home?" Luca asked.

  "Yes, home" she replied, contently.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Three weeks later

  "And… that's it!" Imogen sighed with relief, hitting send on the email containing the edited manuscript. “Finally, the book is finished! Want to go celebrate Luca?”

  “What’ve you got in mind?” Luca asked, watching Imogen packing up her desk from the doorway. Closed laptop, thesaurus, diary, notepad, pencil; the perfect stack done exactly the same way at the end of every writing session. It was laughable how predictable she was, but endearingly cute at the same time.

  “Anything! Just get me out of this office” she exclaimed.

  “Could we stay in, order out, maybe talk?” Luca offered, a proposal that had Imogen spinning in her chair.

  “Why…?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Why, what Im? Wouldn’t you rather a quiet night in?”

  “Yes, that’s fine. But, why do you want to talk; what’s wrong?”

  “Im, I’ve been waiting weeks to get some time with you. I haven’t wanted to interrupt your writing—can’t I suggest some catch up time without setting off alarm bells?” Luca countered, his tattered patience showing through as he turned on his heel and stormed from the room.

  “Hey, Luca, what’s wrong—you’ve never spoken to me like that before” Imogen yelled after him, following him down the hallway and into the bathroom.

  “I’m sorry. I’m frustrated and got stuff going on; I’ve been waiting to talk to you—waiting til it was the right time, but really there is no right time—“

  “What? What’s happening?” Imogen whispered, looking up at him cautiously.

  “Oh god Im, I’m sorry to do this to you…”

  “Are we… are you… breaking up with me?” she replied, barely containing the sob that escaped her lips and reverbed off each and every tile in the bathroom, pulling Luca’s heart into his throat.

  “No! No, not that Im” he said, scooping her into his arms. “not that. Sit, let’s talk”.

  Slinking them both down onto the tiled floor, it struck Luca how cold the floor was, Imogen’s tears were flowing and her confused and hurt look reiterated just how cold the situation was about to become.

  “I’m confused, I thought we were good—I thought everything was going well—“ she whispered, her words punctuated by hiccupped sobbing.

  “We are good Imogen, trust me on that, and everything between us is going well. But, what’s going on with me isn’t. I’m feeling lost, confused… I want us to settle down, I know you’re the woman I’m going to marry, I know that. What I don’t know is me” Luca explained, her eyes focused on his.

  “This is my fault isn’t it? Because of what happened with Bill McNaught? You’ve been different ever since; nothing noticeable, just different—wound up or something…”

  “No, it isn’t your fault, but yes you’re right—something in me changed that day and I’ve been rolling it around in my head and for the life of me I can’t make sense of it. I exploded the way my father used to. The memories that brought up have been hard, but it’s just I can’t shake the feeling that maybe I’m more like him than I realize. Maybe deep down, it’s just part of who I am—“ he explained.

  “Luca, no, it’s not—you’re the most wonderful man I know. Your brothers—have you talked to them about this? What can I do to help?“ she asked.

  Luca let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, “That’s what I wanted to talk about. I haven’t seen him since I was a kid, I think it’s time for me to go and see him, try to understand him better so that I can understand myself”.

  “You want to go see your father? In Italy?”

  “Yes.”

  “When? Do you think it’s a good idea?”

  “I haven’t made any plans yet. I wanted you to get your book finished without any interruptions and now that you’re finished…”

  “This is important to you, you should go” she replied quietly.

  “Just like that; you’re not going to try to talk me out of it or tell me it’s a bad idea?” he questioned uncertainly.

  “No. Luca you’re a grown man, I trust that you’ve come to this decision carefully and I think you should go. Explore your past and understand it. All I will say is I know who you are, and I love the man that you are”.

  “Will you give me some time over there first then meet me in Italy? If everything goes well with my father you can meet him, but if it doesn’t go to plan, then… I don’t want you to be exposed to him” he finished sheepishly.

  “You’re asking me to go to Italy?! Of course, Luca, I’d love that more than anything” she agreed, “but I have one condition”.

  “Anything Im—“ Lu
ca replied.

  “Can we get off this cold floor and order some food?” she laughed, hauling him up off the floor with her.

  Luca captured her in his arms and pulled her tight, “You’re amazing you know”.

  “Yes, Luca Capello, I know—you tell me all the time!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Tickets, passport, wallet, cash...” Luca repeated subconsciously as they reached the airport; his self-checking had continued since they’d left the house.

  “Luca, you have everything. We’ve checked and checked again; you’re just nervous”, Imogen said, pulling the Jeep into a carpark and leaning towards him for a kiss.

  As Luca checked in his bag, they both realized the time for them to part had arrived. Luca bent and pulled Imogen in close, holding her and breathing in her scent as though he was committing it to memory. "I should go—" he started.

  "I know" Imogen replied without easing her grip on him, "I'm going to miss you Luca. Please please be careful".

  "I will Im. I'll text you when I get there" he promised, "I love you".

  "I love you too" she whispered.

  “Im, I know what I’ve forgotten” Luca called, as he walked through the gates to his lounge.

  “Oh Luca, what?”

  “You” he said, blowing her a kiss.

  Imogen held it together just long enough at the airport that Luca hadn’t seen her tears, but her heart was breaking with every step away from the gates and away from the love of her life. She made a silent promise to herself to keep it together at least until she got to the car, lest she make a fool of herself sobbing in the airport. She'd almost managed it until she looked up and straight into a wall of Capello.

  “Roman, Dominic, what are you doing here? Luca’s already left. Oh no, you’ve missed him” she said, the tears involuntarily falling again.

  “Luca’s a big boy, Im. We came for you; figured you might need a little cheering up and it seems we were right” Dominic said, elbowing Roman in the ribs before throwing an arm around Imogen's shoulders and pulling her in close for a caring hug.

  “You got the Jeep?” Roman asked.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Great, last thing I need is to get back in the ute with speed-racer here; I’ll come with you” Roman replied.

  "Angelo's for lunch ok with you Im?" Dom asked, though Imogen had a feeling the decision had already been made.

  "Thanks, but I think I'll head home"

  "Not a chance Im, let's go" Dom declared, leading them seamlessly through the airport crowds.

  "Will you drive Roman" Imogen asked as they approached the Jeep.

  "Yep" he said, taking the keys and walking to the passenger door and opening it for Imogen. "So, how's the writing going?" Roman asked casually as he settled behind the steering wheel, pushing the seat back to accommodate his larger frame.

  "Good. I sent the final manuscript to my publisher a couple weeks ago. I finished it the night…" she stalled, tears threatening her somewhat calm composure, "the night Luca told me his plans"

  "How do you feel about it all?" he enquired gently.

  "Luca, you mean?"

  "Yeah; none of us saw this coming so I'm guessing you've been blindsided by it too?"

  "I think it's my fault Roman. Everything was fine until, well, until the thing at work happened and he's been different ever since" she replied earnestly.

  "It certainly was not your fault, Imogen. But yeah, something definitely shifted for him that day, I agree. I worry about him going back to see our father, I'm not expecting anything good to come from this, but, it's important for him so what can we do but support him?" Roman sighed.

  Pulling up at Angelo's, Dominic walked over to the Jeep, opening Imogen's door for her, making her realize just how gentlemanly the Capello brothers were. She'd always thought Luca did these small things because they were dating, but it seemed this old fashioned chivalry was actually a family habit.

  "Hope you don't mind Italian for lunch, Im" he laughed as they walked into Angelo's restaurant.

  "Ha! Do you boys eat anything else?" she replied jokingly to raucous laughter from both Roman and Dominic.

  "Roman, Dominic! Come in, come in!" exclaimed the older, matronly looking female who seemed overwhelmingly excited to see the boys. "Oooh… who have we here" she smiled, looking at Imogen then back and forth between Roman and Dominic, eyebrows raised playfully.

  "Violetta, always so good to see you" Roman said genuinely, bending to kiss the woman on each cheek, "this is Imogen, Luca's girlfriend"

  "Oooh, Imogen… A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Where is your Luca today, we are still waiting for him?" she enquired.

  "Lovely to meet you too, Violetta" Imogen responded warmly. "Luca…"

  "Luca's flown out to Italy today" Roman offered, rubbing Imogen's back in support.

  The expression on Violetta's face spoke a million words—worry, concern, confusion. She obviously knew the family background, Imogen thought to herself.

  Redirecting her thoughts, Violetta turned to Dominic and playfully smacked him on the rear. "Dominic, you are too grown up to give ol' Violetta a hug, huh?" she said cheekily, "sit, sit—your usual table is waiting, I'll get Imogen a menu"

  Imogen stared at the menu for what felt like forever, the words jumping and blurring on the page. It all felt nonsensical, too hard, too overwhelming.

  "Im, god help me, tell me you're not looking for the salad menu" Dominic joked, trying to lighten the mood at the table.

  "No. I just… don't know. I feel like I should've told Luca not to go or insisted on going with him" she whispered.

  "Ok, first things first; pizza or pasta? Meat or seafood?" Dom asked, clearly hungry and keen to get some food organized.

  "Just something light, Dom, I don't know what to choose"

  "Violetta" Dominic called kindly to the older lady, "Roman and I will have our usual, Imogen will have the spaghetti alla Genovese please"

  "Yes, yes. I get Angelo to start now" she called back.

  Within minutes, Violetta walked to the table balancing a massive tray of toasted breads, olives, cured meats, cheeses and all matter of sundried and charred delicacies, along with two bottles of wine. "You get started on this, your lunch will be here soon" she smiled, rustling Roman's hair lovingly before walking away.

  Imogen stared at the platter, how on earth could three people possibly eat all this food, she wondered.

  Roman picked up a plate, nudging her and asked "anything you don't eat Im?". She shook her head and smiled as Roman began plating her up a feast.

  Looking over at Dom who was waiting impatiently for Roman to serve her food before serving himself any, Imogen realised the Capello boys not only had impeccable manners, they were kind, generous and caring to a fault. How had they survived such a horrendous childhood and still become such wonderful men?

  "Can I ask you both a question, a personal question?" she asked meekly.

  "Sure", Roman smiled weakly; locking eyes with Dominic who even with his mouth full looked concerned.

  "What was your father like? Luca only recalls snippets of information, he's told me bits and pieces but he's sketchy on the details".

  "Im, he's sketchy on the details because he was sheltered from a lot of it. He saw, and unfortunately copped, a bit of it but mostly he wasn't aware of how bad it was" Roman replied quietly.

  "How? How, could he have been there and not known about it all—?" she asked, confused.

  "We had a system" Dom interrupted, "Luca got hidden, he was younger, smaller than us, and he wasn't physically able to take… as much as us".

  "Hidden?" she whispered, her body filling with emotion—just how bad were things for them growing up, she wondered.

  "Hidden. Under the bed worked for a little while until our father figured it out, then we'd hide him in cupboards, the garden, under the house. You know, hidden". Dom answered, emotionless.

  "But you guys, your Ma—what about you" she asked, look
ing between them both and seeing the pain of the memories the conversation had provoked flooding their faces.

  "We're all fully aware of what happened and what a miserable old bastard our father is. With all the trips we've made home to Italy, none of us have ever made the effort to visit him, that's why we were surprised that Luca wanted to" said Dom.

  "Will he… be safe?" Imogen whispered, the words almost not making it out of her mouth.

  "He's strong Im; physically he'll be fine" Roman answered.

  "And, mentally?" she asked, but the question was left unanswered, hanging uncomfortably between them all.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The heat was unrelenting as Luca stepped out of Linate airport; a sheen of sweat gradually covering his entire body, a more suffocating, drier and harsher heat than any Australian summer. Looking upward, Luca spotted the reprise, storm clouds building in the distance; hopefully there'd bring enough rainfall to offer a cool change otherwise a short burst of rain would only serve to worsen the already stifling heat.

  Throwing his backpack into the back of the taxi, Luca settled in as the sights of Milan sped by. Closing his eyes, he pictured Imogen standing alone at the airport, her stoic expression marred only by the sadness he saw in her eyes. Walking away from her had hurt; his stomach dropped again as he remembered her final words to him before they'd parted, "I know the wonderful man you are Luca; don't forget that" she'd whispered.

  Shaking himself back to the moment, Luca looked up and took in the pace of the city. The drive into Milan itself wasn't the most pleasant trip; narrow roads, fast-paced early morning traffic, run-down buildings and heavily graffitied buildings were an assault on Luca's senses as the jetlag began to take a firmer grip on his body. Closing his eyes, he began mentally preparing himself for the coming week; seeing his father for the first time as an adult was filling Luca with anxiety and nerves. What if nothing had changed, maybe his father was still the mean, conniving man they all remembered him as.