by Alix Labelle
“How?”
He leaned in, looking her straight in the eye with harshness this time, “Anything I did for the mafia was to protect you, do you understand? I might have done some untoward things while with the SEALs, but it was only to protect you.”
“What does that even mean?”
“The Rosellis did something that made the main mob family in Sicily very angry,” he held her shoulders, his eyes intensely locking her into place. “I tried to do damage control, but… it was no use.”
“So, you killed them?”
“No. I tried to warn them, but the hitmen were already there.”
A loud noise came from downstairs. A meow came from the other side of the wall.
“Tess! We need to let Tess in!” Isadora ran to the wall, trying to figure out how to open it.
“We aren’t risking our safety for your cat,” he answered.
The cat meowed again. Isadora rushed to him. “That cat is like my kid. Let her in.”
“You didn’t think to let her in here, so I doubt she’s like your kid.”
“I will disembowel you.”
“That sounds kinky.”
“Doran!”
He sighed and went to the wall, opening it slowly. The cat rushed in and jumped into Isadora’s arms. He closed the wall and listened as more noises came from down the stairs. This time, the bangs and crashes came closer.
“Thank you,” she said softly, hugging the cat.
“Anything,” he answered.
He took off his shoes and moved forward. They stood face to face, the cat only between them. He pet the animal in her arms before they both looked up in unison. Another crash came closer to them; he pulled the cord just above him to turn off the light. His eyes didn’t leave hers, even in the darkness. She felt completely alone with him, even with Tess in her arms and some kind of intruder invading the house.
He put his hand on her face and leaned forward, his lips dangerously close. She closed her eyes, tingles radiating through her body as he came closer. With a foreign person pressing against her, Tess jumped out of Isadora’s arms, scratching her in the process. She almost cried out, but bit her lip. He chuckled softly.
CRASH! The door of the closet outside their hiding place slammed open and someone bombarded in. Doran moved carefully toward the wall, pulling his gun from his waistband. She grabbed a metal bat leaning against the couch. They prepared for an infiltration, both deathly quiet.
“Meow,” the cat apologized, rubbing against Isadora’s legs.
Isadora dropped to the ground, trying to hold the cat’s mouth.
“I will shoot that cat,” Doran whispered.
“I will beat your head in,” she replied.
“What was that?” a gruff voice asked loudly outside the room.
“Be quiet, idiot,” another, more weasel-like voice snapped. “We don’t want them to hear us.”
Isadora and Doran shared a look. Not like they hadn’t heard already.
“I heard something coming from there,” the gruff voice continued.
“From the wall? You hear something inside the wall?”
“Well, isn’t the Roselli guy an architect? Maybe he built a hiding place into the wall.”
“Yeah, and maybe he’s a wizard.”
Gun shots blasted through the wall, making Doran jump out of the way. The cat scattered, knocking over something in a clatter.
“What are you doing, you idiot!” the weasel yelped.
“I heard something!”
“They’re not in the wall. Come on.”
Footsteps stomped out of the closet and further away from them. Isadora crawled forward to Doran on the ground, checking him over with her hands. His breathing sounded heavier than usual, as if he were hurt. He took her hand, dragging it along his body. She thought he might be guiding her to a wound, but her hand moved lower and lower until it got to his waist. Her hand darted back and punched him in the arm. He chuckled softly, slowly rolling over and rising to his knees.
“I’m going out there,” he told her quietly.
“Don’t do that,” she responded. “We can wait it out.”
“I don’t want to wait it out. I want this done.”
“Doran, that’s stupid.”
He crawled toward her. She got onto her knees and crawled toward him. In the darkness, they reached out for each other.
“If anything happens to me, I need you to know that I have loved you from the first day we met,” he took her face in his hands and touched his nose to hers. “You told me I looked like a ‘low-end, ginger James Dean,’ and I knew you were different than other girls.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t nice to you after we… you know,” she felt herself blush. He chuckled. “I like to alienate myself from others so I can’t get hurt.”
“I took it a little hard, but my dad said if I really wanted something, I had to fight for it. So I came back.”
“You can’t go out there.”
“Why not?”
Before she could reply, another gunshot rang through the wall from the other side (her room.) They both dropped to the ground, the cat again crashing around the room in fear.
“Why shouldn’t I go?” he whispered, the intruders now screaming at each other. She paused, nerves and terror bubbling into a brew inside her. “Do you want to make a romantic confession?”
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered flatly.
The room went completely quiet (with the background of the intruders yelling slicing through the silence.) The cat even seemed to stop skittering around the room.
“You’re what?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Sweet Jesus, that’s why you had the puke bucket. It makes so much sense now!”
“I’m glad you’re so excited.”
He reached out to hug her close to him. In his arms, all her fears about the child melted away. Even the fear from the danger outside softened. With him, she knew she and her child would always be protected and loved. He kissed her tenderly, sweetly.
“Stay here, okay?” he whispered. “Don’t come out, no matter what. Understand?”
“I understand.”
He kissed her forehead before rising, listening at the wall, and then slipping out. She crawled toward the bat and searched for the cat.
“Tess,” she whispered. “Tessy darling.”
She heard no response.
“Tess?”
Nothing.
“Tess!” she tried to hiss as loudly as she could.
A small “meow” came from the loveseat. Isadora kept crawling on her hands and knees until she touched the soft sofa fabric. The cat emerged from under the couch and rubbed against her human. The human took her into her arms and listened to the intruders’ voices move down the hall.
One of them yelled in surprise, and gunshots erupted through the house. Tess didn’t jump this time; rather, she allowed Isadora to clutch her closer.
Chapter 7
“Doran fought valiantly,” Isadora said to Fiona softly as she laid on a picnic blanket in the sun. “The house went completely silent, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, I guess. It’s all over.’”
Fiona watched ducks float along the pond water. “It sounds frightening.”
“Tess was curled up in my arms – the two of us the lone survivors.”
“Uh huh. I am totally listening to this.”
“And then he burst into the room like some kind of action hero. It was like he was Ben Affleck from Armageddon.”
“God, that movie sucks.”
“It does suck. Anyway, it turned out the hitmen that came to our house were the same ones that killed the Rosellis. They were actually just supposed to scare them, but they accidentally killed the hostess, and then had to kill them all.”
“I definitely haven’t heard this story a hundred times.”
“They actually started offing other mafia members to make it look like Doran had done it. It was all a conspiracy because they knew what he’d
done in Europe.”
“Right. I didn’t write a whole article about this and win an award or anything.”
Isadora smiled, “Every time I tell that, it takes you a little longer to tell me to stop.”
Fiona rolled her eyes. “You’re evil.”
“Izzy, Gaea is hungry, I think,” Doran appeared with a baby in his arms. “She humored me, but I think she wants her mom.”
“I was telling a story,” Isadora snapped playfully.
“I’m sure it was fascinating, my love,” he smirked. “Your child wants you though.”
She rose and held out her hands. Doran kneeled down to kiss her before placing the baby in her hands. She reached for the cooler near her and pulled out a bottle.
“Thank you for saving me, Doran,” Fiona grinned. “You really are Ben Affleck from Armageddon.”
“I don’t know what that means, but okay.”
“Doran, come over here and help me with the barbeque,” Mario called from a short distance away.
The small park grill smoked more than seemed normal. Angela threw up her hands and stomped off to sit next to the other girls on the picnic blanket. Doran held back his laughter and jogged to help.
“I don’t think Dad can be trusted over there,” Isadora said as the baby finished her bottle. “Can you take Gaea?”
Angela smiled wide and held out her hands, “I would love to take her.”
Isadora laughed and gently handed her baby over. She moved to grill and tapped her father out. He happily abandoned his failed pursuit to sit with his wife and the now sunbathing Fiona.
“Hello, stranger,” Doran smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist. “It looks like it’s up to you and me to feed the masses.”
“I think we are up for the challenge,” she smiled back. “Can you believe it’s been a year since you got back from overseas?”
“No, I can’t. I can still taste the coffee grounds now.”
“It adds nutrients.”
He smiled, “You know, when I was on the plane coming back, I tried to imagine what you’d look like after all that time. Then when you approached, I realized you were better than any of my fantasies.”
“And then you drank the coffee, and realized maybe the fantasies were better.”
“No, I realized I’d always have to stay on my toes,” he laughed. “And that made me want you even more.”
“I love you, Doran.”
“I love you too, Izzy.”
In the heat of the day, he stepped forward and kissed her. The year before, she only dreamt of having Doran so close and felt frozen with the promise of his love. Now, she felt warmed and sustained by it. Her life had completely changed thanks to the boy she once despised.
The sun sparkled against the pond, reflecting their shadows across the park grass. Their shadows held each other, converging into the other to appear as one single being. For the first time, Isadora no longer longed for the past – instead, she excitedly embraced the future.
THE END
SEALed by my Stepbrother
A Military Romance
Chapter 1
Ana thought of Dante when she was alone at night and when she looked over at their daughter sleeping next to her. She was five now, which made him gone for almost six years. They had cut ties before he had left to join the Navy. He didn’t want anything holding him back to the small town that he came from. Ana had agreed, agreeing to anything to make him happy. She loved him more than life, but she knew that he had to go, never being happy in a place as small as Orson. It was too small for him and so was she, as a small town girl.
But it had not ended the way she had thought it would. She had been pregnant, but with his real feelings clear, she never called him. Ana figured that Dante didn’t want to know, so she quit school her senior year and got a job to support them both. She got a lot of help from her mother and then, her mother’s new boyfriend the last couple of years, had stepped in, in some capacity for a male role model. Even after a couple of years of them dating, she didn’t know too much about Jeffrey’s other family. She knew he had some older kids, one about her age that was in the military. It never occurred to her that it might be Dante he was talking about. How could she have known? Things like that don’t happen for no reason.
It was when she saw a photo he flashed from his wallet. It was a picture of Dante his last year of high school. He was a year older than her and had graduated the year before. Her heart raced and she held her daughter, their daughter closer to his chest. “I can’t wait for you to meet him Ana. I think you guys will get along good. Don’t you remember him from school?”
“Yea, but he was older, so it was just in passing. I think everyone made comments that he should’ve tried to keep going in football.”
“Yes, yes, well after what happened to his mother, there was an anger in him that had to be run through. He is only home for a time, but it has been six long years since I’ve seen him in Orson and I hope I can talk him into staying a little longer. He is only supposed to be home for a couple of weeks. It is just not enough time after so long away.”
She couldn’t agree more, but Ana was more nervous to see him again after all those years. Their parents were getting married the next weekend, just to make it all more unseemly and to make it seem as bad as it really was. He didn’t know of course, she was sure of it. Dante hadn’t been bothered to come home in many years and he had long since forgotten about the girl down the block that he used to fool around with. If only she had been granted the same reprieve to forget about him, maybe she could have moved on in the last few years. Instead, Ana was reminded of him on a daily basis.
“Are you okay dear? You have been really quiet this evening.”
Ana shook her head. “Yeah, I guess I am just tired is all. I have to run to Mary’s for some studying.” Ana started to get up and her mother frowned.
“Well I thought you were going to meet Dante dear?”
“I will be back later mom. Really, we will have plenty of time to get to know each other.”
“Okay. I just want everyone to get along.”
Ana took her daughter’s waiting hand and headed over to her friend’s house. She really didn’t need to study, but she had to get away from all of them. Ana had one last semester in school and she would graduate with her Bachelors. When she dropped out of high school, she thought she would never get to go back, but she found a way and now was almost to the end of the tunnel. Ana knew then that no matter what, she would be able to take care of her daughter. She had no illusions that she would have any help, so her plans were for her to do it all alone.
And she was fine with that, she really was, but the idea of having to be around Dante, left her questioning everything. No one knows who the father of Christine was and Ana didn’t know if she should even say anything to him. If Christine didn’t have the same dark eyes and hair as her father, no one would ever guess. Would he notice that her eyes were the same as the ones he saw in the mirror every morning? Should she say something or just let it go and be however it is going to be?
“Where are we going mommy?”
“We are going to see Mary and Ashlea baby.”
“Yay.”
She fastened her into her seat and Ana started towards her friend’s house on the other side of town. Mary was actually the only person in Orson that knew who Christine’s father was. She was the only person in the world that she trusted to not say anything. She had to tell her the news that she had heard. Dante was going to be back in town that night. It wasn’t just his daughter that he had left, he had left her dying inside and she wasn’t sure if she could stand to be around him again. All the pain of when he left came back three-fold.
They pulled up to the small clapboard house and Christine was out of the car before she could stop her. She was at the door banging before she got her purse out. “I wish I had that kind of energy” She thought to herself.
Mary let her in and she bounded to her daughter’s room.
The girls were almost the same age and they even had the same teacher in school, fast friends that were never apart for more than a few hours. It was heartwarming to see their kids playing, as they had when they were girls.
“So I got your text, what’s up? You said you had some big news?”
Ana shook her head and took a sip of the coffee her friend had waiting for her. “So guess who is back in town?”
The blonde-woman shrugged, her short curls bouncing with her uncertainty. “You know I hate that game.”
“And you know I love it. Just give it a shot.”
“I don’t know, Billy?”
Ana sighed. “I forgot how much you suck at it. You ruin it every time.”
“Jeez, this better be good cranky ass.”
“I have a right, I swear.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“Dante is back in town.”
“What? How do you know?” Mary sat up in her chair and her eyes widened.
“Because I am supposed to meet him before the wedding.”
“What, why? This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well Jeffrey is his dad. When we were dating his parent’s had split up and Jeffrey had moved out of the state. Well when his mom got remarried, he moved back, met mom and the rest is history.”
Mary was on the edge of her seat. It was enough drama to keep the masses entertained and she was there in the front row. If only there was popcorn, she thought to herself. “Okay so Christine’s dad is back in town and will soon be your stepbrother?”
“Don’t laugh. It is not funny.”
“I know, but Ana come on. You can either laugh or cry about this. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up.”
“Yeah I know. Such an excitement in my life.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Ana shrugged. “I don’t know. He has changed I hear. Jeffrey says he barely recognized him last time he went to D.C. to visit him. What if he doesn’t remember me?”
“Is that what you are worried about? You guys dated for almost a year. I think he will remember you. I was talking more about Christine. But, I like where your mind is going.”