by Sienna Mynx
“It’s not going to work. You are not going to turn this around on me. You were distracted, and my baby was hurt.”
“Our baby. Our son,” he addressed her without raising his voice.
“You know what I mean,” she shook her head. “Gio, please. You have to be the same for all of them. They love you equally.”
“Wait a minute. Are you accusing me of loving one child more than another? First I’m a bad father because I don’t discipline Gino, now I only favor Gino? Any other failures at fatherhood I show know about?”
“No! I only meant—”
“I made a mistake. I turned my head for a moment and he was hurt. How could you think I’d want that to happen?” he asked. “I love all my children equally. But like any parent I see the potential and strengths in them. Maybe I could handle Gino differently, but this is new to me, Bella. I’m more of a father to them all than mine ever was to me!”
“I know, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s not about my fucking feelings! It’s about you thinking I’m capable of not caring that my son was hurt!”
“Why are you shouting at me?” she asked.
“Because you’re pissing me off! This was an accident. I apologized.”
“No you did not!”
“I did,” he said. He then thought on it. He wiped his hand down his face and groaned deep in his throat. Then leveled his gaze on her. “I’m sorry he was hurt and I didn’t come sooner, Bella. Now don’t you think I’m owed an apology?” he teased her with a smile. It wasn’t going to work. He was not going to charm his way out of this.
Mirabella shook her head in refusal.
Giovanni threw his hands up in defeat. Her heart softened. He was right. To accuse him of being a bad father was extreme. He was far from it. Only she knew of the nights he would leave their bed to go and check on their little boys. And how worried he was when Gino developed a little slower than Gianni the first months of his life. Gino almost died. Giovanni was always sensitive to that fact.
She walked over to the bed and put her son down in the center. She positioned the pillows so that he wouldn’t roll off. When she stood upright Giovanni was right behind her. He folded his arms around her.
“Bella, don’t be angry with me. You know I hate disappointing you.” She tried to shrug him off but he was too insistent. He put his chin on her shoulder. He stared down at their sleeping son.
“I love my bambini the same,” he repeated. “Gino is the most adventurous of them. He loves life. I think it’s because he struggled to be born. I see it in him and I want to encourage it. My father never did with me. Do you understand?”
She turned around and looked in his eyes. She wasn’t blinded any more. She knew her husband’s strengths and his weaknesses. “If he was hurt would you want me to send one of your men down the hall to tell you?”
“Never.”
“Okay. I’m sorry for my accusations. I get so scared when it comes to the kids. They’re the best of us, Gio, but the most vulnerable. I panicked when he came to me holding his wrist. And when you didn’t come I—” her voice choked with emotion.
He kissed her softly. She blinked away fresh tears and hugged his neck. She felt sane again. He kissed the side of her face. He kissed her neck. He caressed her back.
“Woman, you sound like my mother not my wife,” he chuckled. “Give your man a break once and a while, and not assume the worst in him.”
“I love you.” She pressed her face to his chest. The truth was she hated arguing with him, even when he was wrong. And in the end, every fight was a lesson for them both. He ran his hand down her back. She pushed out of his arms and moved around him before he got more amorous. She needed to dress and tell him about her dinner plans. Before she could speak he did.
“I came upstairs to tell you that I have business to tend to. I won’t be here for dinner,” he said.
“Oh? Okay. You sure?” she asked.
“I’ll try not to be out late,” he smiled.
“Uhm, well I have an idea. I think maybe I should have dinner with my staff tonight. At Fabiana’s.”
Giovanni frowned. “Why there?”
“I haven’t been ‘there’,” she said with air quotes, “in months. They want to celebrate with me. And since you won’t be here for dinner I can meet with them and be home before you miss me.”
Giovanni dropped his hands in his pockets. “You had this planned didn’t you?”
She chuckled. “Confession time. I planned it with the girls. Yes.”
“Am I invited?” he asked.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because it’s the first I’m hearing of it. If I were invited you would have told me sooner,” he said.
“You don’t want to come—”
“I do,” he insisted. “I could have changed my plans. Be there for you.”
“Giovanni?” she gave a nervous chuckle and walked away. “It’s just us talking about dresses and shoes. Stuff you hate. You don’t want to come, trust me.”
“I can come afterwards, if you want,” he smiled.
“No,” she said.
“No?”
“I think I just want to meet with them. Don’t be upset. Why don’t you come tomorrow and do the photo shoot and interviews with me? That would make me happy.”
She avoided his eyes. She knew he stared at her while she unpacked their things.
“Okay,” she heard him say. She glanced back up at him. He smiled at her. Mirabella grew increasingly concerned. Nothing was ever that easy with her husband.
“Just okay?” she asked.
“We’re in Milano for you, Bella. This is your business. If you want to have a dinner with your team I understand. I accept it.”
“You continue to amaze me, Gio,” she said. She looked into his eyes trying to gauge his sincerity.
“What’s all this?” he asked about the boxes and packages all over the floor.
“Gifts from other designers. They sent them to wish me luck on my big day,” she said.
Giovanni knelt and picked up the satin Kimono. He shook it out and studied it. He turned it around and looked at the dragon. Mirabella chewed on her bottom lip. It was silly to think that Kei, after all this time, would have something to do with the gift. The man was in prison.
“I like this,” Giovanni said. “Wear it for me tonight?”
Mirabella’s smile changed. “I have something special to wear for you tonight. We won’t need that.”
“I like this,” he insisted.
“Better than me naked?” she teased.
He looked at the robe and then to her. He tossed it aside. “I’ll let you decide on what’s best.”
“Good boy,” she winked. He left. When the door closed Mirabella glanced to the kimono.
“It’s nothing,” she said to herself. She picked it up, put it in the trash, and then dusted her hands. She looked over to Gino, who was now sleeping on his back. She smiled. A family trip with just them, and not his entourage, is just what they both needed.
Bella Mafia
Applause greeted her. Mirabella wore a long flowing black dress. It wrapped around her curves and parted to the front with a seductive split. The plunging neckline revealed the contour of her breasts. The only accessory on her neck was a two-carat diamond solitaire that matched the studs in her ears. The moment she stepped through the doors of House of Fabiana’s the staff exploded with excitement.
Humbled she put both hands to her mouth. A sheen of tears blurred her vision. In Milano she employed a team of two hundred, and in Paris she had twice that number of people working for her. So many smiling faces from both operations welcomed her, she couldn’t possibly count them all.
“Is everyone here?” she asked in disbelief.
“Almost everyone,” Catalina replied.
“Go on, sis, don’t be shy,” Marietta pinched her on the side. Mirabella was giddy with excitement. The fashion house was de
corated beautifully. Red balloons, red and gold silk streamers, and hundreds of red roses in crystal vases were posted on several pedestals. Large and tall red candles provided the lighting to the front of Fabiana’s. They collectively illuminated the stairs that circled and went up to the top floors. Every woman on her staff wore a red dress, and every man a red tie.
“Congratulations!” Shouted the crowd.
Marietta kissed her cheek. “Take a bow! This is all for you.”
The celebration left her speechless. She had prepared for crises, and last minute changes that any designer faced before the biggest day of their career. After all, most of the garments were cut in her design room at Melanzana, and hand stitched with specific instructions to her seamstresses. She hadn’t had time to touch and review each one. The Milano Fashion Gala would be the first time in her career that she’d introduce a new line and Fabiana wasn’t there to encourage and manage things. Even Teddy’s absence had filled her with doubt.
“Thank you, everyone! Grazie, grazie!” She stepped into the crowd and stopped to kiss many cheeks.
“Donna Mirabella, ben tornata!” exclaimed one person.
“Congratulazioni, Mirabella!” cheered another person.
“Complimenti, Donna Battaglia!”
She hugged the necks of several. The crowd circling her became so overwhelmingly tight that Catalina and Marietta had to tell several people to step aside. Mirabella made a point to greet every single person who came before her. In the past two years she’d only met with a handful of her employees. The cheek kisses and hand squeezing was put to an end. Catalina pulled her through the praise by the elbow. Again Mirabella was struck by how elegant everything was. Music serenaded the guests from a violinist and a cello player. The back room was cleared out for tables with black cloths and red china.
“Upstairs, go, we’ll have our meeting first before we join the staff and eat,” Catalina whispered. Mirabella had to hold the sides of her dress to keep from stepping on the long hem as they climbed the stairs.
“You okay?” Marietta asked Shae. Together they climbed the stairs side by side. She’d given Shae one of the designer originals from her closet for the evening. Her best friend glammed the dress up with her trademark style. She’d put loose curls in her pink streaked hair, then styled the asymmetrical bob-cut with puffy thickness and bounce. Shae turned the heads of gay and straight men with her voluptuous hourglass figure in a t-shirt and jeans. But the dress she wore flattered her figure even more so, fitting snug around the hips and ass. Marietta dropped her tomboy jeans and big sweatshirts the moment she and Shae became friends. She learned from Shae how to love her body and take care of it. It was a lesson that influenced her choices in diet and exercise to that very day.
Shae smiled. “Why are you so nervous around your people, Mae? They like me.”
“Yeah, they do. But my sister doesn’t know everything about me, and my past. Not like you do, Shae. I just want, never mind. Forget it.”
“Mae? I’m your girl. You think I want to fuck this up for you? That fancy sister of yours is no saint. Trust me. I know women, she has her own freaky secrets.”
“Shut up!” Marietta hissed.
Shae chuckled. “I’m joking.”
Marietta glanced up to Mirabella ahead of them walking off the final stair. Once Mirabella confided in Marietta that she had an abusive boyfriend when she was a teenager. It was something Marietta shelved to the back of her mind. But she always wondered why her sister up and left Virginia, and rushed to her dreams in New York. The death of their grandfather only partly explained it. There could be more to the story.
“This place is the bomb. I’m loving it.” Shae glanced back at the others on the lower floor when they reached the top. “Is this all you, Mae? The decorating I mean?”
“Yeah, it’s me. But I do other things. Catalina and I are pretty much the eyes, ears, and voice for my sister.”
“No shit? You got your head on straight. Can handle business now?”
Marietta cut her eyes. She couldn’t balance a checkbook if she tried. Lorenzo threw money at her. And when she moved to Sorrento, everything in southern Italy was given to her. She’d walk into a store and they’d recognize her as a Battaglia and never question payments. One time when drinking with Lorenzo and Carlo she heard them talk about the money they used to collect when they weren’t high ranking officers for Giovanni. Extortion was big with the Camorra, among other things.
Shae looked at her with a frown, and then glanced to Mirabella who was continuing toward the conference room. “Why did she give you so much control?” Shae whispered. “I get the feeling it’s the first time she’s stepped in the building of her own company. It’s weird.”
“Long story. Trust me, nothing goes down here without her approval. But yeah, she can’t really be here physically like Catalina and me, or in Paris. It’s complicated.”
“It’s her husband,” Shae replied.
“Yeah. It’s him. Don’t the decor remind you of the parties we used to throw, huh?” Marietta asked, effectively changing the subject. Shae grinned and nodded. Together they entered the conference room. Catalina talked so fast Marietta was sure Mirabella missed most of what she said. She didn’t jockey for Mirabella’s ear. She had it on most days at Melanzana. Also the first rule enforced by her sister was there was to be no competition between Marietta and Catalina. So they worked together fine. It was Fabiana that Marietta secretly loathed. And the damn building stunk of her. On every wall hung portraits of Fabiana from her life as a fashion manager. And the larger than life portrait in Mirabella’s office of her and Fabiana back to back irked her the most.
“Kyra! Jamie! You’ve arrived!” Mirabella laughed. The welcome brought Marietta out of her thoughts.
“Ciao, Donna Mirabella,” Kyra said in her soft sweet voice. Marietta noticed how beautiful Kyra looked. She had cut down her thick curly fro lower to her head. It was tapered so neatly, and framed her face so nicely, she rivaled the models who walked the runway. Kyra was in her early twenties. She wore long fashionable golden earrings, and a red mini dress that revealed her dark brown legs, and outlined her petite figure. The young girl walked over and hugged her mentor. Kyra was a rare gem. The talent she and Jamie brought to their business often surprised Marietta. Especially since she was so vocal of not bringing them on from America.
“How are you?” Mirabella asked her. “The wedding? How’s the planning going?”
“Getting settled here in Milan. Since we are buying a place here I have Luca with me now. Renaldo’s mother and my mother are planning the wedding. We’ve decided on two ceremonies.”
“What? Two?” Catalina frowned.
If a black woman could blush Kyra would have. “It’s best this way. Renaldo is Catholic and we must be married here. And of course my family we… have our own traditions. We will be going to Nigeria to be wed there afterwards. It makes everyone happy.”
“Is she serious? That’s Renaldo’s woman?” Shae whispered.
“Yes. I guess this is her way of making everyone happy.” Marietta chuckled and shook her head. Kyra was pretty young to be stepping into the role of stepmother so soon. Luca was Renaldo’s son, and though Kyra and Renaldo were engaged, she didn’t expect her to take on his motherless kid. Lorenzo had told her that Renaldo was orphaned and considered his dead wife’s mother his mother. The arrangement had to be an appeasement for everyone.
“Benissima!” Mirabella grinned. “I love Nigeria. I will talk to Giovanni to see if we can attend.”
Inside the conference room they found seven other people from Mirabella’s design team waiting. Jamie of course was the one with presence. She wore red glitter, platform boots that reached to her thighs, and were so tall they could have been stilts, a leather red mini-skirt, and a fitted red corset with the same stones as on her boots. Did she have her boobs done again? In the corset they looked huge. Jamie’s hair and makeup were flawless as always. In the fashion industry there were b
oth male and female gay, bi-sexual people. They held jobs in makeup, event planning, and were even more notable as fashion designers. However, no matter how much the world was changing, many people, including the men she and her sister were married to, had a hard time accepting this aspect of the business.
Jamie was a woman now. She had the surgery in Switzerland soon after moving from the States. Mirabella took care of all the expenses, and Marietta knew for a fact she did so without telling Giovanni. After Jamie’s transformation, Marietta and the rest of the girls never addressed her as anything else.
“Ciao a tutti!” Mirabella said. She kissed and hugged Jamie. “Please have a seat, everyone.”
Shae, who seemed extremely impressed, asked Marietta, “So this is the team? The people who make the magic happen?” She held a glass of champagne in her hand. She must have scooped it when they came inside. The one weakness her friend had was alcohol. In fact she could become a raging, cursing bitch if she drank too much of it.
“This is it. Watch and learn,” Marietta instructed. “You are about to see Bella Mafia at her finest.”
Mirabella lowered to the seat at the head of the table and gazed upon her team. It had been a hard fought journey to bring them to this point. She ran her hands over the smooth tabletop, and glanced around at the office where many meetings had occurred without her. She took a deep breath before she spoke.
“Catalina, you first.” Mirabella said.
Her sister in-law flashed a look of surprise to be singled out. Mirabella had learned yesterday that Catalina was talking of making some last minute changes. It troubled her that Catalina didn’t tell her and she had to hear this third hand. Everyone around the conference table stared at Catalina and waited.
“I… ah… my issue is too much, too soon. It’s your first… event. I don’t know if everyone can handle two fashion houses, and the shoe line all in one show. Maybe we focus on Mirabella’s, with a preshow to feature a few pieces from Fabiana’s and the red bottom shoe line.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding? We are one day from the show. The itinerary and schedule have been sent out. The models are here. We have…”