La Dolce Vita: Romantic Suspense (Battaglia Mafia Series Book 7)

by Sienna Mynx

  "No. I can do that," Mirabella stood.

  "Let Bee handle it. We need to talk. Macie, go and get the books out of the car."

  Macie was equally beautiful but short like her mother. She was wider in the hips, but it was a compliment not a detraction from her hour-glass shape. She had deep-set dimples and medium brown skin. Her hair was in long braids that reached her waist. And when Macie smiled she covered her mouth. It was a reflex reaction to cover the small gap between her teeth. Macie nodded to her mother that she would obey her request and left.

  Marietta knew she would have to bring the girls to Italy. Show them the world. Let them experience life outside of such a small town.

  The men had left with Clyde and the boys after lunch to go fishing. And when they returned they came in with Minnie. Giovanni showered, and so did Lorenzo. The boys were so exhausted Mirabella was able to lay them down. Eve went to sleep soon after. Minnie came with more food. And after everyone had eaten the men decided to go out with Clyde for a beer. Desert and conversation were what the women would do.

  Mirabella sat back down in her chair. She looked over at her sister who seem transfixed on the girls. So her attention returned to Minnie. Mirabella knew the visit wasn't just a friendly one. Minnie had arrived with a purpose and made sure Clyde had taken the men out so she could have her say. It was a conversation she'd been running away from for nearly ten years.

  “We should talk girls,” Minnie fixed her eyes on Mirabella. She smiled. “You ready to talk Mia?”

  "Minnie, what happened between Cutter and me, it was a long time ago." Mirabella began.

  "This ain’t about Cutter." Minnie soft smile dissolved. "Honey, this about the truth. Your family and its secrets go way back before you was born. I swear when I married Clyde I couldn't believe what big liars you all were."

  Marietta laughed. Mirabella did not. “Who exactly is the liar Minnie?”

  “Don’t take offense. You know I mean no harm. I understand. See that's how it is with us black country folks. We sure do love our secrets," Minnie said and sipped her tea. She turned her attention to Marietta. "Your grandfather was worshiped in this town. The whole town protected him. White and black. Shielded him from himself even. And it killed poor Bessie-Mae, it killed your mother too. These secrets." Minnie looked to Mirabella with an apologetic smile. "Secrets chased you away from town with guilt that didn't belong to you."

  It was blasphemous to speak ill of her grandfather. She wanted to put a muzzle on Minnie. But the kind smile to Minnie's face and the raw truth coming from her kept her silent.

  "I asked Minnie to talk to us. About this town. About our family," Marietta explained.

  "I tried to tell you about the family," Mirabella said.

  "No," Marietta said. "You tried to tell me about you. About your pain. About your guilt. I thought that was a conversation you should have had with Giovanni first.”

  Mirabella nodded that she agreed. Marietta continued. “The thing is, Mira, I don't believe you even know the truth. You didn't know Mama was more than a junkie. You didn't know she ran off to find me. Our grandparents knew. I can't believe she came back here and didn't tell them what happened to her with Marsuvio. That no one told you. Even after our grandparents saw Marsuvio with their own eyes. No one told you.”

  “Me-Ma gave me my bracelet,” Mirabella said. “She tried.”

  Minnie nodded in agreement. But Marietta shook her head no. “The money set aside for you to go to college in New York. That came from Marsuvio. Right? So, grandfather had to know he was creating an account for you. Aren't you tired of the secrets? Can't you feel them? The moment I walked into this house, I felt them."

  “Felt what?” Mirabella gaze swung from her sister to Minnie, then Belinda, who was staring at her as she loaded the dishwasher.

  “For one thing where is her picture? Tell me that! Where are the pictures of Mama?”

  Mirabella opened her mouth to explain but realized there was no plausible explanation. Her mother pictures never hung in the house for as long as she could remember. Macie returned with two huge photo albums. She plopped them down on the table. Minnie smiled at them.

  "I found these in the attic upstairs. Collecting dust. You ever seen them?" Minnie asked.

  Mirabella shook her head no.

  "Your grandfather probably hid these books after your Me-Ma died. Clyde told me that after he had come back home from the war and suffering with his issues, your grandfather was the only one able to calm him. So he stayed here. He was here the night before your mother ran away. He heard the fight, the screams; he heard the tears when you grandfather locked her up in the attic and refused to let anyone go upstairs to look after her. He didn’t do it to hurt her. He did it to protect her. His way.

  Clyde sat the door and listened to your mother cry. She talked him into letting her out. He said her suffering was like he was in the war all over again. He couldn't stand to see her being held captive. He said if he was stronger he could have convinced her not to run away. But all he wanted to do at the time was free her. And he has carried that guilt for many years. That's why he protects this farm for you, Mia. Not for the money. It's out of love. He loved Lisa. We all did.”

  "Why does he feel guilty? He couldn't stop her. She was in love with James," Mirabella said.

  Minnie shook her head. "She was no more in love with James than you were with Cutter. Yes, she cared for him. Deeply. But he got her with a broken heart. If she were whole, she wouldn't have taken up with the likes of him."

  "That's not true," Mirabella said. "Marsuvio Mancini, the man who is our real father said he saw her with James. He broke them apart. He told us that she was in love with him."

  "I don't know your real father. I hear from Clyde he was a nasty man. Showed up here with Lisa's body. Him and them Italians. Tried to take you, but the men from the church got behind your grandfather with their guns to stop hm."

  "He tried to take her?" Marietta repeated.

  "That's the way the story was told to me. But he and your grandfather had a long talk and he changed his mind. Never mind that part of the story. I knew Lisa. I knew she was special as a little girl when I used to watch her sing from the pulpit. She wanted to be a singer. She wanted it desperately. James was some poor country boy who worshiped her like the rest of these boys in this town. She looked like you both,” Minnie chuckled. “Aint that something? I can see her in you both." Minnie smiled. She wiped her tears. "She and James left here because he wanted to give her, her dream. And she ran away to punish your grandfather." Minnie opened the album. She turned the book around. It was a faded picture of two sisters.

  "That there is your grandmother Mary and her twin sister Bessie-Mae."

  Marietta pulled the book over and gazed down at the two women. They had to be no more than sixteen or seventeen. They stood next to one of those old-timey cars from the thirties. They were dressed sharply and identical. Though the picture had aged, there was no denying their beauty.

  "That one there is Mary, and this one here is Bessie-Mae, I think. People used to call them Night and Day."

  "Really? Why?" Marietta asked. She pushed the book over to Mirabella. When Mirabella looked at the image, her heart sank. She had never seen it before. Such a beautiful picture of her grandmother and she'd never seen it.

  "Because they were the total opposites. Mary was a shy, churchgoing, good girl. Bessie Mae was a hell raiser. Everything Mary wasn't. She loved to drink and smoke. She loved to dance. She was a singer too. Like your mama. Sang at every juke joint along the Mississippi. Bessie was something fierce. And no man could tame her."

  "You sound like you knew her?" Marietta pulled the book back over. She began to flip through the photos. Despite Mirabella's discomfort, she scooted her chair over next to Marietta to look at the pictures. There were several flyers of Bessie-Mae’s performances. She was everywhere from New Orleans, all the way to Savannah, Georgia, and then back up through Tennessee and Kentucky.

&nb
sp; "Who saved all of these clippings?" Mirabella asked.

  "Mary did. She was proud of Bessie Mae. She loved her. As most sisters do."

  "What happened? Something had to have happened? Right?" Marietta asked. "These clippings stop around 1947. Are there more?"

  "Along the way Bessie-Mae had several lovers. And each time she had a baby she dropped them off on her sister. She'd promise to return. To marry her new boyfriend or lover. But she'd be back on the road. At it again."

  Marietta uncovered the wedding photo. "Who is this couple? That's not Grandaddy is it?"

  "That is Bessie-Mae and Slimbody Berkman. The only man she married. And the only man I ever heard Clyde say she truly loved. Really loved. Deeply loved."

  "What happened to him?" Mirabella asked.

  "She was pregnant with, I think, Tanya at the time. Slim was a gambler. He was a good homemaker, but he had a thing for dice. He would drive as far as Richmond to get in a dice game. And he collected debts. Many of them. One day they found Slim in a ditch with his throat cut and two bullet holes in his chest. That was the trigger."

  "Trigger?" Marietta asked.

  Mirabella knew this tale. She may not have heard all of the stories of Bessie-Mae, but she knew this one. It was part of her grand-aunts infamy. She let Minnie share it.

  "Bessie-Mae went mad. Really crazy. First, she cried and hollered about killing herself. Then she threatened to kill Mary who tried to nurse her. And then she turned to drinking and threatening to kill everyone in town. She hated the world. She would fight people in the streets. Even white people. The cops round here couldn't control her. You got to know this was right around the fifties or so. Black people couldn't raise up on white people in these parts. But Bessie-Mae could. And she would. It's like she would go from calm and sweet one minute to dynamite the next. Mary was the only one who could help her. And even when she did, everyone knew that Bessie would go nuts again."

  "Back then they didn't have a name for it. It wasn't until Clyde came back from Vietnam that doctors started telling colored folk what ailed their kin. Depression. Slimbody’s death sent Bessie-Mae deep into depression. And her depression became some kind of bipolar sickness. It controlled her. Poor thing."

  "She was bipolar?" Marietta asked.

  "I think so. No doctor ever diagnosed her. But yes. I think so. People around these parts turn to religion for an answer. I even think Reverend Talbot did like an exorcism on her." Minnie chuckled. "I was a little girl, but I loved to hear Bessie-Mae cursing someone out. She would be so much fun with the kids too. Play like a kid with us, dance and sing with us. Before her dark moods came on and she took liquor. There was nothing like her."

  "What happened to her? She's dead right?" Marietta asked.

  "She's dead," Mirabella confirmed.

  "She took her life. Committed suicide after your mother ran away," Minnie said.

  "What?" Marietta gasped. "Why?"

  "She was depressed," Mirabella said. "Guess she loved Mama too."

  "She more than loved your mother. Much more." Minnie dragged over the other photo album. She pushed it over to the girls. Marietta was eager to open it. The moment they saw Lisa's baby picture, the sisters smiled. Mirabella had never seen it before. She swore the picture looked just like Eve when she was born. She pulled it out from under the thin plastic film and stared at the image of her mother. She gazed at her with such amazement.

  "The reason Bessie-Mae used to give Mary her children when she traveled and sang, was because Mary wanted nothing more than to be a mother. She married your grandfather young. She was a good, dutiful wife to him. She helped him build his ministry. Mary was the sweetest of them all."

  "And then she had Mama," Mirabella said.

  Minnie smiled. "No."

  "What do you mean no?" Marietta asked.

  "Slow it down a bit. Let me tell the story right. See Bessie-Mae loved Mary, but she envied her too. Whenever Bessie-Mae would mess up, people would always say they wished she had common sense like her sister. Or folk would say something nasty about her getting the bad genes, and Mary getting all of God's grace. Church people can be the worst stuck up bunch of hypocrites ever. So for jokes, Bessie-Mae would sometimes dress like Mary and arrive at church early to receive the parishioners. They looked that much alike. Oh, she'd do her thang. Prance around and mock her sister. Then Mary would arrive and be so hurt. Deeply. But she loved Bessie-Mae and tolerated ir. Your granddaddy didn't like the embarrassment. He chased Bessie Mae off church property and banned her from returning. What man of God does that?"

  "She must have pushed him too hard," Mirabella was quick to explain. "Granddaddy was a good man."

  Marietta kept flipping through images of a young Lisa growing up in Apple Grove. So many pictures it was like a treasure chest of memories. Marietta wept. She barely listened as she looked at her mother. So young and beautiful. So happy.

  "Bessie-Mae wanted to be Mary. And Mary wanted to save Bessie-Mae from herself. I don't know what the true story is. I only know the result. Bessie-Mae seduced your grandfather. That's what the townsfolk believe. And she became pregnant."

  "That's a lie!" Mirabella slammed her hand down on the table. "A lie!"

  Shocked Marietta grabbed her sister’s arm. "Hey, what's wrong with you? Calm down."

  "That's enough, Minnie! Enough! Get the hell out!"

  "No!" Marietta stood. "Why are you attacking her?"

  "Because she's lying. That's what they do. Make up gossip. Find ways to punish me!"

  "You? This isn't about you!"

  "It is about me!" Mirabella shouted in tears. "They blame me for killing Granddaddy."

  "How could they blame you for that? Why would they? You aren't making any sense."

  "Because Cutter told them all what I did. And that church, the good people of Apple Grove told Grandaddy. That's what gave him the heart attack. When he found me and Cutter fighting. That's what killed him. The truth!"

  "Stop it!" Marietta insisted.

  "I had an abortion!" Mirabella shouted. "Okay? I admit it! You hear that, Minnie! You win. I admit it!"

  Marietta blinked. Mirabella put her face in her hands. "I didn't know what I was doing. I was scared. I was confused. I was ashamed. I thought... I was afraid if I told Giovanni he'd never trust me. He's Catholic. He'll never forgive me.”

  “But you told him. Didn’t you?” Marietta sat next to her. She turned her to hug her. “You told him.”

  “I did. I just hate it was the last thing that granddaddy knew about me. I tried so hard to make it up.”

  Marietta went to the floor and hugged her sister.

  "Stop, please stop."

  "That's why I left here. That's why I can't come here. They know. They all know what I did. And she's lying on Granddaddy. He wouldn't do that. He would never!"

  "Listen to me." Marietta grabbed her sister by the face. "You were young, and you made a bad choice. It happened. It's over. It's not who you are. You are a good mother."

  "I killed my baby."

  "Please, Mira, listen to me. I love you. You made a mistake; you don't have to punish yourself anymore for it. Giovanni isn’t. I’m not punishing you. And God forgave you. Okay? And as for Granddaddy, he was human. A man of flesh and bone."

  "He wouldn’t do that to Me-Ma."

  "He was human! He's no more perfect than any of us. It's time for you to accept that."

  Mirabella nodded. Marietta hugged her to her heart. She held her tightly against her chest. She stroked her hair and rocked with her in her arms. Minnie and her daughters didn't speak. They watched them until Mirabella stopped crying. Marietta gave her sister dignity. She got up and got napkins and a cup of water. She cleared her face and made her drink. The others looked anywhere but at Mirabella. And Marietta knew. The town chased her away. They let her carry the guilt. Scorned her because of the abortion. And Minnie and all of them were guilty. But what they didn't count on was her. Marietta would not let her sister suffer another ounce of ind
ignity. Never.

  "Bessie-Mae was Lisa's mother?" Marietta asked.

  "Yes," Minnie said. "And when Mary found out it broke her spirit. Bessie-Mae had hurt her beyond words. Abel, your grandfather, would have been kicked out of his church. Ruined. I think they had some kind of family meeting. Clyde doesn't tell the story completely. It hurts him too badly. All I know is Bessie-Mae was sent away to stay with Abel’s family in Georgia. That must have been hard. But she did it for her sister. And Mary left soon after. When the sisters returned, your grandmother Mary stood before the church and said the baby was hers. That she found out when she went after Bessie-Mae to nurse her back to health. Bessie-Mae gave Lisa to your mother privately. Let the town think whatever they wanted. And the secret kept for many years. Until Bessie-Mae, after drinking heavily one night, couldn't stand the guilt. She loved your mother. She played the role of Aunt and let her sister present your mother as her own. Your mother had more respect and love from the people in the town than Bessie-Mae's other bastard children. And she could sing. Far better than Bessie-Mae. Sing her heart out. Bessie-Mae knew that voice was directly from her. And when she was drunk enough one night she cornered your mother in this house and told her the truth."

  "Oh no," Marietta said.

  "So that's it. That's the reason Mama ran away. The reason why she stayed away."

  "The entire family was devastated by what Bessie-Mae had done. Mary said she hated her. That she never wanted to see her again. And the drinking got worse. Without Mary to lean on, and her children blaming her for causing more misery for them Bessie-Mae's depression turned horribly bad. One day she picked up her gun, put it in her mouth, and pulled the trigger."