“Listen Conte, I know that taking Rain was wrong. I know that my past actions have caused more issues in Rain’s life than I care to even think about, but I don’t answer to you or anyone else when it comes to Rain or our baby. It’s my job to take care of them and protect them as I see fit. Not you, not her dad, not her sister, no one will tell me what to do; but I will respect you for her sake. I know she loves you and I know you will always have a deep connection with Rain. I just need you to respect Rain’s decision for choosing to try with me. You don’t have to like me. Actually,I don’t give a shit if you do or you don’t, but for Rain’s health and well-being, it would be better if we were all on the same page together. Can you do that? I love her, Conte. I made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I won’t let those past errors ruin what is the best thing that’s ever walked into my life.”He put out his hand as a gesture for a truce. Tommy took it. The roomed filled with a sense of peace. Well, maybe just less testosterone.
“Now that this is settled, maybe we should go find Marcelo. He’s probably wondering what’s going on.”I suggested.
Both Dominick and Tommy looked at me like I was crazy for even caring what Marcelo thought. Where Marcelo was concerned both Tommy and Dominick were on the same page, but they had to put their disgust aside. I needed him to do my investigation work in Italy. The job of finding Dominick’s birth parents could be easy, but more than likely it was going to be hard. I needed Marcelo in my corner.
“Both of you need to put your judgement aside for Marcelo. He fucked me over, not you, so if I’m willing to trust him to help me now, at the very least, you both can be willing participants and don’t cause any trouble.”I stated with a slightly raised voice.
“Trouble, what kind of trouble could we possibly cause?”Tommy seemed insulted.
“Yeah, what are you talking about, Rain? It’s my past. Why would I give Marcelo any trouble?”Dominick was playing innocent.
“Listen, I know both you and both of you love to cause trouble in one way or another. I’m just saying, I’m pregnant and I don’t need any headaches from either of you, or Marcelo for that matter. So behave. I warning you both,now.”I sounded like a mom scolding her children. It seemed like I getting in some good practice lately.
All three of us walked back into the living room where Marcelo was going over some briefs. I decided now was as good a time as any to go over how to put my plan into motion.
“So Marcelo, have you gone over the paperwork?”I asked.
“Yes, and it seems like Elise Kane went over to Italy in January of the year Dominick was born. That information wasn’t in the paperwork. I called a friend at the Judiciary’s Office in Capri and they referred me to an office in Rome. You were born in September, so it appears that your mother was there for the entire pregnancy. I’m betting she knew your birth mother.”Marcelo was very forthcoming. I knew then I made the right decision to solicit his help in this.
“It’s sounds like it. I’ve dealt with a few adoptions here in the states and many of the women never knew the birth parents, so I believe you could be right. Why stay there for nine months, unless you have an agenda?”Dominick jumped right in to the investigation.
“Does this mean it will be easier for us to find Dominick’s birth parents?”I questioned.
“It could be or it may be much harder because if they are family, they may have helped her bury the information further. You see if the birth mother was very young during that period in Italy, it may have been shunned upon for her to have a baby out of wedlock, so they may have set up an entirely secret adoption to prevent family backlash.”
“How do you know that it was an unwed mother?”Tommy asked.
“I don’t. This pure speculation on my part, but I must look down all avenues, so that I can find the truth.”Marcelo stated.
“So what’s next? Do we go to Italy? I asked.
“No, we go to your doctor’s visit to make sure you and the baby are okay. That’s what we do next.”Mr. Kane jumped in, controlling as ever.
“I know that. I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday, but if she gives me the all clear, then can we go to Italy?”I asked impatiently waiting for his answer.
“Yes, if she gives you the all clear, as you put it, we can go to Italy. I do have one request though.”Dominick agreed, with terms and conditions of course.
“Ok, what’s your request?”
“That Tommy comes with us.”
I looked at Tommy and Tommy just shrugged. Then we both looked at Dominick to find out what he wanted Tommy for.
“That’s fine, but why do you want me to tag along?”Tommy was mildly curious.
“To keep an eye on Rain.”Dominick flat-out stated.
“To keep an eye on me! Are you serious? I don’t need a babysitter, Dominick!”I yelled.
“Yes, baby, you do. I will not have you running all over Italy while you’re pregnant and if I can’t be with you then at least I know you’re safe with Tommy.”Dominick revealed.
“First of all you’re not dictating my life and secondly I won’t be running all of Italy, as YOU put it, Mr. Kane. I’ll be helping you by going with you and Marcelo to the judiciaries, so we can find out what happened in the past. These agencies require appointments, so I don’t see the problem.”I was adamant and intended to win this battle.
Dominick came towards me with a slight scowl and pulled me to him. He wrapped his arms around me and said,“Always ready for a fight, Angel? You won’t win this one. Don’t even try. I love you and I want you and our child safe. This digging up the past could get ugly and you don’t need that right now. Stress may activate your illness and in turn hurt you and the baby. I for one am not willing to risk that. You’re my responsibility and I’m not taking this lightly, Rain. Please understand I’m doing this for you.”He leaned in and kissed my cheekand let his lips linger there. My insides warmed. He won, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.
Tommy voiced his own opinion.“I think Kane is right, Rain. I think you are putting way too much pressure on yourself and the baby. It’s fine to go to Italy, but let him and Marcelo do the running around. They’re both lawyers. They’ll get much further than we will with the judiciaries.”
“I agree with Tommy and Dominick. You should rest, Bella. We’ll get the information and then we can return to your father’s home and sort it all out.”Marcelo added in his two cents as well.
“GRRRRR!!!! Men!!!!” I groaned and they smirked in unison.
I didn’t say anything else to the three of them. I walked up to my bedroom and started to pack. I finally calmed down after having a moment to myself. I thought about how much Dominick loved me and how he truly wanted to keep his family safe. I hate being told what to do, but in this case we weren’t really focusing in on me. It was Dominick’s past that needed resolution and I had promised to stand by him. That’s exactly what I intended to do. Just as I was about to lift my overnight bag and bring it downstairs, Dominick walked in and took it from me.
“I’ll take that. You shouldn’t be lifting heavy items, Rain. Will you ever learn?”He sounded very frustrated.
“Dominick, it’s just a bag with some clothes in it. Stop treating me like an invalid. My illness was perfectly under control until you kidnapped me. It will be under control again. Trust me.”I felt annoyed. I shook my head and pulled on my sleeves, looking down at my tangled hands.
“Rain, look at me.”
I didn’t move.
“Please, baby. Look at me.”
I loved his soft command, so I looked up.
A grin played on his lips.“You are one stubborn woman, Miss Medici.
“I’d advise you to remember that, Mr Kane.”I smiled and gave him a light kiss on his lips. We then headed downstairs to say goodbye to Tommy and Marcelo.
Tommy was waiting in the living room with Marcelo. He immediately got up when I walked into the room. Dominick and Marcelo decided it was best to go outside and give us some privacy.
Tommy was also to sit back and watch my mother’s obsessive, controlling behavior for much of his young life as well. I had to admit he handled it much better than I did. He was my shelter during the never ending storm. Sure, my parents loved me, but my dad was always working in the States and my mother seemed to resent it and took that resentment out on me. She was never mean, but now that I think about it, she was very manipulative in her control of me. She worked the“guilt trip”angle and even caused me to question if I were truly feeling better. She scared me in many ways and scared made out of doing things that now when I look back at it as an adult, I would have been just fine. I guess all of these emotions were flooding my thoughts because I’ve literally come to the moment of finally leaving my home.
Tommy was facing me, silently examining my feelings. He was cautious, yet almost awkward. This made leaving so much worse. I’ve always looked to Tommy for help in times of distress. Now he was looking to me for all of the answers. I don’t know if I have any. I just know I was going to miss him so much it hurt. My throat was thick and tight. My tears had started to run down my cheeks and my body felt like it could explode at any moment.
I looked away from him and went to the window. I was going to miss our home. The tree lined street, the huge stone steps that we would hang out on; during the hot New York summer days. I would miss climbing out on the the fire escape in the back of the house, where Tommy and I would sit, sip wine, listen music and talk for hours. I would miss our dinners in front of the TV and having friendly arguments of what movie we would watch. I usually won those.
I know that everyone thought that Tommy and I were the perfect couple. Why not go further and become official. It wasn’t something I had ever entertained. That may have seemed strange to most. Tommy was a very good looking guy with an amazing personality, but I grew up with Tommy. He took care of me and all of the additional crap that existed in my life. He dealt with stuff that no child should have had to deal with or see throughout their own life, let alone being drag into someone else’s. Nothing ever got violent or loud, but it was far from normal. I always thought that the foundation we built made for the best friendship any two people could have ever wished for, but to have an intimate relationship was just asking for trouble. Sure it may have been fine for a while, but I still felt eventually it may have worn Tommy out. I wear out his emotions now. The difference is he can walk away for a time and when he comes back we are still close friends. I don’t think that would work in sexual relationship. The truth of the matter is, I never wanted to lose him, so going any further meant the risk of that possibly happening if it didn’t work out and that was never an option for me.
“Rain, I know this is difficult for you. Hell, it’s even more difficult for me, but it’s not really goodbye you know.”Tommy gently acknowledged my apprehension and instead of using it to his advantage, to take me away from Dominick while I was feeling vulnerable about leaving tonight; he was helping me with my inner concerns and fears. He always thought of me. Tommy was just being Tommy.
I sighed hard.“I know Tommy. I just thought you’d be the one to go off on your own first, not me. I thought you would finally find“the one”with all of the women you sleep with.”
“Wow, baby! You wound me.”He said with his eyes twinkling. He was totally amused by my statement.
I giggled.“Really? I wound you? Tommy ,if there is a woman, any woman, giving you some sort of admiration or attention on any given day, you know as well as I do, you’ll go for it.”
“Yeah, I do go for it, but you make it sound like a crime or something.”
“No, I’m not saying it’s a crime, but I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to be alone. I want you to have someone to see how wonderful you are. Someone for you to love, that will love you back just as much.”I stated.
“Rain, that would be you. You a love me and I love you back just as much.”Tommy grinned.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”I was amusingly annoyed at him.
Tommy walked towards me and when I turned to completely face him, he pulled me to his chest and looked deep into my eyes. His expression became serious.
“I know that’s not what you meant. You know very well how I am and you also know that when I’m good and ready and when the time is right and if I meet someone that I think I want to spend the rest of my life with, thenI’ll go for it with full force. Right now I’m very happy with my life, Rain.”He said reassuringly, while kissing my forehead and leaving his lips to linger there for a brief moment.
I broke the connection to look at him. I studied his face for a long time. Well, it wasn’t that long and I had wished it was longer. I didn’t want to break our connection just yet. I needed a sign from Tommy that it was going to stay good between us. Then, I got that sign.
“Go. Kane is waiting for you. As much as I hate to admit it, he loves you, baby. He still has a lot to prove to me where you are concerned, but he does love you. I can see it every time he looked at you. Now go and let him prove he’s worthy of your love. Let him prove me wrong.”
“I love you so much, Tommy. I don’t want you to forget that.”
“I know that, baby. I promise nothing will change between us, except the roof we sleep under.”He smiled.
I smiled back knowing he was right.
“Okay, I’m going, but we need to talk everyday.”It was more of question, but it came out like a demand.
“Rain, of course we’ll talk everyday. I want the up to the minute news on your pregnancy. Besides, we have an art show to get ready for and a trip to Italy to uncover what really happened all of those years ago.”
“Oh, that reminds me. In Mr. Kane’s letter he stated that he was in love with my mom, but she married my dad. I want to find out about that too. I figure if I’m going to be stuck at the house in Capri while Dominick and Marcelo run around Italy to get information on his adoption, I can clean out some of the closets wheremy mom’s personal items are stored.”I confessed.
“Wait didn’t you, Raven and your dad do that after your mom died?”Tommy seemed lost in what I said.
“Yeah, we cleaned out clothes and things like that, but there was a trunk that never got thrown out or even looked through for that matter. It’s still untouched. I’d like to go through it. It may even have clues to Dominick’s adoption.”I was excited about this tiny adventure.
“Does Kane know about this?”
“He read the letter. He knows about his dad carrying a torch for my mom, but he doesn’t know about the trunk. Actually, I forgot about it myself. Once my mom died and I had the freedom I dreamed of having, I never went through it. It’s been long enough and I’m ready to see what she had saved in there. When I was a kid, I remember it was always locked. I recall one time I found the key and tried to open it, but my mom caught me and had a fit. Until now, I forgot about her scolding me for trying to open it. Maybe what we find will help everyone.”
“Or hurt everyone involved, especially you. Do you really want to open up a pandora’s box.”He said with concern.
“Listen, Tommy. Whatever is in there has been hidden away for much too long. If what is in there can help Dominick, then it helps me and our baby. I have to find out. I guess if I hadn’t met Dominick I probably wouldn’t have even given a second thought to the trunk. Now that we’re together I’m curious to see what’s inside.”
“Well, I hope for your sake it helps and doesn’t raise more issues.”
“Either way I have to see what she
had in there.”Just as I was about to explain my motives further, Dominick and Marcelo came back inside. They looked frost bitten.
“We didn’t mean to interrupt, but it’s freezing out there.”Marcelo said. It never gets this cold in Capri. Marcelo isn’t used to this weather.
I giggled.“Sorry, I guess I didn’t realize the time.”
“Speaking of the time. It’s getting late, Rain and you need to eat. Why don’t I get you home and settled. Then I’ll run out for some dinner for us.”Dominick said,as he check his watch.
“Okay, that sounds great.”I said, as I turned back to Tommy.“I’ll be back for a few more things tomorrow.”
“Do whatever you need to do. I’ll be here.”
Identity: …………..People aren’t always who you believe them to be (Miss Taken Identity Series Book 2) Page 12