“Hello, Missus Bellomi,” Minka says, going the formal route.
“Call me Carla.”
“Isn’t she beautiful?” I ask Mom.
“An absolute doll.”
Smiling, Minka takes a deep breath. “I learned a little Italian.”
Terror strikes me, and I pray she doesn’t do her Mario accent. Instead, she says in nearly perfect Italian that I’m the best man she’s ever met and hopes to make me as happy as my mother did my father. That’s the breaking point for Mom. She hugs Minka tightly and murmurs about how she never thought I’d meet anyone or fall in love.
By the time we’re at the baggage claim, Mom is talking grandkids. “If I ever had a girl, I wanted to name her Elisabetta. I knew a girl with the name back in Naples. She was as beautiful as a movie star, and I always loved the name. Of course, Luciano and I agreed to name the children of the same gender. With no daughters, I never had a chance to use the name.”
“Mom,” I mutter. “Let her be.”
“It’s fine,” Minka says, taking Mom’s hand. “I think the name Elisabetta is beautiful. If we have a boy, Dino’s already picked the name.”
Mom looks at me hopefully. I take her suitcases and set them on a cart.
“After Dad of course.”
“Such a good boy,” she says, taking my face and kissing my cheeks.
I ought to be embarrassed. As a teenager, I’d most definitely be horrified by her display. Not now with Minka smiling at us. Mom leaving lipstick kisses on my cheeks makes my woman smile bigger than I’ve ever seen her smile before.
I know Minka loves me. I’ve known she would all along, but I still marvel at how she went from fucking hating me weeks ago to the ball of smiles and joy I see now.
All I needed to do was visit Honky-tonk Hell, kill a few people, eat a lot of bland spaghetti, and listen to way too much shitty music. Every single horror I suffered was worth just one smile from the sexy minx I’ve made mine.
Epilogue
~ Dino ~
Made Her Mine
I marry Minka on the beach in Galveston. As an inside joke, Minka wears a red dress. I go casual with a suit and no tie. Our friends and co-workers attend. My mom and Minka’s siblings fly in for the wedding. Gilda’s invitation gets lost in the mail. We never do see the shifty bitch again.
One of our first issues as a married couple is that I don’t like Minka’s apartment, and she doesn’t like mine. She suggests we live separately. I suggest she live at my place and learn to suck it up. Troy suggests we get a new place that’ll have things we both like.
Even if he’s right, I refuse to appreciate his help. Troy might be a decent guy and nothing more than Minka’s friend, but I will never be okay with someone who’s been inside my woman. If I had my way, I’d kill Troy. Minka insists her best buddy live, though. We compromise again. I threaten to kill Troy a lot but never will.
Saskia and her husband, Brad, live outside of Houston on a large estate. After a visit, Minka and I drive around the area looking for available land. I want my kids to grow up in a house with a yard. Minka is still talking about only one baby, maybe two if I beg. Even without a single kid, I want lots of space between the neighbors and me, just like how things were when I grew up.
“Can you imagine?” Minka says to me when we find a sweet piece of land a few miles from Saskia and Brad’s place.
“We’ll mix 1950’s Frank and Dino-style glamour with your more modern rock and roll crappy style.”
“Compromise works better without using the word ‘crappy’ in your description.”
“I says them like I sees them.”
Minka wraps her arms around me tightly, maybe a little too tightly actually.
“I’m going along with these big and fast dreams of yours, Dino. Marriage, kids, a house. I’ll trust in you even if all of your dreams scare the shit out of me.”
“Smart move, Apples.”
We buy the land and begin work on our dream house. The damn thing isn't completed for over two years. Baby Elisabetta spends her first nine months living in a rental apartment in downtown Houston. Not that she remembers anything more than her parents doting on her.
My first child is extraordinarily beautiful. In fact, the only person capable of drawing my gaze away from Elisabetta is her mom. Minka is so sexy when pregnant that I can’t keep my hands off her. Especially her luscious breasts.
We settle into the house just before Elisabetta’s first Christmas. The tree I buy is fucking huge and barely fits through the door. Once inside, though, the evergreen stands tall in our two story family room.
We go overboard buying gifts for Elisabetta, who barely opens one present before crawling after our new shepherd mix puppy, Kid.
Despite her hatred of flying, Mom visits often. She spoils her first grandchild. For the first year, the house is overflowing with pink and glitter. Luciano introduces shades of blue and baseball caps. To Minka’s horror, our boy wears his hats sideways by the time he’s walking.
“My kid is turning into The Situation!” she cries more than once.
“I wore it like that when I was a kid, and I turned out just fine.”
Minka always gives me an unimpressed eye roll when I claim to be a well-adjusted man. She isn’t wrong, but I won’t admit this aloud.
I grew up in a normal world surrounded by bad men. Unlike my father, I didn’t embrace the working man’s life. I wanted to be a bad man. Now I find myself only interested in being a husband, father, and son.
My family made me happy as a kid. When the power and darkness of my job seduced me, my family returned my humanity. These days, my wife and kids make me a better man.
Epilogue
~ Minka ~
Reality Kicks Fantasy’s Ass
What was I thinking with my sensitive, book-reading, dream guy? I clearly didn’t know a thing about myself. Fortunately, fate brought me the man I needed.
Dino is the whole package. He’s sexy in and out of bed. He manages to be smart without becoming obnoxious about it. I’ve never had someone so devoted to making me happy, yet he keeps me on my toes with his teasing.
Most mornings, I wake up thanking the universe for Dino’s stubborn streak. If left up to me, we might never have enjoyed a single hot night together, let alone a lifetime. My stubborn streak nearly cost me someone perfect. Dino knew best. This time anyway.
For the most part, I enjoy pregnancy. The last month sucks, and I always feel like a moose. Before I can swear off pregnancy forever, I give birth and promptly forget about the miserable last month.
Our first child, Elisabetta, is the perfect first baby. She sleeps when we want her to sleep. She wakes up when we want to play with her. She likes her crib when we need space. She craves our bed when we want to stare at her for a few hours. Some of my favorite memories the first year are of Dino and me resting in bed with a sleeping Elisabetta between us.
“We made this amazing creature,” I say.
Dino plays with her dark waves. “You can’t mix two people like us and not create perfection.”
Despite his cocky comment, Dino is absolutely in love with our daughter. He doesn’t even push for a second child because he claims he won’t have enough space in his heart for another kid. I ignore his worries and skip my birth control for a few months. Soon we’re expecting a son.
Luciano and Elisabetta are joined two years later by Vittoria, who looks like a girl version of Dino. Unlike her siblings, she’s obsessed with mommy rather than their perfect daddy. Vittoria’s affinity for Joan Jett freaks out Dino. Every pregnancy, he forces me to listen to The Rat Pack so his kids would be born with good taste. Somehow, Vittoria slips through the cracks.
Our final baby is a boy, and Dino insists I name him after my dad. I hate the name Ed and all of its variants. Dino won’t let me weasel out of honoring my father, so my compromise is Enzo. The name begins with the same letter. Dino isn’t fully pleased, but once I throw other possible names at him like Julian, h
e quickly agrees to Enzo.
A weird thing happens after I have kids. Well, maybe not so weird, but I never expect to get so damn soft. I have no interest in taking the difficult security jobs anymore. After Luciano arrives, I scale back my work and do most of it through teleconferencing while my kids are in the next room.
Dino can’t even manage to care that much. He quits the firm and stays home with the family. His days revolve around playing with the kids and sneaking me into closets for quickies.
Even retired, Dino doesn’t get soft. Especially not when it comes to acting like a dumbass around other men. Even after a decade together, he still growls at Troy for standing too close to me.
“No one knows your pussy except me,” he always says.
I can only pat his cheek and laugh. Reality will never be his friend in that regard.
Domestication doesn’t mean I completely lose my edge. I teach my kids how to fight. Dino teaches them how to cheat at cards. Mainstream parenting might not be our strong suit.
I didn’t marry a sensitive schmuck like my dream guy. I found someone better. A man who talked me into loving him. A man who convinced me to give motherhood a try. A man who keeps me on my toes. A man who still makes me whimper at night and laugh in the daylight.
Apples found her Italian Sausage.
About Bijou
Living in Indiana with my three sweet sons, three wacky cats, one super mom (and her ugly dog), I love writing, cats, Denny's, 1970's rock, Beanie Boos, and sitcoms cancelled before their time.
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Bijou Hunter Books
Ramsey Security Series
Thunderstruck * Live Wire * High Voltage
Damaged Series
Damaged and the Beast * Damaged and the Knight
Damaged and the Cobra * Damaged and the Outlaw
Damaged and the Dragon * Damaged and the Bulldog
Damaged and the Saint * In the Wind (spin-off standalone)
Little Memphis MC Series
Little Memphis * Broken Memphis
Standalones
Gator * Used * Rebound Biker
High Voltage (Ramsey Security Book 3) Page 17