PRESENT DAY

The sea spray and the sound of gulls searching for food. That was the last things she recalled of America.  It was these things which greeted her now.  Eyes closed she inhaled the scents deeply.  Listened to the waves crashing on the ship.  A part of her wanted to leap off the side and swim the rest of the way.  She was sure that she could reach land much faster than this vessel was coming into port.

She put her hands on the rail and leaned out a bit over the sea.  The warm rays of the sun shining down upon her pale skin felt good.  It was like heaven reaching out to brush its fingers across her cheeks, a familiar and loving gesture from a ghost she'd long since forgotten the exact facial features of... a trip that had been too long in coming.

"There she is." She imagined the voice of a man she’d not seen in years speaking to her.  He was a phantom so real that she could almost feel his firm body brushing up against hers as his whispered words tickled her ear lobe like the gentle spring winds on the bay, "Lady Liberty is holding up her lantern – still waiting for you, just like I said she would."

Kathleen drew in a deep breath and banished such childish thoughts from her mind.  Opening her eyes, she gazed upon the shoreline stretched out before her just the way it always looked in her dreams.  Sometimes, if she was honest, her whole life felt like some sort of strange dream from which she'd been unable to awaken.  A place where nothing made sense and everything she loved had this terrible habit of leaving just as she'd begun to know it's true worth.  Perhaps now, putting her hands upon the people and places of her past, she'd finally feel like she knew the person looking back at her in the mirror.

As the shore crept ever closer - the life she might have had drifted further and further away.  The choice to come back and claim her legacy would lead to her death; of that she was certain.  The moment the world knew Katy DiCaprio, the only daughter of Frank and ‘Lucky’ Lucy DiCaprio, was back would be the moment an hour glass flipped.  When the final sands in that glass ran out, she would die, and she would have no more say in how or when that happened than her Uncle, Father, or Mother.

There would be no happy golden years, because she had chosen to walk this path.  If she retained any of her mother’s legendary luck, however, perhaps she would make some friends along the way.  And if she was truly fortunate, she might even enjoy some small measure of happiness on the journey to St. Peter’s door.

Katy closed her eyes again, this time, her mind wandered off into the memories & stories of her past...

19 Years Earlier

Hands fidgeting with the hem of her dress, a girl who was smaller than all the others her age, paced the school yard.  She whispered to herself, watched at a distance by men in suits - men the school officials allowed to stay because of the generous donations made to them by this odd little girl's family.

Her accent still lilted as Irish, her affectations and behaviors were that of an American girl - modern and aware of the unfair treatment that girls sometimes received, but her dress and her environment was 100% Sicily. 

"Mi chiamo Katy DiCaprio."  She repeated quietly, for the second day she'd come to school and said nothing to any other child.  The other kids were beginning to whisper about her and soon there would be no avoiding them - especially now that her uncles were made to stand outside the school boundaries.

She looked to them.  Uncle Vito (who was really her cousin, as it was explained to her often) waved to her and gave her a reassuring wave towards all the other children.  "Come sei chiamato?"  She muttered nervously.

"Mi chiamo Katy DiCaprio." Katy knew that it meant 'My name is Katy DiCaprio' this one she had said often since arriving.  The other, she hoped, was 'what is your name?'  However, when she found herself saying, "Come sei chiamato?"  there was a giggle that caused her entire body to lock into place.

"That's wrong." The voice said in perfect Italian.  "You mean to say, what's your name... not what are you called.  It's close, but wrong." 

Katy turned to face a dark-haired boy who was about her height, he looked like all the other children here... not at all like her with her exceedingly pale skin and freckles.  She folded her arms across her chest.

"Your voice is funny."  The boy said.  "Why do you talk like that?"

Katy shrugged, her ever reddening hair falling about her face as she looked at the ground and tried to walk away.

"I'm Ignazio... do those guys work for your father?"

Katy looked to where he was pointing, but she already knew Ignazio had to be referring to her Uncle Vito and her friend Neri.  So, she shook her head, 'No.'  And then in Italian she tried to say, "Their job is to watch me." but instead she told the boy, "They work for me."

The boy roared with laughter.  Katy immediately knew she must have said something wrong.  She looked around and noticed the boy's exaggerated laugh had gotten some attention from the other kids. 

"Stop."  She said in English, flustered and embarrassed.  "Please!"

In Italian the boy said, "They don't work for you."

Katy's nose flared at being called a liar.  "They do so."  she said in Italian.

"No, they don't!"

"YES!  They do!" she shouted in Italian. 

Neri had gone to the teacher to point out there was a conflict between the boy and Katy but was rebuffed as being something of a meddler.  He was assured by the teacher that Katy would need to get to know the other children and while there would be conflicts, they'd have to learn to work them out or she'd never fit in.

The teacher told Neri that while it would hurt to see Katy sometimes be ridiculed as the new child who was different - this was all a part of growing up.  She reminded him that they were allowed at the school because Katy had special needs for protection and not protection from a normal school yard experience.  The teacher warned Neri, if he put one foot onto the grounds to discipline her students that both he and Vito would be sent away.

Not wanting to disrespect a woman, especially one in authority, Neri agreed – though he did try to insist that if Katy was physically threatened by another child they would step in.  The teacher reasserted that if Katy was physically threatened by any other child then SHE would step in and make the other child in question very sorry they'd broken the rules about fighting.  The teacher showed Neri that she had a very nice switch for this sort of thing which she meant to use on any child who was caught fighting.

In the meantime, while Neri and the teacher spoke, the children began to gather around Katy and Ignazio to find out what they were arguing over.  Ignazio introduced Katy to the other children as 'Don Katy' because she claimed that 'Made Men' carrying guns were working for her!

The other children found all of Katy's claims outlandish and amusing as well, which only made Katy start to cry, "I'M NOT A LIAR!"  Blinding rage took over little Katy and she leapt upon Ignazio.  Knocking him to the ground beneath her she began to slap him, scratch him, and pull his hair.

Ignazio cried out in pain and made a huge production of what he was enduring, far more than was probably necessary, but it had the desired effect.  The Teacher, who was still talking to Neri, looked over in time to see Katy beating Ignazio.  Annoyed that she’d been distracted from watching the children by Neri’s butting in, she excused herself from his presence with a huff.  She then went about the business of pulling Katy off Ignazio like someone ripping down a kitten from climbing the drapes. 

Katy hissed and snarled and kept swinging even after she was removed from Ignazio’s body, but the teacher overwhelmed her utterly.  Katy took her licks with a stiff upper lip.  All the while she stared at Ignazio while the teacher switched her bottom three times telling her in Italian, “We do not fight at school.” 

Tears flowing free from Katy’s eyes, she gave Ignazio a look that promised she was not yet done with him.

At the end of the day Katy ran out to Vito and Neri who ushered her away to a car quickly.  Neri got into the back with her, “You okay, Kid?”

“I HATE THIS PLACE.”  She snarled.  “Take me home.  You work for me.  You said so.  I want to go home to Chicago!”

Vito sighed.  “Katy, you cannot live in Chicago.  It’s not safe.”

“Then take me home to my Mama and Papa in Dublin.  We can live there.  No one hit me there!”  Neri looked at Vito through the rear view, his frustration at the situation anything but hidden.  Vito pulled the car over and got out.

Katy climbed into Neri’s lap and hugged him.  “I’m sorry Neri, tell him not to be mad.  Please!”

Vito opened the door and knelt.  “Come here.”  He said in a reassuring tone. 

Katy hesitated, clearly fearing he might be mad at her tantrum as he sometimes got in Chicago.  Papa Frank had put up with that from her, but Vito never did.

“Come here.”  He repeated, a bit firmer but none the less kind.

Katy slid over to him.  He held out his arms and took her into an embrace.  He rubbed her sore bottom gently.  “Grandma Teresa as a suave that works wonders on that... I should know because your Father got me plenty of those when we were kids.”

“He did?”

“Are you kidding?  Frank was always the planner.  Constantly getting me, Tony, & Francesca Messina into trouble.  He was the smartest guy I knew, but even so – we took our licks too.  More than a few times from your great grandparents, and grand parents and teachers at our school too.  Neighbors too if you want to know the whole truth... but you did something pretty damn impressive today young lady.”

“What?”

“You didn’t blame anyone for your whipping.  You could have pointed out that little bastard started the fight or that the other kids egged you on... but not once in that did you make excuses.  You knew what you did was against the rules, but you stood by your actions.  Do you know what that’s called?”

Katy shook her head, ‘No.’

“Honor.” Neri answered.

Vito nodded.  “Your Father and Mother would be so proud of you right now.  You didn’t let that boy speak a word of lies about you; you showed the other children that you weren’t an easy target and when the time came to pay for the choices you made you did your sentence and kept your mouth shut.  Omerta little one.  Silence.  It’s a hard lesson for some but it’s in your blood.”

“Does this mean Grandma Teresa won’t be mad?”

Neri chuckled.

“She’ll be mad.  It’s her job to be mad when you mess up... but, I’d bet my shoe that Great Grandma Rita slips you an extra cookie tonight before bed for having the good mind to keep silent.”

“Omerta.”  Katy said.

“Omerta.”  Vito repeated, putting Katy back into the car.

---  LATER THAT NIGHT ---

“HE’S MY ONLY SON!  PLEASE!  PLEASE!   MERCY!”  Benito DiSalvo chased after Vito as he dragged little Ignazio out into the dark yard and threw him violently onto the cold earth.  The boy skid to a stop at Neri’s feet.

Benito fell to his knees in front of Vito.  “I’LL PAY ANYTHING PLEASE!  HAVE MERCY IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD CHRIST!”

Ignazio wet himself as he lay at Neri’s feet.  Neri knelt, grabbed the boy by his scruff and stood him up for Vito (who walked right past Benito) to talk to.  “Where’s the courage you showed today when you gave my boss lip?”

Ignazio cried, and Vito nodded to Neri who slapped the boy.  Ignazio went silent. 

“You piss yourself at falling to the earth, but when it comes to shaming women... you have no problems?  Does that make you feel like a man?  Shaming women?”

Ignazio shook his head no.

“You got a lotta pull around the school yard.  I saw that in the last two days – though Christ knows why anyone would follow someone who treats women as you do.”  Vito shook his head at Ignazio’s shame and then looked to Benito.  “But my boss is merciful...”

Benito wept tears of joy at the word mercy and as Vito came to him with a small wad of bills, he kissed Vito’s hands.  “My boss gives you this... your son works for Miss DiCaprio now.  Every week, the same will come to you – so long as this piccola merda keeps any other children from giving her a hard time.  If Miss DiCaprio suffers... you don’t get paid.  If, God forbid, another child hurts her... Neri here will revisit it upon your son.  If the teacher should find reason to whip Katy again... we will also revisit that upon your son.  It is his job now to ensure no harm comes to her physically or emotionally so long as she’s inside those school walls.”

Neri smiled at Ignazio, “So, if she messes up, you best find a way to fix it or take her punishment for her... or it won’t be a nice kindly old lady putting a switch on your back-side boy... it’s going to be me.  We good?”

Ignazio nodded emphatically. 

Neri smiled.  “Good.”

---  THE NEXT DAY ---

“Why are you following me.”  Katy asked in Italian.  Annoyed that Ignazio had been her constant shadow all day at school.

Quietly, respectfully, Ignazio said – “I want to be your friend.”

“You’re lying.”  Katy said, certain that he was looking at her with fear, maybe even looking over to where her uncles were standing?  But why was he afraid of them?

“No.  I... I think you’re pretty.”

Katy sighed, angry and walked to the far corner of the school yard.

“I do!”  He insisted.

“Is everyone going to come laugh at me for thinking you like me now, Ignazio?  That you’re just pretending to be my friend and I’m stupid enough to fall for it?”

“No!  No... I... I like you.  You hit good.  For a girl I mean.”

Katy glared at her new ‘friend’ and after a moment she softened.  “You think I’m pretty?”

Ignazio smiled.  “Yea.”  Quick as a flash he leaned over and stole a kiss.

Katy’s mouth fell open, shocked.

“Want some of my sandwich... my mom sent goat today.”

Blushing Katy nodded.  “Okay.  I’ve never tried goat before.”

“You’re gonna love it and you’re gonna love Sicily... I promise.”  He handed her the bigger half of his sandwich and Katy gave a genuine smile to another child for the first time since she’d left Chicago.

16 YEARS AGO

Katy, dressed in a flower girl’s dress, squealed as the bicycle tore down a long dirt road winding through the vineyard.  She stood on screws which stuck out through the middle of the back wheel, Ignazio sat on the seat and was peddling for all he was worth to keep them ahead of the mob of boys.

Clouds of dust and dirt billowed up, the earth hungry for rain that had not come in so many days that all the adults in the DiCaprio household were beginning to have genuine fear for this year’s grape and olive crops – even the kids were no longer ignorant of the worries this drought had put upon everyone.  Dark clouds, however, hung over head and while a rained-out wedding reception would have been the bride’s nightmare normally ... Gina couldn’t have wanted anything more as a wedding gift than a summer storm.

Katy’s laughter echoed across the open fields as the workers stopped and removed their hats out of respect for the young lady of the house – the only child in a household that had lost a great deal in recent years.

Katy was ten.  Under her beautiful dress that was a smaller version of Aunt Gina’s she was all knees and elbows – a mess of bruises and dirt that stained her skin.  Italian was her go to language these days and she sometimes forgot that she ever spoke anything before it.  After three years here, Chicago and Dublin were distant memories that felt almost like dreams; places she’d only imagined and hadn’t ever really been.

“GET ‘EM!” The boys behind them were yelling, each dressed for Gina’s wedding, though nowhere as nicely as Katy.

“Faster Ignazio!” She said near her friend’s ear.  In response she could feel the boy really pour on the heat, rising off the seat and peddling as though he were running.

The adults they passed by shook their heads and put their caps back on – continuing to cut dead vines away to be taken to the burning piles; which was the direction Ignazio was heading.  Ahead of them Katy could see carefully watched over fires in wide open spaces far from anything that it might catch upon and spread.

“Ready?”  Ignazio asked Katy.

“Ready!”  She laughed.

“1... 2...” Ignazio counted.

“3!” Katy screamed as she leapt from the pegs while Ignazio was at top speed, tumbling across the dry earth and bounding into a run without missing a beat.  Gripping Mr. Hug-a-Bug’s arm tight the well-loved bear flew back and forth with each foot fall.

“RUN, BOSS, RUN!”  Ignazio screamed from his bike as several boys kept chasing him and one lone young man dropped from his bike to take to foot and chase Katy.

Katy tore through the long grass towards the fires.  As she hit the loose, overly dry dirt her dress shoes lost any purchase they’d had in the grass and she went down hard.  Her head bounced off dirt and rocks and she tumbled end over end twice before coming to a stop with all the wind knocked out of her chest.  She’d never been caught without air like that before, for a moment she thought she was dying, pain and panic rushing through her and slowly she found her breath again.

Turning her head, she spotted Mr. Hug-a-Bug some distance away and approaching him was Anthony Russo with a terrible grin on his face.  “Anthony?”  She said, her voice somewhat disbelieving that he would do anything to hurt Mr. Hug-a-Bug.  He was a mean kid, but surely he wouldn’t hurt an innocent bear.

“What? Katy the Baby lose her bear?” he said in a mocking baby-speak sort of way.

“Anthony... please.”  She said, still gasping for air and pulling herself up to her hands and knees.

Anthony picked up Mr. Hug-a-Bug and began walking over to one of the burning piles of dead vines.

“Don’t... please... you... you can’t... it was a joke.  It didn’t mean nothin!”  Katy begged, crawling towards the bully with fear in her eyes, trying to breathe.

Anthony lifted his chin and looked down his nose at Katy in a way which suggested how little he really thought of her.  “Some mafioso you are... in the dust... crying and begging!  Ha!  Not so tough now, are you Katy the Baby.”

Up the road she could see Uncle Vito and Neri coming, but they wouldn’t get here in time – very likely they couldn’t yet see what Anthony was doing as he held Mr. Hug-a-Bug just over the flames.

“I’m sorry!  I’m so sorry Anthony!”

“Yea.”  He sneered.  “You kinda are.”  Katy began to scream as the boy’s fist opened one finger at a time and Mr. Hug-a-Bug fell into the pile of burning vines.

Through the vines and flames a figure emerged, snatching the bear from the jaws of it’s destruction.  Ignazio fell to the ground, fire having caught on his shirt sleeve.  He went to the ground pounding Mr. Hug-a-Bug for all he was worth... saving the bear even as the fabric of his shirt melted to his arm & flames raced up his shirt sleeve and onto his chest.

“UNCLE VITO! NERI!”  Katy screamed for help.  “HELP US!  HELP!”

Anthony looked back up the road and noticed the two adults who were now running.  Ignazio was flailing about, a horrible smell filled Katy’s nose.  Katy went towards him, she could hear Neri and Vito screaming, but their words all jumbled together.

“Roll on it.”  She told him.  Either by luck or by obedience to his ‘boss’ the boy rolled onto his arm again and again finally squelching the fire.  Ignazio finally stopped burning, he lay there moaning and twitching.  Katy went to reach for Mr. Hug-a-Bug, but instead spotted Ignazio’s belt knife.  She could hear Anthony running away from the scene and as she looked at the simple knife, something in the flower girl’s brain snapped.

Katy grabbed the knife and broke into a run.  The screams from Vito and Neri became louder, she could hear them closing in on her and Anthony as he made for the river which was almost non-existent due to the lack of rain.

Above them thunder rolled so loud it made the ground shake.  Katy could feel it all through her body, but rage drove her to run faster than she’d ever run before; her dress ripping and tearing as dry nettles and brambles snagged it.

Katy had played in these woods since she was six, this was her home, Anthony stood no real chance of escape – save the adults getting to her first.  To the right she darted, making the boy feel as though he was losing her; but he was wrong.

Over a small ridge she leapt as the boy came around the base of the hill to avoid the river – exactly as Katy knew he’d do.  The two children tumbled to the ground, rolling with one another, each barely escaping the blade Katy had not yet released.

Katy roared as she landed on top of Anthony, the knife held high above her head, preparing to thrust it down into the boy who was now pinned beneath her.

“KATY, NO!”  Vito called out, no small amount of terror in his voice.

“Kathleen…”  Neri said, coming closer to her – slowly.  “Give me the knife Katy, you don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, I do.”  She seethed, in English, the first bit she’d used in years.  “Mr. Hug-a-Bug… he…”  she sobbed, trembling with the knife still above her.

“He’s okay.”  Neri said with a gentleness to his voice.  “He’s in one piece.  Grandma Teresa will have him fixed up in no time ... but if you stab that boy, he’s going to bleed... a lot.  Blood is real hard to get out... even harder to put back in.”

“He should bleed.”  She said with absolute hate in her voice.

“Yes.  He should.  He will... but you have people like me to do that for you Katy.  Please.  Let me have that knife.”

Katy started to move her hand towards Neri when, perhaps due to nerves or stupidity, Anthony chortled.  Neri began moving but he already knew it would be too late.  Katy thrust the knife as hard as she could downward and stood up almost in the same motion.

The knife was put hilt deep into the dirt, right next to the boy’s head, having left the barest scratch on his ear.  Anthony wailed in pain from the cut.  As Katy backed away from her tormenter she could see there were a lot of adults just outside the woods now. Obviously tending to Ignazio or coming to help her – she couldn’t be sure which.

At first Neri came to check her, to hug her, but Katy only numbly accepted his concern.  When she didn’t return his affection, the young man turned back to the boy on the ground.  Luckily for Anthony, Vito was there.

“Neri!” Vito snapped at him, causing Neri to instantly halt his rage-filled approach on Anthony.  “Get her to the house.”

“But...” Neri began.

“Tell this shit’s Father we’ll need a word and until then he’s staying with me and the boys. You can join us when she doesn’t need you.”

Neri hesitated and then nodded, seeming to accept that Vito hadn’t meant to exclude him.

Katy made her way out into the field and to the cart where they were loading up Ignazio.  One of the farmers gave Katy her bear as she reached him.

“Ignazio?” she called out to her friend, but he didn’t say anything.  Tears welled up in her eyes and she turned to hug the first person who was there to hold – Neri.  “Is he...?”

“Dead?”  Neri asked.  “No.  He’s not dead... just hurt bad, they may have to take him to the hospital in Catania.  Men just sleep when they get that kind of wound.  He’ll have some pretty amazing scars on his arm and chest from the fire.”

Katy nodded as she pulled out of Neri’s embrace.  “Let’s get you up to the house.”

Up the path they walked together, Katy dusting the soot off Mr. Hug-a-Bug as best she could... noting the burn spots that would need to be stitched up.

“I can’t remember his voice.”  She said after a long silence.

Neri was going to ask who and then he realized how she was staring at her bear.  Above them thunder peeled again.  Neri smiled softly.  “Like thunder.  Not the scary kind, at least not most of the time, but when Frank laughed... it was like distant thunder.  He had a way about him, he liked to sing and play music... like your mom.  Like you.”

“I like it when you talk about them.”

“Some people think the dead know when you talk about them – when you remember them.  I think your parents are always watching over you Katy and they are proud of you.  Especially today... so tough and yet, you showed that boy mercy.”

“Will Vito kill him?”

Neri stopped on the path.  “Is that what you think we do?”

“Isn’t it?”  She said blandly.  “Isn’t that what you’re hoping for?  That they’ll let you kill someone so you can be one of them?”  She narrowed her eyes.  “Why is it okay for you to kill people, but not me?”

Neri was hurt, she could see it, but she was angry and so she paid it as little mind as one would pay a mosquito bite.  He sighed.  “It’s not that you can’t Katy.  You could kill someone I suppose... if that’s who you want to be.  Is that who you want to be?”

Katy turned from him and kept walking, kicking rocks ahead of her.

“You’re ... a princess in so many ways to us Katy.  You’re the daughter of two very important people to the folks who farm this land... they have everything they have because of your parents.”

“Am I?”

Neri startled.  He was confused.  “What do you mean by a question like that?”  He knew that she was aware of the stories about how her parents had freed these farmers from a Don who once demanded harsh tributes from them; so, her question wasn’t about not knowing the old stories.

Katy looked down at Hug-a-Bug and tears welled up in her eyes.  “Anthony told me that his older brother Sal says… well, he says that I’m not even ...”

Neri took his hand and put his fingers over her lips.  “Stop right there.  Don’t you even say those words... do not dishonor his memory by giving voice to such vicious lies.  Is this how all this started?  Is that what all this is about?”

“I can do math you know!  For him to be my real father he woul-“

“No.”  Neri said angrily.  “I won’t let you do this Katy.  Just stop – stop it right now!  Look, you can discuss this with Teresa or Rita.”

“I’m discussing it with you!”  She said stamping her foot.  “Damn it Neri!  You’re supposed to work for me so, tell me the truth!  Is Frank DiCaprio my real father?”

Neri grit his teeth and set his shoulders.  He didn’t like her talking to him this way, but he knew that he’d given her charge over him a while ago – he was reaping the benefits of that every time she got in a mood like this.

Neri reached out his hand, his anger fading to disappointment as he put his finger tips on Hug-a-Bug.  “Maybe you should ask him,” he said indicating the bear, “whether or not Frank DiCaprio is your Father... cause you’re going to have to fire me to get me to say anything other than what you already know ESPECIALLY on Gina’s wedding day, of all days.”

Neri began walking again, leaving Katy to scramble to catch up.  A large group of men, including some of Anthony’s family, were waiting for them at the start of the road.  Neri put a hand on her shoulder and directed her right to Teresa.  “We have business.”

“Today?”  Rita did not like the sound of ‘business’ on Gina’s special day, but there was nothing for it because Neri walked away leaving Katy with her Grandmother as he went straight to Anthony’s dad and said, “Let’s have a word.”

“My son?”  Ignazio’s father came through the crowd.  “Where’s my boy?!?”  Neri clearly was going to be very busy handling ‘business’ ... so Teresa took Katy back towards the main house, already chiding her for destroying her beautiful dress.  This, of course, was a conversation that Katy knew well.  This was far from the first dress she’d ever ruined.  This, however, was probably the most expensive.

Katy was left to sit at the table with Rita.  The eldest DiCaprio was hunched over in her seat with a small plate of cannoli in front of her.  The old woman slowly turned her head and smiled wide at Katy.  “Did your bear get hurt on your adventure?”  She asked.

Katy nodded.

“I can’t do much these days, but this... this I can still do.  Fetch my sewing kit, girl.”

Katy raced off to the sitting room and came back with a large box of sewing goods and helped Rita pick out the right color thread, a needle and even put the thread through the eye of the needle for her.  “How did he get hurt?”

“I said something stupid.”  She said softly.

Rita nodded knowingly.  “More men have died by the wrong thing said at the wrong moment than by al the knives in the world.”

Katy was used to Rita’s sayings.  She had a lot of them.  Some made sense, others were things that Katy figured people said when they got as old as Rita was; which by her estimation was like 100.

“Did you try to fix it?”

“What?”

“The thing you said.”  Rita said as if that should have been obvious.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Cause, he said something horrible.”

Rita nodded knowingly.  “That’s how it usually goes.  Wrong words met by more wrong words and before you know it...” She lifted the bear as if to indicate it, “... an innocent person gets hurt.”

“Uncle Vito will make him pay.”  Katy said assured that this was the answer to it all.

“And what about you?”  Rita asked.

“Me?”

“He pays for his words and deeds... what of yours?”

Katy shook her head as if the old woman were a fool.  “You don’t know what he said.”

“Alright.”  She said, turning the bear over to work on another spot.  “Why don’t you tell me.  What did he say that removes your wrong doing?”

Katy dropped her voice, “He said...”

Rita raised an eyebrow and waited.

“He said that my father adopted me and that I’m not a DiCaprio.”

Rita smiled.

“What?”

Rita chuckled.

“It’s not funny.”  Katy said, hurt in her voice.

“It’s funny that you cannot see the contradiction.  One man’s child, adopted by another, is that man’s daughter.  That’s the meaning of adoption.”

Tears welled up in Katy’s eyes.  “So... you really aren’t my family?”

The old woman put aside the needle and thread as she finished the final hole on the bear.  “Tell me... did you make this bear?”

Katy shook her head no.  “Papa gave it to me.”

“Do you love this bear?”

“Forever.”

“Would you give this bear away?”

Katy shook her head no, “No.”

“Is the bear yours?”

“Yes.”  Katy said wrinkling her nose, starting to see where Rita was going with her words.

“Kathleen DiCaprio... I want you to remember this one thing, if I tell you nothing else that you remember in life – will you make me that promise?”

Katy nodded, and her Great-Grandmother motioned for Katy to slide close enough to be held.  Rita took her shawl and wrapped it around Katy and pulled her into her arms.  “Love is a choice.”  She said with a small bit of amusement, as if there was some joke or wisdom that Katy would never understand to those words.

“Love is a thing we do... not something that happens to us, despite what everyone in life will tell you.  You are not a victim of love; you can give it and you can receive it... it’s something you do.  And your father, God rest his soul, chose to make you his family and love you and he didn’t do that ill-advisedly, he did it after much thought and soul searching.”

“Just as you would never walk away from this bear and chose it – we chose you and that is a powerful thing.  Any fool can happen into a family by accident of birth and blood, but you darling... we chose you and we’d do it a thousand times over.  So, the next time a fool tells you that you’re not our family, I want you to remember that no one is as wanted and loved by their family as the person who was asked to be a part of it.”

Rita kissed Katy’s forehead and then gave her the bear back.  “We all bear the marks of our adventures, but the ugliest – most difficult ones – they make us uniquely who we are.  No other bear will ever be Hug-a-Bug and no other young woman will be Kathleen DiCaprio.”

Rita touched her just under her chin and lifted it.  “Remember that and wear your sorrows proudly because you are a DiCaprio woman, and no one can take that from you... you can only ever give it away.  God send you meet a man worthy of such a gift one day.”

Katy threw her arms around Rita and hugged her gently.  “I love you Grandma Rita.”

“Oh... look.”  Rita said smiling, pointing at the window where rain had begun to fall.  “The rain has returned.”

Katy walked over to the window and watched the wedding guests running for cover as a torrential downpour began, one that would not just wet the earth, but flood the river so badly that several local farms were washed out completely thanks to the loose soil.

No less than six deaths were accounted for during those rains – including Anthony, his brother Sal, and their father; all of whom were said to be tragedies related to the flood.  Katy knew better though.  A girl could only see so much death happening around her without coming to understand such things.

The rains that year were almost as bad as the ones that happened the year that Grandma Rita finally passed away.  She was buried beside her husband under the large elm just past the vineyard.  Katy brought fresh flowers to her every Sunday for the rest of her time in Sicily.  No single person seemed to quite understand her the way Rita had; and even as an adult, Kathleen supposed no one ever would.

11 YEARS AGO

"Put the bead right there, in the rest of that sight.  Can you see it?"  Neri pointed to the bead and sight on the rifle that Katy struggled to hold.

"It's heavy, I keep moving."  Katy, age fourteen, was slowly becoming more and more of the woman she would one day be - but she felt that she was already there.  Having seen and been through so much, she wished her family would see her as the woman she believed she was, instead of just a child.  Learning to use a variety of guns was a small compromise on Uncle Vito's part to help Katy feel respected.

"That's going to take you building up the right muscles.  It'll come in time."  He came around Katy and wrapped his arms around her, so he could help steady her arms.  "Take a deep breath."  Neri said, speaking so that his breath came across her ear lobe.  Goose pimples covered Katy's body and she blushed ever so slightly. 

For some time now, she'd begun to think of Neri differently.  Their age, which had once seemed so far apart, was now seen for what it really was… just a few years difference.  He was tall, handsome, and he’d been with her on every step of her journey.  She had SUCH daydreams about him & their possible future together, dreams which she hoped he secretly shared.  Unfortunately, he didn't seem to realize she was alive... he was so wrapped up in the workings of the family now that he finally had his button.

Katy nodded and drew breath as instructed.

"Relax and let your breath out, when you do, squeeze the trigger... don't squint... eyes open."

Katy saw the bead resting on the sight.  She forced herself not to look at it with one eye.  She exhaled and pulled the trigger.  The recoil pushed her hard into Neri's body.  She grunted and then said, "Ouch!"  putting the rifle into Neri's hands and rubbing where the gun had kicked.

Neri chortled.

"It's not funny!"  she said with a smile.

"Then why are you laughing, Kathleen?"  Neri called her by her full name as an affectation, a small mockery, a tease ... and she always pretended to hate it, but secretly - ever since she was told that her father use to call her mom Lucia and not Lucy, she'd grown to love it.  She imagined when he said it, he was secretly telling her that he felt the same way she did and that maybe, just maybe, he was refraining from confessing his love for her out of fear of her uncles and many protectors who would object.

"Hey Boss!" 

Katy turned and looked back towards the main house.  She lit up instantly, "IGNAZIO!"  She turned and looked back to Neri.  "Are we done here?  Can I go?"

Neri had a tight smile.  "Sure.  I'll put the weapons up.  Don't go anywhere until I rejoin you."

Katy nodded and darted off to her friend.  "Whatcha got there?"

"Picnic lunch.  My mom sent it.  Figured we'd go to the swimming hole if you're up for it."

"Are you kidding!  The heat is killing me today... let me see if we have any cannoli left, I'll bring it."  Katy ran into the house and straight to the kitchen where her Grandmothers were peeling potatoes to go with tonight's dinner.  "Grandma!"  She called out as she entered the room.  "Do we have cannoli left?"

"Katy we're..."

"Ignazio is taking me on a picnic."

Instantly the women changed their tune and Teresa bundled up sweets for both children.  They loved Ignazio and looked after him as much as they did Katy who was his constant companion. 

"Where are you going on your adventures today, Kathleen?"  Rita asked, her voice betraying the sounds of her age.

"The swimming hole."

"Are one of your uncles going with you?  It's dangerous to swim without someone there."  Teresa cautioned.  "I always hated the boys going down there without someone."

"Snuck down there all the time if I remember... rather like their mother use to do if my memory is right."  Rita said chuckling.

"Neri is coming."  Katy said, not seeing the looks exchanged between Rita and Teresa.  "I'm gonna go change."

Katy ran up stairs, threw on a swimming suit and put her clothes on top.  A quick glance in the mirror at herself and she struck a pose or two she'd seen in those fashion magazines which she sometimes flipped through at the fancy stores in Messina when they visited there.  She imagined herself like a model or moving pictures star.  And then she imagined something else, something she hoped with all her heart might be true.

Reaching back into a drawer she fished out some socks and put them into the top of her swim suit and folded her hair up behind her head, letting it fall in half like a short hair cut around her face.  She squinted and let her eyes go unfocused so that her vision became blurred and all details lost.  For a moment, a ghost looked back at her, the ghost of her mother.  Her breath caught.  Tears welled in her eyes.  She reached out a hand towards the mirror, stopping just short of it, knowing the cold glass on her finger tips would ruin the illusion.

She let her eyes go back to normal and saw an awkward teen girl, socks sticking out of her top, hair - not quite the same color as her mothers, folded and held.  She dropped her hair and sucked in a sob and ripped the socks out of her top.  Scrubbing her tears away she moved from the mirror - wishing she hadn't thought about her similarities to Lucy DiCaprio at all.

Downstairs Teresa handed off the cannoli and asked Katy if something was wrong.  Katy insisted there wasn't and pecked her grandmother on the cheek before running outside where Neri was waiting with Ignazio.  What they had been talking about she couldn't say, but they both seemed very serious, more so than she felt comfortable with.  She hated to admit it, but she was worried that before long her and Ignazio's 'game' of boss and muscle was going to become much more real and everything would change on that day.  Certainly her uncles had become much more like family to him ever since he'd spent months in a hospital after saving Mr. Hug-a-Bug who now held a place of honor on a shelf in her room.

"Ready?"  She asked, and both boys looked at her. 

"Going to ride your bike?"  Ignazio asked.

"Nah, I'm gonna take Lucky, if that's okay Neri?"  Lucky, whose dame was Ghost - a horse her mother once rode in Naples, was given to Katy as a gift by some Don or another for her 11th birthday.  She hadn't known much about the politics of it, she hadn't cared, she just thrilled at having a horse of her own and it was kinda sweet that the horse had a story that went back to her mother.

Neri nodded and walked off towards the stables.  "I'll saddle her up."

Lucky was a silver dapple and one of the fastest horses owned by the DiCaprio family.  She came fully broke, but even if she hadn't been, Katy was sure she could have brought the animal to heel.  Horses and her had always shared a special bond, ever since she was a child.  Katy went to her horse and hugged it's neck, and slipped her a treat while Neri worked to make her ready for riding. 

Neri was faster in saddling his own horse, a yearling quarter horse called River.  River had a good temperament and a sturdy flank that would no doubt produce good strong foals one day. 

Katy climbed into the saddle and with a click of her tongue, Lucky began a slow trot to keep pace with Ignazio's bike.  Down the road they went, into the woods where she'd tackled Anthony and further still.  Until they came to the river proper, and went along its bank until the gentle slope down to the edge of the waters appeared.  Here she tied up her horse and went with Ignazio down to spread out the blanket and put out food.  Neri kept back, as he always did, finding a place to rest under a tree some distance away - his rifle laying on the ground beside him in case of trouble.

After so many years of having a constant shadow, it didn't seem odd.  Most of the time she simply forgot her uncles or Neri were there, and lived as all children do - heedless and wild.  They rarely stopped her from doing things, even things that Grandma Teresa would punish her for; she and they'd learned long ago that their presence wasn't there to babysit her - but to watch for what others might try to do.  Her actions, as she'd come to see it, were not what they were concerned with. 

Ignazio stripped down to his small clothing and Katy to her swimming suit which covered far more of her body than some of her clothing, ironically.  She sprinted towards the water screaming, "Last one in is a smelly old shoe!"  She dove into the water with the grace of a fish, while Ignazio attempted to make a huge splash so that when she came up the waves smacked her in the face.  Katy laughed until Ignazio emerged and she got her first look in some time at his scars.  She found herself staring.

"You wanna touch it?  It's kinda neat actually."  Ignazio came towards her through the water.

Katy nodded and reached out her hand.  Her fingers brushed across her friend's hardened skin - white and taunt.  "It doesn't hurt?  Does it?"  She asked timidly.

"Not anymore."  he said quietly. 

"It was a stupid thing you did."  She said, in comparison to the praise everyone lavished upon him for his bold actions.  "You might have died."

"Would have been worth it."  Ignazio said, looking at her eyes in a way that he'd never looked at her before.  It, more than the boy's words, caused Katy to take back her hand and snap at him.

"Never say anything like that again."  She turned from him and dove under the water and wished she could disappear.  She didn't want to talk about his stupidity anymore or feel his eyes on her like that.  She didn't want anyone to look at her like that, except maybe Neri.  She might not mind so much if he had looked at her like that - just once.

When she broke the surface of the water again, she could see that Ignazio had gone up out of the water and was pulling food out to lay across the blanket.  Katy flipped onto her back and floated, looking up at the sky - trying to remember her home in Chicago and the name of the ice cream her father gave her on her sixth birthday in Ireland.  Why couldn't she remember?!?

"Katy?"  Ignazio called out to her.  "I got lunch ready!"

Katy sighed and swam back to the shore.  The food looked amazing.  Katy noticed then the daisy flowers picked from nearby.  "Flowers?"  She asked. 

Ignazio shrugged.  "You like daisies."

Katy nodded.  It was true.  She kept daisies in her room, she had the pattern on several dresses, and even made a quilt with Grandma Rita that had them embroidered into it's edge.  There was no point in denying she loved them - but why was Ignazio being so weird today and why did he look so nervous?

Katy then became worried.  Was he leaving?  Was his family moving away and this was goodbye?  Suddenly she was utterly beside herself and her mind filled the silence between them with imagined scenarios in which she'd never see her very best friend ever again.  She didn't know if she could bear the world without him in it!

"Maybe we could trade something," he said offering her a sandwich.  "Like we use to?"

"Trade what?  I don't have anything to trade with you."  She said.  "Unless you count these daisies."  She took a bite of the sandwich and smiled as Ignazio pulled out a nearly empty bottle of red wine.  "Oh my God your mother is going to kill you for running off with wine."

"She let me have it."  He said as he pulled out a glass from his basket to pour for her.

Katy's body went tight.  Now she KNEW he was going to leave her. 

"Ignazio I..."

"You could sing for me."  He said with a smile.  "If you sing for me... you can have what's in this box."  He reached into his basket and pulled out a small box that looked as though it was from a shop, a real - expensive, shop.  Katy wanted to cry now.  How could they leave?  After everything they'd been through together - his family taking him away from her was unfair and cruel!  Maybe she could beg Grandma Rita to make Vito give Ignazio a job so he wouldn't go.  A courier job!  There were boys who ran information between households that were as young as Ignazio!  Yes... that was it.  Katy decided.

"I'll sing.  English or Italian?"

"English.  I never understand a word but it's really nice."

She nodded.  "Something Irish then." She sat up straight, drawing a deep breath, and began her song.  It was a melody she'd gotten on a record in Catania while out with Aunt Gina and her new baby Francisco.

As she finished the last note, she opened her eyes and saw that Ignazio was offering her the box.  "I hope you don't mind, I asked for your grandma's help."

Katy smiled warmly.  So her grandmother knew about this?  That meant they were probably already laying plans to keep Ignazio here!  This was GREAT news!  She opened the box to reveal a silver heart-shaped locket on a chain.  "Oh Ignazio!"  She said breathless, tears welling up in her eyes.

Ignazio smiled ear to ear.  "You really like it?"  He asked with hope in his voice.

"I love it."

"Look inside."

Katy covered her mouth.  Tears finally slid down her cheeks flowing freely.  On one side she saw the face of her father.  On the other the face of her mother.  She threw her arms around him and he held her in return, rubbing her back gently as she sobbed into his shoulder a long while.  When they pulled away, their eyes met again, as they had in the water.  This time, Katy didn't pull away.  This time she felt fear and didn't run - she froze as Ignazio came in towards her lips with his eyes closed.

His lips met hers in a gentle peck.  Once and twice, the second one she returned, and she felt his hand rise to her cheek.  Her whole body tingled from her hair to her toes.  A third kiss, a little more meaningful – and real.  It was full of her fear of losing him - of being all alone – and all the emotions so huge that they threatened to overwhelm her utterly.

A twig snapped and suddenly Katy remembered, they weren't alone.  Neri was watching everything!  Ignazio must have also remembered this as he pulled away from her quickly.

"You can't leave me.  I'll convince Uncle Vito to give you a job here.  We'll do whatever we have to..."

"Wait... what are you talking about?"

Katy shook her head.  "The gift... this lunch, I won't let you say goodbye."

Ignazio smiled, as if her desire to be near him warmed every part of his body.  "I'm not going anywhere Katy.  This isn't to say goodbye - it was to tell you how I felt about you."

Katy felt all the air leaving her lungs as Ignazio continued, "The best thing that ever happened to me was you coming to our school and your uncles telling me I had to be your friend."

"My Uncles told you ..."

Ignazio laughed.  "It started out that way, after I got you into trouble that first day, but we've been through so much together now I just..."

"You were my friend because they hired you?"  Katy looked at him hurt. 

"It's not like that Katy and even if it were, I came to love you for who you are."

"Don't say that!"  She said, angrily standing up.  "NEVER say that!"

"Katy I don't understand.  It thought you felt the same too?"

"I can't."  She said firmly.  "I won't love anyone - especially not you Ignazio."

Ignazio's eyes filled with tears.  "But you... we just ..."

"It was just a kiss, Ignazio.  Don't make more out of it than that."   She put down the box with her necklace in it.  "A song for a necklace isn't a fair trade.  I ... I gotta go."  She grabbed up her clothes.

"Katy don't go!  I'm sorry.  We can... we can just swim.  I'M SORRY!"

Katy didn't say a word, just moved faster and faster until she was running to Lucky.  Neri was mounting his horse even before she was in the saddle and when she tore away as fast as her Silver Dapple could go, he was right on her heels.  Katy cried the whole way back to the stable and when she got there she left Silver in his stall for Neri to unsaddle.  She ran off into the vineyard to hide among the vines so her Grandmothers didn't come to fuss over her.

She hid among the leaves and fruit for hours, watching the clouds roll past and singing to herself.  She wished that the sun would never set, but it did and as the stars came out it was getting colder.  She could hear her uncles calling out for her - sure she was in the vines somewhere but unsure where. 

"You okay?"  Neri found her first.  He came down to sit beside her in the dirt.

"I thought he was leaving."

Neri nodded.  "I know.  And I bet he knows that you weren't thinking like yourself - you've lost a lot of people in the past.  I'm sure he'll forgive you."  He said reaching over and putting a hand on the small of her back.

She looked towards Neri, "I don't love him."

"No one says you have to love him."

"I don't love anyone like that."  She asserted.

Neri smiled softly, "You're young.  Lots of time for that."

"No.  I'm never going to love anyone like that.  That's what I wanted him to understand.  When you love people like that, all that happens is you get hurt.  People die and they leave you and ... it's just not worth it."

The night winds blew her hair into her face and Neri reached up to brush it away, "Love is what we fight for, Kathleen.  It's the whole point of life.  Finding the person to whom you would give anything - and everything - and giving everything of yourself to them until there's nothing left for the world to steal away.  One day, you'll want someone to love you Kathleen.  I promise."

She stared up at his eyes as he spoke so kindly and touched her so gently.  She felt the same feelings she felt at the river when she kissed Ignazio and it was like magic - the stars above, the two of them hiding in the vines while her family called for her, him whispering sweet words to her and touching her face.  It was like the dime store novels in Gina's old room, the ones about men and women falling in love.  For a moment she let herself forget the promise she’d made to herself – to never love.  In that moment she wanted to love and be loved by Neri.  A romance that was meant to be - like her mother and father had.

She closed her eyes and leaned in, lips puckered, and then - she opened them as Neri called out to the others.  "I FOUND HER!  OVER HERE!"

Katy's eyes opened, he turned away from her face so she couldn't kiss him.  It felt like her heart had been shattered into a million pieces.  She could hear her uncles coming.

"I'm sorry, Kathleen... I just..."  He said, looking at her with her mouth open and brow furrowed in an expression of 'why?'

She stiffened her lip and threw back her shoulders.  "What are you sorry for?"  She shrugged.  "Nothing happened.  Not like you did anything wrong - just forget about it."  She stood up and began walking as fast as she could back towards the house.  Neri following keeping a large distance between them.

Some Weeks Later
 

Katy paced in her room as she listened to the commotion downstairs.  She’d broken her mirror a week ago, tore up a few of her dresses with a pair of scissors they no longer allowed her to keep in her room, and the final straw was her attempt to run away.  She was a prisoner in the DiCaprio household and Uncle Vito had finally had enough.  She thought he’d blister her backside as he did when she was a child, but instead he had men watching all the doors.  Every adult in the house proceeded to spend the following hours shouting about what would be done.  Ignazio had not come around and blessedly Neri had kept his distance as well.  The last thing she wanted now was to see either of them EVER again. 

But someone far worse than either of them was being welcomed downstairs right now.  THIS was the solution the DiCaprio family had come up with for her ‘willful’ and ‘stubborn’ behaviors.  She listened to the heavy footfalls coming up the steps and a small part of her wanted to run to the door, throw her arms around him, and sob until she fell asleep.  That, however, was stupid.  He crossed an ocean to set her back on the right course, and he probably wasn’t very happy about having to leave his new wife… a woman they whispered would soon be a Godfather in the Americas… to do it.

He stopped outside the door.  There was a long quiet moment before he knocked.  Her heart thundered in her ears while she waited, but the knock did eventually come.  “Katy?”  Tony’s voice was kinder than she remembered – she didn’t think that was possible.  Tears welled in the young woman’s eyes.  “May I come in?”

Katy scrubbed her eyes and nose, hoping to hide any sign of her previous sadness.  Crossing the room she unlocked the door and opened it.  The last time she saw Tony he towered over her and now she was nearly as tall as him.  He seemed startled by the sight of her – she was often told how she resembled her mother.  She had a small twinge of guilt for the hurt she’d unintentionally caused him.

“You shouldn’t have come.”  She said in Italian.

 The corner of his lip turned upwards and he replied in Italian, “It was worth the trip to hear you speak in our tongue with such… perfection.  My God… you’ve grown up.”  The man who was sometimes called the Mountain of Messina was anything but stone.  He wasn’t overcome by the memories of Lucy… he was sad he’d missed her growing up.

She stepped back to allow Tony to enter, in his hands he held a dark cherry colored wooden box with a simple gold key hole on the front.  “Aunt Frankie probably wants to kill me right now.”

“I brought you a gift.”  He said, not saying a word about his wife and her state of mind when they parted ways.  It was clear he wasn’t going to be distracted by small talk of his family.

Katy sat down on her bed.  “They know you’re bringing gifts to the prisoner?”

Tony’s look soured a touch.  “You’re not a prisoner, the lock is on the inside of your door.”

Katy scoffed.  Tony really had no idea how this family could be when they were set against someone.

“They just want to keep you safe.”  He offered the wooden box and a small gold key to her.  “You have a great deal of enemies in the world you don’t even know about yet.”

“I have no enemies… my family does.”

Tony arched an eyebrow.  “Has so much happened that you’re now distancing yourself from your own blood?”

She sighed.

“Open the box, Princess.”

He used to call her that, a very long time ago – so long ago she could only recall it with the vagueness that she recalled her mother’s voice or the scent of Frank’s cologne.  Reluctantly, Katy opened the box and found inside numbered envelopes containing letters.

Tony sat silently beside her as she opened each one in turn and read her mother’s words – meant for her husband Frank to read in the event of her death.  How ironic that Frank died before Lucy.  This was EXACTLY why she felt as she did about Ignazio and his kiss, it was why it was for the best that Neri had shunned her actions as those of a foolish child. 

Love was pain.

Tony’s hand came to rest on the small of her back as she read.  One at a time they detailed out how her mother slowly opened her heart and painful secrets to her husband and had come to share her life with him.  In the letters Lucy dreamed about the child she was carrying… Katy’s baby brother who had died before ever taking a breath on the same day her mother was shot.

The letters spoke about Aidan whom she might have written off as a dream… were it not for the nightmares that had plagued her for years after his death.  Aidan had died in her arms, taking a bullet meant for her and she’d not been back to Ireland to pay her respect in all these long years.  It was a painful memory, one of many from her young childhood, that she did not like to revisit.  Yet, reading her mother’s words about her dreams of raising him as her own son… she couldn’t help but become emotional.

Lucy, in her own words, struck Katy as less than street-wise battle-hardened Mafia Boss that the people worshipped here in her Father’s childhood village.  Lucy was a woman riddled with weakness, fears, hopes, and dreams… so many dreams – foolish and unrealistic dreams.  The dreams of every wife and mother she’d ever known really.  Lucky Lucy wasn’t a legend… she was just a woman and Katy felt no more reassured of this point than when she came to the final letter in the box.

“Vegas?”  She asked.

“Your father and mother weren’t always in the same crew.  Your father was loyal to a crew out of Las Vegas.  I used to work for him back then… when he wasn’t ordering me to protect your mother.”

“But… I remember him being in Chicago.”

Tony nodded.  “Frank spent a lot of time on planes making sure he was home for you and your mother… but he was loyal to his Don and Godfather in Las Vegas.  In fact, shortly before that last letter was written your mother and father discussed making the Godfather of Las Vegas your Godfather to help reassure him of the alliance that could continue to grow between Chicago and Las Vegas.”

Katy looked down at her mother’s words, “But that didn’t happen?”

“No.”  Tony said sadly.  “Your mother’s Don was about to be made Godfather Chairman of Chicago.”

“Varys, the Master of Whispers?”

Tony nodded.  “He told your Mother he’d make her his Right-Hand Man… teach her everything she’d need to know to lead a crew of her own one day, but first he asked her to collect information across all the great cities about where crew members of Las Vegas were working and living.”

“Oh my God…”  Katy wrinkled her brow wondering how her mother could agree to being used in such a way against her Father’s own people.

Tony nodded.  “She got the information back to Varys only to learn she’d doomed those people… including your Father.”

Katy’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

“Varys was a shrewd tactician and deadly when it came to organizing men and women in war.  She knew Varys would get to Frank and that he’d have to kill him as he was one of the best hitmen in Las Vegas.”

“How did he survive?”

Tony looked at the floor.  “Varys was a great war leader, true, but he kept your mother around for a reason.  She was sharp as they come and she decided that she’d send her own team after your Father.”

“Mom tried to kill Dad?”

Tony shook his head.  “No… she captured him.  Took him as a prisoner of war and brought him back to Chicago as a gift to her newly minted Godfather.  She had hoped that this would aleve him of some of his guilt… that he, and old friends of his who learned of his survival, wouldn’t think him a traitor.  That people would see your mother as a desperate wife, unwilling to become a widow, who took down a prized gun in the war and when he had no one left alive to fight for… she’d beg him to kiss Varys’ ring.”

“And he did?”  Katy said softly.

“He would have done anything for you and your mother… and his son.”

Katy sat quiet.  Staring down at the letters and box in her lap.  “Did he forgive her?”

Tony looked away and said, “I like to think so.”  But Katy supposed that he didn’t.  True lovers forgave each other of such things in fairy stories, but Frank was a Sicilian… he was a DiCaprio.  His honor, his name, everything he thought of as himself had been shattered by Lucy’s actions and while her mother had survived the guilt of outliving crews in her past… Frank most likely did not fair so well. 

Lucy had been, in the stories at least, a survivor… a scrapper with a wide streak of Irish up her spine.  A woman who cared little for the opinions of others who would, in their time, be dead and gone.  And she, God willing, kept going … at least until she didn’t.  Katy drew a breath and put the letters into the box and relocked it.

“Why did you bring this to me?”

“I wanted you to hear, from your Mother’s own heart, what she wanted for you in this life Katy.”

“A legitimate future?  You really think that’s possible?”  She asked.

Tony nodded.  “That… and love, happiness, and God willing a family one day.”

Katy’s shoulder’s sunk as she realized that Neri must have told someone something of their discussion, even if it was only Tony.  “What Lucy wanted for me…”

He turned abruptly and caught her by her chin.  “Mother.”  He corrected, looking hard into her eyes. 

“What my mother wanted for me doesn’t matter a great deal anymore.”  Katy said defiantly, moving to break her chin out of Tony’s grip.

Tony let go and stood up, turning to face her.  “On the contrary, it matters more because she’s not here… and you damn well know that too or you wouldn’t be pitching this childish tantrum of yours… breaking things, not eating, and … running away – for Christ’s sake Katy!  What exactly do you suppose your future is going to look like?  What’s your great plan if you mean to never love & to push away anyone who you start to care for?”

Katy stood up.  “Perhaps I want to travel to America when I’m eighteen, go back to Alderly Estate and take over the businesses my Mother and Father left me… and run them without all the bullshit distractions they had.  MAYBE when I die then, for once, the fucking collateral damage is just that… ME.  No one else.”

“Who the fuck do you think I am… your Grandma Rita, your Aunt Frankie, Neri, Vito… the boy who was burned, what was his name?”

“Ignazio.”  She said softly.

“What about him?  What about your family?”

Katy shook her head. 

“What?!?”

“You’ll…” her words trailed off.

“I’ll what?”

Hot tears burned a path down her face, “YOU’LL BE DEAD ALRIGHT?!?”  She screamed.  “THERE!  I SAID IT!  ARE YOU HAPPY?!?”  She turned away from Tony who stood, unmoving behind her.  Softly she sobbed the words, “She’s going to be a Godfather… Aunt Frankie.  You really think you’ll live to see my future?”

Tony waited only a moment before walking up to her and turning her around.  He pulled her tight into his embrace and kissed the top of her head.  “Maybe not.”  He admitted.  “So… we must do what we can, while we can… yes?”

Katy looked up to him and nodded.

“Don’t waste a moment, Princess.  Never leave things unsaid.  Never do what you can not stand.  Embrace joy – but for my sake, if not your own – try not to reject love?  If you can’t bear to be here anymore, if Neri or this Ignazio boy have hurt you… I’ll take you where ever you want to go.”

“I can leave?  But … what about my enemies?  All the things you’re afraid of?”

“I’m your legal guardian Katy… if you want to go somewhere else, I’ll simply take you.”  He brushed a bit of hair off her cheek.  “I’ll protect you.  As I should have been all along.”

“But…”  She wanted to ask about Aunt Frankie, about his life back in the United States, but the Mountain wasn’t likely to give up its secrets so easily.  He was here now and he didn’t seem eager to leave. 

If she didn’t think of some way to make him go … he might never go back to Aunt Frankie; and while that was a comforting thought (she did love him so!) she knew it would kill him.  If that woman died while he was here with her… she’d carry that with her forever.  She had too many guilts and nightmares already.  She didn’t need this burden as well and so, she had to think fast.

She wet her lips, “What if I want to go to a boarding school… or some higher education?  A place where I’d be safe… somewhere you didn’t have to stay?”

“You don’t want me to stay?”  He asked.

“I’m nearly a woman now… it’s not that I hate you being with me, it’s just, I might not really need you as much as you think.  I mean, if I can find a school you think is safe enough?”

Tony sat down on the edge of her bed again.  “You have somewhere in mind already?”

Katy nodded and walked over to her dresser.  She hadn’t thought to bring this paperwork out until she was an adult, but maybe it was best she left now – Tony was right, he had the legal ability to get her out of this town.  This was her chance.  She might not get another one. 

She pulled out a pile of papers and walked them over to Tony.  He began looking through them.

“Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia?”

Katy nodded. 

“They told me that you have your mother’s talent for singing.”

“I don’t know about that, but the Priests at the last festival gave me those applications and encouraged me to consider it.”

Tony’s face split into a very rare smile.  “You are thinking of a legitimate life.”

Katy looked at the floor.  “You really think I’d swear off love, so I wouldn’t have to lose people… but then rush into a life of a mobster?”

“What about the whole… go to America thing?”

She shrugged.  “I was lying.  What do I care about a bunch of nightclubs and speak easies I’ve never seen… give them to Aunt Frankie, or burn them… that place, it’s a grave.  America is a place where people go when they have nothing left to lose – it’s a place for stupid dreamers & foolish gamblers and seldom do people get lucky enough to ever really make it for very long.”  She shook her head.  “There’s nothing left for me there – but this… music… this is something I can actually live for.”

Tony looked at her while she continued to speak for several minutes about her love of music, about how it moved her and helped her through the pain of her past.  It was her reason to get up some days and kept her grounded in reality, when it felt like nothing would ever be sane again… and where all of her life sometimes felt like a strange dream, when she was singing she could almost imagine herself as being ‘normal.’

“It’s settled then.”  He said standing up.  “Pack your bags.  You’re moving to Rome.”

“Just like that?” she asked.

He touched her cheek fondly, looking into her eyes with pride.  “Just like that, Princess.”

7 Years Ago

The night dragged on, past the dinner hour, and Katy sat alone at a small table set for two – a large glittering diamond solitaire on her left ring finger got her occasional examination & accompanying smile.  She looked to her watch for the fifth time in the last twenty minutes.  A waiter refilled her wine glass with a sympathetic smile, she looked down at her appetizer and pretended not to notice.

“Hello Kathleen.”  A familiar voice says.

Katy looked up, shocked to see the man standing before her.  For a brief instant the striking figure took her mind back to dreams of her father, Frank, so many years ago – but no, it wasn’t him at all.  The gray suit, double breasted vest beneath, and the impeccable fedora atop his head was all in honor of him though.  She was sure.  Katy hesitated only a moment before flying out of her chair and throwing her arms around him with a breathy, “Neri.”

They stood silently in their embrace for a long while.  Katy could feel his heart racing inside his chest, echoing her own.  She squeezed his solid form tighter as she thought about all that had happened since he last held her like this – the years of education and her thriving career as an opera singer.

He slowly released her, and their eyes met.  He had a light stubble on his face, his jaw was a square as she remembered it being, and those lips of his… she looked away as they turned up into an easy smile.  “My god, but you’re beautiful.”  He said softly.

“What are you doing here, Neri?”  She asked, genuinely curious.

“Rita told us about your engagement.”  He took her left hand and whistled.  “That’s some rock.”

Katy sat down and her face split into a wide smile.  Excitedly she said, “He proposed in Venice.  It was… like a dream.”

“Rita says he’s from Enna.”

Katy nodded.  “Who would have ever thought someone so close to our home would find me in Rome!  We met one day on a street corner.  I dropped a bag of apples and he helped me gather them back up.  He’s very gallant.”

“What’s this gallant fellow’s name again?”

The waiter walked up, clearly confusing Neri for her date.  “Welcome, Sir!”  The waiter didn’t wait to be told to pour a glass of wine for Neri, he just did it and topped off Katy’s.  Then he backed away quickly to leave the ‘lovers’ alone.

Neri looked down at the wine and they both laughed.  “He must have gotten held up.”  She said.  “No sense in letting good wine breathe too much.  Please… sit.”

Neri nodded and sat down.

“His name is Pietro.”  She said. 

“What does he do for a living?”

“He’s a business man – his family has companies all over the world.  His father has left him in charge of his family’s fortune.”  She glanced down at the ring on her hand and for a moment thought about the very comfortable life ahead of her.

“Then you have something in common.”  He said, picking up his wine and drinking deeply.

“Well, in theory… I mean I’m not bad with numbers, but I haven’t the desire for it.  In fact, I’ve already given Pietro my wedding gift to him – my family’s businesses.”

Neri coughed, seeming to choke on the wine a bit.

Katy knew why this troubled him.  She laughed.  “Serves you right for taking such a greedy first gulp.”

He cleared his throat, “Don’t you think you should have waited until after the wedding?”

“Can I take your order now?”  The waiter said, interrupting before Katy could reply.  She bit her tongue and both she and Neri made their requests in turn – all the while possible scathing replies tumbled through Katy’s mind.  Before the waiter could walk away, Neri asked him to leave the bottle of wine.

“You always did have more of an attachment to my father and mother’s affairs than I did…”  She began with a hint of her annoyance in her tone.

“Kathleen… please forgive me.”  He reached out and took her hand and the words & venom died on her tongue like grapes withering in the sun.  “I’ve spent so many years worried about what you were doing and with who… I suppose it’s still very easy for me to fall into old habits.  I’m not here to judge you, I have no right to.”

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.  “It’s okay.  I know why you’re worried.”

“You do?”  He said with a brow furrowed slightly.

“Of course.  You don’t know Pietro.  As,” She lowered her voice, “mafioso,” She continued in a normal tone, “… it’s only natural to suspect the worst of people.  If you didn’t… well, that could prove disastrous.”

He gently ran his thumb across the back of her hand. 

“You’ll see, once you meet him. He’s a good man. You’ll be the best of friends… I’m sure of it.”

Neri looked down at their hands, “Oh… I don’t know about that.”  He said quietly.  “I think I’ll only ever have one emotion towards the man you choose to give your heart to.”

Katy looked up at Neri, but he did not meet her eyes this time.  Instead, he took his hand away and spread out his napkin across his lap in preparation of their meal.  “Tell me about your concert this week.  I saw the posters on the square – are you truly singing with Enrico Caruso?”  He said changing the subject quickly.

That was the end of sweet nothings for all of dinner.  Wine flowed freely, and the conversation drifted from her career to the family back in Sicily – of births, deaths, and hopes for the future.  They spoke of Uncle Tony’s funeral and how Aunt Frankie’s body was shipped home by her Grandfather’s men and put in the ground beside him under a tree they both loved as children.  Of Gina’s four children and Grandma Rita’s declining health.

The world, it seemed, went on without her there.  Neri did not speak of ‘business’ to her – though a part of her wanted to ask; but she knew he would say nothing.  Made Men never did.  Hours passed, and any thought of Pietro’s unexpected absence drifted further and further away with each refilled glass of wine until at last, the bottle was empty and so was the restaurant.  The staff was literally cleaning around them.  Watching them, she realized, with the warm smiles of people admiring a young couple they thought deeply and madly in love.

“Your birthday is coming.”  Katy said, tearing her eyes from the staff back to her companion.  “Twenty-six this year?”

Neri nodded.  “I told Rita no cake this year – but I doubt she’ll listen.”

Katy shook her head.  “Grandma won’t listen, that’s what makes her Grandma.  You’re getting a cake whether you want it or not.”

They both chuckled and then fell silent.  It was weighty and awkward.  A part of her had been happier than she’d been in years – it was as if no time had passed between them at all and her childhood friend had come back to her.  If things had been different, she knew exactly how this would end – but … she looked at her watch, finally remembering her fiancée.

“It is late.”  Neri said standing up with the grace of a man who had not just drank half a bottle of wine, unlike Katy who felt as though her knees would give out under her own weight.  “I saw your guys on the way in … I presume they can get you home alright?”

Katy looked to the door where, through the large windows, she could see the bodyguards her family still assigned to her after all these years.  “Yes… but soon enough I’m not going to need them anymore.”  She laughed.  “My husband will be capable of seeing to my protection you know.”  She grabbed the table and used it to balance herself as she stood.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye then.”  He said, picking up his fedora from the table and putting it onto his head. 

“You’ll come to the wedding, I hope?”  She said arching an eyebrow.

He paused and looked to her with sad eyes, “I promised your father a very long time ago that I would be wherever you needed me Katy heedless of my own desires … and I’m a man of my word.”

Katy chuckled and shook her head.  “If you don’t want to – I understand, I just…”

Neri reached out and touched her cheek.  “Trust me, Kid.”  He said fondly.  “There’s nothing I want more in this world than to be looking into your beautiful eyes on your wedding day.”

She didn’t know what to say, she felt like his words meant so much more than what appeared on the surface – which was wildly in appropriate for him to say to a soon to be married woman.  And so, she joked to pass over it as if she had not noticed.  “Kid?  You always did treat me as if you were so much older than me.  Eight years hardly grants you the right to speak to me so… Old Man.”

“Old Man?”  he laughed.

“If you insist on calling me Kid, it’s only fair I call you Old Man.”

He pulled out a large money clip from his pocket and put down enough to pay for the dinner, wine, and a very generous tip.  “Sounds good.”  He pocketed the rest of his cash.  “I’ll see ya around, Kid.”  With a quick tip of his hat, Neri Mancini turned from her and made his away to the door, disappearing back into the night.

Her men took her out to her car and as she got inside she asked, “Please take me to Pietro’s apartment.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” 

She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t shown up.  It wasn’t like him to cancel without at least calling to let the host of the restaurant know to inform her.  He certainly had a lot to make up for tonight, standing her up like this!  The drive to his building was filled with her mind imagining all the reasons for why he’d not come and as her vehicle came to a stop, her past finally began to crawl out from the dark recesses of her mind.  Fears of old tragedies flood her thoughts and her heart quickened with jolts of terror. 

Her men opened the door and helped her out and cross the street.  The doorman smiled as she approached.  He knew her well.  “Ms. DiCaprio.”  He said, inclining his head.  “I’m afraid that Pietro isn’t home yet.”

Katy stopped.  “Do you know where he went this evening?”

“Afraid not, Miss.  I presumed he was leaving for a long business trip.  He had several suitcases with him …”

Katy cut the man off.  “Please let me through.”

The doorman opened the door and allowed her and her men to enter.  Joseph took her key to Pietro’s home and told her to stay behind him.  Hands, for the first time in years, hovered near guns.  Tears welled up in Katy’s eyes.  A trip?  Why would he have her meet him for dinner at their favorite restaurant and then leave town on business without telling her?  It made no sense!

They unlocked his door and checked each room before letting her enter.  All around she could see that most of his décor was still in place… his kitchen fully stocked… and yet, his dresser had been emptied.  His bathroom cleared of his personal effects.  Anything he couldn’t live without was gone. Not just enough to cover him for a few days, but all of it. 

Pietro was gone.

A Short Time Later

The door to room 128 opened and Neri, in a hotel monogramed bathrobe stood before her.  He opened his mouth, possibly to ask her what she was doing there, or how she found him, but instead of allowing him the chance she threw out the truth.

“Pietro left me.”

Neri said nothing.

“He took everything… and ran.”  She said, shame and pain in her voice.

Still he said nothing.

“Grandma Rita tried to tell me he was too much older than me… hell even you suspected that he was no good and you didn’t even know him – but not me!  I didn’t see it.”  Anger in her was rising, at herself for being so stupid and at him for not saying a damn thing.

Silence.

“FOR FUCK SAKES, SAY SOMETHING!”  She screamed at him.

“I wanted to kiss you.”

Katy, still drunk shook her head, unsure she’d heard him say what she thought he’d said – a phrase so out of place with the utter wreck that was her life in this moment that it sent her brain into a spin. 

“You were so young … any man would have been well within his rights to kill me.  It wasn’t right for me to think of you like that… so, I called out to the others to stop myself.”

Katy’s mouth hung open.  What the hell was she supposed to say?  After all these years?  After thinking him utterly indifferent to her and now, her fiancée runs off with her inheritance and he chooses this moment to tell her this?!?  “This isn’t happening…”  Katy whispered, her mind in a panic. 

“I’ve loved you in one fashion or another since the moment your father brought me to Alderly Estate as a boy to be your playmate.”

“No.”  She said shaking her head, taking a half-step back.

“Tony knew … but he said you needed time, so I stayed away & let you study your music.”

“I can’t…”  She put a hand to her chest, finding it hard to catch her breath.

“When Rita told me about your engagement – I wanted to die.”  He stepped into the hallway.  Her bodyguards hovering nearby seemed unsure what to do.  They knew Neri and her past, they knew who Neri was to the family and he was a Made Man atop everything… and yet, they also had strict orders to protect her from anyone and everyone.

“I love Pietro.”  She said, sounding less sure of herself than at any other time before.

“Do you?”  He said, advancing on her, backing her into the wall across the hall.  “Do you REALLY love him?”

“Yes!”  She said, wincing with eye lids squeezed shut, tears escaping the corners of her eyes.

“Look at me… look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t love me, if you can.  Do it and I’ll get dressed this very minute and I’ll go find this would-be husband of yours.”  He took her by the chin and forced her to look at his face.  “Or let me kiss the woman you’ve become; let me take you back into my hotel room.  Let me help you forget all about him; because I can, you know I can, and I want to.  I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in all my life, Kathleen.”

She lifted her eyes to meet his.  Maybe it was half-a-bottle of wine, maybe it was the sting of betrayal and a desire to hurt Pietro as badly as he hurt her, or maybe he was right and she had never stopped loving him; but whatever the reason, Katy stood on her tip toes and moved to kiss Neri.  This time, he did not turn from her, but pulled her into his arms and tight against him so she could feel his body through his opening robe, as he kissed her. 

She could feel him moving them back towards his room, but she had no desire to protest the impropriety.  She had no mind for logic as her hands slipped inside his robe and her fingers brushed across his well-toned muscles just as she dreamed of doing for years.  He was naked to the waist, kissing her and unfastening her buttons as they crossed the threshold.  Wordlessly his foot shot out and kicked the hotel door closed with a resounding bang. 

The Next Morning

The rising sun spilled across their naked bodies, still tangled in the sheets.  Katy had been awake for a short while and had to use the bathroom terribly, but she didn’t want to move.  The room was cold and Neri’s body was so warm.  She hadn’t said a word to him, instead she lay silently enjoying him playing with her hair – thinking her asleep.  She still wasn’t sure what she would say to him. 

She supposed this was really happening.  Their family would expect them to marry now, not that the idea of that broke her heart.  She had supposed that would be her future for all her young life – though it would mean accepting the life of a Mafia wife.  She had hoped she’d put the Mafia behind her, but if she’d let anyone pull her back in – it would be Neri.  He’d been right in thinking that a night in his bed would have her forgetting all about ‘what’s his name?’ She smiled at that thought.  Let Pietro have her inheritance.  What did she really care?  She had her music and now, finally, she had Neri too.

Life was perfection.

She closed her eyes, thinking to let herself fall back to sleep if it was possible.  A lazy day in bed, that’s exactly what they both needed.  She’d have Neri call for room service and they’d eat and make love and sleep and wake to do it all over again.  Silent, she resolved that she would not leave this bed save to use the restroom until she saw the sun rising again tomorrow.

Neri’s hands in her hair stopped as there was a knock at the door.  Had he called for room service already?  She was going to ask him, but his next actions caused her to hesitate.  Ever so carefully he picked up her head and put a pillow under it as he took exquisite pains to extract himself from the bed without ‘waking’ her.

Throwing on a shirt and his trousers, still barefoot, he gently closed the bedroom door behind him. She could hear him loading a gun as he moved to, presumably, look out the peep hole.  A moment later she could hear the door open and Neri saying, “Shhh!  She’s still asleep.”

She sat up and pulled the sheet to her body as quietly as possible, straining her ears to hear the voices in the other room.  “It’s done.”  She heard Vito say.

“Was it him?”  Neri asked.

“Can’t believe the fucker used his real name, ballsy shit.  You’d at least think he would have been smart enough not to tell her where he was from.”

Katy’s heart raced.

“And the deeds?” Neri asked.

Silence.

“Fuck.”  Neri said with no small amount of annoyance.

Katy covered her mouth to prevent herself from making a single noise.  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  Or rather… she could believe it, which was why she was so damn angry.  This was what the family did.  This was who they were.

“He was clearly working with someone.”

“Durden?”  Neri asked.

“Maybe, but it could have been anyone really.  How is she?  I assume because she’s here, she must be okay?”

“Fucker broke her heart… he’s lucky you went after him and not me.”

“Yea, well, trust me when I say he wasn’t too happy with what I had to say to him.  Frank was right… Lucy should never have left that shit alive.  Can you believe she felt bad for him?”

Katy felt sick to her stomach.  Neri being with her last night had just been a distraction so that Vito could kill Pietro without her getting in the way?  And Pietro had never loved her at all … but had been using her for revenge?  And now, someone named Durden had her inheritance?  Katy slid out of the bed silently and dressed, ignoring the voices in the other room, trying to think of what she would do considering all these revelations.

When she exited the bedroom, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted to say or how she meant to say it – she just knew she had to leave.  Vito and Neri stood up as soon as she entered the room. 

“Katy.”  Vito said.

“Good Morning.”  Neri said warmly.  She walked up to him, it was clear he didn’t realize how much she’d heard.

“If I ever see you again…”  She started but didn’t know how to finish.  The light of realization illumed in his brown eyes and pain lined Neri’s face instantly.

“Katy, I think there are some things you need to know.”  Vito began.

She turned on her cousin.  “Now?  Really?  How about when Rita realized who my fiancé was?  How about before you came here to kill him or…”  She looked back to Neri, her shoulders sunk and lip quivering.

She turned back to Vito violently.  “After my concert this week I’m leaving Italy and, I swear to God if either of you come after me … if I see another DiCaprio man, I’ll fire my bodyguards and I will go so far underground that you will NEVER know what’s become of me.”

“We thought he’d hurt you if you confronted him Katy – you don’t know what happened in Enna all those years ago.”  Neri said, his voice full of desperation.

Katy turned towards him, “Pietro was a creep, I get it… but you sat there with me in that restaurant, getting me drunk…”

“Kathleen, it’s not like that.”

“And then when I came to you, heartbroken and…”

“He left you, that was true – I never lied to you.”  Neri insisted.

“BUT YOU KNEW HE WAS DEAD!”  She screamed at him.  “You KNEW that while I was waiting to introduce you to him, that Vito was sending him to sleep with the fishes!  You knew his body wasn’t yet cold when you took me to your bed!”

“You have no idea who that young man really was, or what he was capable of doing, Katy.” Vito tried to interject. 

“I love you.”  Neri said.

Katy smacked Neri as hard as she possibly could and to his credit, he didn’t react.  “How dare you offer your heart to me, now, like this…”  Her nostrils flared, and she held his gaze until he had enough sense to turn his eyes away. 

She looked to Vito.  “I mean it.  You tell the family to back off… maybe… MAYBE I will eventually forgive them for this because they’re my blood; but not today.”

Vito simply nodded, Katy grabbed her purse and stormed out the door – met in the hallway by her bodyguards who raced to keep pace with her.

5 Years Ago
 

Tight fist around the bag, arms flying forward and back in rapid succession as feet thunder down the street.  A soft hand takes hers and pulls her rounding the corner, brick wall offering a shield from the sight of three police in pursuit on foot.  Katy holds her breath as the cops run past. Closing her eyes, her heart thundering in her ears, she says a silent prayer of thanks for not getting caught.  Feminine laughter erupts next to her and the slender soft form rolls right and presses into her, wet lips claiming hers in a breathless kiss. 

Maureen’s fingers tangle into her red hair, pulling her tightly towards her as her hot tongue plunges deep into Katy’s mouth.  She laughs as they kiss.  The insanity of it all was absolute magic.  She didn’t need the money.  She certainly didn’t need a lover – especially a woman; but the danger… GOD!

“Tell me I was wrong…”  Maureen says pushing her hands under Katy’s blouse.

Katy shook her head ‘no.’ – “It was better than you said it would be.”

Maureen kissed down her neck and Katy giggled.  “We should do it again… soon.”

“Soon.”  Katy agreed, panting, still clutching the bag of money. 

“Very soon.”  Maureen said trying to unfasten her bra.

“We do have a very nice hotel room, you know.”

“Danger makes you hot.”  Maureen whispered as her hands went down to Katy’s breeches.  “Cops are still looking for us… we’re one wrong turn away from being found by them or anyone; you a well-known opera singer moonlighting as a criminal.  What’s more dangerous than that?”

Katy thrilled.  She was right.  Everything about this was wrong – so very wrong!  Two women… what would people think if they knew what they were doing!?!  And she was a criminal now – a elite socialite and a wanton and unapologetic thief!  What would she say to explain it all?  Her bodyguards were probably still trying to figure out how she and Maureen had slipped them… they had no idea where she was or what she’d been doing.  If they got nicked by the coppers, like this, she’d be run out of the church, her family, and society. 

Which only made it all that much hotter.

Maureen smirked as she knelt, disappearing from Katy’s line of sight.  Blood rushed to her cheeks as pleasure flooded every corner of her body.  This time she did drop the bag of money, but she didn’t care.  The only thing she could think about was the disgusting things that Maureen was doing to her body with that perfect tongue of hers.

“I do love danger…” She gasped her confession.  “But you love room service… and gin… and… god, what do you want? I’ll give you whatever you want… fuck!” 

Maureen laughed and rose slowly back up to look her in the eyes, dragging Katy’s panties back into place as she moved.  “I love how you spoil me.”

Katy brushed a finger across her lover’s lips, wiping away a small bit of moisture.  “I love how you thank me.”

“Fine.”  Maureen said with a fake pout, bending down to grab the money bag.  “But I have only JUST begun to thank you properly, you naughty little goomba.”  She gave Katy a cheeky wink and took her hand. 

Later That Night

“You’ve always been rich then?”  Maureen was laying on the bed, a satin sheet draped across her waist as she lay on her belly, feet up in the air behind her.  Her eyes shimmering, wet and relaxed, seemed to smile at Katy as she passed the joint to her.

Katy, propped up on pillows was dressed in a cotton shift, having let her bodyguards in the door an hour ago.  The guys weren’t too happy with her, but they were starting to get use to her making their lives hell.  She was the worst charge who ever lived, of that she was sure, and were they not paid well by the DiCaprio family still – she would have lost their loyalty a long time ago.

“Family money.  I used to have a lot more of it; but let’s just say I’ve made some bad investment decisions.”  She rolled her eyes trying not to think of poor dead Pietro… that son of a bitch. 

“Must be fucking nice.”

“Not as nice as you think.”  Katy said, a bit more bitter than she meant to.

“Poor little rich girl.”  Maureen’s tone echoed her bitterness.  Katy felt a little guilt.  She’d read her mother’s journals about growing up without a dime to her name, on the streets as Maureen had.  It was a struggle, a terrible struggle… and a lonely journey.  Katy couldn’t blame Maureen for not understanding that having money didn’t necessarily make life or losses easier to bear.

Katy took a hit and let the burn in her lungs soothe any wounded pride.  “This is good stuff.”  She said passing it back. 

“Best your money could buy.”  Maureen gave her a wink and leapt up as there was a knock at the bedroom door.  Wrapping herself in Katy’s robe she opened the door to see what the bodyguards wanted this time.

“Katy?”  A male voice called out, clearly trying to look around Maureen.

“She’s a little busy now; who are you?”

Katy stood up to see if the face matched the voice she thought she remembered.  Seeing his thick mop of dark hair and those beautiful eyes that she couldn’t possibly have forgotten, she came forward seemingly unaware of her limited state of dress, “IGNAZIO!”

Maureen stepped back, and Katy embraced her old friend.  “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Our friends asked me to bring you some news… but why don’t you get dressed and I’ll, um, wait out here for you.”  It was only now she realized that he was avoiding looking at her too closely – much to Maureen’s amusement.  Her lover had walked back to a chair and sat down wildly inappropriately, revealing things only her mother and husband should know the sight of.  She was just chuckling at Ignazio’s modesty and finishing off the blunt.

“I’ll be out in a second.”  Katy said allowing Ignazio to exit quickly and shutting the door behind him.  “He’s a very dear friend of mine.”  She explained.

“I’m sure.”  Maureen said, still darkly amused.

“It’s not like that.”  Katy went for her clothes and began to redress herself.

“He wishes it was.”  Maureen picked up a glass of gin and took a drink before adding, “I can tell.” 

Katy scoffed.  “Well, just be nice, okay?”

“Wha-? When haven’t I ever been nice?”  She asked, over-pretending her offense.

Katy tilted her head to the side slightly, “Do I need to make a list?”

“Well.  Can help it if I get a little jealous?  You’re my lady Katy… and I’m not good at sharing.”

Katy sighed.  “How long have we been friends?”  She said as she pulled on her shirt, her tone becoming more serious.

“Friends?  Is that what we are?” Maureen joked as she began to dress, but Katy’s expression caused her to quickly add, “I’m sorry, you know I’m only foolin’.”  As she pulled on her shirt, Maureen crossed the room to Katy’s side.  “You’ve always been very clear about what we are to each other… and you know I’m good with it.” 

Katy stood motionless as Maureen put her hands-on Katy’s shoulders and kissed her cheeks.  “I’m glad.”  She said to Maureen quietly.  “These last two years saved me. I know that can’t possibly make sense to you… but, they have.”

Maureen chuckled.  “Crazy fucked up world – sometimes requires a little crazy in response.”  Her smile faded as their eyes stared deeply into each other’s. “You’re not a bad person, Katy, quite the opposite.  You just needed to blow off some steam. Don’t measure yourself by any of it.  It’s just shit you did for a little while… it’s not who you are.”

Katy realized then how they were speaking to each other.  Ignazio hadn’t even told her why he was here.  So, why did it feel like she was saying goodbye to Maureen?  Had they both been through so much shit in life that they could just feel when moments like these had snuck in the back door to surprise them?

“Maureen I …”  Katy started to say, but Maureen cut her off.

“Give me a ring when you want to go out and knock over another post office – okay, Sweetling?”

Katy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.  Then she watched her lover walk out the door.  She could hear her say her brief goodbyes to the guys in the next room and only after Katy could hear that she was gone, did she come out of the bedroom.

Ignazio was sitting on the couch and he stood as she came into the room.  This time he looked at her with a smile, an eager smile, Maureen was right.  After all these years he still felt something for her.  “Good to see you, Boss.”  He said, running his hand through his hair.  It was then she noticed the glint of metal on his left ring finger.

“Ignazio – you got married.”  She blinked hard, shocked. 

“Last Spring.”  He admitted.  “My father lived long enough to see the wedding, so, that was a good thing.”

Katy walked over and sat down in a chair across the coffee table from him.  “How was your trip up from Sicily?  Did you bring your family?  I’d love to meet them.”  She said.

“The trip was quite nice actually, took trains most of the way, no better way to travel honestly.  Very nice countryside, and kind people for the most part, but I didn’t bring Hazel.  She’s expecting in a few months so…”

“Congratulations.”  She said with a smile.  “So… why did Uncle Vito send you?  Seems like you’re not the best choice to send on a long trip – what with your family growing and all.  Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone is fine in Sicily.  Teresa’s health is holding, but you know with her age…” He shrugged. 

Katy nodded.

“No, I… well, I came to bring you this.”  He reached into his jacket and pulled out an already opened envelope with postage stamps on it.  “They would have sent Neri, but…”

Katy shook her head.  “Best they didn’t.”

Ignazio nodded.  “So, I offered to come.”

“You didn’t have to.”  She said accepting the envelope and opening it. 

“I missed you.”  He said with a smile.  “And… well, I still work for you.”

Katy laughed.  “That was a childish game we use to play.  You don’t owe me loyalty Ignazio, if anything, it’s me who owes you.”  She pulled out the paper and unfolded it to see flowing script.  She read the words once and a second time before looking up to Ignazio.

“Hazel has a few months yet.  I thought I’d come with you to handle the final arrangements.”

“I barely remember him.”  She said softly, folding the paper carefully back into the envelope. 

Ignazio nodded. 

“What the hell will I say?”

“Nice to meet you?”  Ignazio offered with a smile.

“Good Lord how old must he be?”

“80s I think.  Damn old for someone living the life he’s lived – IRA, crimes of all sorts… Lucky Lucy’s grandfather… your Great Grandfather.  The man’s a damn legend.”

Katy drew a long slow breath, her buzz wearing off with the reality of another death hanging over her head.  “I guess I could go see this bar.  Maybe sell it after he passes.” 

Ignazio nods, “You could,” though it was clear he had other thoughts in mind. 

They sat staring at each other, neither one saying what both were really thinking – the thing she’d talked about for years whenever they spoke of a trip to Ireland.  Had Ignazio been sent to keep her from learning the truth?  Another attempt on Vito’s part to hide Frank and Lucy’s ugly past – to keep an illusion of them alive for her? 

“Maybe,” He broke into her thoughts, “Maybe you finally find out what all happened back then?”

Katy was shocked.  She was sure that Vito would NEVER have allowed for her to learn about what happened to the woman who took her from Lucy and raised her for the first years of her life, or her husband.  Why was Vito’s man, a Made Man, bringing such an activity up?  He must have noticed her eyes go wide as he reminded her, “I work for you – whatever you want Katy, that’s what we’ll do. I’m your man, until the end.”

She shook her head, but she couldn’t help smiling.  “You really mean it.”  She said, rhetorically.

“You know I do.”  He said standing up.  “I have to go call Hazel, let her know I made it safe.  She’s probably worried.”

“Of course.”  Katy said standing.

“I’m in room 300.  I’ll make some calls and plan our trip.  I’ll tell your men the details of our travel arrangements as soon as I have them on lock.”

“You’re in charge now, Ignazio.”  She said, relieved to finally have someone with her she liked.

“Something told me it was going to be that way.”  He said putting on his hat.  “I’ll let you know when the details are set then.”

Katy nodded.  “I guess we’re finally going to Ireland then.”

“I hope their ready for you.”  He said with a chuckle, and then, Ignazio

3 Years Ago
 

Katy knelt in a snowy church yard to place a handful of flowers onto the cold earth beneath a headstone bearing her Great Grandfather’s name.  Behind her, Ignazio quietly spoke to Ragan and Mickey Two-Toes about the day’s agenda which she’d loosely outlined to him on the drive from her home.  Softly, she whispered a final prayer for the dead and crossed herself as she rose up to stand.

Turning on her heels Katy marched towards her men with purpose, asking as she reached them, “Has AlbertEdwards been in touch this morning?” Albert was an accountant who had somehow ended up in charge of the precious few of her family’s business holdings that she hadn’t handed off to Pietro and, through him, the American Anarchist known as Tyler Durden.

Katy had come to learn a great deal about Tyler since coming to Ireland.  In the past, Uncle Vito, Tony, & even Neri had done everything in their power to keep her as far from the man as they could – even on paper.  However, the men she surrounded herself with now were her own and finally she was beginning to build a more complete picture of her past and why Durden was someone who would even give two shits about her.

“Yea.” Ragan, a HUGE man by Irish standards with dark hair and eyes, spoke in a deep rumbling voice.  “He called, says he found prize fighter for you … Irish if you can believe it.”

Katy chuckled.  What were the odds of that?

“Says the guy is one hell of a scrapper and fairly known here in Ireland which should draw a bigger crowd for your fight.”

Katy paused outside her car and took a deep breath, pulling off her gloves.  “What’s this prize fighter’s name?”

“Says his name is Aidan_OConnor .”  Katy tilted her head slightly at the name.  Not twenty feet from where she stood right now, another Aidan lay beneath the snow and dirt because of his interactions with her.  She could barely remember him, the boy who had saved her life when she was no more than six.  A part of her wanted to reject the fighter because of that ill omen… but she needed a fighter, badly, and there wasn’t time to find someone else with the specific qualifications she’d asked of her American accountant.  No… she’d have to accept the help of a second Aidan here in Dublin town and hope for the best. 

“While he’s not from Dublin originally, they know him here. Edwards says it should be one hell of an exhibition.”  Ragan opened her car door to let her inside.

“Let’s hope so because both the bar & farm are riding on it.”  She got into the car.  Ignazio did the same, sliding into the front driver’s side.  Katy picked up the newspaper on the seat beside her and began to read it.

“How’s Hazel and little Tony?”  She asked Ignazio, not looking up from her paper.

“Tony’s loving the snow, but Hazel will never get use to it.  Now that’s she knows she’s got another bun in the oven, it’s only gotten worse I’m afraid.  I literally cannot do a damn thing right.”  He laughed. 

“Are you thinking of retiring on me?”  She half-joked but glanced up at the rear-view mirror to gauge his facial reaction.

Ignazio laughed.  “Hell no, Boss!  If I go home to farm my family’s land in Sicily, I’d have no way to get away from her when she gets in these moods of hers.  At least when I’m out with you I get a little peace.”

Katy chuckled, sure he meant it all in jest.  He worshipped Hazel and his son, this baby would be another well-deserved treasure.  She was grateful for the woman, but in rare moments, painfully jealous.  Most days she only asked about her to remind herself that Ignazio wasn’t here out of love – but out of friendship and devotion to his oaths given to her Uncles so long ago.

“You should bring her a gift today.” 

“It’s not her birthday or our anniversary.”  Ignazio said, a touch of confusion in his voice.

“Must there be a Holy day or celebration for you to show the mother of your children affection?”  She put her paper down and arched her eyebrow. 

Ignazio shook his head, no.  “But if I bring something home she’ll get after me about what I didn’t spend the money on.”

“I’ll give you a bonus.  She’s pregnant with a second child, perhaps another son, that’s reason enough to celebrate.”

“Katy…”  Ignazio began to protest.

“I won’t hear it.”  She said. 

“We’re counting pennies.  You don’t need to give me anything more than you already do – which is far too generous by half… if the other guys knew...”

“If you or Albert told them, I’d gut you both like fish.”  She shook her head.  “It’s entirely my business how much I pay you, and none of yours.  Unless you’d like to take up the job of my accountant?”

Ignazio laughed.  “I’d have you in a work house in no time.”

Katy picked up the paper again.  “That’s what I thought.”  She opened it and began to read about the latest troubles the IRA had gotten into.  She sighed.  That was some whole other hornet’s nest which she had done her best to avoid since the funeral. The boys of the green book had insisted upon being a part of her Grandfather’s funeral (despite her protests) but they’d kept their distance since.  Still, she was sure that she couldn’t avoid them forever. 

Debts would be due … very soon.  The IRA measured her power & wealth by a very large stick that Frank & Lucy had established long ago.  Sadly, she wasn’t half so influential or rich as either of them separately, let alone as a team.  The IRA would realize that very soon.  She’d been keeping up a fine illusion, but if she couldn’t come up with their guns and the money for the booze they’d been sending to Chicago in good faith all these years, not only would she lose the bar and farm; she’d probably lose her life as well.  The Irish Republican Army wasn’t one to give away their resources out of the kindness of their hearts, no matter whose great-granddaughter she was.