"I've got wine at my place, good stuff from Sicily.  So if you've got the food.  I've got the wine... we're set."

After checking out at the register, Bella and Billy made their way to the car.

"So... I'm taking you north.  An hour's drive.  Nominally the house is in Port Huron but truthfully it's set way back off a side road in the thick of some real crazy swamp like wilderness.  It's not an incredible view though.  I guess what I'm saying is, if you'd like more than just my guys following us... or if you need to let your people know how to reach you, I'd understand."

Bella, in truth, didn't want Billy's guards coming but she knew if they both ended up trashed on wine it was unlikely they'd make it back to Detroit tonight.  She didn't like to rule out those sorts of scenarios and the last thing she needed was Rebecca Ferrari calling for her head on a platter for disappearing with one of her auths.

"Your call.  No offense would be taken in any case.  I just don't want to offend or worry your people."

Billy shook his head and waved a dismissive hand.

"I think you overestimate how much I'm actually needed to run my operation."

He laughed then just before his face turned serious.

"That was a joke, nobody except maybe Integra knows all of my shit. It's a lot to keep track of to be fair, but boy oh boy have I got a knack for it. That being said, it'll be fine for one night. I've got enough things going on that I could use a break. Besides, you're not dumb enough to kill me or not bring me back, not in Detroit at least. Especially not when people have seen me with you all day long. That would be suicide, and I don't think either one of us wants to do that to Aurora."

He then leaned out the window a bit to take a bit of fresh air in the face.

"So what the hell are we gonna talk about for an hour?"

Bella smirked. 

"What's your plans for the future?  It's a fair question as the mother of the girl you're dating... and as your Godmother.  You MUST have some thoughts on where you're going not just in the Cosa Nostra but in life.  Why did you get into this.  What's the end game?  I mean, you're Lordian's son but you're so much more than that and I know this because my daughter wouldn't have fallen in love with just anyone."

She shook her head.

"I think it would take a very special sort of person to truly win her heart and not just be a passing flgiht of fancy.  Which, obviously you're not."

Billy knew exactly what he wanted to say. He also knew exactly what would drive someone away faster than a cat in a pond.

"Date for a while. Enjoy our lives as much as we can until we can determine how best to work this. It would be stupid to commit to anything before we've figured anything out. You never know what tomorrow brings, and it's better to be flexible for now than to be too rigid."

He turned his head toward Bella.

"Once we've figured that out though, if you've got those watches. I have an idea. You see, the watches I'm talking about used to belong to Marie and to Sal. Her parent's both by blood. But they have a special meaning to me too. My dad made them. So I figure, there's no better way to connect us together with our past than to have those watches. Truth be told I'd give you just about anything you want short of my virginity for those watches."

He shrugged.

"Of course, if you don't have them, then I've got some tracking down to do. That could take some time, so there might not be a ring on Aurora's finger for quite a while. Of course, this is all counting in the idea that she actually does want any of this."

Isabella hesitated when he threw out that he was a virgin, and almost said something but thought better of it.  She wasn't in the habit of accusing people of lying, even if he probably was for the sake of making her think he was a nice boy.  Which, ironically, she already thought.  If he'd been with women or not really had little sway over her opinion of him.  After all, Gavin had been with nearly every eligible woman he'd met prior to her... it didn't change his worth in her mind.

Well... maybe it had caused her to think maybe he wasn't an ideal choice to marry at first but she came around on that.  She wouldn't have looked down on Billy if he'd been as much a ... well... whatever Gavin could have been called in his youth, would she?  She couldn't honestly say, but she was glad she didn't have to cross that bridge.

Instead of speaking she just smiled at him.

"You know, I do like knowing what your plans are for your relationship ... but, Billy, I was asking what are YOUR plans.  If there wasn't an Aurora... what would be the goal?  Typically speaking folks have a reason for joining the Cosa Nostra.  You're as rich as you could ever need to be, as powerful as anyone might like... so... what was the point?  Why did you do it?  What will you do with it now that you have it?  All that power and money... what's the purpose?"

Billy furrowed his brow. Nobody asked him that. Not now, not ever. It was not the sort of question people ever fielded to him. Nobody ever cared enough to ask.

"You, Rebecca, Gavin, Will, Aurora, Integra, Eva, Elyse, just to name a few. Those are my plans, that's why I do it. If I didn't have the money or the power I don't know who would be where or why. Tell me truthfully, would you be able to be in the position you are in without the gift I gave you to get back there? Or would you be worse for wear and still paying someone else back? How about Will? Would he have escaped that poker game with just a bloody nose if seven hadn't gone barreling in my direction? What about Aurora? I've got two scars on me right now that say she might not still be here any more."

He took a deep breath.

"I got in trying to figure out who my father was. I got that information a long time ago and I could have left. Now? Now I'm here to keep as many people safe and happy as I can for as long as I can. I'm not naive or stupid enough to think I can do it forever. But I am dumb enough to think that I can make a difference still. I'm young, I'll come around on that, but by then I hope yo have a real blood family of my own, so I'll make that my mission in life and it'll be too late to think about the consequences of being around that long."

He smiled and turned to Bella.

"What about you though kid? What do you want to be when you grow up?" 

"Don't be ridiculous."  She rolled her eyes.

"I only ever wanted one thing.  It wasn't money or cars or power and titles... not even the adoration and loyal of my men through all those things have been mine from time to time."

She stared ahead at the road as the city passed by outside the car.

"Like you... I came looking for a dad.  I found the man who fathered me and he did the best he could to try to fill the impossibly large hole I had grown in my heart."

She shook her head.

"He was doomed from the beginning to fail.  I grew up imagining someone impossible for anyone to be and by the time I met him, no matter what he did, he'd never be that good.  Salvatore wasn't a good man.  But he did love me, in his own way.  I'm an apple very near to the tree and I know that now.  And that's, perhaps, why I was always his favorite."

She sighed.

"Eventually I made the family I had always wanted - even if it's not exactly as I dreamed.  It's good.  I have no regrets in that department.  Others, perhaps, but not that one."

She smiled.

"Now... I suppose there are only two things left I can hope to achieve that matter.  And neither of them are in my power to make happen."  she glanced at Billy and her smile became a smirk.

"You might be able to help with one.  If she doesn't kill you first."

Bella chuckled, looking back to the road.

"Just two scars?  You're soft pretty-boy.  She'll toughen you up yet.  One day you'll be as covered in scars as my Wolf and your flesh will be a true tale to behold - in our line of work, with your talent for doing your own work, one day you're going to look at that body of your and not even recognize it."

She laughed.

"When that day comes, the hour you find yourself looking in the mirror at a stranger... just remember the story that got you there is the reason to keep going.  Cause, fact of the matter is, the longer you live... the more pretty your gun looks.  If you don't keep your eyes on the reason for it all... if you don't have any better purpose than what you can do for her and them physically, then you're dooming them to mourn you.  Old bodies get slower, Billy.  One day you won't be able to keep taking bullets like you do now.  You need to find a reason to live and it needs to be more than a person or what you can do with your hands."

She glanced at him.

"Are you hearing me?  Don't make the mistake of getting gray in your hair and not having a plan B for your own life after your body decided not to keep up with your mind anymore."

Billy shook his head.

"I stopped listening when I realized you were just gonna blab on about your past and not answer my question. I asked you what you want to be when you grow up, I don't care why you got into this, or how you got where you are. You're a Don, for a second time mind you. You already have a family. You have children who are all but independent. What's next for Isabella Byrne?"

He turned in his seat to face her then.

"You can't feed me some line about reason and purpose after you go grey, and sit there looking as good as you do at your age, and not have a purpose. That's what I asked you Bella. I ask what you're doing next. And I swear to God if you give me some bullshit line of 'teach everyone around me what I know' I'm going to open this door and jump out."

He put his hand on the door handle then.

"There are gonna be times for us to be sentimental. Then there are gonna be times for us to be on business. But if you really want to teach me something, teach me something. Give me one good example of what's worth being around for at your age that isn't family. One reason that you can get up tomorrow and keep on pushing. Cause if it's just for your family, then it should damned well be good enough for me too, and I never want you to tell me otherwise again. So what'll it be?"

Bella laughed.

"So over dramatic.  I never figured you for the sort."

She rolled her eyes.

"Fair enough, I didn't tell you what I'm living for now explicitly but it was implied.  And I never said family wasn't a good enough reason... it's the only reason.  I just wanted you to know that there are other ways to help your family other than smashing skulls and taking bullets for them and I was trying to advise you to diversify your interests so that when the day comes you're old and not able to do what you can do now physically ... you can keep taking care of them in a way that matters to you."

She sighed.

"That said... I went back to being a Don because one kid wouldn't walk away from the life despite what her father and I hoped for her.  Figured if we couldn't stop her from getting in, we'd protect her as long as possible.  The other will need a shit ton of legit cash if he's to follow his dreams.  I need to wash the blood off the money so Will can pursue this insane dream of his to become a politician."

She shook her head, amused.

"I found these books in his room that Tara sent him a couple months back... between a pile of stories about men from mars and women's underwear ads.  Now... if a teen boy is keeping books on law and government bookmarked with his leisure time reading materials - hidden away from his mother... I can only suspect he's serious.  He really does want something.  Finally.  And I will do whatever is possible to help him achieve his dreams."

Billy let go of the door handle and leaned back into his seat to listen.

"Bella, I own more businesses than I can count. Some of them I have a real passion for. Specifically the cigar business. I like getting in there and trying new things. If nothing else I'll be doing things I'm passionate about about and bankrolling my family for the rest of my life. I'm not the smartest, but isn't that what you raised Aurora to be? If I have my way, I'll be the strong silent one, behind the scenes making the money. She will be the one up front. She's got the pretty face, and she carries herself with the attitude. She's got all the training from you and Gavin and Sal. I'm just a kid fumbling in the dark who happened to find his own light switch. She had the light turned on right from the start and was shown exactly what to do with the toys in the room."

He was making all kind of metaphors today, it was very unlike Billy, but there was something about Bella that got him talking.

"Oh, and also, if I have my way, I still need a mom to dance with at my wedding. So you better stick around long enough for that shit."

"Marie did dance with Gavin cause I asked her... I suppose I could do the same for you."  She smiled at him.  "But you got a long ways to go before you're ready for wedding bells.  You barely know each other yet.  Take your time.  I know my daughter is probably about the most perfect girl you could ever hope to date... but I don't want either of you rushing things.  The only thing worse than love lost is finding that you said yes to the wrong person.  At least, that's what I'm lead to believe."

She sighed.

"Of course, that's a whole other bag of worms.  Love is a pretty crazy thing, especially in the Cosa Nostra.  So... taking you here has two purposes.  One is to show the things you want to see and, to have dinner, but the other is to ask a favor of you."  

She glanced at him.

"I was hoping maybe I could sign the deed to this house into your care.  Now, I'm not saying that I don't want to keep it... or that I want you mucking it up.  More I just want to make sure I have things tucked away for Aurora and William.  And even if you and Aurora don't work out, I trust that you would make sure this ended up safely in their hands.  The house and all it's contents."

She smiled.

"Would you be willing to do that for me?  Hold something for them?  I just don't trust all the lawyers and accountants... I mean these guys are criminals."  She laughed.  "If they are willing to steal for me, I can't really trust they won't steal from me when I die.  I'd rather leave the things that matter in the hands of people I really trust.  And, well, you're one of the few."

Billy nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that myself. If this place is in a nice location, I might buy somewhere out here myself. I still live in an apartment. I really love Hollowood you know. I've been thinking about having a place built from the ground up however I want it. And then signing Aurora's name onto the deed if we do wind up getting married."

He took in a quick shallow breath. His tone changed to one of rapidity with no sense of comedy left in it in the way his normal cadence carried.

"Oh and by the way, yes my intention is to marry your daughter one day. No it is not going to be anytime soon. Which means you need to watch your fucking back and live that long. I'm serious. You go before your little girl gets married and you and I both know that you won't forgive yourself. Don't fuck this up Bella. You only get one shot at this sort of thing. After that, if you're lucky, make it another year and someone can call you Nonna."

"Pretty ballsy of you to talk like that to a woman who has only just given her blessing for you to date her daughter.  I could just kill you and lose your body in the swamp."  She smirked.

"Though the idea of babies around the house doesn't hurt my feelings entirely."  She chuckled.  "You read for that sort of thing though?  Trust me it's a lot more difficult than it sounds.  Especially in our line of work.  In the best of times children are hard... but with turf wars and tifts happening, assassins and the feds... I gotta tell you Billy, there are things that will cross your path that you haven't even thought of yet."

She shook her head.

"God but you sound like Elias right now."  She chuckled. "Like a god-damned bull.  All energy, charging ahead with little sense or knowledge of where he was going.  Just knowing he was damn well going to get there!"

She sighed.

"The blessings of youth.  So... now that you've gotten my blessing, where do you suppose you'll take her for your first official outing together?  I mean, now that you don't have to worry about some goomba running back to me with the details of your public appearances, I'm sure you must have some places you'd like to take her?"

Billy laughed and shook his head.

"You really don't get our relationship do you? Where the hell do you take the girl who has been everywhere and has everything?"

He put up a hand to stop her answering.

"The answer is, you don't. You let her take you, the poor boy who grew up in Brooklyn without a pot to piss in. You let her make the rules and take you. On the days that she doesn't feel like doing that, then we can go to my favorite diner. Or I can bring her around to meet my friend Fred, you know the dance I told you about? He's out in LA now making moving pictures."

He nodded.

"I could take her through my cigar factory and show her how that stuff is made. I'm not fancy like she is Bella. I really enjoy doing the normal every day stuff. I don't think about fast cars and fancy dinners. That's her gig. Me? I'll take her to a moving picture, and we will get some ice cream and go to a rink for ice skating."

"You're a Don.  Not some kid from Brooklyn anymore and some girls like knowing their with the biggest, toughest, richest guy in the room.  It's like you said... she's always had the best and she picked you.  So, what does that say about you?"

She smirked at Billy.

"But I'll stop meddling.  I think I've done enough of it for one day.  I don't want you regretting this trip after all."  She paused before realizing what he said about the Cigar factory.  "So... the ones you've been bringing Gavin are from your own factory then?  How'd you get into that?"

Billy smiled.

"My right hand woman, Integra, you know her. First time we met she had brought out this pair of cigars from England. She really liked em, and so did I. She said it was impossible for her to get them here. So, I asked if she had contacts in England cause I had some extra money and space in Detroit. I built up a little shop and we began importing and selling cigars. Fast forward a couple of months and I decided to start making my own too."

He watched as the darkness of the swamp rolled by on the other side of the window. It was not the most friendly of terrain. It certainly wasn't somewhere he would think to build a house. Then again, half of the things Bella did he would never have thought to do.

"On another note Bella. I don't think you have it in you not to meddle. You're an Italian mother after all. It goes hand in hand with being Catholic and stubborn."

She sighed.

"Yeah well, I hope that matters when and if the day ever comes that my meddling pisses you off.  Hopefully, you'll remember how much I do like you and you will at least refrain from never speaking to me again... if only for the sake of Aurora."

She chuckled.

The swamp began to thin out and give way to a large open area with a resplendent two-story house on the land.  Beyond it, shore going to out dark waters under the night sky.  Distantly a bridge all lit up could be seen going across the water and beyond it a massive city. 

Bella parked the car and without hesitation, she got out and took a deep breath, the scent of cedar and loamy earth mixed with the cool air off the water which fed into the Great Lake Huron.  

"The Blue Water Bridge."  She said walking out past the house, taking Billy to see the view the house had.  "One side is Canada, one side the United States and this small bit of water is all that keeps you from the treasures that lay on either side... but mostly, I liked the place cause it's pretty."

She chuckled.

"And defensible.  What fucking Don would have a home in the middle of a God-damned swamp?"  She shrugged.  "I like coming here in the summers and opening the windows... just over there is a cement patio... Gavin and I have had fires out here and watched the stars.  It's really quite nice.  Come on... I'll show you the house."

She walked back towards the home, pulled out her keys and unlocked the door.

Inside took what was in Hollowood to a whole new level.  The house was wall-to-wall images and items.  There was so much to see it was nearly overwhelming.  As Bella flipped on lights, hand-drawn art in charcoal and pencil became visible.  The faces of people that Billy both knew and did not know.  Some were residents of Philly... Louis Mezzo was featured in a few as was the young gangster she'd taken as her hand, Aurelio.  He even found himself featured in drawings twice on the livingroom wall.

Gavin, however, was the most drawn person, followed closely by Aurora and William at many stages of their lives.  Salvatore was pictured, as well as what had to be Marie based on the woman's presence with Sal... and, what could only be his father with Marie in yet another at the bottom of her stairs. There were also faces he did not know at all and some of those were repeated almost as much as Gavin.  All of the art bore her name, sometimes written as Izzy, sometimes Isabella, and some as Bella.  The items signed 'Bella' were decidedly her best works.  

Images of people wasn't the only thing for Billy's eyes to take in though.  Small figurines, snowglobes, pencils, magnets, trinkets of every size, shape and stripe could be found here even the furniture was mismatched indicating each piece was picked up for a specific reason or at a different time from the rest.  Tore up scarves, broken heel shoes, ticket stubs, and matchbooks and a pair of unused plane tickets to Milan that were so old now that the paper had begun to yellow.

The home had a smell, like old books, though there were none here on the ground floor to be seen, just an open living room, a small dining room and a massive kitchen and... of course... stairs that would take one to the second floor.

"Welcome to the first home I ever bought myself.  My hideaway from all the problems of the Cosa Nostra, a small window into my heart.  Or, maybe you could think of it as a giant repository for a lot of garbage that no one but me cares about and that I don't want cluttering up Hollowood."

She walked towards the kitchen and began pulling out impliments to cook with and let Billy look around.

Billy was awestruck. It was, in fact, the only word that could describe it. His mouth didn't hang agape, but his mind did. He looked around at everything, every tiny detail of Bella's life was here. Every moment she had lived was in this house. No wonder she never wanted anybody to know about it. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs though.

He nearly put his fist through the wall.

"You."

He stared for a good thirty seconds at the man who had abandoned him. At the man who had left his mother to love other women from afar. At the man who had let his mother fall off the wagon. The man who had been the entire reason Billy uprooted his whole life to come looking. And here he was, smiling.

He ripped his tear-stung eyes away from the drawing and stormed his way into the kitchen pawing at his own face.

"The house is really beautiful Bella. I gotta make us dinner though before we can really walk around and you can show me a couple things. I have questions, but I figured you would know that much."

He made his way to the sink and began to fiddle with some pots and pans. It was obvious that the place was not lived in, so better to rinse some of the things out than risk dust getting in the food.

"I can take care of dinner all on my own, why don't you go and enjoy your time at home for a bit. Draw yourself a bath or something. Really relax for once in your life. Let someone else worry about things for just half an hour huh?"

"Of course."  She said softly, recognizing the pain in his eyes after seeing Lordian.  It's why she didn't often bring people here.  Not just because it was personal to her and her sanctuary... but also because it was a repository of the dead and the dead often carried with them their own issues.

"I, um... there's something that I should spend some time with anyway.  Why don't you just let me know when dinner is ready and I'll join you then."  She didn't want to draw attention to his pain and instead made her way up the stairs quickly leaving him alone to cook and with the ghosts of his own past.  

She'd be visiting ones of her own.

Bella reached the door at the top of the stairs, to the left and turned the knob and went inside closing the door behind her.  Whatever happened downstairs, she told herself she would be okay with it.  After all, Lordian had died long ago and there was nothing he could do to truly hurt the dead.

Billy cooked. He paid attention to nothing else in the world. Everything for him was the sights and sounds and smells. He rummaged around looking for knives and got to cutting up the tomatoes, and crushing the garlic. The water was on the stove and the chicken was in the oven before he knew it. It was the silence of the house, the loneliness of being there without anyone else around, knowing that his father's face was lurking around the corner that ate at him. He nodded. That was the exchange he would make.

Bill made his way to the bottom of the stairs just before he had to take the past off the stove.

"Bella! Dinner in five! Wash your hands and come downstairs!"

He called up just like he had always imagined his mother would have if his father had stayed home. She never did say anything like that, and he glared at that picture again. One day he might forgive the man, but not today.

He made his way back into the kitchen and finished getting the table set and the food ready. By the time Bella came down the candles were lit and everything was prepared. He even folded the napkins into little clam shells the way he saw at fancy restaurants.

"Buonasera. Per favore siediti e noi possiamo goderci la cena eh?"