Tara cast a glance at her sister that made Aurora smile.  There they were. They’d figure it out soon. Realize the people they were, the people they’d always been, were still within them.  Now, this was too. Love multiplied and experiences added. Seldom did life really take shit from you.  Even people. The Byrnes were gone, for the most part.  And yet, somehow they had never left her. They never would.  Aurora looked at her hands in her lap.  

“I think you underestimate my capacity for pleasure and mistake my stoicism for a lack of passion.  I assure you, I’m quite capable of raising another glass if given the occasion.” Tara said smartly.

Brigitte snickered, “I wasn’t worried about your capacity to drink.”  she smirked at Oriana.

“Girls.”  Aurora cautioned not wanting them to make Oriana uncomfortable.  “Your father is going to be so happy to see you both. You won’t believe all the worries he’s dreamed up about your misadventures and how it is you’ve managed to go through so much money.  I do hope your suitcases are full of pretty dresses to at least justify some of it?”

Tara tried and failed not to blush.

“Oh a few dresses made it out alive.”  Brigitte said. “I’ll show you all of mine when we get back home.  Mom you’re going to love this one that I got, it’s red. The most amazing shade.  Straps all down the back.”

Aurora nodded and listened to Brigitte prattle on but her eyes drifted to Oriana and Tara from time to time as the drive continued and until they pulled into the drive.

Oriana was the first out of the car, popping out like she was spring-loaded to stretch her legs.  Aurora eased out and Brigitte helped her to stand. “Doctor says another week or so and I can begin getting back to strength training.  Need to repair those muscles they did such a number on.”

“How bad is it?”  Brigitte asked instantly regretting it when Aurora lifted her shirt to show the c-section scar that was still healing.  Brigitte turned away as Aurora put the gauze back in place.  

“Classy, mom.”  

“You asked.” Aurora smirked.  “I’ll be fine. It looks much worse than it is.  It’s just healing that’s all. I’ll be better than before soon.  You watch. I’ve never let any injury slow me down and I’m not about to start now, especially not with a house full of these young women.”  Aurora lit up as the other car’s doors opened.

“Alright girls… names and ages, if you please.”  Aurora said as if a drill sergeant ready to review the troops.  Her voice still had that softer motherly edge, but she knew trouble when she looked at it.  All her life her mother had wished a daughter on her, one just like herself, one who would lock bodyguards in trunks and stab people who pissed her off.  Isabella Byrne, she was sure, was somewhere laughing at her right this very moment. She hadn’t gotten one. She’d gotten many.

“Cerise, 15.” Blonde. Green eyes. Tall. Stronger build.

“Azure, 15.” Brunette. Brown eyes- observant ones. She seemed to catalog everything she saw.

“Indigo, 12.” Brunette. Blue eyes. The girl had a dangerous look on her eye, like a predator.

“Sage…” the youngest girl froze for a moment. She had light brown hair and brown eyes. “... 11?” Cerise shrugged. 

Aurora nodded.  “Alright. Starting now, you’re 11, Sage.  We’ll get through your vitals and such in a bit.  For now, you’ll enjoy a meal - casually - to give me time with the older girls.  You will not stab the other children or the staff.  And if you make it through the meal showing me your best etiquette skills there might be a small reward at the end of it.  Just through the door to your left. You’ll find the kitchen. Cerise, Azure, make something for everyone to eat. The kitchen is yours to use as you like.  Indigo, Sage, you will help with clean up after. Go on now.”

“We…” began Cerise. “Yes. Okay.” Azure giggled.

“Nope.  Stop. We what?”  Aurora knew better than to let that slide.  Vital info was about to not end up in her hands.  A tight ship was all that was going to make this work.

“We don’t know how to cook anything. We know a lot. Just not that sort of thing.”

“Can you manage sandwiches then?  I’m sure we got meat and cheese and bread.  We’ll do a light lunch. Easy as pie. Oh, and there are cookies and pie if you’d like some.  Milk. Wine too, not too much though.”

“Of course.”

“We’ll have a real dinner tonight then.  I’ll tell you how to make that one so you can learn a meal or two to make for yourselves in the future.  Can’t go your whole life without knowing how to make a meal after all. Might come in handy to know a few things about how to get around a kitchen, yes?  Hell, if you do a good job maybe I’ll take you down and show you the shooting range downstairs, if you’d like. Food first though. I need time to explain all of this to my husband - you’ll meet him later.”

She reached a hand out and made a point to pat Sage on the shoulder reassuringly as she passed.  The girl wasn’t just the youngest, she was the most … for lack of a better term, normal. Aurora made a note to herself that one would need special attention.  Not quite one of her peers, not quite one of her normal children. She’d be a project as hard as the oldest ones if in a different way. Already Aurora’s mind was working on ways to keep them busy and help them adjusting and thinking of pitfalls that could happen - and ‘fun’ they might get up to.  Oriana wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t going to be easy but how could she put this burden on any normal mother? Or put any normal mother on these girls? God brought them here. She’d do the rest much as her father had once thought about her the moment he’d seen her in that crib at Marie’s home so very long ago.

“You should know more about them,” said Oriana. “At least a little. Want to hear it now? Or save it for later?”

“Better sooner rather than later.  I suspect I’m going to be far more busy than I think with them.  I see it now. Question is,” She looked to Oriana, “Are you ready to have such a talk with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Aurora nodded, “Good.  That’s all I needed to know.  Let’s go inside, find a quiet place to talk.  I suspect those girls don’t know the meaning of a casual meal.  They’ll likely be done before too long.”  

Aurora went into the house and found Jack staring into the dining room with absolute amazement.  Aurora sighed. At least one of the girls was looking at Jack at any given moment; after watching them for a few seconds, Aurora noticed that it wasn’t random, but a practiced system of alternating surveillance.

“Who are they?’  Jack asked, who he was asking wasn’t clear.

“Women who will stab you if given half the chance Jack, for laughs.”  Brigitte said putting a hand on her brother’s shoulder.

“Okay.”  He said dumbly.

Brigitte gave him a gentle shove towards the stairs.  Aurora put down her purse. “Sisters.” She said to Jack.

“Sisters?”  He said trying to shake off what were clearly thoughts no mother wanted her son having at his age.

“Yes, Sir.  Sisters. I need to talk to your dad so you get no more than that, but you will treat them with all the respect and appropriateness you give your sisters.”

Jack shook his head and went up the stairs.

“You just broke all his little dreams.”  Brigitte said watching him go up the stairs.

“Better to shatter them now than to find out what the girls do when your brother tries to turn on that damnedable charm of his.  I don’t need a trip to the ER tonight. He’s as bad as your grandpa Gavin ever was - god help us all in a few years.”

“Should be safe from the ER. They’re not feral. I’d be more worried about a different sort of trip to the hospital in nine months or so.”

Aurora looked to Effie as she came in behind her, “New assignment.  Those girls don’t leave their bedroom tonight. I want a guard outside the window.  One on the door.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“I’m kidding, mostly,” said Oriana. “They’re fine. Normal kids, when it comes to sex. No experience. Which means I’d still keep an eye on them, but I don’t think you have to worry about them tonight.”

“Jack is a normal boy of his age.  We’ll make sure they’re safe from him and them from him.”  She shook her head. “No need to tempt fate until everyone figures out what’s what.  Jack will fall in line but … he’s a boy.” she sighs. “Why he’s not more like his older brother I’ll never know.”

Aurora began walking towards her office, taking the stairs slowly.  Tara looked then to Oriana, putting down her bag. “I can stay with the girls if you want to talk to Mom alone for a bit.  About the girls and stuff. I know you’re not worried about them, but … I mean, if you wanted to talk to mom alone?”

Brigitte pretended not to watch the exchange between the two women but clearly was.

“There’s nothing I’d say that you couldn’t be here for, Tara, but you can go freshen up, if you’d like. Whatever you prefer.”

Brigitte put a hand on Tara before she could reply, “Come on, we’ll go up to my room and find you something suitable to wear.  You’ll want to change out that whole drab closet of yours now that you’ve figured out your style.”

“Style?”  Tara said arching an eyebrow.

“You know, sexy killer.  It’s a great look for you by the way, the severe hair… the sleek functional clothing.  Honestly much better than mousy librarian woodsman you normally sport. We’ll get you situated before long, but why wait?  I got a few things that will be perfect. You’ll need your own pants but my tops should work. Come on, tell Orin you’ll see her in a bit.”

“I’ll… see you in a bit I guess.”  She said as her sister guided her towards the stairs.  Brigitte gave Ori a small wave over her shoulder and a smile.

Ori nodded, crossing her arms and she leaned against the wall and looked at Aurora.

“So the girls. They were with Francesco for a couple of years, I guess. They’ve had daily physical training. They’re not amazing, but they’re legitimate fighters- at least the older two. They’ve had tutors in subterfuge, spycraft, and foreign languages. They’re smart.” Oriana frowned. “You’ll probably want them to get evaluated. They’re not… like me. They’re still normal, mostly. But they did see me kill the three “sisters” who chose to stick with Francesco.” She glanced up at Aurora.

She nodded slowly, “As we discussed, it changes a person.  Do you know if they’ve killed before?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe Cerise or Azure. Not the younger two.”

She nodded, “We’ll take it a step at a time.  Best not to make assumptions. Though…”

“Other than that,” said Oriana, “...with Francesco dead, they’re like baby birds. I pushed their buttons and won them over in the course of a week, to the point where they were fine betraying the other three. They’ve been broken down to become loyal followers, and they’re going to follow someone. Just make sure they latch onto the right person. It shouldn’t be me. At least ask them if they want to be normal.”

“Well, I respect your desire not to have that burden.  It’s good to know that you have a lot on your plate and be able to do what’s right for those girls and yourself.  I do hope you understand that a complete disconnect with them won’t be good for you or them though?”

“I think a complete disconnect with me would be very good for them, actually.

“I’d like your insight as to why.  Do I not understand something about the situation?”

“Because someone who would stab a thirteen-year-old girl in the throat is not an appropriate role model? If they hang around me, they’re going to wind up just as messed up.”

“That you worry about them that way, tells me that’s not true.  You are aware of your issues Oriana, there’s power in that. You’ll overcome the parts of yourself you’re not happy with and you’ll make peace with the parts you can’t.  Killing, whether a thirteen year old or a thirty year old, it’s not the problem… the reasons and context matter. If you were out slaughtering children for sport - I’d agree with you.  I’d see you as feral and never let you near them or my daughters, but you’re not that any more than those girls in the kitchen are. It’s not possible for you to cut out of you the parts of your past you don’t like and just keep the ones you do.  It’s also impossible for them to pretend like the last few years didn’t happen, no matter how normal a home they end up in. They need someone who knows what they’ve been through so they can see that it’s possible to have a life after all of it. You’re good for them.  Every success you have, is proof that they will be okay one day too. Even if they didn’t endure what you did, they’ve been through a thing - and they need an older sister to look up to as much as they need a mother. Just… consider it. I can’t make you be something you don’t want to be, but maybe seeing them thrive helps you too.  Helps you accept that what you did back there, it had to be done… for them.”

“I still think it’s a bad idea, but I don’t know enough about this shit to disagree with you. And to be clear, I don’t have any problem with my actions. Any of them. Ever. That’s why I’m fucked up. But yea, whatever you say.”

“Oh, I’ll regret this.  Make no mistake. I’m already seeing the hell we’re gonna go through and I suspect I won’t know what the hell to do with them when they learn me well enough to want to rebel - but, this isn’t my first rodeo.  And I’ve taken on far less rewarding tasks than helping young women navigate the perils of a ‘normal’ life or entering ‘the life’ as they choose. You’ve read the journal… I don’t think I need to tell you.” 

“Well, they’ll come in useful at least.”

“The way I need them in my life, to be very clear, isn’t as Soldato.  If they chose that, that’s on them. I didn’t push any of my children to it.  You know that. I just can’t ignore that some parts of who they are and have been these many years are very much like I was at that age.  I … might have been a handful for my parents too. Karma is a bitch though. I’ll survive. They will too.”

“Yep.”

“So, personal question.”  

“Fantastic.”

“How’s Tara doing, really?”  Aurora tilted her head to the side.

“She’s good. She’s in. All the way. You’ll never get her out now, if you wanted to.”

“And … that makes you…?”

“Ambivalent. It’s her own life, and she can make her own decisions. But she moves differently. Shoots differently. Walks differently.”

Aurora lowered her voice, “I wasn’t sure if that was the killing… or you.  I notice she lost her ring along the way somewhere.”

“She traded it for information. In Genoa.”

“Hope it was worth it.  I suppose that it must have been, you’re here.”  Aurora nodded to herself. “Well, I won’t push for more than that, whatever happened in Italy isn’t my story, but if you want to talk about it - my door is always open.”

“I don’t care, really. But it’s probably something more appropriate for you to discuss with her, rather than me.”

“I think you should be prepared that Billy won’t have the same boundaries I do about … you.  In his mind, before Tara even left, he’d … adopted you into this household. I know, it’s insane.  He’s as a damn switch. On one second, off the next, but once he decides a thing he’s as mountain. Unmoveable.  He’s … likely to have a different way of talking to you this time.”

“You’re not adopting me. I’m my own person. And I’m 22.”

“No one in this house is putting …”  Aurora stopped herself. “I just mean that Billy has taken to caring about whether you live or die.  He’s never going to stop. So long as Tara has her eyes upon you, Billy will always seek to protect and help you.  He’s likely to be warmer than the last time and I thought you might want some context for it. You can’t imagine what Tara did when you left that morning Oriana.  She… she stood up to very aggressively, as she did with the knife in my office that day. She told her father in no uncertain terms how she felt about you and that she’d not stop trying to get to you so that we’d just better give over.  Billy didn’t take a full sixty seconds to break and give her what she wanted. Everything. A blank check, a plane, a team… he was all in the moment he heard Tara talk about how she felt about you.”

Oriana watched Aurora carefully. The hairs on the back of Ori’s neck had raised slightly. A threat? Warning what would happen if Tara if didn’t have her eyes on Ori? She swallowed the feeling; it didn’t seem right. Once Aurora had offered her a blank check, and Oriana had misinterpreted it. She didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

“Thank you for the information. Things could have gone poorly if I’d… misinterpreted things. And Tara seems used to getting what she wants.”

“Billy is a big softy.  He talks loud. He is aggressive in protecting those he loves, but at his core he’s still the man who saw a little girl starving without shoes and handed over cases of money to rescue a train of orphans from a fate of feeling unloved.  He doesn’t know how to be the guy he plays at. Honestly every time that man comes out and does anything of that sort, I watch my husband rip himself apart with guilt. He’s not made for the seat I pushed him into. Don’t you ever tell him I said that, the truth was I didn’t have the courage to do what I should have.  Billy is too good, too kind, too loving to be the monster he needs to be…” she shook her head sadly, “One day it will get us all killed.”

“New motherhood seems to have made you cheerful. And it won’t get you all killed. For what it’s worth, I’ll take care of Tara if anything happens. Regardless of what happens with Tara and I. I owe her one.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”  she said with a smile. “I have a list in my office of what is to happen for and to each of the kids the day our luck runs out.  Your name was put beside Tara’s the moment she called and said the two of you survived.” She smiled. “Even if things don’t work out, I suspect you’ll always have each other’s backs.  I’m grateful for that. She needed someone in her life she could be herself around. She spent far too much time alone in trees. I should have stepped in sooner, but I can’t deny that how she reminds me of my father makes me not want to change her.  Not one bit. Her and Jack both… though in different ways.” she chuckled.

“Can I ask you a professional question?” asked Oriana.

“Always.”

“Are you trying to adopt me into the family to avoid paying me for the Venice job? Or training Tara?” She smirked.

“Nope.  Your payment is downstairs in Billy’s care right now.  I’d always intended to pay up. I’m good for it.” She smirked.  “Though I might have delayed in paying you for fear that once we handed you the cash after Venice that you’d do what you ended up doing.  I knew how Tara felt long before she said it. Well… not long.  Honestly, her father knew long.  I knew… soon enough.  Wish it had been sooner.”  she sighed. “If I was doing my job right, it would have been sooner.”

“Brigitte wasn’t with you two at the end of things,” She continued, “But I can’t help but notice she’s … a bit different too.  Have you had the chance to talk with her?”

“Not as much. I’ve been recovering, spending most of my time in bed. Two knife cuts and a dislocated shoulder. I can go find Brigitte now, if you think it’s wise?”

“Might give me a chance to sit Tara down.  I’d like to hear the whole story start to finish before Billy finally gets the rundown.  Lord knows I might not have much of a chance soon.” 

“Sure.”

“By the way, what was in Naples that held you guys up so long?”

“A potential business partnership for Tara. I’ll let her explain.”

Aurora seemed to accept that answer and headed to Billy’s office to knock on the door. “Dollars to donuts he has the baby out again.”  She sighed. “She’s supposed to stay in that damn warmer. At least talking to you might get him to put her down.”

Aurora knocked before opening the door to Billy’s home office, “Sweetie, the girls are home.  Oriana is here. I figured we could pay her before sending her back to Catalina. Did you want to talk to her still?”

Billy called out as soon as the door opened. “Close the door!” He snuggled Victoria into her swaddling blanket as soon as he could. He had made a habit of keeping his office warmer than the rest of the house to make it more comfortable for her. Of course, that meant a draft every time his door opened.

Once his precious package was secured, he handed her off to the nurse. “Well, I’m glad the girls are home. I’m sure they don’t want to meet me in here, so I might as well come out to see them right?” He beamed and made his way toward the door looking first for his own daughters and then for Oriana. “I’m not exactly sure what to say to her if I’m being honest Roar. I mean, she tries to kill you, saves our family, and then gets Tara to run off to almost die. It’s like she is a damned tornado. I wonder if this is how your mom felt about me.” he chuckled, but stopped when Aurora spoke.

“Billy… there’s something I should tell you before you go out there…”  Aurora’s voice grew tense, saying nothing about Billy’s concerns about Oriana.  “There are four girls between the ages of 11 and 15 in the kitchen right now making lunch and… they’re going to be staying with us.”

Billy looked at his wife with an unasked question, but shook his head. “Okay. I’m not sure I want to know. I am also not sure where they are going to sleep for now. I mean, they can sleep in our bed if you want. I can stay in the chair. Not like it makes all that much difference to me.”

“I was thinking the den would be fine, we can bring a mattress or three in there, plus the couch but it’s temporary, we’ll have to make some long term arrangements, of course.  Tara… she brought them home from Bianchi’s ‘school’ … she couldn’t leave them behind. They helped the girls. I’d send them over to Betsy, but I don’t think that’s right for these girls.  They’re going to need a little different sort of parenting I think. The sort we can provide.”

Billy simply quietly said to himself as he sighed. “Train full of orphans.”

“My turn.”  Aurora shrugged.  “Timing isn't the best but… love multiplies?”  She gave the same sheepish grin that her daughter Tara had inherited.  “It’s… complicated with them. We’ll need to play a lot by ear I think.  Oriana says they are in a state that … that man could have shaped them to do as he liked.  We’ll have to be careful not to put anything on them, guide them… it’s gonna be work which, I know with Victoria and all her needs is a lot to ask but…”  Rora rambled, again as her daughter had inherited the habit of doing.

Aurora stopped and realized Billy wasn’t arguing.  “You’re not mad,” she observed.

“Why would I be mad?” Billy adopted a genuine look of concern as he spoke. “I love you, and I love Taa. I am warming up to Oriana, despite how complicated that might be. If our daughters brought people home because they had nowhere else to turn, how could I be anything but proud? It’s exactly the kind of thing I thought we raised them to do.” He nodded and smiled to Aurora before reaching out, and pulling her down onto his lap gently. “Come on love, let’s ride into the other room to see our little girls. After all, you shouldn’t be walking if you can help it right?”

She sighed and smiled, nodding.  Oriana, of course, was just outside the door.  Brigitte and Tara were still upstairs, but the sound of teen and pre-teen girls in the kitchen was unmistakeable.  Jack, to his mother’s chagrin, had found his way back down to be spying into the kitchen from around the corner. Izzy was sitting on the stairs looking somewhat annoyed.  

“Hey Dad!”  she said too loudly.  Jack nearly lept out of his skin, having been caught spying on the new girls.  “Good to see you out of the office. Hi mom.” Izzy giggled.

“There’s girls.”  Jack said to his father, as if this was an explanation for everything.  “Four of them.”

Billy nodded. “I know, your mother told me. Did you also decide it would be a good idea to tell Mirella that?” Billy waited to see Jack’s face drop. There were not many things that amused Billy quite in the way that torturing his adolescent son did. “If you want. I could tell her you found the girls for you. I’m sure she would love to come and meet them and know that you were the one spying on them too.”

“I’m sure Mirella will meet them on Sunday… right, Mom?”  

Aurora nodded.  “I’m sure she will.  I’m glad you were thinking about that.  We’ll need to make sure we have enough table space for everyone.  You’re such a good boy, my little bambino. Now, why don’t you go make yourselves some lunch too.”

Jack, looking thankful for a reason to get out of his dad’s line of fire went into the kitchen.  Izzy paused to kiss her dad, happy that he was able to knock sense into Jack with such ease.