But today is a celebration of the women amongst us.” I glance down at Alexis. “The women who bandage our wounds, who dare us to push our boundaries, and whose endless devotion feeds us and makes us strong enough to fight against what can sometimes feel like impossible odds.
“Until I met Alexis, I never understood the value of a partnership. I thought I already had everything I needed, but I was wrong. She is my strength. My rock. She gives me something to fight for when it feels like all hope is lost. She is my queen.” I lift my glass a little higher. “To our queen.”
There is a chorus of “To our queen,” and everyone drinks.
I look at Alexis as I sip my champagne, and she has ironed the anxiety out of her features. She surveys the table coolly, almost as though she is bored, and gives me a small smile when our eyes meet.
I nod to the server waiting at the door, and the second I sit down, the room is flooded with delicious smells as the serving staff brings in the first course.
The night begins.
Alexis tips her head back, exposing the long, beautiful column of her throat. Her laugh flutters through the air, the sound of it intoxicating. When her eyes meet Mira’s across the table again, they are full of mirth.
“Is there any sight as wretched as that of a man in pain?” she jokes.
Mira just finished recounting how she spent the past couple of weeks looking after a moaning and groaning Dom, who couldn’t even bring himself to reach for the remote for the first few days.
Mira chuckles and rubs Dom’s arm. “They are so delicate at times.”
Dom bristles. “No more delicate than you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Alexis says, sipping her faux champagne primly. “A woman spends her whole life in pain. She gets used to it. More than that, she gets used to having to keep that pain to herself because our pain is taken for granted by society.”
“We’re also much less likely to be taken seriously by a doctor,” Mira pipes up. “Women in pain are told all the time that there is nothing wrong with them.”
Alexis smiles at her new friend. “And then they just have to get on with it.”
I think about when Alexis was kidnapped by Andrew Walsh. She went days without food, without being allowed to sleep, with the threat of her death hanging over her head every second. When I freed her, I expected a broken rag doll of a woman. But she was fine. Battered and bruised, but not broken. She could barely walk, but she only cared about getting Harry to safety.
And she’s right—I’ve taken her innate strength for granted ever since. I dropped a world-shattering secret on her right before a dinner where she needed to be at her strongest, and I didn’t think twice about it because I knew she could take it.
Guilt sits heavy in my stomach. As it turns out, I’m an asshole.
Mira and Alexis keep chatting, drawing in the opinions and voices of the wives who are close enough to contribute. I’m proud to see Alexis dominate the table, and I sit back and let her. This is her night.
When the last of the dessert plates have been cleared, we retire to the parlor while the staff sweeps the tables away to make room for a dance floor. The men sit and sip whiskey by the fireplace and suspiciously eye the group of women that have gathered around Alexis. Normally on these occasions, the wives hang around their husbands all night like shadows, so seeing them giggling in a corner together is unusual.
“I don’t know how I feel about this,” says Mirko. He is scowling, but then again, he always is.
Antonio grins. “I like it. Sheila is always complaining that she doesn’t have enough female friends. It’s nice to see her so happy.”
I will never understand how a guy as good as Antonio got wrapped up in organized crime.
“Look at them,” Mirko says. “They’re not starting a book club. They’re talking about us.”
Silvano chuckles. “I highly doubt that, Mirko. You’re not that interesting.”
The men all laugh. All except for Mirko, who glares at my consigliere but doesn’t snap back. Silvano is above him on the food chain, something I know the old-timer has had issues with since the position fell to Vito’s younger brother.
A server comes back to announce that the dance floor is ready, and we all file back into