of people that would talk to her. She’d assumed every single one of them would turn their noses up at her. And the friends too, apparently there would be friends of the family there as well. “You don’t think she’ll try to do something to humiliate me, do you?”
She looked at him earnestly, worried that this would be the case.
“More than likely, yes. You’ll have to be on your guard, cautious, around all of them. Even Trina until you get to know her. My advice would be to make small talk, stay away from politics, and keep the conversation as light as you can. With Trina, you’ll get to know her over time, but still, just in case, be cautious.”
“We really have to do this?” she asked again.
“Yes. It’ll be like tearing off a Band-Aid. Once it’s over, it should get better, easier to do. And I’ll be there don’t forget. You won’t be alone.”
“Good.” She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. “I hope I can get to sleep tonight. I’m so nervous about all of this I could barely sleep last night.”
“I’ll make sure you get to sleep.” He gave her a saucy wink and stood up. “Come on, enough of this now. It’s Christmas eve and you have more presents to open.”
“More?” She looked at him in surprise, what else could he possibly get her?
“Yes, more,” he laughed, pleased that he could do all of this for her obviously.
“Shouldn’t we save them for tomorrow evening?” She tried to stall him, a little overwhelmed. She had so many toys and gadgets now she barely knew what to do first most of the time.
“Maybe so. But there’s one I want you to open up today. I want to see what you think about it.” His voice sounded odd and she looked at his back as they walked back into the living room. What was this present then?
He gave her a small box, about six inches by six inches wrapped in white paper with a red ribbon. There were more presents under the tree, some for him that she’d bought, and she’d thought the rest were for his family. That didn’t seem to be the case.
With a befuddled smile she tugged at the ribbon and pulled the paper off. Inside the box, around three inches deep, sat a small pistol, small enough that it would fit in her hand. The silvery metal gleamed and she looked down at the thing with curiosity. Guns didn’t frighten her, but she had no idea how to use one.
“What do I do with this?” She looked at him as the reality of the life they would live together hit home, hard. He thought she needed a weapon to defend herself, but from whom? His aunt? People outside of the family? Who exactly was a threat to her?
“Keep it with you, in your bag, or in a holster if you want. But always keep it with you. Remember what happened to your father? That could still happen. My world isn’t exactly the most angelic, Marie, I think you know that by now.” His accent thickened as he spoke, the clipped tone that only sounded good on him. When other people up here spoke, the accent was an oddity that still made her brain stutter until she caught up. She was used to hearing Matteo speak now but being in a crowd of people that spoke like him was sometimes overwhelming.
“We’ll get through this, Marie, don’t worry. Life with me isn’t going to be simple, it may even get dangerous sometimes, but I will always, always, do my best to protect you, I swear it.”
She looked down at the gun, then back up at him. “You’d better show me how to use it then.”
“What? Don’t all you southern girls climb out of the cradle knowing how to handle a gun?” He looked surprised.
“My mom didn’t have time to show me a lot of things, and well, you know what happened to my dad.” She frowned but then smiled a saucy smile. “It’s something else you get to teach me.”
Her wink made him laugh happily. That made her smile right back at him. This wouldn’t be so bad. She hoped.
14
This was going to be terrible she just knew it. She pulled at the lace at her collarbones to try to loosen it up. The problem wasn’t the red lace, though, it was a knot in her chest somewhere, a knot of fear that she was