Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,36

entirely. He scrubbed at his jaw, the scrape of his beard told him he needed to shave before dinner later, but he decided to leave it for now. They were out in the woods, and what better place to do something he’d always wanted to do? Grow a beard.

Celeste wouldn’t allow him to, not even a mustache, because it looked common, she’d told him more than once. He’d shaved twice a day since he was 15, at her direction, and for the first time in his life, decided to leave it. Not because he was depressed and didn’t care if he looked scruffy, far from it. He felt more alive each day he spent with Marie, and being with her so often during the day now had really boosted him up. He wanted to be a little bohemian, maybe even buy a pair of carpenter’s pants to go with his new coat. That had been a little bit of defiance as well, that coat.

Every time he put it on he felt that he was making a statement: I am a new man, my own man, and fuck what old women with grudges thought.

Marie liked the way his hair was cut though, so he’d leave that. He didn’t know how long they’d be here, but he’d find someone down in town to do it for him. It wasn’t that difficult, although the woman that usually cut it made a huge production out of what should be a ten minute trim. They had to make you feel like you got your money’s worth, he supposed.

He scanned along the perimeter, knowing that Anton would still keep an eye out in the kitchen. They would hear any vehicles that tried to make their way up to the house, but someone on foot could sneak up. Matteo doubted anyone would be out in this cold, not unless they wore Arctic clothing of some kind to keep from getting frostbite, and that had the added benefit of keeping the wearer warm for hours.

Maybe they should go to Alaska until this was over, he thought. He wanted to take Marie to Europe next summer, so hopefully, this would all be over by then. But maybe, for now, Alaska might be more remote, safer for Marie. He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure if she could handle more flights.

She didn’t seem to realize it, but he knew when she was tired; she got this pinched looked at the corner of her eyes, her lips went flat, and she rarely spoke. She’d been easily tired lately, and even now, he knew that she was probably having a nap on the couch after their epic snowball fight.

She’d be up in the night, wandering around, looking for signs that the bear had broken through the fence again, as she said when he asked. But he knew she wasn’t able to get comfortable, that something was bothering her when she was in bed. She’d thrash around and make sudden movements, even when she was deeply asleep.

He went back to his computer and decided to look for other reasons she might be experiencing these problems. The first thing he found was stress. Everything was blamed on stress nowadays, something he found to be dismissive. He kept reading and found a new term - essential tremor. The site told him that essential tremors happened with movement, while tremors with Parkinson’s were usually present at rest.

Well, that didn’t help. He’d noticed it when she was relaxed and sitting down, and when she was reaching for something. It could be something like that, though, and while it did need to be evaluated, he wondered if perhaps she was correct and this was more of a nerve damage problem. She didn’t have that pill-rolling motion that was described as a Parkinson’s tremor. Maybe this wasn’t such bad news.

It wasn’t a discussion for today, he decided, and went back to staring at his computer. There were a lot of emails from Trina, but he’d ignored them all. He’d sent her a voice message when they left, because she hadn’t answered her phone, saying that they were leaving to keep Marie safe and that he’d contact her when they could. He decided it was safe with the VPN and emailed his cousin.

She replied promptly, full of relief and wanting to join them. She knew she couldn’t but wished she could. Matteo would never tell her where they were anyway. He trusted Trina, but not anyone that might be snooping