Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,40
responded immediately.
“It does. But at the same time, the arrangement would give the young woman a home and money, something that many women did on either side of the color line, and still do to some extent.” She looked down at her plate and he realized they’d both had the same thought. They’d done the same exact thing as that woman that may have been her ancestor, only their marriage was legal. She quickly got over her stumble though and carried on. “Sometimes, it was stipulated in the contract that if there were any children born from the arrangement the father would acknowledge and provide for them. Our family had money a long time ago. Mother squandered what little she was given on her dreams to be a Hollywood starlet.”
“And you had nothing from it all.” He pondered it all before he spoke again. “Amazing, isn’t it? How things change over the generations? My family arrived poor and with barely anything to their names; my great-grandfather didn’t even have a pair of shoes, but now we have enough to keep the whole family going.”
“It all depends on what each of us does with what we’re given, I suppose. Mom wanted to be a star and would have done anything it took to gain that dream until she knew it was over and she was out of money. She put both of us at risk, and once she knew it was over, that her dreams were dead, she gave up. She didn’t care anymore. But I bet your family kept trying.”
“Yes. Even without the marriage Celeste made with your father, our family was on the rise. We still are, and I’m even getting us into more legitimate businesses these days.” He sat back, finished with the meal, and thought about it all. “I didn’t care what I did before you came along, but I’d started to branch into less unsavory businesses. Now, I want to be above board, stay out of trouble, and be more… legitimate.”
“I guess Celeste didn’t care where the money came from?” She didn’t like to talk about his aunt, but he didn’t mind when she brought the woman up.
“No, people are things to be used, rungs to be climbed as she ascends the ladder to her own personal version of heaven. She doesn’t care who or what she hurts, but she doesn’t like being crossed either. That always confused me, how she could hurt without the blink of an eye, but if someone hurt her, they had to pay. As I got older, I realized it was just how selfish she was.”
“That’s what it sounds like to me.” Marie swallowed her last bite and sat back to join him, a glass of wine in hand. “So, how are we going to spend the rest of our evening?”
“Hmm. Let me think.” He pondered it for a moment, and then came up with an idea. “Sit here, I’ll come to get you in a bit.”
She laughed as he stood up and handed him a piece of cinnamon candy she’d pulled from a drawer. She took one and put it in her mouth with a wink. “We’ll both be nice and tasty when you get back.”
“Baby, you’re tasty no matter what you eat.” He gave her his own wink then walked away with a laugh.
A quick run through the house and he went into the bathroom. It was a little chilly, but as he lit one bag of the five bags of tea candles they had and dotted them around the bathroom, it became warmer. It was maybe a little too bright, but it wasn’t so bright that it took away the romance. He started to run the bath at the temperature she liked and then went out to bring her into the bathroom with him.
“If you’ll follow me please?” He held a bottle of cold white wine in his hand and a smile on his face as she followed.
“Oh, this might be interesting,” she cooed as she walked behind him. She saw two glasses for the wine and a bathtub full of bubbles. “This looks fun. Are we both going in?”
“That’s the idea.”
She could feel his desire radiate from his eyes, from the look on his face as she came up to him and began to undress. Her eyes were just as hungry for him and he hoped they’d at least make it into the bathtub before they started. It would be a waste to let the water go