his arm, and Lia stood up. When her father opened his arms, she quickly closed the distance between them, and they held each other in the middle of the room. The whole room seemed to freeze.
After several seconds of stasis, Nick leaned back, took Lia’s head in his hands, and kissed her forehead. Then he took her hand, and they crossed the room to the rest of their family.
To see it was like watching the parting of the Red Sea. Everyone got out of their way. Holding Lia’s hand, Nick went straight to his family. There, he let Lia go and knelt before his wife.
Alex could see only his back, so he wasn’t sure, but Nick must have spoken, because Donna Pagano shook her head and a fresh burst of tears took her over. She fell forward, into her husband’s arms.
The don wrapped her up tightly, but he lifted one arm to Lia, who dropped at once into the embrace with her parents. Then Carina and Ren joined, and the don and his family were knotted together on the floor of the waiting room.
Their shared grief was like a thunderclap, and suddenly, nearly everyone in the room was crying all together. Even Alex felt that wash of emotion rising in his throat.
Whatever had just happened with the don, and Lia, and the rest of their family, it felt like the thing that had needed to happen. As terrible as this night was, that cluster of desperately sad people was something good, somehow.
~oOo~
Lia sat with her family then, and Alex knew it was time for him to go. He didn’t want to leave without talking to her first, but he couldn’t make himself go over to that partially healed family unit and butt in, even to excuse himself. So he sat where he was and wondered how to solve that conundrum.
The only person in the room not a Pagano or a made man, or married to one or the other, Alex sat alone and watched Lia resting in her father’s arm the way she’d rested in his own earlier.
Eventually, a doctor came in with news about Trey—good enough news that there were hugs and relieved sighs. Another hour passed, and then a different doctor came in with news about Donna Sacco—also good, though apparently not as relieving. At any rate, they were both alive. Only Lia’s sister had been killed on Christmas Eve. The don’s daughter.
About half an hour after Angie went back with the doctor, probably to see his wife, Tony and Jake came onto the floor. Donnie and Nick met Tony in the corridor, and after exchanging a few terse, muttered words, they headed off together toward the patient rooms.
Now, while Pagano business—or Pagano revenge—had already disrupted the family, was the time for Alex to leave.
Before he could stand, though, Lia came to him. Even paler and more weary after more hours had passed, she managed a fragile smile. He stood and opened his arms, and she settled into them right away.
“Thank you for staying. I was afraid you’d leave.”
Those words felt like a caress. A warm bath. A soft blanket. Something eased in his heart and mind, and Alex understood he’d needed her to need him.
A feeling suddenly unfurled in his chest, something that had been sprouting for a while, and now, with an urgency like desperation, Alex wanted to tell Lia he loved her.
But he couldn’t say that, not now, while she was grieving, when she might not be able to feel his meaning—or, worse, when she might think he meant it as comfort and not sincerity.
Besides, he’d never told a girl he loved her. He should be smart and live with the feeling awhile longer first, make sure it really was sincere.
So he said instead, “If you want me to stay, I will.”
“I want you to stay. I need you to stay.”
“Then I’m here.” He kissed her head before he drew her down to sit beside him again. To keep his mouth from saying things it shouldn’t, he asked, “Is Trey okay?”
“He will be. I didn’t hear much, and I don’t need to know details, but they say he’s going to be okay. Giada, I don’t know. I think it’s worse, but she made it through the surgery. She lost a whole lot of blood, I think.”
“Fuck, I can’t believe this happened.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Can you just hold me?”
As an answer, he snuggled her up as close as he could.