Page 18

18

Stella

I woke up alone in the bedroom with the early morning sunshine peeking its way through the thin gap in the heavy curtains. And I felt a little disappointed.

In fact, when I walk into the kitchen to make some coffee, it appears Andre has left the apartment. There’s a note on the refrigerator’s dry erase board that says:

Gone to work. If you need me, call. If not, I’ll see you tonight.

Yep, he’s definitely gone already without bothering to wake me up to say goodbye which…pisses me off.

Not that I want Andre around to aggravate me this morning.

The kind of distraction he can provide before I have to get up and go face the shitty world outside would’ve been a nice start to the day, though. It wouldn’t have been horrible for him to keep me company, so I don’t have to go sit in the hospital alone.

After I take a quick shower, I throw on another one of Andre’s giant tees from the dresser and am about to go see what I can find in the kitchen for breakfast when I decide on a quick detour. I need my clothes, and I never did check out the closet space Andre seemed to believe would be enough for me. He has no idea how much clothing, shoes, and purses I have to move in.

Not that I’m in a hurry to have his thugs drag all my things over here when I doubt this marriage will last very long — just long enough for Saint to pay back the money he now owes the Ferraros.

Still, when I open the double doors of the closet, I’m actually…pleasantly surprised. I was expecting maybe I would be able to take a few steps inside and barely be able to turn around.

The closet is nearly as large as the bedroom, and it’s already filled with most of my belongings.

There are shoe racks and purse hangers for organization. It’s maybe even bigger than my closet at home, which annoys me.

I wanted there to be something more wrong with this small apartment, other than the fact there’s only one damn bed.

And since Andre slept on the floor last night, I can’t even complain about that.

After finally grabbing breakfast, I throw on a grey sweater dress and knee-high black boots. Choosing a black leather clutch only big enough for my keys, including the one to the apartment Andre must have added, and my phone, I’m ready to head to the hospital.

“Miss! I mean, Mrs. Ferraro! Mrs. Ferraro, wait!” the doorman’s voice calls in the lobby. It takes me longer than it should to remember I’m now Mrs. Ferraro. Ugh. The name I hate the most in this world is now mine. Even if I refuse to officially change it, that’s what everyone will call me from now on.

Taking a deep breath, I turn on my heel and stride over to the twenty-something man in his navy-blue uniform with gold buttons.

“Yes?”

“You have a delivery.” He walks to the table behind the desk and returns with a vase of flowers. Not just any flowers, but snowy white chrysanthemums with a dark pink center that fades into white.

“A beautiful arrangement. Unusual but beautiful,” the doorman remarks as I reach for the envelope and remove the card inside.

To my beautiful wife. A petal for every moment I’ve thought about our wedding night . The sounds you made, the way you taste, how damn good you looked riding me are just a few of my favorites.

Since each flower has dozens of petals, well, I seriously doubt the truth of his words, but it’s still pretty damn smooth.

As I slide the card back into the envelope with a grin, it occurs to me it wasn’t sealed.

Glancing up at the doorman who is watching me intently, I ask, “Did you read the card?”

“No, ma’am.” His cheeks and even the tip of his nose reddens.

“Uh-huh.”

“Please don’t tell Mr. Ferraro!” he whispers, sounding so terrified he might piss his pants.

“I won’t tell him. As long as you keep your nose out of my business from now on, Rudolph.”

“Yes, ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

“Good.”

I turn to take the heavy vase of flowers up to the apartment when a thought suddenly occurs to me, my mind echoing the doorman’s sentiments.

“These are unusual flowers, aren’t they? My favorite, actually. Ones no man would ever select for a woman he barely knows, right?”

“Uh…” the man trails off as if he’s afraid to answer either way.

“Do you have the address for my husband’s law office?”

“Um, I think so. Give me one second.” He types on his computer and then scribbles down the address on a sticky note. “There you go, Mrs. Ferraro.”

I take it from him. “One other thing, don’t call me Mrs. Ferraro again. You can call me ma’am or Stella or Ms. Rovina. Anything but that, okay?”

He nods vehemently. “Yes, ma’am.”

Instead of taking the flowers upstairs, I decide to bring them to my mother. As I start for the door, the guy calls, “Wait, Mrs…ma’am!”

“What now?” I huff over my shoulder.

“You’re not wearing a jacket.”

“So?”

“So, Mr. Ferraro said I shouldn’t let you leave without one.”

“Did he now? And how exactly does he plan for you to stop me?” I ask tersely.

“He said…”

“What did he say?” My boots click clack on the floor as I stride back to the desk.

“He said you wouldn’t want to catch a cold and pass it to your mom, or something like that.”

“That son of a bitch,” I mutter to myself while briefly closing my eyes. “Well, I’m not going all the way back upstairs to get a coat…” I trail off as the doorman turns to the desk behind him and returns with a large box. He lifts the lid to reveal a thick, cream wool coat.

“There’s a black one in another box. And a brown one. If you’d prefer one of those.”

“He left me three coats with you?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. He’s pulling out all the stops.”

And I know without a doubt it’s all just because he’s trying his best to get me naked again.

* * *

“Well, aren’t those some beautiful flowers,” Mom says as soon as I walk into her room, hands sanitized and a mask over my face after taking a car service to the hospital.

“You told Andre they were my favorite?”

“The topic may have come up.” She smiles when I place the vase on the tray next to her bed. “What a sweet man.”

“When did you talk to Andre about my favorite flowers?”

“He may have come by this morning to check on me before going to work.”

“He did?” I say in surprise. It’s hard to imagine Andre coming to the hospital when I was still sound asleep in his bed. Before I woke up, momentarily missing the jackass.

“He’s a good one, honey. You should thank your lucky stars he’s yours.”

“How much pain medicine have they given you today?” I ask her with a grin as I eye the IV bag.

“Just enough to take the edge off,” she says as her eyes turn to steel. “I’m ready to go home.”

“Oh, Mom. I know you are, but if the doctor’s want you to stay…”

“I want to go home, Stella. I need to go home, to sleep in my bed.”

“Has the doctor been by to see you this morning?”

“Not yet.”

“Then, let’s wait and see what he says. I’ll try to convince him to let you go, since we’ll have a home nurse and me, Saint, and Cami to help out.”

“Good. Thank you,” she says with a heavy sigh. “Now, why did you bring me your flowers?”

“I thought you would enjoy them more.”

“Mmm,” she mutters, eying me as I slip off my jacket. “Is that a new coat?”

“Yes, actually. Another gift from my husband. Did you give him suggestions on my favorite attire too?”

“No. No, I didn’t. We didn’t mention clothing, only that you enjoyed shopping and buying purses to match your outfit.”

That’s surprising. “Well, he had me three coats at the front desk of the apartment and made the doorman stop me to put one on.”

“How considerate of him.”

Rolling my eyes, I huff, “How controlling of him.”

“It’s not controlling if he’s just trying to keep you warm and healthy, is it?”

Shrugging, I sit back in my chair and cross my legs. “I guess not. I have plenty of jackets. I just forgot to grab one before leaving.”

“Then, it was good of him to make sure you had backups at the door.”

“I can’t believe he already has you wrapped around his finger. You do know he’s not just a business attorney, right? Underneath his suit is a lethal man, that hustles and kills people who piss off his boss.”

“Now you’re just making him sound like an even better catch.”

“Mom!” I huff in disbelief before covering my face with my palm. “Seriously?”

“I married your father knowing what he was, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t know if you knew about his family business or not when you two got married,” I admit. “So, Daddy didn’t keep secrets from you?”

“I was on a need-to-know basis with your father. Emilio would tell me if there was anything to worry about, but I knew better than to ask how he paid for our expensive vacations or dozens of properties. He may have been in the construction business, but I know it doesn’t pay that well. I only worried about him getting caught. But your father was smart. All the five families are. In fact, my only regret about your father’s business ventures was that Izaiah couldn’t resist the product.”

“I’m sure Izaiah would’ve become an addict even if Daddy didn’t sell any product.”

“Your oldest brother always had an addictive personality. Thankfully, Saint is too…punctilious to succumb to drugs.”

“Punctilious? Did the nurses feed you a dictionary for breakfast?”

“That’s how you know I’m not getting the good pain meds anymore. I’m well enough to go home.”

“Fine. I’ll make sure they let you go home today, or I’ll take you after you sign the AMA,” I assure her. “So, what else did you tell my husband about me?”

“Only the most embarrassing stories.” She grins.

And for a moment, it takes all my will not to burst into tears at the sight, knowing there won’t be many more conversations like this one that I’ll get to have with my mother. I won’t take a single one for granted.

I’ll just have to go give my overbearing husband hell in his office another day.