Page 102 of Mafia Scars

We allowed ourselves to have yesterday. We went through some old pictures and family pieces of nostalgia. Then I got on to planning this mission to Rockford.

We were going to leave tonight. Everyone would start getting here in a little while.

Dad pulled in a labored breath and released it. “Humor a tired old fool who wants to make up for lost time with the love of his life.”

I stared at him definitely feeling that love, knowing that I wanted it in my life again. Knowing that I didn’t want to be without it.

He walked to the stereo system, tapped away at the console, and the song of my heart filled the room.

Swan Lake.

Damn him, he knew what to do to reach me.

I… wasn’t sure, though, that I wanted to be reached in that way.

But the music… like always, it guided me. Guided my body. Took over and became a part of me, and suddenly, I became Amelia Rossi.

It started with a sway. I closed my eyes, and I was transported back to a time when all there was, was music.

In my mind’s eyes I saw myself as the eager five-year-old who walked into the dance studio holding her father’s hand. The music filled the air, infectious and vibrant. Calling to me. Telling me to simply forget the last ten years and be the thing I loved.

A dancer.

I let go of it all, everything. All the pain, the disappointment, and the emptiness of losing my mother. My mother and my father.

If I was being truthful, I knew when I left home, I’d lost them both.

My body moved away from the sway, moving like it did the night of my last main performance. When the scouts from Julliard came to my school and loved my performance.

I opened my eyes and stepped out into a turn, remembering the routines as I flowed. The yoga pants I was wearing and my hair up in a ponytail were perfect, allowing me the freedom to move in the way I choose.

Arabesque, pirouette, pirouette, glissade and a hop. That was it.

Then on my toes, arms out, head up, and then four skips into a leap.

That leap… wow, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirrors as I flew through the air and landed on the tips of my toes. I hardly looked any different to what I was years ago. I didn’t look any different to who I used to be.

“Dance, Amelia,” Dad called with laughter and pride in his voice.

And that was the moment I let go and truly unlocked myself.

The music took me, and I just went with it.

Jumping and spinning, flowing as if I weighed nothing, flying through the air.

When the music stopped, several people were clapping, and I almost believed I was back at the performance for real.

My hand flew up to my cheeks when I saw both Luc and Millicent standing by the door.

Luc.

I moved to run over to him, to throw myself into his arms and savor the euphoria that rippled through me at having been able to dance again.

But I stopped and turned to my father, who was beaming at me with a smile full of love and adoration.

I rushed up to him instead and hugged him.

“Thank you,” he whispered into my ear.