Page 18

Valencia

At dinner, all four of us sat together. It made sense to me as I really needed to spend more time with Julianna.

All the years I’d been with O, I’d wanted a sister.

Could it be that twin bond thing? Maybe?

But I had the chance now to hang out with my sister and I planned on taking that chance.

It did help that Tito and Romeo were so damned funny.

They made us laugh a lot and we sure needed it.

They got along so well too. They managed to cheer us both up and keep us distracted.

I felt like I had been through the wringer in the last few weeks.

First, I had been dragged into this place while practically handcuffed.

Then deposited right down in front of Tito.

He never held it against me. He understood and believed in me almost from the start.

I just felt so grateful to be with him. I also felt lucky to have a sister.

Twin or not, I had family here. We didn’t know who our father was, but at least we knew the truth.

Thinking I’d been lied to since I was a small child and dealing with that feeling of being betrayed.

This taught me well. So yes, I refused to allow my twin to go down that same path.

That was why I stopped her from being so messed up over it.

We were born and that had been the extent of our part in it all.

We all enjoyed the meal. Of course, we did. Zia never made anything that wasn’t delectable or straight up ambrosia. It just dawned on me that if…no, when Tito and I got married, she would be my mother in law. Could a girl get any luckier?

“You with us?”

I looked over at Tito. “Sorry. Just reflection, I guess?”

“I can understand.” He nodded as he took my hand. “You’ve had some real surprises recently.” He slid a small dessert dish over to me. “This? It will make it all fade away.”

I looked down at it.

“He is telling the truth there,” Julianna said. “The first time I got a spoonful of her Budino al Cioccolato? I was hooked.”

“Budino…what?” I asked her.

Laughing, Julianna nodded at Tito. “Just hand her the small spoon.”

“I don't think she’s tried it since she’s been here?” He nodded back at her, picked up the spoon and handed it to me.

I grabbed it then peered down at what looked like chocolate pudding.

“And I know what you’re thinking, Valen,” Julianna said. “It looks like ordinary pudding, right?”

“Yes, with whipped topping.” I laughed and dipped my spoon in. “That was my exact thought.”

Nodding, she said, “We will wait until it happens. Then you will understand.”

I raised my gaze to her. “ It ?”

“Yes, a phenomenon like no other,” Romeo said with a chuckle.

Julianna motioned at me with her hand. “Go ahead.”

I raised up a spoonful and tucked it into my mouth.

The very second that silky, chocolate hit my tongue I knew what they were talking about.

The cream was homemade I could tell and all it did was accentuate the wonder that was this dessert.

My eyes rolled up in my head. My adrenaline spiked.

Flavor and texture combined allowed a little bit of euphoria to ripple through my body.

I couldn’t help it, I let out a long, low moan and closed my eyes.

“Yeah!” Tito said with a laugh. “You’re gone.”

“She gets it now,” Julianna agreed. “So excuse me while I take that little spoon stairway to chocolate heaven, myself.”

I took another bite and had the same sensation. Never, had I ever tasted anything so perfect, so decadent. So good.

After dipping her spoon, my twin released the same moan as I had.

“I’m not sure we should have given them Zia’s Cioccolato,” Romeo spoke up in a subdued voice.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Tito agreed in a wobbly voice.

We both took another spoonful in and moaned together again.

Tito tried to take the dish.

I slapped at his hand and growled, “Hunh-uh!”

“Don’t even think about it,” Julianna growled at Romeo.

Both men laughed.

“We best be careful. They mean it!” Romeo warned as he raised his hands up in surrender.

“Dangerous women,” Tito joked as he nodded his head in agreement.

This euphoria for me and my twin and chuckles from the guys went on until I came to the bottom of the small glass dish. I licked my spoon a second time. All gone. Looking up at Julianna, I told her. “She needs to set up shop and make a zillion dollars!”

“Right?” my twin agreed. “I was hooked from the minute I first tried it and I count the days till she serves it again.”

“Oh, yeah?” I was super curious and a bit greedy too as I never noticed it being served. Then again, I’d spent weeks in a sort of a fog. “How often does she serve it?”

“Every Sunday,” Tito replied. “Been that way since...” He shrugged and shook his head. “For as long as I can remember.”

“She serves it in honor of your father,” Stephano told us from across the table.

“Yeah…” Tito nodded.

Stephano smiled at him. “He told me once that life just wouldn’t be worth living without Maria’s Cioccolato. In fact, the only time I ever saw Max smile was after he tasted her Cioccolato.”

Tito stared at him. “Really? Damn, I’ve never seen him smile. The whole time I was growing up.”

“Me either,” Romeo said. “We have tried everything to get any kind of reaction out of him.”

I looked around at them. They were right. The butler never seemed to show any emotion, but I just assumed that was an act. Like the formal ‘English Butler’ thing.

“How did you…” Julianna paused, then she started again, “Where did you get Max?” she asked Stephano.

Stephano shook his head. “I didn’t. My father sent him to me from Sicily, from the old country.

He arrived the day after I married my Bella.

Max simply came in, gave me that formal bow of his and said, ‘I am here to serve.’ I mean we had a housekeeper, a gardener and a maintenance man.

But at the time I thought a butler was like too much.

I wasn’t what they call a Wiseguy or a made man at that time.

I hadn’t even made my first million yet.

” He smirked. “We lived on the other side of New Orleans, not here. Then Bella told me she felt the same way. Like an English butler? It seemed to be like putting on airs, she said. I agreed. But nothing we told him made him go away.”

“So, he’s in it for life?” I asked him.

“At this point, I am thinking so.” Stephano nodded. “I did my research on it one time and it seems that in the old days, they did serve a family, generation after generation.”

“But he doesn’t have any kids so how will that work?” Romeo asked.

“What I wanna know,” Tito spoke up now. “Is why he never ages.”

“Yeah!” Romeo agreed. “I never thought about it too much when I was a kid, but do we even know how old he is?”

“I have no idea.” Stephano took a sip of his wine then set his glass down. “I do not think it would be polite to ask. The man is very private.”

“You should know about that subject,” Romeo teased his father.

“Non essere pazzo, Romeo.” Stephano scoffed but otherwise, he ignored the comment.

“But I do not know what I would do without him. He has become an integral part of our lives. Like when you need him, he’s suddenly there.

After Bella…” His voice slowed down. “After we lost her, I do not know what I would have done without him. He was super good with kids and babies too. Nothing ever ruffles him. Not babies crying or kids being loud. I was left with a pre teen and three young boys, along with a baby, Amadeo. Maria was with us by then, but she had two boys to raise as well. I hired three nannies to help, but Max became indispensable.”

Silent, we all started at Stephano.

He seemed like the type of man to keep everything to himself. Not a sharer type that was for sure. So this fact explained the stunned looks on Romeo and Tito’s faces. They acted like this was a momentous event. They were shocked that he had spoken about the past or anything personal.

Now, Stephano stood from the table and seemed to realize he had shared a lot. He quietly gave us all a polite nod and left the dining room.

After Stephano made his exit, Romeo spoke up, “Well, that was different.”

“Right?” Tito said. “I’ve never heard Uncle Stephano reminiscing, ever.”

“Can’t blame him though,” Romeo said. “He never talks about mom. I think it still bothers him too much. I’ve never heard him say her name in years now.”

Julianna looked over at Romeo. “How did she um…pass?”

He stared at her. “I don’t know.”

“What?” I asked. “You don’t know?”

He shrugged.

Julianna set her wine glass down. “No way!”

Romeo slowly shook his head. “One day, we came home from school. Dante, Luca and me. Gio, um Legend was in afternoon Kindergarten. Rocky and Tito arrived with us. We all were picked up in a limo every day. Kids teased us once about it.”

“Just once?” I asked.

Tito smirked. “Yes, just one time. After a few fists being thrown, no one ever said anything about it again.”

Romeo rolled his eyes. “We almost got suspended for that one. Anyway, only Amadeo was in the house as he was only like two? We came home and she wasn't here. Finally, at dinner that night we noticed that neither her or Papa were at the table. We asked Zia about it and she burst into tears then ran into the kitchen. Well, we knew that wasn’t like her. We were confused and then a strange thing happened.”

“Yeah,” Tito said as he nodded his head. “I remember now.”

Julianna and I looked back and forth at the guys.

“What?” Julianna demanded in avid curiosity.

“Max came to the table and told us to settle down. He stood with his arms behind his back and told us…” Romeo’s words faded away as he shook his head.

“He said that Bella wouldn’t be coming home,” Tito took up the story. “She went to heaven and we were to not ask Uncle Stephano about her. He also said it might be a few days before we saw him.”

“And it was like ten days before we saw him,” Romeo told us. “He looked like a shell of his former self.” He paused. “Strange thing about that too.” He looked over at Tito. “Do you remember that day?”

Tito nodded. “Hell yeah, I do. He came out of the…” His voice dropped away.

I stared at him. He seemed to have frozen up or something.

“Oh, wow,” Tito said in a hushed tone as he stared into space.

“What, Tito?” I exclaimed. “You’re giving me the willies here!”

He shook his head again. “He and Max, they came out of the pantry.”

We all stared at him in confusion.

“Yeah,” Romeo said. “We were all in the kitchen, looking for Zia. Max stepped out of the pantry, then my dad.”

“We were all surprised to see him,” Tito said. “So much so that we never wondered why they had been in the pantry!” He exclaimed as if this answered some huge question.

We all swung our gazes over to him.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Romeo asked him.

I wondered the same thing.

He slowly shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.”

Romeo stared at him in confusion. “What is it, Tito?”

He just kept shaking his head.

“Max came out of the pantry this morning too,” I spoke up. “And you acted odd about that, Tito.” I took his hand. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure. But why was he in there?””

“Why?” Romeo repeated. “He’s a butler, there could have been many reasons.”

“Yeah, give me one?” Tito challenged.

“Light bulbs,” Romeo offered a good answer as he nodded his head.

“They’re in the supply room under the stairs,” Tito replied.

“Maybe he needed food supplies?” I suggested.

“I found out that he only eats stuff shipped from England,” Tito said. “Shipped to his little house.”

“Wow, this really bothers you, doesn’t it?” Romeo noted.

Tito nodded then he gazed around and lowered his voice to say, “It does now. And I found something in that pantry that shouldn’t be there.”

Romeo smirked. “Damn Tito, maybe you're watching too many crime dramas. Or horror films.”

“Ha-ha…” Tito grabbed his wine glass and took a sip.

“What did you find?” I asked him as I ignored Romeo’s snickering.

He shrugged. “I don't want to say anything out here.”

“Tito, come on,” Romeo admonished. “You think Max is… like not who he says he is?”

Tito looked over at Romeo again to ask, “Has he ever said who he is?”

Romeo stared at him.

“Like what is his full name?” Tito urged. “We only know him as Max.”

“You said you knew about his food being shipped,” I commented. “Did you ever see his name on any of the boxes?”

“I never saw the boxes up close, just them being delivered.” Tito shrugged. “Look, I never thought about it before. I mean he’s been with us for almost my whole life really. Then…it occurred to me that he never changes.”

Julianna shrugged back and replied, “Some people are set in their—”

“—he never ages!” Tito cut her off.

We all stared at him.

“He’s right,” Romeo said quietly as he stared at Tito.

“So, he has good genes?” I suggested.

“You mean like Addams Family genes?” Tito asked.

Staring at him, we all laughed.

“It isn’t a joke,” Tito defended. “He has never shown any emotion, not a smile, laugh or anger… ever. Nor has he aged since he came here. The man isn’t normal. In fact, I don’t think he’s human—”

“—so, you think he’s a ghoul or something?”

We all looked up to see Zia standing close to my chair.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she added, “Una saccente , Max is a walking angel. A blessing to our family.” Her eyes sparkled with anger.