The Body #1: Santo and Fiorella

Chapter 17 (Fiorella): Forever

Hearing my husband tell me that he wanted to win my heart like I'd already won his was surreal. One of those moments where you wanted a person to repeat himself over and over until the amazing news finally sunk in. Santo had basically admitted that he loved me. I'd hoped -- before the whole Tanya disaster -- that he'd started to care for me, but love me?

Never in a million years. It seemed like an impossible dream.

But looking into his eyes, I could see that he was quite serious. As he always was. 

He needs to laugh more.

"Santo, I married you. I won't divorce you," I assured him.

He smiled, but there was a touch of sadness lurking in it. "But I want you to want to be married to me. I don't want you to stay just because we're married, and you think you're stuck with me."

I could tell that this was important to him.

It was important to me as well, and I thought about his words for several days, watching Santo when he didn't know I was following him with my eyes. He had so much on his shoulders right now, but he made sure to text me several times a day and always called me once or twice a day. When he walked in the door and loosened his tie, much of the tension in his shoulders left him and he looked more like the almost-twenty-four-year-old man he was. It struck me again how much older he seemed than his years. He, like most Body men, had seen too many horrible things that showed on their faces, in their eyes, even in the way they held themselves. The constant alertness, vigilance and awareness was wearing.

Santo needed relief from the weight of the burden he carried for the Body. He needed lightness in his life.

And just like that, everything crystalized in my mind, and I had a plan.

"I...I forgot to remind you. Friday is my appointment with the artichoke farmer." We were still continuing with the ridiculous charade, but this worked to my advantage now.

"The artichoke farmer," he said neutrally, probably surprised at my changing the subject. "I remember."

"I shifted it until later in the day. It's at four forty-five now."

It wasn't, but I'd make sure my appointment time was changed.

Santo looked at me, his shoulders slumping slightly, probably misinterpreting why I changed the subject.

"I'll be there, Fiorella."

When Santo left for work the next morning, I called his mother, explained what I needed to happen, and she began making calls, and so did I. Being married to the second-in-command in the Body was sometimes very handy for getting things done in a short time frame. I normally didn't take advantage of my position as Santo's wife, but this was a special circumstance.

And he deserved it after what he and Lucio had accomplished and what Santo had gone through with Dario. It had hit me that, in a very different way than what I'd gone though, Santo had also suffered during that time Tanya had lived with us. He was not a man who did well with threats and his hands being tied. Santo's mindset was search and destroy, and to know he couldn't make a move without risking me had to have been its own special hell.

He needs to laugh more.

Everything was ready by Friday. I stopped by Vittoria's earlier in the day, and we'd gone over everything. Later, my driver took me to the doctor's office. When I walked in, Santo rose from his chair and walked over to me. The nurse called us back immediately, and we walked into the exam room together.

After the nurse left and before the doctor came in, Santo smiled at me. "Is there anything you need to tell me this month, Fiorella?"

"No," I told him firmly.