The Second Time Around Ch. 07

"Come on, back to bed with you," Caid said kissing her temple and smiling when she leaned into his side.

"I'm not sleepy," she told him on a yawn.

"How did I know that you were going to say that? Back upstairs." She didn't argue with him, trudging behind him slowly as he tucked her back in and kissed her forehead before rejoining his family downstairs.

"You're sending the papers out today right, Mamma?" Gina asked upon his return.

"Why mail it when I can deliver it myself?" Dante asked as he took the envelope from his mother to stare at it.

"You will do no such thing," Mamma told him taking it back and placing it with her purse in the entry way so that she wouldn't forget it. She sighed as she sat in her chair and stared down at the white table.

"Mamma, what's wrong?" Adriano asked with concern. She was looking depressed which was unlike her normal jovial self.

"I just don't understand how you young children could take the vow of marriage so lightly these days. When your papa vowed to love me forever, he did until the day he died, God rest his soul. What kind of man would be so negligent to his own wife?" She turned her intense grey eyes upon her youngest child as if looking into his soul. "She is a broken woman, Adriano. Life has not been kind to her. Be gentle."

"I will, Mamma."

"Treat her kindly."

"Always."

"Love her."

"Forever," he said without hesitation. "I already do." His response appeased her rewarding him with one of her motherly smiles as she pinched his cheek and cooed to him in Italian...something about how he was the spitting image of his father. He had begun to pick up on the language, with the help of Gina's tutoring and the hundreds of Italian television networks on the television. Now he could have conversations with them—nothing philosophical yet since he was barely grazing above intermediate—whereas before he just stared like a deer in headlights.

"Mamma has to run," she told her children looking at each of them with love before she left them to get dressed.

"I'm going to get Ilenia from Susan," Dante said standing to his feet.

"Why can't I do it instead?" Adriano asked shaking his head. She was his daughter so he should be the one to pick her up on days when he had visitation rights.

"Need I remind you of what happened the last time you went? Susan let the dogs out on you. With me, she doesn't screw around because she knows that I will hit her with the right palm of justice."

"You've slapped her?" Gina asked incredulously, not that the woman wouldn't deserve it, but she didn't like any man who would violently harm a female.

"No, I spanked the shit out of her in front of her guards after kicking their asses and making them watch. She doesn't fool around with me ever since then." Dante turned to Adriano and gave him a look that said 'learn from the master.'

"Since you deem me so unworthy of going by myself, I'll be accompanying you."

"That would be a strong no, fratellino, your woman is upstairs and very emotional. I wouldn't ask you to leave her. Besides, I'll be back in twenty minutes tops."

"Just don't speed like a bat out of hell. Mamma would kill you if you got into an accident," Gina warned with concern.

"Fine," Dante said with annoyance, "I'll be back in thirty minutes. Just call Susan and tell her to have my niece ready. That way all I'll have to do is strap her inside the car and drive off."

"See you in a few," they called out after him as he disappeared.

"Don't you think it's a bit too early to be waking Susan up to get Ilenia? It's eight in the morning."

Caid snorted as he shrugged his shoulder and picked up his cell phone to tell Susan to pack his daughter's bag. Of course, being the type of person that she is: a bitch, Susan bickered and ranted about not doing it, but when he said that Dante would be there in fifteen minutes, her demeanor changed even though she attempted to still curse and be vulgar as if she could care less. Dante was right, Susan was afraid of him.

"Paul won't sign those papers," Gina said suddenly, breaking Caid out of his thoughts.

"You want to say that any louder to awaken Brigitte?"

"I'm only telling you the truth. He's going to fight this divorce tooth and nail."

"Then I'll fight him even harder. He's not getting her back. She wasn't supposed to be his woman in the first place."

"Caid, be careful. That's all I'm trying to get at. I actually...care about you. It would suck if something was to happen to you. You're like my brother now."

"I'm honored," he said as he wrapped Gina into a big hug. She feigned annoyance as she hugged him back, but she was smiling by the time he pulled away.

"What will you do now that you have her back?" she asked as she drank the last of her orange juice.

"I'm going to reestablish our bond."

"That won't be possible. Not with your previous body already rotten and buried in the ground at the cemetery," Gina said shaking her head. "Don't get me wrong, the bond is there, I felt it the minute I stepped into the kitchen earlier, but the strength and force of it isn't the same as if you were in your original, predestined body. The 'red thread of fate' is holding you two together and the fact that you've slept together also helps. You now have a physical and spiritual connection that increases your link. But Brigitte will have a difficult time taking her rightful place as a Collaborator because the original connection has been severed. I'll guide her as best I can, but only after everything has been resolved with the divorce. She'll be able to focus more clearly."

"I agree, but what about me?" Caid asked wanting to be useful.

"There is a weak possibility that you'll be able reclaim a small percentage of your abilities the stronger the bond between you and Brigitte becomes. I can't say for sure until I'm able to speak with Corey once more. The guy is hard to reach sometimes."

"Ok," Caid said nodding his head in the process. No matter the outcome, he would protect Brigitte with all that he had regardless of what happened.