Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Uncle Lucas looks at my recipe journal as I take it out and smiles. “I remember the first notebook I gave Dario for his recipes. He filled it up in one summer with Giuseppe.” He pats his stomach. “I was stuffed for months when he returned and wanted to make every single one. Good thing we Italians love to eat.”
I take this as my lead into my questions, hoping he will stay open with me. I want to know who the other woman was. In my gut it seems important, for some reason.
“You have known the Di Lorenzos for a long time, right?”
“Yes. However, I was a friend of the Esposito family first. Frances and I grew up together. We were best friends.”
“Were?”
“We are still friends, but years change people. Decisions, love, and loyalty get in the way of what was once simple.”
The sadness I always see in his eyes, deepens. I’m more curious now as to what has placed it there. I’ve rarely seen the two men apart. I was sure they were in business together. I shake those thoughts away and push forward.
“Do you remember my auntie Gwen?”
A fond smile comes to his lips. “Yes, Gwendolyn was an amazing woman. Brilliant in fact. She and Ava were like sisters. Ava and her soldiers waged the wars, while Gwen handled the mental strategies to win.
“Back then, no one wanted to give women the kind of respect those women deserved. And Black women, forget about it. I was in awe of the three of them—”
He cuts off as if he has said too much and just realized it. His eyes come back into focus as if he were living in the past for a moment.
“I remember Ava, Auntie Gwen and another African American woman. What was her name?” I snap my fingers as if trying to remember, hoping he will fill in this missing piece for me.
If at all possible, his eyes grow sadder. He looks down at the table and runs his hands across the top. My heart aches from the change in his demeanor.
“Beth, we called her Beth.” He balls his hands on the table. When he looks at me, his eyes are suspiciously moist.
“Oh, yeah, Beth. Now I remember.”
“She was very fond of you, as was Ava. Gwen would smile proudly as they fawned over you. You all were their future. The rest of us became pawns,” he says and looks away.
I reach over and cover one of his hands. I know I’ve stumbled upon something heavy here, so I don’t push. He clears his throat and looks back at me.
“All it takes is one drop of other blood and you are nothing more than a friend who earns, consults, or protects. Never can you be one of them, no matter how much they love you,” he chokes out.
“Ava wasn’t willing to accept that. She couldn’t. If she did, it meant the end of all she fought for, all of those she loved most were from other cultures. The Dane, her two Black best friends. The deck was stacked against her.”
“How so? What do you mean?”
“Can I be frank with you? This never leaves this plane. I’ve never told a soul.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“She was a woman in a man’s world. Donnas weren’t nonexistent, but they had to be more ruthless. Ava was ruthless, all right, and a mastermind. I respected her for it. I became a more calculated, ruthless man myself in her presence.
“However, Ava was a free spirit as well. She loved who she loved. I was so captivated by her, from the first time we met. Others were put off by her choices, but I was intrigued. I wanted to understand.
“She brought me into her world, and I learned so much. Emil, Beth…we all served a need for her, something the other couldn’t. We were her compass, we grounded her in a life that was all-consuming. If the Five Families would have found out about us, it all would have fallen apart.
“We already had secrets to uphold. Don Giuseppe was growing ill, and he wasn’t ready for who Ava really was. He would have killed us for the web of confusion we created. Especially me.
“In the end, we lost our bond but gained something else. And then, just like that, it was all gone. Gwen warned us,” he says brokenly.
My mind races as I read between the lines. I believe this man has just told me he was in a relationship with not just Ava but Beth and this man, Emil. However, I don’t remember a man. Only the three women.
And that would mean, dear old Uncle Lucas was fucking his best friend’s wife. I’m blown away. My brain hurts and seeing this sweet man on the verge of tears makes me keep my mouth shut.