Of Monsters, Men, & Moles by J. S. Cooper & J. S. Cooper

Author:J. S. Cooper & J. S. Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. S. Cooper

CHAPTER 15

Antonio

“Revenge is barren of itself; itself is the dreadful food it feeds on; its delight is murder, and its satiety, despair.” — Friedrich Schiller

“Mama, your meatballs, they taste juicy.” My papa held his pinkies up into the air as he grabbed a spoon to try and steal some of the sauce that my nonna had been working on all morning.

“Roberto, put that spoon away,” she snapped at him, hitting him on the shoulder.

“But Mama, I just want to taste the sauce.” My father squinted his nose as he tried to dip the spoon into the pot.

“I said no, Roberto.”

“Fine. Fine. I just buy all the ingredients for the sauce and the meatballs, and I cannot taste.”

My nana put his spoon into the sauce, held it up, and tasted it. “It needs a little bit more thyme. Antonio, come.” I walked over to her dutifully. “Taste the sauce.”

My father looked at me with disdain in his eyes. It annoyed him that his mother spoiled me so.

“Sorry, Papa, when you don’t beg, you are given freely.”

He rolled his eyes and huffed out of the room to the living room. My father and I only ever let down our guard when we are at my grandmother’s house. When I was younger, I used to think that my grandmother didn’t know that my dad was part of the mafia, that we led a different life when we weren’t here. But now that I’d grown older, I came to realize that it was a separate life. She fully understood and was even proud of her son and proud of her grandsons. She knew what we did, and she didn’t judge us, but for her, all that mattered was feeding us and having us by her side every Sunday.

“So, Antonio, I hear you are getting married,” she said, looking into my brown eyes. Her blue ones were warm and happy.

“Not yet, Nonna,” I said, laughing.

“But I want you to marry a nice Italian girl, preferably from Sicilia.”

“I don’t meet many women from Sicilia, Nonna.”

“Yes, but I have some friends, and I tell you my one friend’s granddaughter, she is…” she paused. “Well, I don’t like to say this. She’s a little bit plump, but she make good wife. She cook, she clean. She can do everything, and she knows our ways. Her grandfather consiglieri in Sicilia and her father underboss. Her father died from gunfight with the Bratva, but she know our world. I introduce you. Si?”

“No, Nonna.” I shook my head. “That’s okay. I already have far too many women.”

“But that is the problem. When you have many, you don’t want one. And if you can’t choose one, your nonna will help you pick. You know I make good match for you, Antonio.”

“Why don’t you ask Alessandro?” I said softly, and Nonna rolled her eyes.

“Alessandro, he be the death of me. He’s not serious. He not serious enough for wife. He not serious enough for life.”

“Did I hear my name?” Alessandro’s humor-filled voice bounded into the room ahead of him.

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