Sufferable Acceptance

Thirty-Eight

Amelia

My dad has always been the cause of my pain. I lost my mother because of him, I lost my childhood and my family too. I won't let him take away Theo. He doesn't get to win this time. The closer I drove to the house the more nervous I got. I was afraid to see Theo again. I wanted to be angry at him for not telling me the truth. The whole time we were together he knew my worst secret, and everyday he pretended not to know. It changed my whole perspective on our relationship.

Would he be angry at me for leaving? Could things go back to normal? What if he hated me? It didn't matter how angry I was with him because at the end of the day I still missed him. I missed being a part of his family. The Romanos welcomed me into their home and like a coward I ran away. Forget about Theo, how was I going to face Theresa and Lorenzo again?

I almost didn't get out of the car, but I told myself to quit stalling as I walked up to the front door. It didn't feel right to walk in, so I rang the doorbell and waited. Shortly after Theresa swung the door open. Before I could speak she pulled me into a tight hug. I could hear her start to cry.

"Oh Amelia.. Thank God! You're back. Are you ok? Are you hurt?" She asked, not letting me go.

Theresa crying something in Italian snapped me back to reality. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her just as tight back.

"I'm so sorry Theresa. Please forgive me. I know I shouldn't have run away, please don't be mad." I blurted out trying not to cry. "I panicked, it won't happen again I want to come home!"

"What?" Theresa asked, shocked. She pulled me out of the hug and stared at me confused. "Sweetie... I could never be mad at you. Don't think for a second I was angry. I was worried about you! You were all alone out there trying to deal with this mess on your own. I promised you from the very beginning Amelia that you're a part of this family. You need to believe me when I say nothing will change that. God I missed you." She said to me.

I pulled Theresa back into a hug. Grateful for her kind words.

"You did the right thing coming back Amelia." She spoke quietly. After calming down Theresa practically dragged me into the house and grabbed my hand as she led me to the office.

"I know you came back to deal with the Petrovs. We have plenty of time to catch up, but right now I think you should go let the boys know you're back. They're in a meeting right now. Lorenzo and Theo are trying to figure out what to do about the warehouse." She said.

I stopped dead in my tracks when she said his name. Theresa realized I had stopped moving and turned around. She saw the fear and nervousness in my eyes and gave me a sad smile.

"He loves you Amelia." She said, "You know that right? There isn't anything you could do to make him stop loving you. He may not be able to admit it for a while still, but I see it in his eyes when you walk into the room."

Theresa saying that made me feel even more guilty for leaving like I did. Finally, I was ready to face everyone and gave Theresa the ok to keep walking. I quietly slid into the office, and heard Lorenzo talking about the planned attack.

"We know the Petrovs are going after our supply factory, so until we know when I want double the men working there." Lorenzo told Theo.

"That's a terrible idea." I said.

In an instant all heads snapped up, and spun around to see where the strange voice was coming from. Sitting there at the table was Theo. He looked as if all of his energy had been drained out of him. He sat there barely functioning at the table. One look was all it took for my heart to break again.