Round Here

Chapter Fifteen

July '72

Sonny and I managed to recover. The only struggle we had was this awful heatwave. Dad complained as usual, and surprisingly my husband did as well. Sonny, Freddie and I managed to sneak out a few months ago and watched the new movie called The Godfather, and boy was it ever great. We had to listen to Vito's critiques every moment. We noted not to take him to see the next one if they ever made one. Dad liked it. Both Sonny and I loved it. So we didn't listen to Vito. The weather has kept us inside for most of the days but sometimes we didn't mind. I didn't want my poor son's to get too hot and complain like their grandfather. I didn't need all the men in my life to complain about it. I heard it enough from dad.

Today Sonny and I were in town. We were going to the tattoo parlor. His idea, not mine. He wanted to get matching tattoos. Something I never thought I'd hear my husband ever say. I had a small tattoo on my shoulder. It said Em and had a small heart beside it in red. It was in her writing as well which made it even better. I wondered what Sonny had in mind. He pulled into the lot. "Does it hurt?" "No not really baby. What did you wanna get?" He pulled out a piece of paper. "This." He pointed to both of our handwriting. It said on one half 'You are my sunshine' and on the other 'my only sunshine'. "Okay now where did you want it." He pointed to his arm. "Right here." I smiled at him. "Okay and I'll get it on the same." He kissed me. "Okay we should go in before we're late." I knew he was right. So we went in. "Ah you must be The Corleone's?" I nodded. "Right this way." We followed them. "So who is our first victim." "She is." Sonny said. The guy laughed. "So what are you getting?" Sonny showed him his writing with 'You are my sunshine' on it. "That's sweet. I'll go get these both stenciled. Stay here." We agreed. He came back about five minutes later and started the process. "So you guys have any kids?" I felt the tattoo gun pierce my skin the way it should. "Yeah, we have two little guys." Sonny watched in amazement. He watched as I sat still while this guy did it. "Ah same here. Jason and Cole. How old are your son's?" Sonny answered. "Marlon will be four this year and Vinny just turned one not long ago. How old are your boys?" "Mine are ten and four. The wife's expecting another little one. We're hoping for a girl this time." "We hope our next bundle of joy is a girl as well. Once we plan on it." I added in. He wiped the tattoo clean and I saw how beautiful it looked. "Alright we're done Mrs. Corleone. Time for your husband." Sonny looked a bit nervous. He took my place. He smiled at me as he started. He squeezed my hand. "You okay?" "Yeah, it just feels weird." I rolled my eyes. "This a first time thing for the both of you?" "For Sonny yes, me no. I've got one on my shoulder." He smiled. "That's cute. Now I see a bit of where this tattoo's meaning comes from. How long have you guys been married?" "Well, we'll be married four years this September, and together for about six." Sonny ran his thumb over my knuckle. "Wife and I have been married for twelve years now. Our tattoos are just little hearts. Just in case something happens, but I don't think it will. I love my wife. Alright Sir, we are done here." "Oh thank god. That fuckin' hurt. I don't know how yous both have so many." I laughed along with the guy. "Sonny you've been shot, beat and worse. You think a tattoo is bad. Boy you are a fool. My fool of course." I kissed his cheek. We then went over to pay. "I'll give yous the couple's discount I only give to people I like. So your total is fifty five." Not bad. I mean Em's tat only cost me thirty so we were getting a good deal. We chatted for a few minutes before leaving.

We got back home to our rowdy bunch. It sounded like we had a full house. Once we got into the house fully we noticed there were a few more shoes than we had in here before. "Tom we're home!" Sonny yelled. We then saw a few more kids than we had run towards us. "Mama, daddy, you're home!" Marlon said. "Yes my love. We're home. Now who do we have here with us?" Marlon smiled. "Mama we have Sonny, Fredo, Giovanna, Rosa, and Angie. Vinny with Uncle Tom-Tom and Mimi." I smiled. "Okay you six let's go see them." They ran back to the kitchen. We followed behind them. I saw Fredo, Michael and Tom sitting with C and dad. They were at the table. I was also surprised to see Vito. "Where did you two go?" Dad asked. "The tattoo parlor. Wanna see?" Dad smiled. "Yeah, so come here." I came over to him. "You too Santino." He said with a bit of laughter. I showed him my arm. "Oh that's cute." He said. Vito then grabbed onto my arm to look he pulled me over as Sonny showed dad his. "You two are too cute." Dad said. It was weird hearing dad say the word cute for some reason. Vito examined his son's tattoo. "You two are adorable. I love these." He said. I smiled before going over to see Tom and Michael. "Sonny said it hurt." They laughed a bit. "Do you have any tattoos?" I asked the two of them. "Sonny is such a liar. If he said that was his first tattoo he's lying." Sonny turned red. "Sonny you said you never had a tattoo." He undid his shirt. "We all have it in the same place. Minus Connie, hers is on her shoulder." He then showed it to me. "Mama and pops were so pissed at first. But here it is." He moved some of his chest hair to reveal 'S.T.F.M.C' with a heart at the end. "That's adorable. When did yous get it?" "Fifty-seven?" He looked at Tom. Fredo spoke up. "It was Connie's birthday in fifty seven when we got it." Vito chuckled. "Yes, I remember that." I knew dad had a few tattoos. I sat down with Sonny. "So Don, you got any tats?" Michael asked dad. "I've got three. One on my chest which says 'Santina', one on arm here which says 'Angela', and the last one I have is on my other arm here that says 'I love you, forever and always' in Angie's handwriting." I didn't know about that one. "When'd you get that one?" "After your mother died. You never see it since I've always got a long sleeve on. But here it is." I smiled as he showed me. It was so nice. It showed that she still meant something to him.