Round Here

Chapter Twenty Seven

May '85

A/N: The POV is changing again to Sonny's. Just for a little change up and a different POV on certain problems occurring in the chapter.

My little girls turned twelve last weekend. I am so getting old. My wife managed not to get too drunk. They had a fun little party and enjoyed turning twelve. My wife sat in bed after crying about how her little girls were growing up so fast. I shed a few tears as well. I couldn't believe that next year they'd be teenagers. That also meant I could beat up boys for them. Santina says otherwise but I'll beat up any kid who hurts my little girls. 

The past two months haven't been so easy for Santina. My worst fears have come alive. She's been drinking non-stop. I've become more and more worried she'll turn out like her mother. In the alcoholic sense since she is too tipsy to function some days. Tom and I have noticed that. At first either of us didn't want to believe she was drinking like that, but we found out she had been hiding her bottles in the closet. She can function some days, but there are others where she just can't even get off the couch. So she misses out on dinner and quality time with the kids since she goes to bed around seven. I figure it's just to drink more. I know something's bothering her but she won't tell me. I'm worried about her. I can't even tell her father because he'll have my head. He also doesn't want to hear that his daughter is an alcoholic just like her mother. I didn't even wanna admit it to my father, but he knows when something's not right. He made a home visit last week and noticed she was rather ditsy. So we spoke about it and are trying to cover it up from Sonny as much as we can. We were trying our best to stop her as well. She wasn't a nasty drunk, but some days she could be very emotional. Those days I held her at night while she cried about her dead mother and best friend. Most nights that's what she cries about. The odd night she'll cry about Sollozzo, but she's good about that now. She doesn't cry about him often. I know when she does it's because she's really hurting about it. So I just comfort her the best I can. She always ends up falling asleep on my chest, hugging me tightly. I don't mind since it's comforting for the both of us.

Today the kids were at school. All of them except for Marlon and Little Sonny. They had some day off. Well, only because they didn't want to go to some stupid field trip. Okay to be fair I wouldn't wanna go to the science center either so I let them stay home. San didn't mind since she said she needed the company. I haven't been leaving her home alone lately since Freddie's been out practicing for that big show, and I don't overly trust C with her alone. I didn't want to leave her home with the kids either since I know they'd go off somewhere and she'd get a head start on her binge drinking. So I stayed home today. Tom went over to do some business with pops and such. I didn't mind. 

I came down to hear her crying. What a great way to start my morning. My wife already upset. I walked into the living room. I saw she was sitting with the dogs. They were both comforting her. "Hey what's going on?" She was quick to shut the television off. "Nothing, don't worry about it." I went over and turned the t.v. back on. I saw her as a young child with the other three. I saw her dad with them on the beach. Then it turned to her mother once her dad took the camera. "Sweetie you don't have to hide this. I won't be mad." She wiped her eyes. "I know it's just I thought you were the kids or dad for some reason." I just looked at her. "How bout we go into the kitchen? I'll make you something to eat." "I'm not hungry." Within the two months she's also stopped eating properly and hasn't gained any weight. She isn't very healthy at the moment and when we went to visit the doctor for her monthly heart check-up he told us she needed to gain weight. He also told her to stop drinking so much. I had to explain to him that she was going through this spell of depression. He said he understood but I don't think he really did. I just shrugged some of his advice off. The other I just anxiously thought about at night. "Well come in the kitchen with me anyways." She shut the t.v. off again before following me. She turned to me and I saw the huge bruise on her face. She and C got into this big fight while they were drunk. I had to keep her away from her father since it was bad. Half her face was covered in bruises and small little cuts. I was glad she followed me into the kitchen.