When The Wrong One Loves You Right 3: Forever And Always

Chapter 17: Lunch.

I hold on to Issac tightly as he walks down out of the bedroom and down the hall to the stairs, then ultimately the dining room.
Vince pulls a chair out at the dinning table for Issac to place me in.
"Issac," I whisper as he maneuvers around the chair to set me down. "I'm really dizzy."
"I'll put you down slowly." He said.
"Don't worry Ana." Dr. Micheal said over hearing. "You probably have low blood sugar. Try to eat and we will see how you feel after Okay?"
"Okay. What for lunch?" I ask.
"Chicken cacciatore with pasta." Someone said walking in the room with a giant tray of food.
I studied his face for a minute. There was a large scab just above left eye.
"Toni?" I asked.
"Yes Ana." He said smirking but not looking up at me from the tray he was carrying.
"Will you sit with me?" I wanted to ask him what happened to his eye but didn't want to put him on the spot.
"So you don't hate me?" He asks setting the tray on the table.
"Of course not. Did your mom make that?" I asked him quietly after he'd safely set the tray on the table, the smell of the chicken making my stomach growl. "It smells delicious."
Antonio froze for a moment and looked up at his oldest brother.
"Should we...?" Antonio said trailing off.
"No." Dante said sternly. "We can talk about that after lunch. We don't want to upset her and spoil her appetite."
"I am sitting right here. What are you talking about?" I asked rather confused.
Dante walked over to his brother and leaned in to talk to his brother silently. I watched trying to catch just a bit of the conversation but I didn't hear or see anything. Antonio's face changed as soon as Dante took a step backward.
"Excuse me." Toni said and clenched his jaw.
He made eye contact with me for a moment and I watch as a tear rolled silently down his cheek as he turned to leave.
"Ana, we will answer your questions after you eat." Dante said taking a seat across from me. "There's a lot that you don't remember. All of us will help with what we can, but some of what has happened is difficult information to stomach. Just wait until after lunch to ask okay?"
"Fine." I said not concentrating on Dante as much as I was on Toni.
I stood from the table hoping my legs wouldn't give out on me. I walked after Antonio exiting the dinning room the same way he had. I watched as he ducked into the den.
I followed him. I knew I'd upset him though I wasn't sure how I'd done it. He was right though. I should hate him. The last thing I remember about our relationship was my incredible distaste for him. Yet for some reason unknown to me all I wanted to do was hold him and tell him I was sorry.
I peeked around the corner before I entered the room taking a deep breath at the door. He was siting on the couch with his back to me, leaned on his knees.
"Toni?"
"Yeah?"
I couldn't see his face but I could tell he was crying. I watched him mop his face with his hands and sniffle trying to hide his emotions. I walked around the couch setting my hand on his shoulder to balance myself as I knelt in front of him.
"What is it Ana?" He asked looking at me sadly.
"I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't mean to upset you and I'm sorry that I did." I wiped a stray tear from his face and let my hand rest on his cheek.
Toni leaned into my hand and closed his eyes. We stayed like this in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.
"It's not your fault Ana." Toni said taking my hand in his and pulling me up to sit beside him. He pulled me close to his side and held me tight as leaned back making himself more comfortable.
"I'm still sorry." I said cuddling into his chest.
"You don't even understand how happy I am that we didn't lose you. I really thought you would hate me completely after you woke up." Toni said, he voice breaking as he spoke.
"I could never hate you. Even if we fight worse than siblings I'll always be here for you if you need me." I say squeezing him tighter. "What happened Toni? What happened to your mom?"
I looked up at him waiting for him to respond.
"She died."
Oh my god. Sudden sadness swirled in my mind as I sat silently with Toni. How long ago? What had happened? I felt lost and everything slipped away.
Avia was like a mother to me. She had done so many things for me that I would never forget. She was always there to make me smile and break my father's rules.
After Vince had disappeared from my life she would take me every weekend to go do something fun. Lucia and Avia alternated and did their best to help teach me.
Avia loved to make a day of shopping. She almost always bought her own girls with us, Anika and Abilene. We'd go to lunch and she'd tell us funny stories of all the people in my life. Then we'd gossip and giggle.
Anika and I had been good friends growing up. She was a year younger that me and she was a terrible influence. She was a diva and true troublemaker.
Most of the Franeze family had accepted me as one of their own. For five years their family and my own was all I had. Sure I spent time with some of the Benedettis but my father held a grudge and most of them steered clear of me until after the next fight my father would have with Vince when I turned thirteen. Avia treated me like I was a part of her family. She was my friend.
"Don't cry Ana." Toni said brushing my tears away.
I hadn't even realized I was crying. His hard hands gently cupped my face.
"I'm sorry Toni. I don't know what to say." I breathe out in almost a whisper.
"You don't have to say anything Ana. You did so much to help my family the months after she went that there is truly nothing that needs said except thank you."
"I don't remember what I did."
"But I do. Thank you for loving my mother like she was your own." Antonio smiled at me.
I smiled back at him for a moment. Then my brain started to wonder. "What did Dante say to you?"
"He told me to take my secrets to my grave because they could put me there prematurely. Even he wanted to kill me when I told him some of them. If he wasn't my brother he may have."
"Tell me." I said sternly.
"Ana," he sighed running his hand over his face and leaning back on the couch. "I can't."
"Toni, please. I'm not going to do anything to put you in danger. I won't tell anyone." I beg.
"Absolutely not!" Dante's voice boomed from the doorway startling both of us.
How long had he been there listening to us?
"Ana you need to read you journals before you go seeking answers to questions you shouldn't be asking. You'll find somethings should never be repeated and if anyone ever got ahold of the secrets you've written in your journals, we'd all be done for." Dante's expression spelled his anger and frustration. Whatever Toni had been keeping secret was not a good thing. "Go eat and please stop asking questions until you have read your journals."
"I'm sorry Dee." I said standing and looked down to Toni giving him a small smile.
"Toni, go home." Dante said clenching his jaw before reverting his attention back to me seconds later. "Now Ana!"
I looked at the floor and cowered slightly at the tone of his voice but instantly move my feet move at his command.
Dante set his hand on my back guiding me toward the dinning room. He didn't change he demeanor when we reached our destination.
"Sit Ana! Eat!" Dante barked.
"Do not talk to my wife like that!" Sandro barked back standing up straight as he spoke and moments later, taking me in his arms.
"You know what, go fuck yourself!" Dante said, gesturing and talking with his hands. "You do NOT get to dictate my actions. You don't control my family. You don't hold the power you think you do Sandro."
"Are you trying to start a fight?" Sandro asks letting go of me and moving between us shielding me.
"Maybe I am." Dante said taking a couple steps forward, holding his arms out to his sides to provoke Sandro more.
"Dante knock it off. Your starting something you can't finish." Vince said moving to stand next to Sandro.
"You don't deserve to have Ana by your side. Your marriage is a joke. Neither of you should fucking have her." Dante said fuming, his face red with anger.
This was something different. Dante had never acted on emotion, at least not from what I remember. He always had it together.
"Dante stop." An old man who was sitting at the far end of the table said.
"Stay out of it dad!" Dante barked at the man before turning back to his targets. "She deserves better. You both claim to be saints but what you've done to her in her lifetime is no better than selling her to be a whore. To manipulate a child and altering their perception of love is disgusting. To marry a child who doesn't understand the world she lives in is revolting. Being intimate with a child is unspeakable and I know that I am no better than either of you there but I never touched Ana until she was fifteen and could decide for herself. I never lead her on like both of you. Both of you did nothing but drag that poor little girl through the mud. Both of you are sick for doing what you did to her."
"Like your any better than us." Sandro said.
"I said she deserves better, I never claimed to be better and I already said that. I wouldn't be the only one to tell you that sleeping with Ana is hotter than watching porn."
"Watch what you say about my wife." Sandro said again.
I finally reach my boiling point. I don't understand why he's saying what he is but his last comment causes me to push past Sandro and Vince. I move quickly to Dante and slap him as hard as I can with tears streaming down my face.
"Stop talking and get the fuck out of my house!" I yell at him taking quick shallow breaths while my heart pounds hard enough I can hear it. "You and your family need to go, now!"
Dante doesn't move immediately. He's as angrier than I am. We all stand a few minutes in the tense silence before I calmed down enough to speak calmly.
"Please Dante, go before there is pool of blood on the floor." I said so quietly only he can hear me while I beg him with my eyes to listen.
Dante grabs his leather jacket from the back of the chair beside him and fishes in a pocket for an unknown object, not breaking eye contact with Sandro. He pulls his keys out of his pocket. Then he leans in giving me a hug and pecks my cheek with a kiss before he pulls away. He looks at the old man.
"Let's go dad."
Several people stand and leave with him. I don't recognize their faces but I know they are his family and the people loyal to them.
"Rosie, Aldo stay here." Sandro said to a couple of kids that were following Dante.
"Stay kids." Dante said to them quietly as he turn to them wrapping them both in a warm hug. "Call me if you or mom need me."
"Yes sir." The say together.
"Bye dad." The girl said.
"Can we eat now before lunch gets cold?" I ask trying to redirect their attention after they had all gone.
"Yes, let's eat." Sandro replies.