The Girl At His Door [Parts I & II]

Part II. Chapter-26

MERCURYS POV.

"My God, where the hell are the kids?"

   Penelope?

"Pen?" I asked, sitting at the island in the kitchen.

"Ah! There you are!" Her and Gio walked in. "How have you been holding up? Did you talk to him?"

I really don't know how to feel.

"Yeah, he's a little better now." I smiled, trying to avoid having to answer her question.

"Has he managed to track them down yet?" Gio asked.

   "He's making a couple of calls right now."

"Oh dear, you look tired." Penelope mentioned, leaning down and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

There's probably red lipstick on my cheek now.

     "Yeah, it's been a rough few hours."

"Oh hey parents." Gino walked in. "Your other son is being a prick right now."

"Watch your mouth. Where is he?"

"He's-,"

The kitchen door swung open.

   "Where's my daughter?" He sighed, his anger and exhaustion struggling to coexist.

   "Calm down. She's right here." Gio answered.

"Ah shit. Mom, I told you not to kiss her when you wear lipstick." He groaned.

"But I always wear lipstick."

"Then stop kissing her." He tilted my head to the side.

   Just a normal family interaction.

"Hell no."

Angelo reached into his suit chest pocket and pulled out his handkerchief.

   "This never comes off." He continued to reprimand her, licking his thumb and rubbing it on my cheek.

   "Ew!"

"It's like you mix it with cement."

"Now everyone knows that she's mine." Penelope shrugged.

    "She's not yours. She's her own person, and she should be anyone's, she's my kid." He tried getting the red mark off of my cheek with the cloth.

   "I look young enough to be her mother, I can't help it."

    "Have you- have you been letting strangers believe you're her mother?"

Yeah that sounds like her.

"They just assume and I don't correct them!" She raised her hands in defense.

"Mother." Angelo rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Come on, do I look old enough to be a grandmother?" She looked at the rest of us.

"Of course not."

"No."

"Nope."

"See?"

    Angelo rolled his eyes again and began muttering in Italian, which was unfortunately way too fast so I didn't know what he was saying.

"Why the hell is this not coming off?" He spoke in English again.

"Oh calm down."

"Her face is probably stained forever."

"It's not that big-," I attempted to try to diffuse things.

"Hush."

"Yes sir."

    Why can't we all just function like a normal family?

    "What day should we try for the Christmas pictures? The sooner the better, my photographer is pissed that it didn't work out today." Penelope sipped her glass of white wine.

"Maybe we should just skip it this year." Gino suggested hopefully.

"Nice try. Angelo, any say in this?"

"No."

He looks exhausted.

"You should really take a nap." I mentioned.

We were all sitting in the living room, waiting for any sort of news we could.

"I'm fine."

"Not really. You're where I get it from."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we are both bitchy when we are tired."

"Lovely sentiment coming from my daughters mouth."

"Told you."

I was as anxious as he was.

Why would they leave? That's stupid.

It made it even harder knowing that it wasn't the first time my mother had left me for them.

Angelo rolled his eyes. "Come here." He moved over.

I moved closer to him as he pulled an arm around me.

"I'll calm down when you do."

I sighed as I leaned against his chest.

Everything had just been a blur.

We all leaned forward every time the phone rang, expecting at least some sort of news.

A number, coordinates, their relative location to the Atlantic.

But nothing.

My eyes slowly shut as my other senses were calmed.

The sound of my family speaking amongst each other.

The smell of Angelos cologne that I had grown to find soothing.

The feeling of an arm around me was something special too. Mom would do it any time I was upset.

Back when I knew for certain that she cared about me.

For just a few minutes, everything seemed simple. Natural even.

I could feel my breathing slow down as I was on the edge of dozing off.

And then the phone rang.

My eyes shot open in time to see Angelo answer it.

"What is it?"

I couldn't hear anything, but when his jaw clenched and his grip tightened, I knew it was what we had been waiting for.

"When did they leave?"

It could have been yesterday or today. Who knows?

"Thanks." He ended the call.

"So?" Gino looked at his brother.

"Fuckers went to Italy."