"It is enough!" Daniel says, translating nonna's words for me as she says them. "That girl has given you enough."

"Get back, old woman," Bianci growls, and Daniel translates these words for me too. "It's none of your business what happens in this room -"

"It is my business! It is all my business!" she shouts, throwing her hands into the air. "This is my family - and you -" here she points her finger into his face again, "you talk on and on about the importance of family - how family is above everything - but when my son comes home, you threaten war!?" She hurls her finger in Kent's direction now, again claiming him as her son - the child she raised, the boy who married her daughter so many years ago. "You do not understand what you are talking about -"

Bianci snaps, glancing over at us and then up at Alessi and Natalia. I get the distinct impression that he is out of his element - that this has never happened before. His good, sweet Italian wife - who always knows her duties and keeps his perfect home for him - interfering in his business?

I can't help the little smirk that finds my lips now. Because it is nice to see Bianci unsettled, even if just for a moment.

"I understand everything," Nonna hisses, glaring into his face. "You go too far, old man. You are greedy - that girl has given you too much - millions of lira - the skin off her back - her own mother handed to you on the day she gave birth to her first child, a mark of fealty to you, to a man who does nothing but press her for more simply because you are an old, greedy, fat -"

Daniel stutters over this last word and presses his lips closed for a second. I stare up at him, shocked to see him working hard not to burst into shocked laughter.

Bianci bursts into angry words at his wife now, getting to his feet and towering over her. They speak so fast - I stare up at Daniel, shocked, but he just shakes his head and murmurs that he can't quite follow.

I glance over at Kent, to see his eyes likewise wide with surprise. This, clearly,

is a first for him too.

"Enough!" Nonna shouts, and I stand still and straight when see that Bianci actually does as she says, shutting his mouth and glaring at her while he holds his tongue.

Natalia stares at them with her mouth open.

"If you push our son away again," Nonna says, her words slow and dangerous enough now that Daniel can resume whispering his translation in my ear, "I will never forgive you."

"He is not -" Bianci begins, looming over the smaller woman, but I actually gasp when she reaches her hand up and smacks him on the cheek -

Not a real slap, not anything violent, just a tap - a reminder that she is speaking, and that her words carry weight.

Bianci clenches his jaw and slowly slips his hands into his pockets as he glares down at the tiny woman. Again, I am absolutely floored by the power she holds over him.

"That boy is my son," Nonna hisses as she points over to Kent, and Daniel's voice a little choked as he whispers her words. "We lost him for twenty years when you made him go to America, but he is mine, he is ours. Don't you remember the day he came to our doorstep, just a skinny, sad, lost little boy? We raised him from that boy into the man he is - we loved him so much we gave him our daughter to wed - we held him through his sadness, and he held our daughter when she died -"

Tears spring to her eyes now and even Bianci works hard to manage his emotions.

My cheeks are wet, but nobody is surprised at that. Of course I'm crying.

"Enough, Corina," Bianci murmurs, covering his face with one hand, rubbing at his eyes.

My eyes flick around the room as I wipe at my cheeks with my free hand, at Alessi, whose mouth trembles as he stares at his parents, at Natalia who looks at Nonna in complete shock.

And then up at Kent, who stands stoic at my side, his arm still passively around me, his face...blank.

Or at least, blank to the casual observer. But I know him now - I can see in his stillness how hard he is working to not let anything show. And deep beneath it all, I know a great well of emotion is bursting through. Flean..just a little closer, wanting desperately to press myself to his side as this woman I know he loves so much claims him, irrevocably, as her son.

But I also knowing that the stakes are just too high and her claim may be too little to stop this.

"It is enough," Nonna whispers, stepping closer to her husband. Daniel has to clear his throat to make his words clear as he continues to translate. "Kent has been a good son to us - and whatever his girl is offering now, it is enough. Take it," she says, nodding to him eagerly, "and let there be peace between us. Let us have our son back - let us raise this new grandchild in peace instead of at war."

Daniel's words falter as he repeats her words to me, as she casts a hand out towards us and we all go still as we realize what nonna said - what she has long figured out.

That Dominic...is not her great-grandchild.

But instead...

Slowly, Bianci turns to stare at the three of us, his eyes roving over the picture we present. And it's impossible - absolutely impossible to miss the fact that though Daniel leans towards me, speaking into my ear, that it's Kent's arm that's wrapped around my waist I see Bianci quickly doing the mental calculations, figuring out everything that Nonna elearly already knew That it was Kent who caught me, just a moment ago, when Flost my balance

That on the day my child was born, it was Kent who stayed at my side and Daniel who went to complete our family's mission.

That it is Kent who has always had a proclivity for small, fierce things - and Daniel who never showed an interest in girls at all. Who, indeed, snuck out on summer nights, going who knows where in the dark...

Slowly, Biancis lips curl into a wicked smile, his eyes lighting with glee.

And behind him, Natalia gets there just a second later - gasping, pressing a hand to her mouth.

Alessi takes the longest before he sucks in a deep breath of air, muttering something in Italian and staring between us.

"Is this true?" Bianci says slowly, switching to English now so that I can understand. "Is this child..."

None of us say anything. I stand...completely still, not knowing at all what to do.

But Kent acts for both of us. After a long moment of silence, he tightens the arm that is around me, gently pulling me flush against his side. Claiming me, and our child. Marking us incontrovertibly as his, not as Daniel's.

And I raise my chin, refusing to be ashamed. I love this man, I'm proud of our beautiful child. I won't let getting caught in my lie cow me.

Alessi murmurs something swift and vivid, tucking his face into his hands as Natalia stares at us open-mouthed in shock.

Nonna just rolls her eyes, crossing her arms and looking around at her family like they're all idiots for not realizing it immediately, as she did.

"So, this is it, then," Bianci says, stepping towards us and gesturing between Kent, Daniel, and I. "My wife would have me drop the argument, drop the claim, for the sake of family. But how can I ever trust you," he says, narrowing his eyes specifically on me now. "When you have tried to trick me, Fay Lippert. Tried to pass this child off as one of my line, when it is absolutely nothing to me?"

And he laughs then, a dark chuckle that clearly lets me know he's won.

And my heart sinks absolutely to the pit of my stomach.

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