Hiding With Her Twin Babies
Chapter 55

Gabriella comes home from work. She is not in the mood for Riccardo tonight. Gabriella knows he is not planning to go home soon, making things difficult for her as Gabby loves him. She wants him to leave so she can forget about him and start a new life for herself here in the states. Gabby sees the petals of white lilies leading to the bathroom as she walks in. She goes to the bathroom and sees a warm bath waiting for her. She can smell the bath oils she uses and sees the lilies’ white petals drifting in the bathwater. How did Riccardo know she loves white lilies? Gabriella shakes her head. Her body is tired of the long day at work, and she gets undressed and gets into the bathtub. Gabby relaxes for half an hour in the bath before getting out. She puts a towel around her naked body and walks to her bedroom. On the bed is the most beautiful dress, with fitting shoes and jewellery. A note also asks her to please join Riccardo on the balcony.

“What the hell got into him?” Gabby wonders by herself. She puts the dress on and walks out to the balcony. Riccardo is standing at the edge of the balcony looking over the city. As he hears her come outside, he stares at his wife. She looks so beautiful.

“You look gorgeous, Gabby,” Riccardo says.

“Thank you. What is this all about?” Gabby asks.

“Can’t a man treat his wife?” Riccardo asks.

“Sure, if he loved her and wanted her in his life,” Gabby answers bitterly. Riccardo pulls a chair out for Gabby, and she sits down. Riccardo serves her favourite dish, and again he surprises Gabby. How did he know she loves Spaghetti alla Carbonara? They start eating. As they eat, Riccardo speaks.

“What if I want to show you I love you and want you back in my life Gabby? I made mistakes in the past. I want to make it up to you. All I am asking for is a chance. Enjoy the night with me and let us talk,” Riccardo begs Gabby.

“Sure, but I don’t think we have much to talk about. We live in different worlds, Riccardo,” Gabby says.

“I did not treat you right, and I know it. I found out who killed Mary and that it was not your family. Do you know why I never came home? Why I have always tried to ignore you?” Riccardo asks.

“Yes, because you never loved me and hated me. You wanted Mary and not me. So we were forced to get married to prevent a war between our families,” Gabby answered.

“No, because I longed for you, and every time I saw you, I had to fight myself from kissing you. I could not sleep at night knowing you were so close to me, but I felt guilty for being in love with you. I thought I was letting Mary down by falling in love with the man’s daughter that killed her. I did not love Mary. I loved you, Gabriella. I fell in love with you when I married you,” Riccardo says honestly.

“We will see about that. I will need time to think about what you said. You see, Riccardo, words are easy to speak, but deeds show how you feel,” Gabriella says. Riccardo knows he still has an uphill battle, but he is willing to fight for Gabriella. He has work to do in Sicily, and he can not stay here forever, but he is ready to stay as long as it takes to convince her about how he feels.

“I will do anything to show you how I feel,” Riccardo says. He knows he can not leave Gabriella alone out here. He needs her to be in Sicily, where he can protect her from his enemies. They know she is his wife, and by now, they know where she is. He can not let her life be in danger all the time, and she better not ask him to leave because that is one thing he will not do. He needs to keep her safe.

“I know you are here to protect me and that you will not leave even if I ask you that I need alone time. So I will not do that, but I would be grateful if you could respect my privacy and let me be alone in my room when I feel like being alone. You know you hurt me for years, and I can not forgive you overnight as you deeply hurt me,” Gabriella says.

“I know, and I understand that, Gabby. But I wish I could take it all away. I wish I was not so hard on you and said and did things that hurt you badly. I am sorry. I know the words do not mean much, but I will make it all up to you in the following years we spend together. I am going to get you back, Gabby. I can not think of my life without you,” Riccardo says. Gabby smiles. She knows Riccardo. He always gets what he wants. He is the Godfather of Sicily, and he will not stop until she is his.

“I will try and forgive you, but it will not be easy,” Gabby says. Riccardo looks sad, and Gabby knows how he feels being rejected, but although she loves him, she can not put her heart on the line again and get it broken again. Riccardo will have to prove to her that he really loves her and that she is the woman in his heart and not the ghost she had to live with. Tomorrow is Saturday, and Gabriella does not have to work. Riccardo wants to take her out for the day and show her LA. He has been here a few times on business trips, and he has a meeting with Don Dante Casella and his Donna for tomorrow night.

“Will you allow me to take you out tomorrow and spend the day with me? We will have dinner with Dante and Jennie Casella later that night. I think you work for her. Her alias is Jennie Hudson,” Riccardo asks.

“I would love to go out with you. I have not seen LA yet and would love a town tour. Also, I like Jennie and will love to have dinner with her and her husband,” Gabriella answers.

“Thank you for being willing to prove my love to you, Gabby,” Riccardo says. He feels happy as he knows he will be able to spend the rest of the weekend with her as he has already made plans for them for Sunday. Sunday, he will take her out for breakfast, and then they will go shopping and eat lunch. He wants to treat the woman he loves and shows her he will do anything to keep her in his life. Romantic music is playing in the background as they finish eating. Riccardo gets up and brings them each a cup of coffee he made himself. They talk until late about world affairs and many topics they did not realise they had in common before. After twelve, Gabriella gets up as she is tired and wants to go to bed. Riccardo takes her hand and k****s it.

“Well, thank you for a lovely night, Gabby. I enjoyed getting to know you better,” Riccardo says.

“I must thank you, Riccardo. You planned all of this, and I must say I am impressed,” Gabby says with a smile. She did not know her husband could be this romantic. He usually did not even talk to her, and tonight she saw another side of Riccardo. Riccardo smiles. Instead, he would not tell her that he had help from Mabel and Barnardo. She might feel betrayed by them, and he does not want to make trouble between brother and sister. He knows their relationship is not what it must be. Besides, he owes Bernardo and Mabel big time.

Gabby walks to her room, and she is smiling. For the first time since she married Riccardo, she feels happy being around him and wants to be around him. When they were back home, he would be moody, and she tried to stay out of his way most of the time. She always thought it was because of Mary and that he missed Mary, but tonight he admitted that he wanted to be near her, k**s her, and make love to her. Gabby knows she can not give in to Riccardo that quickly as he must work to win her trust. What if he never found out that her father was not the one that killed Mary? Would he still have come to LA to come and fetch her? Would he care if she died or not? Would he still feel guilty toward Mary? That are all questions she needs to know the answers to before she can forgive him and be his wife again.

The following morning, Gabriella wakes up with the smell of hot coffee and freshly baked bread. She gets up and quickly takes a shower. She puts on a sunny summer dress as it will be a hot day outside today. She promises Riccardo she will go out with him today. Why is she feeling so nervous like a teenager going on her first date? It is not the first time they will go out together. But the other times they did go out, it was strictly for impressing his business partners, and this time they would go out, it would be like a date. So this will be their official first date. Riccardo looks at Gabriella as she comes walking into the kitchen.

“I wanted to take you for breakfast, but you slept so late, and I did not want to disturb you, so I ordered us breakfast. I hope you like fresh buns with eggs and bacon,” Riccardo says.

“You know I love it. How do you know so much about the things I love?” Gabby asks Riccardo.

“I watched you all the time when I was at home as I could not help myself,” Riccardo says. They eat breakfast, and then he takes her shopping. They enjoy the day and eat street foods Gabby always wanted to try, like corn dogs and pretzels. The day goes by soon, and they have to go back home to get ready for their dinner date tonight with Dante and Jennie. Mabel and Bernardo have volunteered to look after the trio. Not knowing what they let themself into.

Jennie and Dante walk into Charlie’s place and straight to the table where Gabriella and Riccardo are waiting for them. Jennie can see the love in Riccardo’s eyes for his wife, and she knows she soon will be losing her assistant, but that is okay as she will be working from home most of the time now that she is pregnant. Dante did not want to hear about her going to the office when she was three months pregnant.

Jennie and Gabby talk as the men discuss business, and Gabby feels a bit guilty as she knows Riccardo can not be away from Sicily for too long. She and Jennie go to the bathroom, and Gabby pours her heart out to Jennie. She is still in love with her husband, and he has been treating her like a queen for the last two days, but Gabby is scared of going home and finding out that he was playing tricks on her and only wants her back as he does not want to be the laughing stock of Sicily with his wife running away from him.

“Do you think Riccardo cares what others think of him?” Jennie asks Gabby.

“No, he never has,” Gabby answers.

“Then you have your answer. We offer up a lot for our husbands as we are the Donnas of Godfathers. They can not be away for too long from their territories as they always have to keep the peace. Gabby, if you want to give Riccardo a chance and feel like he is worthy of another try, the best way to do it is to go back home with him and see how he treats you there. If he genuinely means what he says and always loves you, he will show it there more than any other place. I do not say give into him and let him off that easily, but the right place to give him a chance is at home because a man always shows his true colours at home,” Jennie says.

“You are right. I will still let him work for winning my trust, but to see if Riccardo truly means what he says, I will have to go home with him,” Gabby says. She will tell Riccardo tomorrow that she will go home with him but on her condition.