Page 22 of Vortex
“My wife, Estrella, loved that thing. I keep it clean like that in her memory. I’m glad you see it like that. It makes the effort worthwhile.”
Allegra looks stricken that she hasn’t realized the wife isn’t around, and she rushes over to Silas, taking him in a hug that looks to have caught him completely off guard. Realizing that she isn’t going to release him anytime soon, he looks at me, then he wraps his arms around her and hugs her back. They stand like this for a good two minutes.
“Santo Cielo, Silas. I am so sorry for your loss. I’m sure she was a fantastico woman. I would have loved to have met her. We would have been the best of friends, I know it. She could have taught me all her recipes, and I would have taught her my Italian favorites. She would have loved my cornetto. We would have spent many hours in this kitchen together.” Taking his arm, she looked him in the eye. “Come, escort me through the rest of your magnifico home.”
“Bring her back when you’ve finished, Silas. I don’t need a tour. You should tell her about Marisela and me while you’re doing the tour.” I take a seat in the lounge and put my head back, resting my eyes as they disappear. I hear squeals and giggles as Silas walks her through the house. Waiting for the ultimate scream when she discovers the family bathroom with its sunken bath and the enormous walk-in shower, I am not disappointed.
I’m almost asleep by the time they return, and she jumps into my lap, making me gasp.
“I want one. I want one like this. Not just like this, but this on our own ranch. Oddio! It is magnifico. È bellissima, Vortex. I want this so badly now. You should not have shown me such a home when you know we cannot afford one such as this. Mi stai stuzzicando. We will have to get the money somehow now that you have started me down this road. Che figata to live in a place like this.”
“I don’t have a clue what a ‘stuzzicandoofer’ is or a figata.”
“You will need to learn some Italian, my man, if you are to keep up. Mi stai stuzzicando means you are a tease and che figata is how cool.”
“What about the one that sounded like embolism?”
“È bellissima? Oddio, Vortex. It means, ‘It is beautiful’.”
“Would you like coffee?” Silas asks, and I gasp again as Allegra squirms as she gets off my lap as quickly as she can.
“I will make coffee. It will give me some time in that beautiful kitchen.” Her eyes are so bright it looks like someone replaced them with LED bulbs.
“I’ll show you where everything is,” Silas tells her as he goes to stand, but she spins on him, holding her hands palms toward him.
“Oh no. No, no, no, no. I can find everything. Just sit and talk amongst yourselves. I may be a while, but I’ll find everything. It’s fine. I can manage.” She walks backward until she is sure that Silas isn’t going to get up, and then disappears happily.
“She wants to go through all the cabinets, Silas. Are you okay with that?”
“Hell, yeah. Some of those cabinets haven’t been opened in months anyway. She looking for anything in particular, you think?”
“I haven’t known her long enough to be able to answer that. If there is, you can bet she’ll find it. She’s determined, if nothing else.”
“I sense that about her. She was like a kid in a candy store walking around. She listened when I told her about you and Marisela, about how we hoped you’d marry her and straighten her out. I told her how you’d let her down easy rather than just dumping her sorry ass and walking away. She seemed pleased with that. She said she’d empty Marisela’s bedroom and have a huge bonfire with it. Well, she muttered something like incendio, so I take that as bonfire.” Silas laughs as he recalls the conversation.
“From what I can gather, though I haven’t asked her about finances outright, I figure a realistic amount that we’d have between us is probably four hundred thousand dollars. Allegra is looking at housing, so I’m going to guess she has a hundred grand, I have three hundred grand. I don’t want to involve the MC if I can help it, as I want this to be Allegra’s dream, not a club business. Now, I understand that’s probably well below the value of the ranch as it stands, but I don’t want to give any mixed messages.”
“She’s really turned your head, son. Weren’t much more’n a week ago you flatly weren’t interested.” Silas smirks at me.
“Good God, Silas. Weren’t more’n a week ago, I was single and whining about being so. Now look at me. Wanting a wife, kids, dogs and a picket fence.” I’ve been hanging around him so much, I’m starting to talk like him.
“That sounds like something a young, vivacious Italian girl could be interested in helping to make come true.” Allegra walks in with two coffees.
“Forgive me for asking, Allegra, but how much do you have to put a deposit on a place?”
“Deposit? Whatever they ask for, if the place is right for me. If you are asking me how much savings I have, you know, cash, dollars, then I have three-hundred and fifty thousand. I would only use it all, though, if the place was eccezionale. Oh, that is exceptional to you.”
She has two hundred and fifty grand more than I gave her credit for, but she explains that the bulk of it was from Romeo’s will. I still don’t know if that would be enough for Silas to sell the ranch, though. He grins at me and as much as I like and trust him, I wish I’d asked her in private now.
“Let’s go to the study. I have an idea to put to you both.” Silas gets up and takes his coffee to the study. I hang back and speak to Allegra.
“Look, I’m sorry I asked that in front of Silas. It was thoughtless of me.”
“Why does this matter? I have what I have and that’s that. I am not concerned, and neither should you be. Go join Silas and I’ll get my coffee and join you in a moment. I am intrigued why we are going into his study.”
“That’s where he talks business. It’s quite nice, although old-fashioned, to be honest, but I like it. It’s a good, formal, honest atmosphere.” Allegra skips off to the kitchen, and I take my coffee to join Silas.
We sit in silence for a few minutes while we wait for her. I’m just about to go look for her when she appears.
