Page 62 of Marcello
“I’m sorry,mio angelo. I did not know he was going to do this.”
“I’m ready to go back to the room and never leave it again,”I replied through our bond.
Thankfully, the attention was pulled from us when food arrived. It was the first time I’d ever really paid close enough attention to the two who were bringing out the food. I knew the coven had a chef or possibly two, but the pair carrying out the platters and bowls of food I’d never seen before.
“Who are they?”
“Who? The staff?”
“I guess? The ones bringing out the food.”
“They work for the coven. They are part of the evening staff. They provide the evening meal and clean up. They also clean up around the villa.”
“Oh. I’ve just not ever seen them before.”
“We haven’t exactly spent a lot of time outside of our room.”
That was true. I had assumed that the coven had staff. The villa was large, and it was always incredibly clean. And there was always food in the fridge. Things that I loved were always there, but I had thought that was Mazzi’s doing. Maybe not?
I glanced at the other warlock, and when he sensed I was looking his way, he grinned. He mouthed, “You okay?” and I nodded back at him. Nicolo handed me a bowl of pasta, and I placed a scoop of it on my plate. Salad was passed around, but I’d discovered it wasn’t anything like what I had eaten before moving to Italy. There were a lot of differences, but I couldn’t complain.
Yes, I missed the sketchy Chinese food place and, of course, Burgers N Shakes. I would forever miss that place, but there was nothing I could do about that.
Once the massive number of bowls, platters, and baskets has been passed around the table, we finally started to eat. Therewas much laughter, and although I still felt very much out of place here, I was quick to admit that despite what these guys did, they were actually nice. Now, I knew that each and every one of them could and would kill someone without even a second thought, but here at a family dinner, you would never know.
Every so often, I would glance directly across from me and make eye contact with Rio. But it was the empty chair to Rio’s right and Master Vincent’s immediate left that was a glaring reminder that the coven was still missing a member.
“Do you know if there has been any news on finding Sandro?” I asked Marcello through our bond.
He rubbed his hand down my thigh and gave me a gentle smile.“We’re almost positive he’s on Capri. That is why Massimo and Carmelo aren’t here. They’re there now trying to locate him.”
Ah. That might be good news. If Sandro returned, the coven family would be complete. I was excited to get to know the vampire doctor. Rio was amazing, and I was thankful he was here. Mazzi was as well. Probably more than I was since his baby couldn’t be born without another warlock.
“Do you and Abel plan on having more children, Marcello?”
I looked to the right just in time to see Naldo throw a piece of bread at someone.
“What? It was a valid question.”
“It was a rude question, Elio,” Naldo said. “And you were told that when you asked me and Mazzi the same thing days after Mazzi gave birth.”
“Ignore Elio,” Nicolo and Marcello both said at the same time.
“Umm…okay? I mean, we do plan on having more children,” I said absently.
I turned to look at Marcello and spotted Master Vincent with a huge smile on his face. I couldn’t say if it was because of mycomment or if he was just overall happy since his family was here together. Well, most of it.
“See!” Elio said. I was still learning who all everyone was, and forget trying to remember what they did for the family. Most of them were hit men as far as I knew. There seemed to be a lot of those. I knew Marcello used to be, but now he said he did other things. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him; it was just that I knew that wasn’t exactly the case.
I made it about halfway through my meal when I heard a baby start to fuss. I froze for a moment and wanted to cry. It hadn’t even been an hour.
Mazzi was up and rounding the table and at the crib in a blink. He carefully picked up Tulio and started patting him on the back. “I’ll feed him,” Naldo said as he joined his beloved. “You need to finish eating your food.”
I smiled before taking another bite. That was how Marcello was as well. I had been worried that I was sleeping too deeply and wasn’t hearing the babies when they woke, but Marcello had told me that wasn’t the case at all. He had started taking Frankie with him when he went downstairs to make the bottles. Now we had a small refrigerator in our room, as well as a bottle warmer, and he had started putting the bottle in the warmer before he even started changing the diaper.
I glanced back at our two, but neither of them seemed as if they had moved. Marcello sensed my unease and got up, quickly rejoining us at the table. “They’re still very much asleep,” he told me before he leaned in and gave my forehead a quick kiss.
“That’s good. Thanks for checking on them.”
