<h4>Chapter 154: Chapter 154 : Getting Settled</h4>


    Ba.


    La and I were dictating to the housekeeper what we needed bought and brought in for the children when James arrived at the door to my suite. He leaned on the doorframe, just watching. Alessandro was on a nket on the floor, blowing bubbles and kicking his little legs in the air.


    Dahlia was under a different, lighter nket as I breastfed her.


    “... Lightweight pacifiers, if you can find them,” La was saying. “Alessandro won’t take the heavier ones yet.”


    “Of course, Miss Garcia,” the housekeeper, Giana, confirmed. “We can get anything you need.”


    “Don’t forget about things you need for yourselves,” James called, and Giana turned around and gave a slight bow.


    “Yes, I was just getting to that, signore. But they have been terribly concerned about the children,” Giana exined to him.


    I liked Giana. I’d never actually met a housekeeper who was in charge of a whole fleet of maids, but she was a no-nonsense woman in her sixties with gunmetal gray hair and a sharp intellect. I was pretty sure if Patton weren’t avable, she could havemanded his armies.


    “Ba, would you mind if I yed with Alessandro for a bit while you’re making your lists?” James asked with a hopeful smile.


    Giana and La kept going back and forth over needed items while I nodded, and James came in. Even in what must be a tailored suit, he sat down on the floor next to Alessandro.


    Alessandro waved a chubby hand, then gripped one of James’s fingers and brought it to his mouth, gumming it.


    I thought my heart might burst.


    “Madam?” Giana repeated, bringing my attention back to her.


    “Oh, I’m sorry. What was the question?” I asked.


    “I would like a list of items you need for yourself, madam,” Giana said.


    “Right. Yes.” I forced myself to keep my eyes away from James and the cooing and giggling baby on the floor, and gave Giana’s question some thought. Giana had already established a strict hierarchy. La was “Miss Garcia,” as she was a member of staff. I was “madam” because I was... well... madam, I guess.


    I began rattling off things like clothes and toiletries. I was rather sure they wouldn’t be able to get my favorite New Zend skincare regimen here, but Giana wrote it down with just a sage nod of her head.


    La’s list wasn’t extravagant at all, and Giana seemed to approve of that. She smiled at both of us and then left my suite just as I was switching Dahlia to my other breast.


    “Powerful little eater, huh?” James asked, grinning up at me.


    “They both are,” La confirmed.


    “We started Alessandro on form, though, since... well... before I had Dahlia.” I paused. I didn’t want to bring up Tally. “Anyway, he’s still on a very high-quality form.”


    James nodded in understanding but didn’t speak.


    “I barely produce enough milk for just Dahlia,” I said apologetically.


    James shrugged. “Not to worry. We just double-confirm that Alessandro is on the highest-quality form there is, and I’ve no doubt he’ll grow up big and strong.”


    “Like his grandpa,” I added without thinking.


    James smiled softly. “Like his grandpa.”


    “I’ll just go see about the nursery,” La said, looking from me to James and back again. She rose quickly and exited the suite.


    Then it was James and me and the air crackling between us.


    “Take the nket off?” It was almost an order.


    “Why? I’m not done breastfeeding,” I replied, though a shiver went down my spine at his demand.


    “I want to see Dahlia,” James said, giving me big, puppy eyes.


    Sometimes, James could be so sweet. But I also knew the side of him that was stone cold.


    I decided to give his sweet side a reward. I pulled the nket off and revealed Dahlia, who was making little coos and grunts while her cheeks puffed in and out, very determined to get her lunch.


    James scooped Alessandro off the floor and held him in the crook of his arm, then sat down next to me. He smiled at Dahlia and stroked her dark hair.


    Dahlia was too busy eating to notice or care.


    But I noticed. I didn’t know if it was post-pregnancy hormones or what, but my eyes welled up with tears.


    James put an arm around me and kissed my tears, then bent down to kiss Dahlia’s little head. She stopped nursing, gumming at my nipple a bit now and then, but mostly falling asleep.


    “May I?” James asked, taking the arm that wasn’t holding Alessandro and holding it out to me.


    I carefully ced Dahlia in the cradle of Jame’s other arm, and watched, choking back tears, while James held them both. The expression on his face was pure bliss as Dahlia slept and Alessandro tugged on one of his jacket buttons.


    “I wish I’d been there,” James whispered, stroking each baby with his thumb. “I’m sorry, Ba. I really thought I was doing the right thing, staying away. I wanted to keep you and the little ones as far away from the dangers of my life as possible. But all I did was miss out while my enemies and Neal’s came after you.”


    “What enemies do we have now?” I asked, tucking my breasts away and pulling down my shirt.


    James looked pained. “More than I’d like. But we also have powerful allies.”


    “Like me,” came an older voice from the doorway of the suite.


    James and I both jumped. I looked at the older man who was impably dressed and looked a bit like James.


    “Oh, Ba, this is my uncle...” James began.


    “Just call me Zio, dear,” James’s uncle said, striding into the room.


    It was impossible to tell his age, as he was proud and strapping like most Italians. However, I could tell he was older than James, at least.


    “It’s... nice to meet you, Zio,” I greeted him, feeling a bit like my private suite had be Grand Central Station.


    “I’m sorry to intrude. I just couldn’t wait a second longer to see our little new additions,” James’s uncle said excitedly.


    James’s smile was slightly annoyed, but he stood to hold out the babies for his uncle to see just the same.


    James’s uncle sped his hands under his chin, looking from one to the other. “They’re absolutely perfect. So perfect. Well done, James.”


    “Thank you, Uncle,” James replied.


    “I’d like to hold Alessandro, if I may,” James’s uncle said, settling himself in a chair. It wasn’t really a request.


    James eased Alessandro into his uncle’s waiting arms.


    The corners of the older man’s eyes crinkled as he looked down at Alessandro. “I have such high hopes for you.”


    High hopes? I frowned at James.


    James was trying to give his uncle a significant look, ncing from him to me.


    Don Valentino was absolutely unfazed.


    “What hopes?” I asked James.


    “He’ll inherit everything, of course,” James’s uncle said before James could answer.


    James squeezed his eyes shut and pulled his hand over his face. Obviously, this wasn’t something he wanted me to know, or at least not know right now.


    “So... let me get this straight. You’re expecting Alessandro to be a... Don?” I inquired.


    “One day, yes,” James’s uncle responded, booping Alessandro’s nose.


    My eye ticked. “James?”


    “We’ll talk about itter,” James murmured, trying to shush me.


    I didn’t like being shushed. Especially when it came to the future of one of my children. “Alessandro is going to find a nice, safe ce to grow up. He’ll go to a good university, then maybe travel the world or find a job he loves to do. But I don’t want him mixed up in all this.”


    James sighed and folded himself into another chair in the room. He didn’t want to have this conversation. Probably especially in front of the current Don Valentino.


    Tough titties.


    Jame’s uncle seemed to really notice me for the first time. “Ba,” he said with infinite patience, as though I were a spaniel that had just peed on the carpet, “Alessandro is in this. He always will be. So will you. There’s nothing to be done about it. Our enemies know about you, Neal’s enemies know about you. They know about the children. This is not a temporary move.”


    My stomach plummeted into my feet. “E-Excuse me?”


    “You’ve been brought here to live safely. Permanently,” James’s uncle restated.


    I snapped my head in James’s direction. “That wasn’t the agreement.”


    James rubbed his forehead as though he had the mother of all headaches. “I didn’t want to have to throw you over my shoulder and drag you here, Ba. I figured we’d talk about itter, after you’d had some time to adjust.”


    “Time to adjust?! I won’t have Alessandro living a life of crime!” I yelled.


    James’s uncle chuckled. “It’s adorable that you think you have a choice in the matter.” He said something in Italian to James.


    Groaning, James responded in kind, then got to his feet and pressed the house inte. “Giana? Would you mind getting La back from the nursery? Ba and I have some things we need to discuss.”


    “At once, signore,” Giana replied.


    Then James crossed to his uncle and took Alessandro back in his free arm.


    If I weren’t afraid he’d identally drop them, I would have rushed over and snatched them both away right then and there.


    When La appeared, looking a bit bewildered, I stabbed a finger in James’s direction. “Take the children to the nursery, please, La. I’m about to strangle their father/grandfather.”


    La quickly gathered up the babies and trotted out of my suite.


    James’s uncle rose, smoothing out his suit so that it was once again pristine. “I’ll leave you two to it. It seems you have much to talk about.”


    “Oh, you have no idea,” I seethed.


    James’s uncle chuckled and let himself out.


    I faced down James then, my hands on my hips. “I had every intention of returning to New Zend one day.”


    “You can. For vacation,” James murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I’d rather we bought a different vacation home there. Not that there’s anything wrong with the one you chose, it’s just that the Michaelson Brothers left it a bit of a mess, and I’m not sure you want to go back to it after what happened there.”


    “Vacation?!” I shouted. “Vacation?! THIS is a vacation, James. Once you have things sorted with the Michaelson Brothers...”


    “Once Neal has things sorted with the Michaelson brothers,” James corrected me.


    “Fine. Whichever. When this all dies down, the children and I are going to live elsewhere. You can leave this life ande with us, or stay here and visit asionally, but I won’t have Alessandro mixed up with the mafia!” I started to pace, fuming.


    “And the rival families? And Sergei’s son? And our other enemies?” James asked, arching an eyebrow. “How many dragons do you think I can y, Ba?”


    “As many as it takes!” I stormed up to him, poking him in the chest. “This is YOUR fault and YOUR mess and YOU have to clean it up!”


    James sighed. “It’s not that simple, Ba.”


    “MAKE it that simple!” I argued.


    James gripped my upper arms. “Do you even hear yourself right now? Ba, when I disappeared to Japan, that was exactly what I was trying to do. Keep all the dragons off your back. But it didn’t work. Now, that ship has sailed. This is it, Ba. This is reality. There is nothing else I can do.”


    I was so angry that I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a frustrated sob. “This is not how it’s supposed to be, James.”


    James wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest. “I know. But it’s the way things are.” He kissed the top of my head. “Why don’t youy down and get some rest? We’ve had a long couple of days of travel and quite a bit of excitement before that. Then, let me at least show you around this ce and let you see what life is like here. It’s not so terrible, Ba. You might find this is just the right ce to be.”


    I pushed away from him, shaking my head.


    “This will never be the right ce to be.”