Page 18 of Ciao Bella

“I won’t lie. I wanted to walk away from her. I was twice her age, but she didn’t give up on me.”

“You didn’t give up on us,” she smiled. “The icing on the cake was finding the kids and being able to adopt them. Our life was made infinitely better after that.”

“That was another time when your family stepped in and helped us,” said Ivan. “Doug showed up in the helicopter to help us get those kids out of there, and you had a bunch of boys working with us.”

“It’s one of the many things that make us brothers. We take care of one another, and that will never change,” said Ian.

“It’s getting late,” said Ghost. “If we’re gonna hit the ground running in Rome, we should probably try to sleep a bit.” Grace laid her seat back into the bed position, and Ghost did the same, allowing them to cuddle together.

The lights of the plane were out, and then they heard someone rustling around.

“What the fuck?” muttered Gaspar. It was Gabe.

“Go back to sleep. I have to pee.” In perfect harmony, his brothers called his name.

“Gaa-aabe!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Although most of the jets owned by the team were able to make the trip to Europe in about half the time as a commercial airliner, the converted commercial jet they were on was too big to have all the speed as the others. It did, however, have all the gadgets, weapons, and technology.

When daylight began peeking through the windows of the plane, members began to stir, taking turns in the five luxury bathrooms to wash up and change their clothes. Suzette, Rachelle, and Adele sat with their husbands enjoying some breakfast, talking about all the beautiful things they would see.

“In a lot of ways, I guess we’re like the babies of the group,” said Suzette.

“You are the babies,” laughed Antoine. “Outside of Alec.”

“We know that,” teased Rachelle. “Listening to all of your stories last night had me remembering.” Mac reached for her hand, squeezing.

“Don’t go there, baby.”

“No, it’s okay. It was mostly good memories. After. After the attack happened, Adele and I traveled around Europe and saw so many amazing things.” Antoine tried not to look directly at his sister.

“Wait,” said Rachelle, staring at her brother. “You followed us.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, not really. I mean. Yes. Okay, yes. We followed you. When we could, when we were stationed near where the two of you were travelling. If we couldn’t do it, we called one of the cousins to follow you.”

“Antoine!” screeched Rachelle.

“Honey, listen to me. Y’all are our sisters. We hated that we weren’t here when the attack happened. We blamed ourselves.”

“How could you possibly have changed the outcome?” asked Rachelle. “We were in college. You wouldn’t have been there either way. You came when you could, and that mattered more to me than you could possibly imagine. I only wish someone would have forced Adele to go home.”

“No. No way,” said Adele, shaking her head. “You needed me. You needed me, and I needed you. It’s what twins do for one another.”

“You gave up a lot for me, Adele. More than a sister should have to.”

“Says who?” frowned Suzette. Rachelle and Adele looked at their younger sister. “I would do anything for the two of you or anyone here, for that matter. We’re family. Mama and Pops taught us that. You do anything for family. Anything!”

“Suzette, I…”

“Don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “You were all there for me when Sly was sick, when I thought I would lose him forever. It’s what we do.”

“She’s right,” said Mac. “I know it was hard for all of you, but you were so lucky to have one another, just like I was lucky to have Sara and Tobias. I’ve been a part of this family long enough to know that you wouldn’t have been able to do it any other way. It would have killed you to not be there. Not just for Rach, but for each other.”

“I wouldn’t have changed anything except what happened to you, Rach,” said Adele.

“I know,” she said with a sad smile. “I would have changed your stalker if I could have. Who knew that she would confuse you and me.”