Page 2 of Ciao Bella

“What happened?” asked Morgan.

“It’s kind of a long story,” said Ella, “but Ryan had been struggling with depression, alcohol, drug, and gambling addictions. He was targeted because of all of us, and they wanted information on our technologies. We were very lucky that he had enough of all of us in him that he refused.”

“Is that how he lost his arm?” she asked.

“It is. I’m forever grateful that our medical team and G.R.I.P. were able to give him a prosthetic that looks and feels like the real thing to him.”

“I’m sorry, Ella. I had no idea.”

“No worries. It’s in the past. Ryan has completely turned his life around and found the love of his life in Paige. He’s an amazing husband and father,” she smiled.

“Okay, so maybe not Paris.”

“Paris would be wonderful, but we could do Greece, Italy, Spain, anything in that region,” said Alexandra.

“I think we just drop as many hints as we possibly can and see what sticks,” said Lauren. “I’m going to start streaming a movie or television series about Italy, maybe bake something from that region.”

“Same,” nodded Faith. Erin smiled at her girl squad, nodding at their unified approach to the issue.

“Alright, ladies. We’ve got a few weeks. Let’s see what sticks.”

December 26th

“Well, that was a lovely holiday,” frowned Erin, curling her feet beneath her as she took a seat with a glass of wine in hand.

“Yes. Lovely,” agreed Faith. She handed a glass of wine to Grace, who sat between Lena and Lauren.

“Lovely,” nodded Lauren.

“Oh, who the hell are we kidding,” said Lena. “We dropped so many hints that if they’d been stones on a ship, we would have sunk them all. Talk about dense!”

The room of women giggled, nodding their heads.

“It was pretty sad, you guys. I made sure that Pierre saw three travel books I had on the table. I lost count of the movies we watched, usually resulting in him falling asleep, the wines I bought, it was all for nothing.”

“Maybe we’re being too subtle,” frowned Tory. “I mean, these guys are great with criminals, drugs, and terrorists, but they’ve never been perfectly attuned to feelings and emotions.”

“She might be right,” said Sophia. “I love Ivan, but sometimes subtlety just doesn’t work for him at all. I kept making Italian food for dinner, pasta, lasagna, pizza. You know what he bought me for Christmas? A book on Italy. A photo book. Not a travel guide, not a hotel guide, a photo book.”

“Well,” snickered Ally, “he was at least going in the right direction.”

“Most of us got jewelry, as always,” said Erin. “I love my jewelry from Nine, but I have so many pieces that are almost identical I think he forgets what he gave me the year before. I need to tell Mama Irene to not let the jeweler back on the property without speaking to us directly.”

“The way I see it,” said Sara, “is we have two choices. We can either continue to bitch about it and keep dropping subtle hints, or we can be as direct as possible and tell them what we want.” Faith looked up to see the men walking toward them.

“It looks like we might get our chance, ladies.”

CHAPTER TWO

Christmas Day

“What an amazing Christmas. Amazing gifts, even more amazing food, and a wedding for the ages,” grinned Gaspar, hugging Alexandra as they watched the great-grandchildren play.

There were nearly a dozen new babies being held by their parents, family members, or friends. Right now, all were quiet, but at any moment, they could let loose on them and show the world their lung capacity. The quads had been unusually quiet all day, so they were due for a screaming session soon, which no doubt would trigger all of the other babies.

“It’s always a beautiful Christmas, Gaspar,” she said, snuggling closer to him. “You did too much this year. I didn’t need more jewelry.”

“Said no woman ever,” he laughed, kissing her.