Free SharingGianna by Lacey Thorn Page B

her and the conversation with her mother that had been long
overdue. It wasn’t lost on her that here she was running again. But at least
this time, she’d been able to tell her mother exactly what happened.
    * * * * *
    Belinda sat on the bench, her sobs racking her body. Arms
wrapped around her and she leaned into her husband’s embrace. After all their
years together, she would know his touch anywhere.
    “Salvatore, what have I done? What have I done?” she wailed,
slipping back into her native Italian.
    “Our Gianna. Our poor little Gianna,” Salvatore said.
    She felt his shoulders shake and knew he was crying harder
than she was. Salvatore had always been the heart of the family. He put on a
gruff front but the kids all knew he had a marshmallow for a heart. Belinda had
been the one to discipline, to dole out punishment when it was required. And
she had made a huge mistake. The worst kind of mistake that a mother could
make.
    She heard her daughter’s word again. “It’s too late for
your concern, Mamma. The girl needed it. The woman learned to survive without
it.”
    She would hear them until the day she died. Ten years she
had lost with her daughter all because of a lie. And she’d been too righteous
to listen when her daughter needed her the most. How was she ever going to make
it right? How could she even try?

Chapter Eight
     
    Gabe drove them around for hours before heading back to the
hotel. Tony just held her close. They didn’t speak, both of them giving her the
silence she needed. It was comfortable silence, filled with compassion and
understanding. It was exactly what she needed. She thought they probably had
questions but they weren’t asking them right now and she was very grateful.
    “We’re almost there,” Gabe said softly as he turned a
corner.
    “I know.” She sat up. The tears had dried on her cheeks and
now she just felt a heavy sadness.
    She’d finally told her mom what she’d wanted to for so long.
She’d hoped to see hurt on her mother’s face and she hadn’t been disappointed.
Her mother had been hurt. She’d seen the sorrow, the regret flash through her
mother’s eyes. And Gianna had hardened her heart and walked away.
    But now. Now it hurt. She should feel justified. She should
feel validated. But she didn’t. She just felt lost and, God help her, ashamed
of her behavior. Perhaps if she hadn’t let ten years of anger and hurt build up
inside her, it would be different. What happened so long ago wasn’t her fault.
But her behavior today was. And she’d hurt her mother for no other reason than
the fact that she could.
    “Do you know where my parents live?”
    “Yeah, we’ve been to a few gatherings there with Dante.
Why?” Gabe turned a quick glance her way as he asked before focusing once more
on the road.
    “I need to go there. I… I have something to do.”
    “Gianna, don’t you think you’ve been through enough today?”
Tony pulled her close again as he spoke.
    “I’ve been through enough to last a lifetime. But that’s no
excuse for what I did today.” She glanced at him and she wondered if he could
see the remorse in her eyes. “Did you see her face? My mother? I destroyed her
today.”
    “It sounds like she had it coming.” Tony’s anger surprised
her. She was sleeping with him but she hadn’t expected him to be so mad on her
behalf.
    “No, she didn’t. She was wrong. But so was I. I let things
go on the way they were because I was ashamed. I felt guilty. I can’t lay that
at her door.”
    “Your mom believed the worst of you and wouldn’t give you a
chance to tell her the truth. I’d say that tells its own story.” Gabe sounded
just as angry as Tony.
    “I thought about getting an abortion. When Michael and his
mom mentioned it. They made it sound like the only clear choice, like I should
jump at the opportunity. Michael didn’t want our baby. I was young and had my
whole life ahead of me. Did I really want a baby weighing me