Regrets of the Don: His Beloved Walked Away novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: The Party

The envelope came on January 5.

His mother called Cesare to say it had arrived, sealed.

She didn't open it.

"It sits on my dresser," she told him. "Under my rosary. Nobody touches it until my birthday."

"Ma..."

"I said nobody, Cesare. I've been lied to by enough people this year. I want to be lied to once more, in front of everyone, and then never again."

On January 16 it snowed a little, the dry kind that never sticks.

The house in Dyker Heights was lit.

Inside, two hundred people in their good clothes filled the front rooms and the long glass room off the back.

The cake stood on its own table.

It was shaped like the house. Connie hadn't been exaggerating.

I came in through the front door for the first time since October.

I wore a black dress and my work boots, and I carried a laptop bag over my shoulder.

Conversations stopped as I walked through them.

I knew most of these people.

The capos and their wives. The men from the social club in Gravesend. The cousins from Staten Island.

And the guests from my wedding.

The woman who'd whispered five behind me at the altar was by the bar in red sequins.

She saw me and leaned to her friend.

I didn't need to hear what she said.

Nonna was enthroned by the fireplace in her pearls.

She lifted one finger to me.

I went and kissed her cheek.

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