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Authors: Billy London

A Life Sublime

BOOK: A Life Sublime
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www.beautifultroublepublishing.com

Copyright © 2012 by Billy London

All Rights Reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared in any form, including but not limited to: printing, photocopying, faxing, recording, electronic transmission, or by any information storage or retrieval system without prior written permission from the authors or holders of the copyright. 

This book is a work of fiction.  References may be made to locations and historical events; however, names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and/or used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), businesses, events or locales is either used fictitiously or coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.

Published by

Beautiful Trouble Publishing, LLC

1589 Skeet Club Rd. Ste. 102-237

High Point, NC 27265

www.beautifultroublepublishing.com

Cover Art: Les Byerley

Editor: Legacy Editing

Proofreader: Allie Hart

Formatter: Jim & Zetta,
http://www.jimandzetta.com/

E-book Conversion:
Jim & Zetta,
http://www.jimandzetta.com/

ISBN: (ebook) 978-1-61788-311-8; (print) 978-1-61788-312-5

For the late, great effervescently amazing Ms. Rhonda Scales. I’m going to miss you and remain forever grateful to you for your support.

For Jeanie and Jayha. So Nick’s dad and the beady eyed aunt get together. This is totally your fault and I love you both for it!

To Lady London, thank you for patiently spelling out the numerous Fante words for me and buying me so much ice cream and cake in Capri I nearly burst out of my top! Florence? Next year? They have booze…

To my readers… Brace yourselves.

Note about eBooks

 

eBooks are NOT transferable.  Re-selling, sharing or giving away eBooks is a copyright infringement.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author or Beautiful Trouble Publishing.

CAVEAT

 

This work may contain adult language and sexually explicit scenes.  This book is intended only for adults, as it is defined by the laws of the country in which the purchase is made.  Keep this book out of the hands of under-aged readers.

Glossary

Abasama
:
(Fante) What’s the matter with you?

Abodom
: (
Fante
)
Are you mad/Madness

Baciami
: (Italian) (phrase)
kiss me

Bessem ma ye nko
: (
Fante) (phrase) come on let’s go

Cazzo
: (Italian) (slang)
cock

Chiavare
:
(Italian) (slang) fuck

Ewuradzi Yankopong
:
(Fante) Jesus Lord

Fa wasam ko nhu
: (Fante) (phrase)
get lost!

Figa:
(Italian)
cunt

Giusto: (
Italian
)
all right

il Padre
: (Italian) The Father

Kahun
: (
Fante
)
move

Makaachreo
: (
Fante
)
I’m telling you/I’m warning you

Meda ase
: (
Fante
)
thank you

Mina
: (
Fante
)
mother

Obruni
: (
Fante
)
a foreigner/white person

Otse den
: (
Fante
) (
phrase
) (
informal
)
How are you?

Per cent’anni:
(Italian) (phrase)
for a hundred years

Phat:
(slang) big

Scoparmi
: (Italian) (slang) fuck me

Stag do:
(phrase) bachelor party

Yaatsi
:
(Fante) Enough

Yeffun
:
(Fante) shut up

Zia/Zio
: (Italian)
aunt/uncle

What is love? ‘tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty,—
Then come kiss me, Sweet and twenty,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure

 

Carpe Diem
, by William Shakespeare

 

Chapter One

The villa was absolutely spotless, arranged to Massimo’s exact specifications. New Murano chandeliers sparkled in the sunlight that streamed through the Venetian glass. Simple blue and white tiles reflected the crystallised light. Regency-styled wallpaper had been brutally stripped and the walls instead painted a neutral cream. All the beds in each of the twenty bedrooms had been replaced along with the linens. Even the exterior had been resurfaced and repainted. It had taken the better part of a year, but at last, every single last trace of Mary Alice and her influence in his home was gone.

The first time he returned to the villa, the stitches in his neck still raw to the touch, he was haunted by her. He smelled her in the sheets, in the soaps she had chosen. He saw her playing tag with Nick under the
loggia
, tying Paul’s shoe lace as he was perched on the dining room table. Her reflection was in the huge bedroom mirror, fitting an earring to match the full length black dress she wore for their anniversary. With a brief blink, her image dissolved. Every day felt like torture. A relentless cycle of opening his eyes, turning to his side and seeing his bed empty. Fortune had chosen him rather than his wife, who had so desperately wanted him dead. The
when
he had lost her was inconsequential to the
why
and
where
. Maybe he could have brought her back from that edge and saved their marriage. Thirty three years of his life was rendered irrelevant by her senseless death. What else could he do but start again? From the very beginning as if none of it happened, regardless that his heart was shattered. As if his wife hadn’t carried on an affair with a man who was intent on taking everything from him that he had spent years building, controlling, ruling. Or that she hadn’t tried and almost succeeded in destroying his relationship with his children and worst of all, attempted to have him murdered. Ignore all the imagined conversations where Mary Alice explained herself in a concise and apologetic manner and instead, wonder when he would be able to sleep through the night without medicinal assistance.

Sometimes, he questioned if he was doing the right thing. Painting over his life with Mary Alice. She had existed. His sons were testament to that. But he didn’t see her in either Paul or Nick. They were both very much so his children. He’d have been utterly lost without them and the women in their lives. Not that she would ever admit it even on pain of death, but Sofia had such a streak of compassion within her, evident by her checking up on him on a daily basis. Gina made sure he had enough food to eat for a lifetime. More than that, it had been her prompt that led Nick to tell him what his mother’s cruel plans had been. He would never be able to repay Gina for her thoughtfulness and determination to save the Da Canavezes from Mary Alice’s betrayal. All he could do was vow to live up to what Gina’s father had started and watch over her.

He rubbed a hand across his eyes, composing himself just as Sofia swept past him. “Padre, you can help by lighting some of these Diptyque
TM
candles. I want the whole villa to smell like roses when Gina comes.”

Taking her cue from her friend, Sofia had started calling him
padre
as well. Gina apparently couldn’t call him by his first name and it felt too formal to call him Mr. Da Canaveze. Padre was a happy medium that caught on and taken various forms. He liked it. He liked it even more that the two girls felt comfortable enough with him to call him father in his own language.

“They have not even boarded the plane,” he replied.

Sofia merely pressed a lighter into his palm. “All the more reason to move it along.” She paused. “Are you having a maudlin moment? Do I need to get the Jonnie Walker?”

“No, I am fine. Yes, you do.” He smiled. “How many candles are you going to light?”

“Excluding the ones in the
loggia?
I can’t count that high.” She grinned, sweeping her long, liquid black hair over one lightly tanned shoulder. “This is going to be a beautiful week.”

“And you are sure the villa does not look too modern?”

Sofia gave a dancing little shrug she always gave before she lied. Naturally, she wouldn’t think so, as most of the changes had been her ‘suggestions’. Subtle phrases such as “Padre, it’s very er… Ienco…” would ensure he’d move forward. Mary Alice Ienco—like was the last thing he wanted. Manipulative little thing. She was his daughter, if not by blood then definitely by deception. “
Mon pere, il est magnifique.

“You always speak French when you lie.”

“Pfft. I’m taking the Ferrari for that.”

“Sofia, I said no.”

“I can’t hear you,” she claimed. “Paul’s going to be here in an hour and then we can eat. Fiore promised the fish will be as good as Gina’s. We pay her enough for me to beat her if it isn’t, don’t we?”

“No.” The tone in the one word was sufficient for Sofia to sigh.

“Fine. You do like to spoil my fun.”

BOOK: A Life Sublime
7.54Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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