Once she quieted, he spoke again, raising the volume of his now hoarse voice, “Would you like to meet my daughter, Molly Greene?”
Startled, I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know what to say.
With extreme care, he rolled up to his knees and into a standing position. He pivoted around. If he felt any reservations about me bearing witness to his breakdown, he hid it well. His exquisite features were swollen, but the mask he’d always put between us was gone now. Maybe he’d decided the energy required to keep it in place was no longer worth the effort.
“Anna, this is Molly Greene. She’s going to be working with us. Molly, this is Anna Lorena Varasso, my little girl.”
I’d never imagined the man I’d spent this harrowing day with to be a father. It boggled my mind, frankly. He seemed to be in no hurry to go back downstairs or to leave this room at all. I thought of the aproned woman and wondered about the baby’s mother. But then as I considered his expression and everything else I’d just seen, the answer became glaringly obvious.
She wasn’t there. She’d either abandoned them, or she must not be alive.
This explained his layered complexity in a way that nothing else possibly could. It explained why he’d been staring at the ceiling as we’d raced up from the basement. He hadn’t only been concentrating on finding whoever had invaded his home, he’d been apprehensive about his daughter’s safety.
Luca Varasso was a single parent.
Damn.
“Hi, Anna.” This close, especially with their faces beside one another’s, I could easily detect the resemblance. So many of her features were the same as his. There could be no doubt that they shared significant amounts of DNA. In fact, the only holdouts were her bright blue eyes. Her teeny little fist encircled her father’s thumb, a ferocious hold. I caressed her petal soft cheek. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”
My gaze then met his. I felt the need to touch him, too. To comfort him. Slowly, I lifted my hand and pressed it carefully to the side of his face. He closed his eyes, seemingly welcoming the contact. “She’s perfect, Luca.”
“I think so.”
When he opened his eyes, I let my hand drop back to my side. “Well, I’m going to chalk up this day to one of my top ten worst ever,” I told him, falling back on my habit of joking my way through grievous difficulties. “How about you?”
He released a gusty little chuckle. A real, authentic expression of humor. Wow. “It’s right up there.”
Then he looked at me, his bloodshot eyes no longer cold, curving his lips slightly upward. A smile, a glimpse at the man behind the mobster. The dark angel who suddenly seemed more angel and less dark.
When Anna fell asleep in his arms, he walked with her down a single flight of stairs to the second floor. “Come with me and I’ll show you where you’ll be staying,” he said.
“I’m not staying in the basement anymore?”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” He stopped outside an open doorway, padding inside. I followed, watching as he clicked on a nightlight in the shape of a daisy. “She loved daisies,” he murmured, and I wondered if he’d intended to say that out loud.
I also didn’t miss the fact that whoever “she” was, he’d used the past tense when describing her.
With the utmost of care, he placed Anna in her wooden crib. Above the baby’s head spun a mobile. Daisies again. I couldn’t help smiling at it. The only illumination in the room came from the nightlight, but I was able to tell that the room was spacious with a seating area and a king-sized sleigh bed. Was this where Luca slept?
He headed back the way we came in. “You’ll be there.” He indicated a door at the end of the hall. “It’s meant for guests, so it has its own restroom.”
I entered a space that was nicer than anywhere I’d ever lived, including my current home.
“Are you going to lock me in?” I asked him, half kidding, but he regarded me seriously, coming in and flicking on a small lamp.
“Do I need to?”
I knew my chances of sneaking out were probably somewhere between zero and less than zero. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. My brain had trouble processing it all. I’d seen and experienced so many horrific events that I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep for a month.
“Don’t think I’m up to anything Shawshank related tonight.”
This earned me another miniscule curve of his lips. Two smiles in a row. A record. “Our housekeeper Francesca keeps an assortment of extra clothes and linens in these rooms. I’ll have her get you whatever you might want. I would prefer you to stay here in your room until I come for you tomorrow.”
I nodded, sitting on the bed. Unlike my own mattress which had springs sticking out uncomfortably no matter how I laid on it, this felt like lounging on a cloud.
Luca crossed to my doorway, his frame becoming a silhouette as the light from the corridor lit him from behind.
“Good night, Molly Greene.” Then, he was gone.