She didn’t want to explain. Couldn’t explain. Couldn’t tell her beloved grandfather the truth about his son and daughter-in-law. Definitely couldn’t tell him what she’d learned about The Inferno. “Primo—”
“Subito!”
She shrugged, surrendering to the inevitable. “Constantine’s right. I took back The Inferno. I released him.”
Primo raised his eyes heavenward. “Santa Maria, Madre di Dio. What has gotten into you, Gianna? There are no take backs in The Inferno.” He wavered between laughter and outrage. “Where did you hear such nonsense?”
She hesitated. One look at her grandfather’s expression warned that he’d have the answer from her, no matter how long it took. “Uncle Dominic and Aunt Laura.”
Primo stiffened. “Dominic,” he repeated. Spinning around, he crossed to the door and yanked it open. “Get Severo. Now.”
Her cousin Sev entered a moment later. He was followed by his wife, Francesca, and Constantine’s sister, Ariana. An instant later her parents slipped into the room, along with her grandmother, Nonna. They settled her in a chair not far from Gianna. That opened the floodgates and the entire family piled in behind them.
“This concerns all of us,” Alessandro informed his father. “La famiglia.”
And that said it all.
Reluctantly Primo nodded. He took a seat beside Gianna and gathered her hands in his. Constantine sat behind her, his solid warmth at her back, a supportive hand on her shoulder. Her family encircled the three of them, love and concern flowing from them in palpable waves.
“You have often been a chiacchierona when you should not,” Primo said, though kindly. “Perhaps this is one of the times you should have chattered more and chose instead to chatter less. From the beginning, Gianna.”
She spared Sev a swift look. Other than her grandparents, his reaction to her story worried her the most. “It was my thirteenth birthday. The day before Uncle Dominic and Aunt Laura died.”
Almost in unison, the family crossed themselves. “We were at your uncle’s house to celebrate the occasion,” Primo prompted. “I remember that day.”
Her hands tightened within her grandfather’s warm hold. Behind her, Constantine gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Even at that young age, I was crazy about shoes.”
“So was Mamma,” Sev murmured.
“Yes. For my gift, she told me to go up to her closet and pick out any pair of shoes I wanted.” Gianna sighed at the memory. “I’d never seen so many lovely shoes.”
Constantine snorted.
Gianna took instant umbrage. “Believe it or not, she had even more pairs than I do. And her closet…” She sighed. Aware that she was getting a bit offtrack, she forced herself to focus. “I’d probably been up there for a full hour, trying on pair after pair, unable to make up my mind, when Uncle Dominic and Aunt Laura came into the bedroom. I was buried in the closet. They didn’t know I was there. Aunt Laura had probably forgotten. Or maybe she assumed I’d already left. They…they were fighting.”
Sev’s expression darkened. “They did that a lot right before…” He shook off the memory. “Go on, Gianna.”
“Uncle Dominic told her he planned to leave and wanted a divorce. Aunt Laura started crying. She said…” Gianna swallowed. “She said ‘But what about The Inferno? You told me it would last forever.’“
Sev stiffened. Primo closed his eyes. Nonna lifted a trembling hand to her mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Gianna whispered. “I’m so sorry to tell you this.”
“Continue,” Primo prompted.
“Uncle Dominic said that he’d experienced The Inferno with someone else. If he mentioned her name, I don’t recall it. He said it happens sometimes. That it was beyond his control.” She felt the ripple of disbelief sweep through her cousins and brothers. She didn’t dare look at any of their wives to see how they were taking the news. “Aunt Laura was still crying, but she was also angry. She said that he’d told her when they’d married that he’d felt The Inferno for her. That Primo had told her it only happened once in a lifetime. That she’d never have married him if they hadn’t felt The Inferno for each other.”
“The Inferno does only happen once in a lifetime,” her grandfather said gently.
Gianna shook her head. She looked at him miserably, the pain of disillusioning him worse than anything she’d ever experienced before. “Uncle Dominic said you didn’t know because you’d never felt it for anyone else the way he had. He said that Dantes can feel it for more than one person, but that he could fix things. Take away The Inferno so Aunt Laura wouldn’t love him anymore. He took her hand in his and he released her.”