Chapter 114 Away - Lily

Chapter 114 Away - Lily
It feels like eons ago when we drive the same road we did the last time we went to the lake house. Only this time, I feel so much older than what I did then. I'm much less naive, that's for sure. It feels like I've had years of experience in the months I've been married to Vincent.
"I was thinking maybe we could go somewhere warm in January." He breaks the silence in the car.
"Oh?"
"Winters are brutal in Chicago, I think maybe two weeks away on an island would be a great break."
That sounds like a dream. Funny how I've never had to care about money in my whole life, but that I've never had the opportunity to travel much. A tropical island sounds idyllic. I'd probably have to stay out of the sun most of the time, but it would be so worth it.
"That sounds amazing." I narrow my eyes at the corners of his mouth twitching. "Two weeks are an awfully long time for the Prince of Pleasure to be away from his kingdom."
The Prince of Pleasure. Frank let it drop the other day that that is Vincent's nickname amongst business people. Well, he sure brings me pleasure in bed or wherever he decides to fuck me, so I thought it was a very fitting name.
"Let me guess, Frank told you." He shakes his head. "Am I ever going to hear the end of it now?"
I sigh, looking out the window at the passing scenery. "Well, since I'm to become a real artist now, I wouldn't have time to tease you."
"That was not part of the deal." He deadpans. "How are we supposed to make babies if you don't have time to do the deed."
"A quick roll in the hay would do it, all you have to do is what you do best, five seconds."
A deep laugh erupts all the way from his belly, the sound like fucking music to my ears. Shit. I'm beginning to like him again, and I was fighting so hard not to.
I can't stop my lips from turning into a smile. "How about another deal?"
He shakes his head, the last remnants of his laugh dying down as he steers the car. "I'm all ears."
"We give each other our weekends." I suggest, knowing spending all this time with him is going to put me in deep trouble, open my heart up to possibilities I wasn't ready for. "Like this weekend, and we do what you said. We fuck, we eat, we drink wine."
"Add the quick roll in the hay on weekdays and I'm sold." He smiles briefly at me before forcing his eyes on the road again.
God, I hate how much I enjoy spending time with him.
The lake house is beautiful when we arrive, the surrounding colors completely changed from when we were here over the summer.
"Stunning, isn't it?" Vincent says from next to me after we get out of the car. "I have to bring you every season so you can see how different it is every time."
I would love that, and when we step into the homey interior, I think that a kid would love it here too. Like me on the farm. I loved it there, all the openness, the horses, and the feeling of freedom. I didn't know just how imprisoned I actually was when I was just a kid, because it certainly didn't feel that way.
"Do we not need security when we're here?" I ask curiously when we pack out the groceries the kitchen staff packed.
"Nobody knows where this place is except Father, Lorenzo, and Elio."
That surprises me. "Not even Frank?"
"Like I told you, this was my grandparents' place. They hated the mafia, and didn't want anything to do with the organization." There's something in his eyes I can't quite decipher. when he looks at me. "They wanted my mother to leave my father. She wouldn't do that, but agreed to come here every summer with me. That tradition went on after she died until I was a teen."
"How did she die?" It's something we have in common, not having a mother.
"Suicide." The tone in his voice tells me it's not something he likes to talk about.
"I'm sorry." It must have been tough on a little boy to lose his mother. I wouldn't exactly know since mine died when I was born, Nana taking the place of my mother.
His hands still. "The mafia stifled her, I don't think she liked being told what to do and how to act all the time. She couldn't get out, so she got out the only way she knew how."
It all starts to make sense now. The way he's letting me do things even when I know it's probably frowned upon by the older people. He doesn't want me to feel stifled, and I feel like such a bitch now for what I did to him with professor Bernard.
I'm fucking selfish. I had all these opinions in my head about the mafia and being married off, and I just thought Vincent was the same as Papa.
But I never took the time to really get to know him, did I?
Vincent allowed me to have a little freedom, and instead of gratitude, I betrayed him instead.