The Gangsters Wife

Calling The Family

The phone rang as Ben changed in the bathroom. Big Tony had given him some of Joey’s clothes at Mirella’s insistence. “Hello,” Mirella said as she answered the phone recognizing the number as the cell phone that belonged to Lucas at the prison. “Hi Mirella, Joey is down in the solitary after a fight with somebody so I can’t get him the message right now,” Lucas said. “Okay well let him know as soon as you can and tell Joey to stop fighting he needs to just relax until his lawyer comes next week,” Mirella said. “All right,” Lucas said “And how you doing?” He asked. Mirella could hear the concern in his voice. “I’ll be all right as soon as my son is home,” Mirella said. She had to be strong and keep a level head as she needed to get the family together to decide what to do. “I’ll try and get to see Joey today during shift change,” Lucas said before hanging up.

Mirella hung up the phone and sat down on a chair with her head in her hands. She felt a hand touch her back and she looked up to see Big Tony with his hand rubbing her back. Mirella smiled at him he was a handsome man, nice to look at, with dark brown hair that he kept cut short making him look like a marine. His wide square jaw gave him a perpetual frown upon his face making him look extremely intimidating, that along with his sheer massive size was almost enough to make people run in fear. For a man with such giant hands that were used to throwing punches and snapping limbs like twigs he was surprisingly gentle with Mirella.

Mirrella held his hand and leaned towards Big Tony as he wrapped his arms around her making her feel safe. “It’s gonna be all right,” Big Tony said quietly as he hugged Mirella tightly against his chest. “We will get him back I promise you that,” Big Tony said as he released her and Ben came out of the bathroom. “All right I think you need to call the family before we head up to the Adirondacks,” Ben said as he came out of the bathroom. Mirella looked at him thinking the same thing. “All right Tony call the family please,” Mirella said.

Big Tony left the room to make the calls. Mirella stood up from the chair and grabbed a first aid kit. She handed Ben two white pills for pain as she motioned for him to sit down in the chair. “I’m sorry Big Tony did this to you,” Mirella said as she cleaned Ben’s face and put on bandages, there was a cut above his eye and one on his lip. “All right,” Mirella said as she put everything back in the cabinet in the kitchen. Her pride and joy of the house, Joey had designed the kitchen exactly as she had wanted. Dark marble countertops, sleek brushed silver hardware on the mahogany cabinets, and lots of counter space for her to bake and cook. Mirella loved to cook and bake, it was one of her passions that she had done since she was a kid.

Mirella’s mama God rest her soul had taught her to cook before she passed. Then Mirella had went to live with her grandma and grandpa in Queens as her daddy didn’t have the time to take care of a little girl. At only 10 Mirella had lost both her mama and daddy. She didn’t see much of her daddy after he brought her to her grandparents house. He was too busy with his business in the city to worry about a little girl. Mirella’s grandma had taught her more about cooking and baking as well as helped her everyday after school. Aunt Gina Mirella’s mamas baby sister came regularly to take her shopping and bring her to runway shows as she was a model. Gina had introduced Mirella to her agent when she was 13 and he was looking for a teen model to do some ad work for a magazine.

After Gina paid for Mirella to have a portfolio of pictures taken, Mirella then got a bunch of paying modeling gigs. Gina always came with her and ensured she was safe and would always review her contracts before allowing her grandparents to sign on Mirella’s behalf. Mirella still saw Gina twice a week for lunch and her grandparents were now in their early 80s and were thrilled to see Mirella and Joe Joe every Sunday for dinner after church. Her grandparents were devout Catholics and Mirella attended church every Sunday with them, Gina and Joey Junior. Then Mirella and Joey Junior would go to her grandparents house for an early dinner before heading home.

Mirella thought about calling Gina to let her know what happened but Mirella thought twice as Gina would just aggravate the situation. Gina had never liked Joey and was especially not happy when Mirella had started dating him. Then when they got married a year later Gina had really voiced her opinion about him. “You know that man is no good. He’s the boss of that crime family, you have no idea what that man is capable of and what he might do to you,” Gina had said to Mirella when she came home to announce her engagement to Joey. Mirella’s grandpa had pulled her aside and told her to be safe and if she truly loved Joey him and her grandma would support Mirella as long as she was happy.