Don Vidal

27 - Things are good...

Marnie

These past few weeks have been the best of my life. Literally. Draven is just amazing. He treats me like a Queen, his Queen. What happened with Carlos and Louis will never come between us. It happened; it left me scarred, but I won’t hold it against Draven.

I’m becoming stronger in mind and body thanks to the training sessions I have each day. Nova is a slave driver, but she knows what she’s doing. I didn’t think learning self-defense while pregnant was possible. But Nova said anything was possible if I put my mind to it.

I’ve moved into Draven’s bedroom permanently. Well, come on, we have se.x every night and almost every morning. We’re getting married soon, so there’s no point putting off the inevitable. Besides, I don’t want those around him, the people who work for him, to think badly of our relationship. I don’t want to cause him any kind of embarrassment if anyone finds out we have separate bedrooms. I’m going to make him proud, I’ll be the best wife any Don could wish for.

Now that Draven and I are organizing the wedding ourselves, everything is perfect. I should have been brave enough to just tell him how I was feeling instead of letting things get out of hand. It’s done now, and I’m enjoying every moment of it.

I sat Brooke, Maria, and Avery down and explained how grateful I was for their help but that I wanted to make my own decisions. That made all three of them upset because they never wanted to make me feel like I had no choice. Each one of them had been there in some way in the past, and they knew how it felt. They all felt terrible, but that's not what I wanted.

I hugged them all and told them I loved them and wanted their help. But some things I wanted for just Draven and me.

Avery and I discussed what I wanted for my dress, then Maria and I discussed what I wanted regarding my jewelry, and Brooke drew it all out. By the time we’d finished, my perfect dress was staring at me from A3 paper.

Tony and I have become good friends over the past few weeks, and I really like his almost wife, Amy. She’s not one to be messed with; anyone can see that just by looking at her. Aside from Nova, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman with real ABS before. Not that she’ll have them much longer with a pregnant belly coming along. It’s nice that we’ll both have babies who will become friends. Draven and Tony are close, so making friends with Amy came naturally. Not that Draven wants me to make friends with those who work for him. However, as Tony is his friend, and Tony is marrying Amy, Draven is okay with us being friends.

Tony left Amy and me alone the other day to talk. I think he wanted me to open up to her, which meant Draven had put them up to it. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be opening up about. However, the conversation was easy, and the words just kept falling from my mouth. I hadn’t realized until that moment how badly I needed to get things off my chest with someone neutral.

Amy listened to me babble on about my father, my upbringing, and Paul. I seemed to have verbal diarrhea and couldn’t stop talking. By the time I stopped talking, Amy was cradling me as I cried. She told me everything would be okay now. No one could hurt me because I was safe now.

I felt foolish, but strangely, I felt like so much baggage had been lifted off of me, and it felt so good. I saw the world through different eyes at that moment.

The subject was changed to Amy’s love for Tony and how she felt his love saved her. She can’t wait to be his wife and the mother of his child. We joked about how our hardened men would become soft as teddy bears when they saw their newborns for the first time.

Then Amy told me how the whole Famiglia, including the Elders, had been talking about my loyalty to Draven and how any other woman would have cracked going through what I did, let alone a pregnant one. I’ve met the approval of the Famiglia, and every member will now ensure I’m safe, not only because Draven ordered it but because they have much respect for me.

I felt such pride fill me. I’ll never be important in the eyes of most, but in the eyes of men and women like Tony and Amy, I mean something. I mean something because I belong to Draven, and those men and women would give their lives for Draven in a heartbeat. Now they’d give their lives for me also.

Amy asked me if there was a chance I’d ever love Draven. She told me that the man who will be my husband has to make difficult choices every day, and not all of them are those he wants to make. I felt how much love Amy had for Draven in how she spoke so highly of him, and Tony talked about Draven with the same pride. I knew at that moment they were the most loyal of Draven’s soldiers.

I told Amy honestly that I love Draven and won’t even pretend I don’t.

Am I scared of this life I’ve found myself in?

The life of mobsters, killers, and God only knows what else?

Of course, I am. Only someone with a screw loose would say they’re not scared. However, I know that with men and women like Tony and Amy on my side, I’ll be as safe as I possibly can be.

Amy thinks that Draven is falling in love with me. I chuckled and shook my head. I told Amy there was no way. But I know Draven feels something for me; he cares about me. God, and the way he touches me... Amy shook her head with wide eyes, and I laughed when I realized the last thing she wanted to hear was how good her boss was in bed.

I could think of worse men to sleep with for the rest of my life.

Don’t judge a man on what he had to do; judge him only by what he wanted to do.

I’ve been for my second ultrasound. Everything is just perfect with our baby. I was scared that something could be wrong. Old memories have a way of creeping back into the mind and causing havoc. But I had nothing to worry about.

Draven and I decided not to find out the gender of our baby; we wanted the surprise. Draven was so excited and awed by seeing the baby we had created together. He was so happy that he organized a family dinner at his restaurant, closing it to the public, inviting his sister and her husband, his brother and wife, and his cousin and her husband, Tank and his wife, my sister, and her husband. All to celebrate the fact our baby is fine, healthy, and growing as it should.

My sister commented on how happy and healthy I looked. It made me smile that she could see it. Because I am happy and I am healthy.

I know what people think of Draven, the scary, violent, dangerous Don, who will kill a man for merely looking at him the wrong way. But it’s the truth in every aspect when I say that he is the total opposite of that with me. He treats me like no man ever has and like I never knew a man could treat a woman before.

Draven is fast becoming everything to me.

I couldn’t stop smiling the whole evening, and Draven sat right next to me, his arm around me, kissing my cheek every now and again. I haven’t been this happy... well, ever.

Draven gave me a credit card a couple weeks ago; he told me to use it whenever and for whatever I wanted. I was a little apprehensive at first. I didn’t want to take his money, especially not a platinum credit card! I’d never even seen one in real life before that moment. Draven told me to stop analyzing everything and just go with it. We’ll be married soon, and everything he owns now belongs to me as much as him.

Where did he come from?

And how in this world did I get so lucky that he became mine?