Keep: The Wedding: Romanian Mob Chronicles Read Free

her from one edge of the sofa to the other in three steps where it would have taken me six. “On a good day, I can get the baby dressed, and maybe his socks will match, and do some shit around the house. Most days don’t get that far, though,” she said.
    “You think Sorin needs a housewife?” I asked, frowning as she had only moments ago.
    “No. Sorin needs a housewife who’s also gorgeous, patient, and can stop herself from getting under his skin,” she said.
    “Are we talking about Sorin, your husband and my daughter’s uncle? Or is this some other Sorin I’ve never met?”
    “Ha-ha. You know exactly who I’m talking about,” Esther said.
    “I have to double-check because the Sorin I know would be dreadfully bored by the woman you just described. This woman also bears no resemblance to my best friend Esther, the one who wouldn’t even entertain such a foolish thought. The one who said, and I quote, ‘He’s lucky to have me and smart enough to know he could never do better,’” I said, parroting words she’d uttered more than once back at her.
    She shrugged. “Well, yeah, I mean, that’s true, but…”
    “But what?” I interjected.
    “‘But what’ is I started thinking about it last week, and it occurred to me that I’m bringing nothing to the table. I’m not a good wife. I’m not nearly as hot as the chicks who I’m sure still throw themselves at him. I sure as shit ain’t nice and meek. So what do I have to offer? What am I bringing?”
    I answered without even having to think about it. “Yourself. And yourself is awesome,” I said.
    “Obviously,” she replied, but the words didn’t have the usual conviction that made her words more than bluster.
    In fact, Esther looked downright miserable, and it hurt me to see her that way. She always gave off an air of confidence, and it was sometimes easy to stop there and not look beyond her outer shell, but when she was feeling vulnerable, I wanted to be there for her as she had always been for me.
    “I hear you saying ‘obviously,’ but for some reason I don’t believe it,” I said.
    Esther stopped pacing and then glanced at me. The smile that ghosted across her face was so quintessentially Esther, cocky but genuine. “Yeah. I am pretty amazing,” she said, letting the smile brighten her face even more before it dimmed. She met my eyes again. “But is that enough?”
    She said the last on a faint whisper, one that was almost heartbreaking because it shouldn’t have come from her, not my brash, bold Esther.
    I stood and walked to her, looking up at her like always. “Sorin loves you.”
    She waved impatiently. “Yeah, of course he does.”
    I snorted out a laugh at the expression on her face.
    “I’m getting whiplash here, Esther. You know how Sorin feels, so what’s the problem?”
    “Correction. I know how he feels now, but this”—she gestured toward herself and then toward her sleeping son—“this has to be as bonkers to him as it seems to me. It’s all well and good now, but what if…what if it’s not enough?” she said.
    “It is,” I said, voice solid with my certainty. Esther couldn’t see the way Sorin looked at her and probably couldn’t see the way he’d changed. I’d barely known him before the two of them had met, but Sorin was a different man now than he had been then, one who was completely in love with her, treasured her, and would never leave her. I was as confident in that as I was in Vasile’s love for me.
    “You sound pretty confident, Fawn,” she said, her skepticism clear in her voice.
    “I am,” I said.
    “But how can you be? Sorin’s not like Vasile,” she said.
    “How so?” I asked.
    “Vasile’s steady, reliable. Sorin is…Sorin,” she finally said.
    “You don’t trust him?” I asked, surprised.
    “More than anyone. I just…I don’t know. It seems unbelievable,” she said.
    I nodded. “Yeah, it does, but you know how he makes you feel, and I know he goes out of his way to