Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Breakfast Proposal

The snow fell harder as the night pressed on. By the morning, the streets were covered and it was still snowing.

"So much for going down to Ember Hollow." I sighed, pushing myself up from the bench by the window, "At least, there's the radio."

I headed into the dining room where Packard had the radio set up. She had been sitting in there talking to her friend, Margie.

"Packard, do you mind if I use the radio?" I asked her, "I need to get a hold of one of my business partners back home."

"Margie, I'll call you back." Packard told her friend, and then said to me, "If you're talking about William, he called earlier this morning. Peter is doing fine and the house is still standing; there's a blizzard down there too."

Before I could respond, she added, "Your friend, Anna, called too. She was calling with an update on what's going on in the Southwest. I've already updated Milo." Packard then called Margie back.

"Oh okay, thank you…" I replied, walking away wondering what to do now.

"You look lost."

"Just figuring out what to do." I told Vinny, ignoring the brief feeling of déjà vu, "You're up early." I noted. From everything I knew of him in the years I've known him, I've never known him be a morning person.

"Couldn't sleep." He responded.

"I swear that's not on me." I told him quickly, "I don't sleep enough to keep you up."

"It wasn't you." He replied, "Although the not sleeping is concerning."

"It's being managed." I told him, "So what kept you up?"

"Dinner."

"You actually ended up eating that?" I retorted, referring to Cookie's dinner, "You know you could have had dinner with us."

"I do now." He said before changing the subject, "I thought you were going back home for a bit."

"Can't." I responded, "Storm's too bad, but I just got an update from Packard. They're fine, house is still standing."

"You'd be happier if you could see that for yourself." He noted.

"I would." I nodded, "But that's a little out of my control at this point. So, what are you up to?"

"I was going to get something to eat." He replied, "Would you like to join me?"

"Sure."

Vinny's POV

When we reached the kitchen it had been empty, which was exactly what I had been hoping for. I knew we wouldn't run into the kitchen staff, Mr. Whitmore had mentioned he had sent the majority of the house staff home for the holidays when it had started to snow. The only who would have been into the kitchen would have been Cookie and luckily he had still been asleep.

"Anything specific you're in the mood for?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She responded, "What were you thinking?"

"It depends on what's available." I answered, checking the ice box and pantry to see what was available to get an idea of what I can make before closing it.

"You cook?" She asked in surprise. I looked back at her, she had an impressed smile on her face.

"I do." I nodded with a small smile of my own, "Do you prefer coffee or tea?"

"Tea" She answered, and then added, "If you're making breakfast, I can make it. Do you want coffee?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Do you want something sweet or savory?" I asked her, still trying to think about what I was going to make. I knew I would most likely make something Turkish, it was merely a matter of what.

"It's up to you." She responded as she started both the coffee and tea. It hadn't been the most helpful answer, but it was the one I had to work with. I thought for a moment if there was anything specific I wanted or what I could remember that I made well while I had been living in Turkey before I had been arrested, eventually opting to make menemen. It had been simple enough to make, we had all of the ingredients, and fresh bread to pair it with.

After I finished preparing the food, I set down the plates on the counter in front of her. She looked down at the plate in curiosity, "Is this what I think it is?'

"It's menemen." I told her.

A wide excited smile graced her face, "I haven't had this in years, not since I went to Turkey…to retrieve you." She looked down as her face started to redden.

"It's been awhile since I've had it too." I responded, "I used to make it a lot while I was living in Turkey before I was arrested."

Her head shot up, "How long did you live there?"

"Before I was incarcerated?" I responded, "Three years."

"What were you doing there?"

"Nothing good." I responded, not particularly wanting to answer the question.

"Well, seeing as you were arrested for an explosion that killed four people and caused massive amounts of property damage while you employed by an Italian mob boss, I didn't think so." She commented, and then corrected herself "No, that was why you spent time in Delphi, you had been set up by your boss to take the fall and they ended up dying instead. You were then bailed out by a rival mafia family and taken into their employment to be arrested later in Turkey for destruction of property."

My jaw dropped in shock, "How did you know about that?"

"Your file…" She responded and then reluctantly added, "And Luca Addario."

Luca Addario had not been someone to find yourself around if you had wanted to keep your hands clean. He was in charge of one of the largest and most violent families in Milan. He was the last person I had wanted her to have any involvement with. Most who did wound up dead sooner or later.

"Tia…" I said, wanting her to explain.

She sighed, "I ran into him about two years ago. I was investigating a series of homicides that had been reported to us that the police in Milan had looked over."

Given he had the police in his back pocket that hadn't been surprising. It still hadn't answered how she had met him however. I pointed that out and she reluctantly continued, "My team and I wanted more information on what had been going on, so we decided one of us needed to go undercover. We quickly found Addario had a type."

He did, I had remembered that from when I had worked with him. He had a thing for brunettes.

"Tia, what did you do?" I asked her, hoping she would stop beating around the bush.

"I had dinner with him a few times, well more than a few, to distract him from the investigation my team had been doing and after a while our conversation drifted to you."

"Why?"

"I don't know, Vinny." She retorted frustrated, "Maybe it's because I've been in love with you for the past eight years and at that time it had been the longest I had gone without seeing you and he happened to know you-" She stopped as I pulled her closer to me, quickly noting the short distance between us. "Vinny…"

I knew what she was going to say, it was all over her face. If we acted upon this, there wasn't going to be any going back. There had been too history between us. I wanted nothing more than to be with her, to be a part of the family that's she had created with her and Olivia.

"Tia, marry me."