"I, I," Lulu let out a sigh and blurted, "I'm ashamed at what happened. I don't want him to look at me with pity all of the time." The tears flowed from her eyes and gave way to sobs. When she had calmed a bit, she added, "Dante is gone on an assignment anyway. He won't be back for a week. My bruises should be healed by then. He never has to know. Okay? Please?" She was begging them now.
"Lulu, I just don't know. You know how I kept Sonny from Dante and how that turned out." Olivia replied. Dante was 14 years old when he found out who his father was. He was none too pleased, even at a somewhat young age, to know that his father was one of the biggest criminals on the Eastern Seaboard. He was just as displeased to know that his mother had kept it from him all that time.
Sonny walked over to Lulu and took her hand in his. "We won't tell Dante, but don't keep it from him for too long, okay? Is it all right if I call Lucky?" She nodded. Just as he was getting out his cell phone, Lucky came racing into Lulu's room. He had been in the squad room at the PCPD and overheard something about an attack at one of Sonny's warehouses. Out of concern, he asked the officer who had been attacked. "Oh Lucky!" she said as he wrapped his arms around her. The tears were flowing once again. When they subsided, he asked her what had happened, who did this. She explained in some detail what had happened, leaving out the worst parts. "I'm not sure who it was, but I know I have heard his voice before, one other time."
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, that I wasn't there to help you," said Lucky, the anger building inside of him. "We'll find this guy. Dante & I will work on it day and night."
"No! Not Dante!" said Lulu with that same old fear rising in her again. "Why not?" asked Lucky, quite perplexed. She just couldn't tell him or anyone the real reason. She couldn't tell them that before all of this began, she had started to have feelings for Dante again. For now, though, all of that was on hold. She didn't know if she could feel that way about any man again, even Dante. The biggest thing, though, was the embarrassment of the whole situation. She was just too mortified for him to know. She wished that no one knew. She wanted to crawl up in a ball and hide from the world.
"Lulu, you rest now. Listen, if you don't want me to tell Dante, that's fine. I do suggest that you do it and soon. He will be really hurt if we keep this a secret from him very long," Lucky said gently. "I love you, sis. I'll come by tomorrow."
A week later, Dante returned home. Lulu was happy that she would get to see him, but also apprehensive. Just keep a cool head and don't give anything away, she thought to herself. Her physical wounds had healed up, but her emotional ones were far from it. Still, she resolved that she would not reveal anything about what went on while he was away, or so she hoped.
Dante, always the prankster, decided that he was going to surprise her with his homecoming. Sneaking into her apartment, he saw her standing at the window. Good, she doesn't see me, he thought. He walked, very gingerly up behind her. "Boo!" He gave her one of those playful tickles she used to laugh at. Lulu, with the look of a hurt animal, turned around and started attacking him full force. "Get away from me!" she shouted. Dante, perplexed, said, "Lulu! It's me! I wanted to surprise you when I got back. I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. What's got you on edge?"
"I'm sorry. It's nothing. I've just been a little anxious lately. You know, Kate's keeping me so busy and Maxie is there about half the time. All the stress from it has finally gotten to me. Then, last night I watched some horror movie that I shouldn't have." She wasn't exactly lying. Things had been crazy at work and Maxie wasn't there to take up the slack. Kate was so demanding. She was about to have a nervous breakdown over all of it. She had to choke back her emotions, but not before a single tear fell down her face. She quickly wiped it away, but not before he saw it.
"Hey, what else is going on? Why the tears? Surely work isn't that bad. Do you want me to talk to dear cousin Connie?" he asked with sarcasm in his voice.
"No, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm just a little…" She shook it off. "So, how was your assignment? Did you find what you went after?"
"Oh, it was fine. Yeah, we nailed the guy. He'll be going to trial soon." With that, Dante finished telling her all about his adventure, every dangerous detail. She cringed at how scary his job could be. He loved it, of course. Lulu never liked the thought of him and her brother being in so much danger all the time. She knew it went with the territory and she prayed for them all of the time. She had never been very religious until soon after her brother and Dante graduated from the academy. Olivia had always gone regularly to Mass and Lulu started to join her from then on. Dante was always impressed with how Lulu had embraced his faith.