When the call ended, I looked up at the skyscraper bearing the DeLuca name. It was a corporate building that housed name-brand companies from all over the world. This was major. I really did it. I was making sure everyone knew the DeLuca name. And this was just the beginning. Buildings just like this one were being constructed in two more states as we stood there looking up at that one. I was about to paint the United States with our family’s name, and no one could do anything about it.
“Are you ready?” Nicole asked.
“So damn ready. Let’s go.” I got out and went to the passenger door to open it for her.
Taking her hand, we stepped onto the latest IVCC construction site, the largest construction deal Ishmael and I had signed to date. This one would bear the DeLuca name. There would be others to bear Ishmael’s last name, Wright.
When we walked into the building, the bottom floor was filled with family, friends and business associates. The first person I noticed was Enzo.
“Hey, didn’t think I would miss this, did you?”
“Wow, you got me. I thought you had called because you couldn’t make it.”
He patted me on the back and said, “Hell no. For something as big as this, I was hopping me a damn plane. And I brought someone with me….” He pointed to my mother, walking toward us.
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you either. This is gold,” I told her.
Mom said, “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Since my grandfather’s funeral, my mother and I had been talking more. She finally admitted that she found out about most of my father’s women and that she was leaving him.
One of my father’s enemies had sent her a letter detailing all of my father’s transgressions. She had asked her father, Don Costas, to check the letter's validity, and it all checked out. Needless to say, Alfonso had been shunned by both the DeLucas and the Costas for putting a kink in their alliance with his unfaithfulness.
“Vito, my grandson.” I turned to follow the voice to find Don Costas ambling toward me. We hadn't had a close relationship because my father didn’t want us to be close. He had purposefully moved us to the United States so we wouldn’t be close to the Costas.
“Grandfather,” the word felt out of place but yet so right. I missed having a grandfather figure, and Don Costas had come to one of the most important events of my life wearing a warm, grandfatherly aura.
As we embraced, Don Costas said, “You have a large family, and we all love you, Vito. You were a good grandson to Don Ermano, and he’s looking down on you with pride. You are making sure the DeLuca name will always be remembered. That is something any Don would smile upon.”
“Thanks for your kind words. It would be good if we could start talking more.”
“I plan on it, Vito. Now that we’re connected, that’s a given.”
I pulled Nicole to my side and introduced her. “This is my beautiful wife, Nicole.”
My mother embraced her. “It’s so good to finally meet you in person.”
Don Costa and Enzo hugged her next, giving her their love and welcoming her to the family. Prosper, Casper, Teddy, and a host of other family and friends congratulated us on our marriage and the building.
Ishmael, Miracle and Grandma Mildred celebrated with us as well. At the moment when I scanned the room and saw cheerful smiles on everyone’s faces, with a backdrop of the DeLuca logo, I remembered Don Ermano’s words and felt I had accomplished at least part of the goal.
More was to come, but our name would live on as long as I and some of my other down-for-life famiglia had breath in us. As long as the baby in Nicole’s stomach had breath in him, our bloodline would soar.
The End