Dante's Dilemma (a Dante Legacy Novella) Read Online Free Page B

they?”
    Rom shook his head. “They all have marks on their palm they claim come from The Inferno.”
    Nonno
inclined his head. “All Dantes are marked by The Inferno in some fashion. We feel the burn. They receive a mark. It does not matter, because the end result is the same. My cousins are smart. They heed the mark and are blessed. But if you ignore it, if you turn from The Inferno out of fear or ignorance or stubbornness, that blessing becomes a curse. For the rest of your life you will live with regret. If you marry another, one who is not your Inferno mate, that marriage will be a disaster for you both. Hear my warning,
nipote.”
    “That’s not what happened with Mamma.”
    Nonno
released a gusty sigh. “No, it is not,” he agreed, a wealth of pain bleeding into his words. He hesitated, choosing his words with care. “Your mother was given the blessing at a very young age. Too young. The Inferno is an overpowering urge.”
    “She gave in to the urge.” His jaw tightened. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”
    Sadness deepened the lines of
Nonno’s
face. “She did. And she was punished for it. The night you were conceived, she allowed lust to overcome what was right and proper, and her fiancé was taken from her. But no matter what anyone says, your father was a good man, Romero.”
    “She never speaks of him.”
    “No. To do so would dishonor her husband. Despite outward appearances, it has not been an easy existence for your mamma. Luigi continues to hold Nicci’s disgrace over her head, watching for further weakness in case she brings shame to the Ranieri name. Since he rescued her from an unsavory life, she shows her gratitude by being a model wife and mother. Not that her piety makes him any less critical.”
Nonno
shook his head in sorrow. “That is her curse for not playing by the rules The Inferno sets forth.”
    Rom took a moment to digest his grandfather’s words, then asked the question he’d long wanted answered. “Am I like him? Am I like my father?”
    Nonno
sculpted Rom’s face with gnarled fingers, as though committing his face to memory. “You have a Dante look about you. Even so, I see much of your father in various aspects. His intelligence. His determination. His interest in the world beyond his small village. He was a man capable of plucking the stars from the heavens if he so wished. I suspect he’d have gone far if he’d lived.”
Nonno
rubbed his chest as though it ached. “Ah, it is so tragic, it hurts to think of it.”
    “He was hit by a car.”
    “Shortly after leaving your mamma’s arms. Maybe if Nicci had not allowed The Inferno to get the better of her, he would never have died. Eh.
Chissà
.” Pain trembled in his voice, making him sound far older than his years, old and defeated. “Who knows.”
    “Do you really believe that?”
    A silent tear trickled down
Nonno’s
cheek. “Only the good Lord can say for sure,
nipote
. It is possible he would still have died.” He drew a ragged breath. “I have thought about this for many years. And may God forgive me for my sinful thoughts—I would rather your mamma be disgraced, then never to have had you in my life.”
    Rom wrapped his grandfather in a fierce hug and thumped his fist against the old man’s back.
“Ti amo,
Nonno
.
”
    “Ti amo,
Romero.”
Nonno
wiped away his tears and regarded his grandson. “Now, listen well. The lesson you must take from this is never to allow the passion you feel toward your Inferno mate to dishonor her. You must wait until your vows are spoken before a priest. Will you promise this to me?”
    “I will.”
    “And when you have children and grandchildren, you will teach them this lesson?”
    “Do you think I wish to have another innocent child suffer what I have?” Rom spoke in a fierce undertone. “When The Inferno strikes a child or grandchild of mine, he or she will wed, willing or not.”
    “This is vital. For, once you experience The Inferno, it burns within you