Three weeks after filming wrapped, Lia was in New York walking into her family’s restaurant Mariani’s.  

“E’ possible? La mia bella e casa!” ( Can it be? My beautiful baby girl is home!) Lia’s mother Giulia exclaimed as she saw her daughter walked in the door.  Lia laughed and squirmed as her mother squeezed her tight and showered her face with kisses.

“Madre, di agire come se non l’avete visto in anni!  Ero solo andata per due mesi!” (Mother, you act as if you haven’t seen me in years! I was only gone for two months!)

Lia was born to a young ethiopian immigrant girl named Abeba in Italy when she was abandoned by her boyfriend and had nowhere to go.  She was heavily pregnant with Lia and grateful for a home and a warm bed.  She delivered a beautiful baby girl two weeks later and she asked Giulia to name her.  Giulia held the little girl and said “Assomigli a Lia per me. Ti piace questo nome, bambino?” (You look like ‘Lia’ to me. Do you like that name, little baby?)  Giulia and Gabriele brought the young girl and her baby home 3 days later.  When they woke up in the morning, Abeba was gone...but Lia still slept soundly in her bassinet.

Giulia and Gabriele thought that maybe the girl had gone into town to get supplies for the baby, but when she hadn’t returned they’d realized that she abandoned the child.

“Meglio si dovrebbe lasciare il bambino con noi di abbandonare la sua strada”. (Better she should leave the baby with us than abandon her in the street.) said Gabriele.  And just like that, baby Lia was the 4th addition to the Mariani brood.  Giulia and Gabriele had three sons: Gianni, Giovanni, and Giuseppi.

The Mariani’s emigrated to America when Lia was nine.  Gabriele’s cousin Francesco and his family had settled in New York City when they emigrated to America and had begged them to do the same.  The Mariani’s finally decided to make the move.  Gabriele invested money in Francesco’s restaurant which quickly became one of the best and most frequented restaurants in Manhattan.

Lia’s father made his way out of the kitchen.  “There’s mia bella!”, Gabriele said in heavily accented english.  “How was the filming? We gonna hit again?”

“HAVE a hit, papa”,  Lia laughed.  “And yes, I do believe we have a hit on our hands, if I do say so myself”.

“You and that boy Dominic do good together”, Giulia said.  “You should do all your movies together”.

“If I had my way, we would.  I love him...I mean I love WORKING with him”.  Lia blushed at her slip of the tongue.  Her mother hadn’t missed it.  Neither did her overprotective father.

“You like this boy?  He likes you?  Of course he does, the way he kisses you.  I don’t like him”.

“Papa, you don’t even KNOW him!  Stop being so overprotective.  Besides, Dom is really sweet and kind”.

“Yeah...you like him.  He’s not good enough for you, I don’t have to know him to know that”, her father blustered.

Lia walked over to her father and squeezed him around his waist.  “Don’t worry papa, you’ll always be my first love”.

“Lia bella, stop charming your padre and come here and tell me all about your movie.  And this Dominic who has stolen your heart”.

Lia couldn’t even argue with her mother.  Dominic MacCleod had surely stolen her heart.

*********************************

Dominic headed to his friend Mike’s house to pick up his dog, Seamus.  Before he could ring the doorbell, Seamus was at the door, whining and scratching.  Mike opened the door and Dominic was immediately tackled by a 90 pound rottweiler who had apparently missed his human.

Dominic kneeled down and let Seamus topple him over and cover him with doggie kisses.  Once he’d covered Dominic in a sufficient amount of dog slobber, Seamus laid down on his “daddy’s” chest and whimpered any time there was an attempt to move him.

“Alright crazy, you’re gonna have to let me up, so I can get your stuff and we can go home”.

Seamus heard the word ‘home’ and jumped off of Dominic’s chest, wagging his stubby tail frantically.

“So how was he, Mike?  He didn’t give you any trouble did he?”

“Well he whined for about an hour, but I gave him half my porterhouse and he settled right in”.

“A porterhouse, Mike?  I hope you went back to feeding him his dog food”.

Mike gave him a sheepish lopsided grin.

“Oh for fucks sake, Mike”.  Dom said with an exasperated sigh. He looked down at Seamus and said, “If you think you’re getting the kings treatment at home think again, buddy”.  The dog just looked up at him and gave a little bark.

Dominic and Mike walked into the house to gather up all of Seamus’ things.

As Mike wandered around the house collecting the dog’s things and putting them into a duffle bag, he got a mischievous smile on his face. “So, Dom.  How’s the earth angel?” Mike asked, referring to Lia.  “Did you ask her to marry you yet?”

“Fuck off, Mike”, Dom said, smiling.  “We’re friends, that’s all”.

“Yeah, I can tell by that goofy smile you get on your face whenever you hear her name that you're just 'friends'”.

“Shut up.  Now give me my dog’s shit so I can get out of here”.

“Here.  If you talk to Lia tonight tell her I love her and that anytime she wants to run away with me, my bags are packed”.

Dominic laughed.  “Fuck you, dipshit.  And thanks for watching my boy”.

Dominic bent down and put Seamus in his harness and then into his car and sped off.  His thoughts returned to Lia for about the millionth time that day and he smiled from ear to ear.