I wondered how it felt to be my husband.
I wondered if he would ever tell me what it meant to be him.
I wondered if I would ever get the chance to ask, and to have him answer me without the binds that tied him to his name, to his obligations. To the code that rooted his life.
I stared at his face as he stared at the ceiling, wondering all of these things and more.
He did not sleep the entire night. Neither did I. I took out my rosary, holding tight to it with one hand. The other was on him.
38
Corrado
Either way, if I fell or he did, this would end tonight.
Either way, if I fell or he did, I was going to ruin her life.
She kept glancing at me as she packed her things. I had arranged for my wife and her family to take a vacation in the Catskills. I wanted her far enough away, but not too far.
“You will meet us tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom, watching her. “Tomorrow.”
“Then we will go to Forza d’Agrò?My parents need to be home.Mammadoes well, butpapà….”She shook her head. “The older he gets, the more comfortable he is at home. He complains too much.” She waved a hand.
She added another shirt to her suitcase, folding it neatly. Then she looked up at me. “You gave me your word that Ele would be baptized in the church we were married in. It is special to me.” Her voice came out sharp, accusing.
I nodded. “I gave you my word, and it’s going to get done.”
Eleonora was already baptized here. Alcina and her family didn’t want to bring her out until she was. So we compromised. Eleonora was baptized in New York, and she would be baptized in Italy.
“Keep packing,” I said. “I want you on the road before it gets too late.”
That wasn’t because of my deal, either. It worried me to have them on the road so late. Giuseppe was driving and Angela would be there to help, but it still made me uneasy. It was safer to travel during the day, unless I was with them.
I had decided not to send men. They didn’t need them. Instead, I set Nunzio and Brooklyn up with a room of their own. Just to be close, but still family-oriented.
Nunzio met me out in the hallway before I got to my daughter’s room. “They are all set?”
“Not yet,” I said.
“We will follow in the car.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Brooklyn is trying with hermammaagain.”
“She trying to convince her to go?”
“Sì.”He shrugged. “We might be a little late following.”
“An hour,” I said. “Tops.”
His eyes lost focus for a second, and then he blinked and looked at me. “Sì.” He nodded.
I left him standing in the hall, still debating on how he was going to get his wife to leave on time.
He would—he had orders—but it wasn’t going to be easy. Adriana hadn’t warmed up to the idea of him, and his wife hadn’t warmed up to not having hermamma’s approval.
Giuseppe was going up and down the stairs, not sure what to do with himself. He forgot his coffee cup. His phone, which he really just screamed at. He didn’t know how to work it.
“What did you forget now?” I said to him when he started to head down the steps again with a book.
