Anna lifted herself from the floor and came to stand beside me. She put her hand on my shoulder. “You knew this was his life, Alcina.”
I shook my head. “This is different. He can separate himself from the business. He cannot separate himself from this. It is like a dark seed has taken root, and no amount of light can make him see the truth.”
“Did you say those exact words to him?”
“Not exactly,” I said, sighing.
She studied my face for a moment. “Would you rather him not be who he is?”
“I am bound to him by love,” I said. “It does not matter who he is.”
“When I said that you looked different, I did not mean physically. When I asked you if you would rather him not be who he is—I meant his title in this life.”
“I knew from the beginning.” I shrugged. “I have no right to feel differently now.”
“Maybe not,” she said. “But do you?”
I went to turn away from her, but she took me by the shoulders, turning me toward her, forcing me to look her in the eye.
“Listen to me,” she almost hissed. “This is your life. What do you want from it?”
What did I want? What did I need? What was I really asking for?
Him.
I had always wanted him and our life—our little family. The specifics got lost in translation.
“Life will rule you, sister,” she said in Sicilian, “if you do not rule it. Fucking rule it like the Sicilian queen you are. Your clothes do not matter. This house does not matter. Nothing matters but how you react. You decide what you want, what is best for your family.” She lifted her finger. “When you do, you find a way to get it. You are bound by love. So is he. I remember two people standing at that altar vowing:I will live for thee. I will lay down my life for thee. We are bound by one flesh.Two people sharing one life, Alcina.Sharing.”
Anna and I both became still—we had not been using hand gestures like usual, but our conversations always felt almost physical, even when we were not.
Corrado cleared his throat from behind me.
Anna let me go, turning toward the jewelry box, tinkering around.
Corrado slipped his hands around my waist, pulling me close, giving me a kiss. He always did before he left. It was a strange sort of place to be—not close, but still close. It felt a lot like the day I first saw him, when he returned my glove. I went to take it, but he pulled it back.
“The day we met,” he said, like he could read my mind.
I nodded. “You returned my glove to me,” I said.
“You actually returned something to me,” he said, and then he studied my face before he went on. “Romeo Fausti has this thing. Whenever he sees a guy chasing after a woman, he says the guy is chasing after his rib.”
“A dog after a bone,” I said. I knew the Faustis well, and this was something I could see one of them saying. For ruthless killers, they were also known to be very romantic in an archaic kind of way.
He grinned and then shrugged. “That could be true. He’s referring to Adam and Eve in the garden, though. ‘The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air, and to every beast in the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.’Not until he was made to fall into a deep sleep, and when he woke up, he was missing a rib. A piece of him, but in its place, the woman was brought to him. His.”
“Do you want your rib back?” I grinned, running my hands up his sides, settling on his ribs. I loved his entire body, but that was one of my favorite spots. I loved to run my fingertips up and down them at night.
“Already got it,” he said, kissing me once more. “The day in that pistachio grove. I woke up and found you.”
He said the words plainly, like they were simply the truth. Like they wouldn’t leave my heart stuttering in the closet when he walked out of it.
Anna wrapped her arm around mine, yanking me into her. “I am amazed at how different men can be. My husband is an honest worker—he does not do the things your husband does. But he does not…talk to me like that. He does not arrange for my family to be there when I need them the most. Fabrizio is wonderful in his own ways, he is wonderful to the world, but your husband is toyou. He is cruel to the rest of the world, but you are his exception. He has found a way to love through you.”
We walked out behind him, going to say goodbye tomammaand Ele before we left.Mammahad her out in the sun, taking her for a walk in the stroller around the property. I refused to leave her with anyone else in the house.
Corrado got to them before we did. He smiled at her and picked her up, and she started to cry. He hadn’t been home much during the day. The time he spent with her was at night when she was asleep.
