She nodded, not meeting my eye. She continued to scribble on her lists, listening to morewaa waa waa.
Pregnant. I didn’t think she was, but I’d had a few seconds of doubt—was that what she wanted to talk to me about?
“No,” she said, covering the phone again. She gave me a poke to the chest. “I’m not!”
Our eyes connected, and I knew she was telling me the truth. Though last time, she had had no idea that she was.
We’d had this discussion many times.
After Spataro had taken her, and I was under the impression that Enzo had abused her, I had nightmares—still—of a green-eyed child that wasn’t mine. Enzo had those same colored eyes, and he held the child my wife had carried in her womb in his arms.
I had struggled with the idea of children before, not sure I could be the man a child deserved. Then I relented. Fate, we had agreed. If it didn’t happen in a given amount of time, we’d stop trying.
I couldn’t find the conviction to try again.
My phone started to ring. I walked to the sofa before I answered it.
“Fausti,” I said.
I listened for a moment before I agreed. Then I dialed Romeo.
“You busy?”
“What’s up,fratello?”
“I have a dive.”
“I’ll be there in five.”
Scarlett was waiting for me when I returned to the kitchen. Maggie Beautiful was still on her shoulder.
I signed to her, telling her what was going on.
How long?she signed back.
I shrugged, leaned in to kiss her mouth, and then whispered, “Not sure.”
Her eyes were still closed when I pulled away. “Tell Maggie Beautiful you’ll call her back.”
“Yes,” Scarlett said. “He’s here. No, he’s about to leave. He has a dive. All right. I will. See you and Aberto day after tomorrow. Call before you get on the plane. Love you too.”
Scarlett hung up, eyes on me, and slid the phone to the counter. “Maggie Beautiful said to tell you hello, that she’ll see you soon, and don’t forget that you have to leave a sandwich and a glass of beer out for Santa. Ha ha.”
“Ha ha,” I repeated with less enthusiasm.
Scarlett shrugged. “She said to tell you that.”
I shook my head, dismissing Maggie Beautiful. Ha ha instead of ho ho. I should’ve known.
“What about our thing?” she asked.
“I’ll be home in time.”
“Promise?”
It had nothing to do with the event. She made me promise that I’d come home—meaning, I wouldn’t let anything happen so that I couldn’t. After Italy, I decided to do some diving work on the side. The NYPD had its own diving division, and it was hard getting on the team, but they reached out every so often because of my experience in the Coast Guard. I was a secret they called upon every so often—especially given who my family was. I did it in the private sector, as well.
It fulfilled me while keeping a line between my family and me. I was still my own man—a man who had made his own choices and still did. It still made my wife nervous, though.
