She threw her head back and laughed. The sound of it made my head ache. “Yes. You see, I believed I was pregnant at the beginning of our relationship.” She opened her eyes wide at this term, wiggling her eyebrows, as if to suggest “relationship” was a loose interpretation. “Rocco is an honorable man. We were to be married.”
“Uncle Tito advised him not to?”
“He told him I was not pregnant.”
“Oh.”
“It was a simple mistake on my part!” she said defensively. “I truly thought I was. The test came back positive. A mistake.”
It would have been if he had married you, Nurse Hatchet,I thought, but I didn’t respond. I was almost afraid that she was going to unplug something on me. “I’m truly sorry,” I said, in hopes that she would leave. A feeling of unease skittered up my neck.
“At first I believed your husband was Rocco, they look so much alike.” She fixed me with a non-blinking stare. “Is he behaving himself now?”
“Rocco?”
She laughed in a way that seemed almost cruel, but at the same time it could be friendly. “Your husband.Sciocco!”Silly. She slapped my leg and I winced. “The entire staff is wary of him. They allowed him back before you came to fully, but then you stopped breathing. You did that a few times. We thought we were going to have to restrain him!”
She seemed delighted at the thought of it. My blood started to grow hot.
“Ah well.” She wiped her eyes and they met mine—stone cold and full of resentment. “He should not worry so much. You are fine now and will be able to have more children.”
It took me a moment to understand what she had said. “Why wouldn’t I be able to have children?”
“The miscarriage. It almost killed you.”
“The—the miscarriage?”
“Sì. You lost your baby.”
“Wha—” Something inside of me snapped. I went to remove the wires that were keeping me restrained to the bed.
She had to be lying. What an awful thing to tell someone! Such a wicked bitch, just like my sister!
The machines behind me started going off in a frenzied chorus, and I couldn’t catch my breath. I had somehow managed in my fury to get one foot on the floor, despite the fact that my head felt as though it had been on a merry go round one time too many.
“Scarlett!” Brando caught me before I fell to the floor, setting me back on the bed as though I weighed nothing.
Uncle Tito, Dr. Abbruzzese, and the nurse who had been in earlier all stormed the room. The commotion, the way they were speaking to each other, snapping off information, orders, and attacking the situation as though they were soldiers in the midst of a bloody battle made me see stars. It terrified me. It was as though they had done this before with me.
“Breathe, baby,” Brando said, watching them, watching me.
“Th—that.” I took a deep breath.
Brando cradled my head to his chest, muttering soft words to me, shushing me as though I was about to dissipate into a passing cloud if he didn’t keep me calm.
“That nurse—” I gulped, requiring more air, but determined to get it out anyway. “Sh-she l-l-lied to me!”
“Who?” Uncle Tito said. The machines started to quiet.
“Me,” she said, a satisfied look on her face, although it could have also held remorse. “I was not aware that she did not know.”
“What is she doing in here?” Uncle Tito boomed.
“Who is she?” Brando said, his tone on thequi vive, a vehement look in his eye.
The humming got even hotter. I started to sweat. Brando kept his feelings checked, but that only meant that I felt him even stronger. Since I was more settled, the pain was even worse from the lack of adrenaline.
“Are you hurting, Signora Fausti?” Dr. Abbruzzese asked softly.
