A baby doll I had never seen before sat beside her, its pretend bottle on her chest. She turned to it, picking it up, studying its face, sticking her fingers in its eyes and mouth.
“Ba ba?” she said, offering it Brando. “Ba ba.”
“Yes, my heart,” he said in Italian. “Baby. Your baby.”
“Eeeee!” She hugged it to her chest, closing her eyes tight.
He laughed through silent tears. Then consoled her when the bottle tumbled to the floor and she started to cry for it. After he showed her where it went, how to use it, she kept putting it to the doll’s mouth, whispering, “eat,ba ba, eat.”
My heart was near to bursting at the sight of them.
Brando looked up and caught me staring.
“Come,” he said. “Sit down.”
I stared at the spot he patted, not wanting to sit. Instead, I laid on my side, so I could see them both. To my surprise, he called Eunice into the room.
“Eunice is here?”
“Everyone is.”
“Everyone?”
“Rocco, Dario, Romeo. Their wives and children.Mati. Lola and Tito. A man has been sent pick up your father from the airport. Your sister and her family too.”
“Maggie Beautiful?”
“She’s staying with Violet and Mitch and the kids.”
“Where?”
“Close by.”
I eyed him as I fed the baby. Mia had handed me the bottle. It was the kind that had pretend milk in it. The other one had orange juice. And when you turned them over, the liquid disappeared.
Brando split his attention between me and Mia. He spoke to her but watched my face intently. He had something on his mind. Knowing him, he was going to wait for Eunice to take Mia before he told me.
“Just right next door in the nursery,” he told Eunice, jutting his chin toward the room. “Don’t take her outside.”
Eunice took Mia and the new baby doll and went to the room next door.
Rocco and Rosaria announced themselves as they walked through the front door a second later. Eunice called back from the nursery, and before long, we heard Mia and Massimo babbling to one another.
Brando closed the door to the bedroom, coming to sit beside me on the bed again. He felt safer knowing Rocco was watching out.
A second later, the door clicked open and Ruby strode in. Her tail rocketed from left to right, moving her entire behind when she saw me.
“You brought Ruby?” I looked up from petting her and he nodded, closing the door again. “Does that mean we’ll be here for a while?”
“Depends.”
Taking a seat next to me, resting a heavy, warm hand on my hip, he was silent for a few minutes. I didn’t like it.
“What’s going on, Brando?”
“I hurt you.”
“That’s not—I mean, that’s not what you want to talk to me about.”
