The only four sentences that were understandable.
I stayed with her until she fell asleep. She fell so hard that a slight buzzing emanated from her mouth.
After taking the longest piss in existence, one that made me dizzy, and doing the usual things one does before morning, I slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a thin white t-shirt. Hair be damned.
Finding Eunice in the kitchen, I kissed her cheek and wished her good morning in Italian. Her face flushed and she answered back in the same language.
“You save the goods for me?”
She gave me a conspiratorial wink. “You know it,bambino.”
I laughed. Her Italian husband had been rubbing off on her. Knowing him, after their way-too-early early-bird breakfast, he went outside to wait for the sun to rise, so the day would reveal all the green things he itched to get his hands on.
Taking the slice of cake and a cup of milk with me back up to our room, I set it beside the bed, kissed my wife’s temple, and was about to leave when her hand struck out and snatched my wrist.
She blinked sleepily up at me. Her lips were pinched. They relaxed after I kissed her softly, but then her dark eyebrows furrowed, giving her eyes a fierce look.
“I don’t ask for much, do I?” she whispered.
I went to move out of her hold, but she tightened her grip.
“No,” I said after a minute.
“I need you to promise me. Promise me that you’ll keep peace in our home.”
“Scarlett.”
“Promise me,” her voice came out firm, not allowing room for discussion.
I wasn’t exactly sure what she was referring to, and I didn’t particularly like agreeing before I knew. But whatever this was, she was passionate about it.
“My word,” I said.
I helped her sit up, and she took the plate from the bedside table, taking a bite. She shared one with me. Then she pointed to her lips. I licked mine after, then pressed my lips against her forehead, closing my eyes.
“Eat and then get some sleep, baby. I won’t be long.”
“I know,” she whispered.
Right before I left the room again, she called my name.
“Yeah?”
“It was just a dream,il mio angelo fuorviato.I’m here. I’m not leaving you again. That’s my vow, Brando Piero Fausti.”
A shard of glass caught in my throat, but I forced it down. It cut me deep, deeper than any physical wound, but my wife held the pressure to keep me breathing.
With this, I went to find my heart in physical form.
* * *
Most of thehouse was still asleep.
Except for the guards assigned the nightshift, I knew there was only one other soul besides Eunice awake at this hour.
My daughter.
With her mamma’s ethic deep in her blood, she rose before everyone else so she could dance.
