Uncle Tito’s eyes hooked on Ermanno, and when he was too far off in the distance, Uncle Tito ordered Massimo to push him behind Ermanno.
“I must keep an eye on him,” he whispered to himself. “If he cannot see the world with one, I will be his two.”
After they were ahead of us, Scarlett whispered, “Uncle Tito will get Ermanno back to where he needs to be.”
I looked in the distance and found Azzurra by herself, kicking rocks as she walked alone. She seemed sullen and withdrawn, too, but I had a feeling if Ermanno would’ve looked at her like he used to do and asked her to take a walk…she would have perked up.
She’d told me when we first spoke after the battle that Ermanno was her hero, and she wasn’t sure what to do to save him. All I could do was squeeze her shoulder and tell her to give him time, to be patient while he recovered and got to know himself again.
At their age…it was hard to give advice. Azzurra was a young girl who felt she was in love with him (she’d told me that too), and he was a Fausti…which meant he was probably dealing with a complex number of emotions he didn’t know how to deal with.
“Ermanno has given Uncle Tito a reason to come back to the living,” Scarlett whispered. “And so has…Avelina. He feels Aunt Lola had a hand in her name, and she would want him to take care of Ermanno, which was the name they would’ve chosen if they would’ve had a son. Uncle Tito feels like Aunt Lola is speaking to him.”
“There’s something so special about him,” I whispered. “Sometimes that immediately puts you at ease and lets you heal.”
Scarlett grew quiet, and then she sighed. “I wonder sometimes about Chloe,” she whispered, apropos of nothing. “Her art. She wants a piece of herself to live on.”
I stopped walking, and so did she.
“A son will do that too,” I said, matching her soft tone.
“A child is living proof, for some, of true love. At the least…a way to carry on their lineage.”
“So…you do believe it was right between them.”
Scarlett nodded. “Yes, at the time, however fleeting that moment was—except a child is not a fleeting moment, a child is just as strong as the written word. He or she lives on in our story even when it’s time for us to leave it.”
That sounded very ominous, and I shivered. When she delivered that in that tone, she reminded me of Eva when she’d wear her cloak in winter and deliver news of dreams to people who should heed her warnings.
Scarlett cleared her throat. “I haven’t thought about this for a long while. Years ago, we’d all gone on a family vacation to Switzerland. Italians often vacation in snowy locations during winter, just as they flock to the beaches in summer. Alessandra would sometimes be there with her family, since her family was good friends with the Faustis. Luca enjoys her father’s company. Anyway, she used to stare at Massimo—a lot. As young girls do with handsome men. I felt then that it could’ve been a match between them, but…it was Massimo’s feelings that turned me in another direction. He had absolutely no interest in her because he felt Rosaria would approve the match.”
“Ahh,” I breathed out. “He played victim to reverse psychology.”
“And Rosaria was part of the game. Whatever he felt she expected of him…he’d go in the opposite direction.”
“You didn’t feel that when he fell for Chloe?” My tone was light, and there was no judgment coming from me, only curiosity.
“I felt him fall for Chloe. I felt it was right between them. But.” She sighed. “I only know what I feel from other people. Some people are extremely complex. Did Massimo fall for her because he knew Rosaria wouldn’t approve? He’d trainedhimself to do two things over the years: compete with my son, Matteo, because Rosaria pushed him to, and to do the opposite of what Rosaria wanted when it came to women.
“It reminded me of…how when people are brought up in very controlling environments, and they select one thing to control—like food. Does the person really like eating all that sugar? Or is what they really love the freedom to eat it? That’s not always easy to feel and understand, as odd as that sounds. I feel the love—the meant to be—but is it because he’s so in love with falling in love with someone his mamma wouldn’t approve of?”
I nodded. “That makes a lot of sense. But wasn’t Chloe drawing Massimo before she met him?”
“She was. At first glance, it looked like Matteo, but there were subtle differences.” She sighed, longer, harder. “I still believe it was meant to be between them, even if Massimo chose someone his mamma wouldn’t approve of to prove he could make his own decisions. You don’t just draw someone you haven’t met for no reason. Massimo’s a burning light in her heart. Chloe…she just can’t thrive inside the Fausti lines.”
“It’s hard lines.”
“For sure,” Scarlett agreed.
“Chloe can’t live with who he belongs to,” I said. “And it doesn’t seem like she can tear herself away either. She’s made a lot of bad decisions.” Our conversation hit a lull after this, both of us lost to our own thoughts, until I cleared my throat. “If Massimo isn’t going to be the next leader…can’t he just…quit the family in a way?”
Scarlett shrugged. “That would be up to him, but…Massimo has it in him to lead. Even if he’s not the next king, his father is, and he’s high in the family. He leads his brothers.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. I’d noticed that at dinners. It was like Massimo’s brothers were lost without him, and when he came home, their world was set right again. Maybe because withoutMassimo, Amadeo would have to lead, and he was content being who he was in their world—a spare to the heir, just like Dario.
Thandie walked up then, and we both turned toward her. “How’s he doing today?” She nodded toward Ermanno.
“The same,” I said.
