I could hardly be considered anyone’s treasure right now, but she had always called us hers.
“In here,” I called from the place I’d been all week. My recliner.
She made her way over to me and sighed. “You look rough,cucciolo.”
Okay, puppy was probably closer, maybe more accurate would be a wet dog.
“Hi, Mamma. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She set her purse on the coffee table and sat on my sofa. “Well, I stopped by Hatch and Maisie’s home to see you, and how surprised was I to find out you’d left them. Against their wishes.”
“I needed to be alone.”
“Have you been doing your physical therapy?”
I didn’t answer and she shook her head.
“Baby boy, what’s on going with you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She glanced at the discarded beer cans at my feet and frowned. “This looks like heartbreak, bambino.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed the pain aside. Jesus, I missed Waverly. I missed her like I might miss a limb. And missing her brought up the pain of losing my dad all over again. It was all too much.
“Talk to me, baby.”
“I saw it, Mamma.”
“You saw what?”
“Papa.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I was there the day Papa was killed,” I rasped.
“What?” she whispered.
“I watched him die.”
I met her eyes and told her everything. Even as the tears poured down her face, I didn’t stop. I gave her all of it. And she took it. With every last breath I had, I gave her my entire day from the cereal I ate, my leg getting caught in the chain as I took off for the store, the rain starting and stopping, then watching the man stab my father, and the look on her face as she watched the breath leave his body. But evenmore importantly, the look on my father’s face as he knew he was dying, and he still didn’t hold back the love he had for my mother.
“Gio,” she said on a sob. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I felt guilty that I didn’t help. I could have kept pressure on his wounds, I don’t know. I thought I might get in trouble, because I wasn’t supposed to be there. All of those kid things.”
“Baby, Papa was stabbed in both his liver and his heart, there was nothing you could have done to help him.”
“I know, but as a kid...”
“And I would have never punished you, baby, you’d been through enough.”
“I know, Mamma, I just didn’t want to add to your stress.”
“No wonder you acted out so badly,” she breathed out. “If it hadn’t been for Hatch...” She reached in her bag and rummaged around, pulling out tissues. “He saved your life, I think.”
“Oh, I know he did.”
