"It's nothing I can't handle," I reply, turning my head to the side. I don't need him to fight my battles for me. Not when I'm capable of defending myself.
"Allegra…" He leans back, releasing a deep sigh. "Just… next time something like this happens, tell me."
"And what can you do?"
"Send my mother back to Italy," he answers, his expression serious.
My eyes widen a little at his reply, but I decide to change the subject, not wanting to be the cause of a rift between mother and son.
"Your mother and Gianna… have they been friends for a long time?" I ask, trying to understand his mother's anger toward me.
"Mother and Gianna?" Enzo raises an eyebrow, amused. "Never. They couldn't stand each other before. Mother used to always badmouth Gianna. Until you came along, that is."
"I see."
She's doing the oldthe enemy of my enemy is my friend—all to make me suffer. But why?
"There, it's done," he says after he places the band-aid on my knee.
"Thank you." I drape the skirt back down over my leg, suddenly feeling a little awkward. It must be the first time we've had a decent conversation without fighting.
"Now, go change your clothes. We have somewhere to go."
"Where?"
"To visit my sister."
21
ALLEGRA
I lookout the window of the car, taking in the foreign sights. Enzo hasn't said a word since we left the house, and somehow the silence is deafening.
"Why is your sister in a convent?" I finally ask. I know he has older sisters who are already married, so I'd been surprised to hear about a sister living in a convent.
His features grow taut at my question, and his hands grip tighter onto the steering wheel.
"She's raising her daughter there," his answer is short and clipped, but it only makes me more curious.
"What about the father? She's not married?"
He doesn't answer. Instead, he pushes his foot on the brake, stopping the car by the side of the road.
"She's not married. And I don't want to hear you bringing that up in front of her."
I frown, taken aback by his reaction.
"But…"
"She was raped. Two years ago. That's how she got pregnant. My father couldn't stand such shame in his house, so he sent her to Sacre Coeur." There's no mistaking that Enzo cares deeplyabout his sister; he's barely holding himself together as he explains the circumstances of her exile.
"I won't say anything," I respond, and he gives me a forced nod, so I feel compelled to explain myself. "I don't look down on her, you know. It's not shameful that she wanted to keep her child."
He spares me a glance before answering dryly, "Tell that to all the people who crucified her for her choice."
"I'm surprised your father didn't do more. He doesn't strike me as the compromising type."
Enzo chuckles, steering the car back on the road.
