“You’re allowed to have secrets,” I said.
She let out a thin laugh. “I guess we’ve all got them.”
I told myself to ignore the comment.
“I know you probably think this isn’t smart,” she said. “Getting pregnant now.”
“Why?”
“Because of the babies with the birth defects.”
“What do I know about anything?”
“You told Janet, that night at the wardroom, that you thought she should move home.”
“That is most definitely not what I said,” I insisted. “I said I didn’t know what she should do.”
“Well, the implication was that you thought she was a dummy for staying put.”
“Are you sure you’re not just worried that you’re a dummy for staying put?”
She gave me an incredulous look.
“I’m not saying youarea dummy. Just that you’re worried you’ll feel like one after the fact?”
Her shoulders sank. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Look,” I said, “I don’t think we should put our heads in the sand…” She was getting ready to argue with me, so I plowed ahead. “But we’ve also got to keep living our lives, and you and Bobby have wanted a baby for a long time.”
“So long,” she whispered, and I watched her eyes well up with tears.
“You deserve to be happy,” I said as I pulled her in for another hug. “And you’re going to make an incredible mom.”
128.
IT WAS THE LOCAL ELECTIONSin mid-February that lured everyone out of their homes. The Italian Communist Party seemed poised to win big, and bybig, I mean there was a very real possibility that they’d secure enough seats on City Council to wrestle control away from the Christian Democrats.
Francesca was thrilled by this prospect, and during our lessons, she spoke of little else. She was convinced that once the PCI was in control, City Council would find a way to force the U.S. Navy out of the archipelago.
“Some of us will be very sad to leave La Maddalena,” I told her, trying not to take offense.
“I know, amica mia,” she cooed. “But rest assured, you will be long gone before any of this comes to pass.”
She was right. Paul’s tour was up in June, and he was due to receive his orders any day.
“Are you still hoping for New London?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I guess, yeah.”
Now that my Italian was better, our lessons had evolved. Rarely did I pull my notebooks out of my bag; instead, Francesca and I just talked. I’d tell her about a conversation Paul had had with his detailer, or she’d rant about the Christian Democrats forming a coalition with the Italian Socialist Party, and in the process, I’d learn new vocabulary likeciarlatani, which meantcharlatan, andper l’amor di Dio, which was a nice substitute forfor fuck’s sake.
Sometimes I tried to ask Francesca about Teo, particularly about Teo and Nina, but I never got very far. She hadn’t seen him very often over the last few months, so she didn’t have much to report. He did stop by one day when I happened to be at the apartment for a lesson, and after we’d chatted for a while with Francesca, he walked me to my car.
He was reporting on the local elections, and I asked if he thought things looked as rosy as Francesca thought they did. He laughed. “There’s no way the PCI’s going to pull this off.”
“Even with those families getting so much press coverage?”
He shrugged. “They’ve done a great job getting the word out. But at the end of the day, you can’t tie the birth defects to the subs.”
