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“Ciao! Benvenuto! You must be Signore Venturi?” The older gentleman stepped out onto the front patio before we’d made it to the door.
“Actually, I’m Luca Barletta and this is Mira Venturi. We’re here to pick up the bassinet.”
Abate studied Mira carefully for a moment, his brow drawing together. “I’m sorry, signora, but you do not look as though you have just given birth.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, no. This is Mira Venturi, Teo Venturi’s sister. His wife, Mia, is the one who just had a baby.”
“Oh, apologies. I’m afraid my mind isn’t as sharp as it once was.”
“But you do have the bassinet?” Mira asked a bit nervously.
“Of course. Si accomodi. It’s just inside.” He motioned for us to follow him and so we did, walking into what looked like a showroom of beautifully handcrafted furniture pieces. Abate motioned proudly to a simple, yet elegantly designed bassinet near the front window. “I had two of my nephews bring it up from my workshop so it wouldn’t be as far for you to go.”
“Gratzi.” I tested the weight of the bassinet, which was heavier than it looked, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.
“Do you need help with that?” Mira asked.
“No,” I chuckled. “I got it.” I lifted the bassinet, hiding my small grunt, not wanting Mira to see me struggling. “Besides, who’s going to help carry it to the car? You?” I teased as I passed her and headed out the front door.
“I could help,” Mira said defensively.
“If you want to help so bad, you can open the back hatch for me.”
“What? You can’t do that by yourself, too?” Mira shot back while heading to the car to open the door.
Once the bassinet was secured in the SUV, Mira and I stopped for a quick lunch, before hitting the road again.
We drove for a little while in a semi-comfortable silence before the urge to talk to her became too strong and I decided to strike up a conversation.
“So, are you planning on setting up a law practice or working exclusively for the family?”
“I want to open my own practice so I can help people outside of the family too.”
I nodded my approval while keeping my eyes focused on the road. “That’s good.”
“You think?” Mira sounded hopeful.
“Yeah.” I glanced at her, before quickly returning my gaze to the road. “The family doesn’t get into enough scrapes with the law to keep you busy on its own, and you aren’t the type of person who would be happy sitting around doing nothing. Besides, you wanted to do family law stuff, right?”
“You remembered that?”
“Of course, I did. You told me at your high school graduation that that’s what you wanted to do.”
“I’m just surprised you remembered.”
“I remember everything you say, Mira. You’re important to me. I care about you. I always have. And I’ve always known that you were going to go on to do amazing things with your life.”
I risked another glance at her. My words had made her smile, but she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, clearly not knowing what to do with the compliment.
She settled for distracting herself by looking out the window. “The detour’s coming up again.” Unease laced her tone.
I glanced back just in time to see the warning sign, letting us know about the upcoming detour and that same eerie feeling returned from earlier. I wanted to put Mira at ease, so I took a deep breath, pushed away any doubts that I had of my own, and forced confidence into my voice. “We made it through once already. I’m not too worried. We just need to keep a low profile, get in and out without drawing any attention and we should be fine.”
I followed the detour sign into Emilia-Romagna and again our conversation lulled as we both silently waited anxiously for the sign saying that we were once more in the Piedmont region we called home. I counted down the mile-markers in my head as we made our way toward the border.
A strange, sudden noise came from the SUV and smoke poured from the hood as the car slowed to a stop on its own. I barely made it to the side of the road before we came to a complete stop.
“Damn it.” I hit the steering wheel.
