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“Nonna?”
“I miss home, my darling. You and your new husband have a lot going on. I’ll leave you to it.”
I don’t bother arguing. I go up to help her pack. She chatters away at how excited she is about the baby. How she’ll be back to help me when the baby comes. When she leaves she kisses me goodbye and tells me to dream right, and we both laugh. When I was little she would tell me to sleep tight and dream right. I promise her I will.
Once Nonna is gone Russell hugs me. “You want to go to the hospital, pussycat?”
I shake my head. “You know I hate hospitals. Every time I’m in one, all I can think of is those three days while I sat in one watching my mother die and what felt like everyone around her die too. No, god no.”
“Okay, just checking. How about some poker?”
Adam holds out the cards. “Texas hold ’em.”
Sighing, I nod. “Let me get out of this dress first.”
Russell comes upstairs with me. “How come you didn’t tell me you were pregnant? I almost fell over when Enzo announced it.”
“I almost fell over too. I haven’t told anyone, I’m not even sure how Enzo found out.” I go into the bathroom to check the bottom drawer, the test is gone. It hits me: the cleaners were here yesterday. Karen, who I do love, has cleaners who come in three times a week to do everything we don’t want to do, like clean toilets and things Karen doesn’t do because her pay grade is above all that. The cleaners had to have found it and she must have told Enzo.
“Hm, I wondered, you looked like you were gonna throw up when he announced it, but I thought that’s how all pregnant women look once they’re pregnant.”
“No, he announced it without talking to me. I can’t believe he did that. We haven’t even been to the doctor yet. This was a discussion we should have had together before he told everyone.”
“He was just really excited,” Russell argues.
“Yeah, he finally got kid number one of the prenup.”
“Don’t, don’t start doing that. He loves you. Anyone who looks at that man can see it.”
Swallowing my tears, I force a smile. I don’t want to have this discussion with Russell, and not when I know he doesn’t get it. “Of course he does. Unzip me please so I can get out of this.”
Changed into pajama bottoms and a loose T-shirt, we find Adam at the dining table with cards and poker chips and reading something on his phone.
“Hey, I was just reading. I had no idea meningitis is so scary.”
Great, now it’s time to admit my ignorance. “What is meningitis, exactly?”
Adam starts reading and my stomach flips. Fuck, that’s scary. Poor Alicia and Cesare, to have to sit and wait, not able to do anything more than worry. Should I go? It hits me again: the smell of alcohol, the moans of my mom, the crying of the woman in the room next door as her husband lay dying. Shaking my head, I grab my phone and text Enzo to ask how everything is going. Nothing. A response never comes.
Around midnight Adam and Russell go home. I go up to bed. The stupid necklace won’t come off. Before I lie down I send another text to Enzo, asking again how everything is going. He doesn’t answer before I fall asleep.
***
Enzo
Bethany nudges me with her foot. “Why aren’t you going to answer Chloe’s text?”
“Because I’m not in the mood.”
“Enzo, don’t be like that. She’s worried.”
“If she were worried she’d be here right now.”
“Don’t be mean. She legit hates hospitals. Russell took her while she was in too much pain to fight him. She did tell you about how they wanted to keep her, but she just took a prescription for painkillers and took a cab because Russell refused to drive her home? Have you ever had kidney stones? Do you have any idea how painful they are? If she won’t go to the hospital for herself, why would she come for Matteo, who she’s encountered all of twice? Dominic isn’t here, no one knows why he hates hospitals, you’re not mad at him. Where did Tony go, by the way?”
“For decent coffee across the street, he’ll be right back. This is family. When something happens you’re there for each other.”
“Look who’s talking. You missed Matteo’s third birthday because of work.”
