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“Okay,” he spun around, “let’s just pretend that all of what you said is true. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I sat on the bed to relieve my achy legs. “Theo belittles and threatens me, and I’m sure he’ll get more physical once I’m not pregnant. I can’t go home, and I can’t leave. They make sure I have no money.”
“Maybe we should come up with our own plan in case that happens?” he whispered, and I wanted to cry out of sheer happiness that someone understood the hellish position I was in. “I wasn’t going to tell you until after the baby was born, but Grandfather left me some money.” He smiled, and I looked at him in surprise, wondering why I’d never heard this before. “It’s not actual cash, it’s tied up in a secondary business, but nonetheless, the net worth is growing every year. I wanted to sign it over to you for the baby, you know, so it has some money of its own. Because, well…” He raised his arms as if to say this place sucked. “Maybe I should sign it over to you now, and that can be your ticket out of here. You could sit on it and use it when you need it?” I flew into his arms and hugged him so tight my belly hurt.
“Thank you, little brother!” I started to cry, but he pulled back when we heard voices outside the door. I felt him flinch at the sound of Noemi’s god-awful voice.
“Angelo, remember.” I found myself nervous that he’d slip right back into old habits now that he’d found a solution to my problem of getting the hell out of there if I needed to. “Remember the webs they’ve woven to make sure they both come out on top.”
“I know.” He looked away, and I knew he was still caught up in her spell. “Can you promise me something?” He sighed as he ran his hand over my large belly. “No matter whether it’s a boy or girl, promise you’ll protect it from them?” When I didn’t respond, he looked down at me with a question. “What?”
“I don’t know.” I pushed back from him, feeling like I wanted to crawl right out of my skin. “Shouldn’t I feel more loving toward it?” I begged him to understand. “I mean, you see mothers cradling their bellies, talking and singing to their unborn child, but I feel detached. It’s just a foreign thing inside me.”
“Hey,” he shook off his own hurt and became strong for me once again, “no one can blame you. You hoped for years you’d have a child with Francesco, and now you’ve had to have one with someone you don’t even like. I get it that you can’t feel the same way about it. I’m sure once you hold that baby, you’ll feel the love.”
“Yeah.” I reached down and rubbed my stomach, hoping he was right, but I knew I certainly lacked that glow other mothers had.
“Okay,” he suddenly stood and wiped his cheeks with the backs of his hands, “I’m going to talk to her—”
“No, Angelo, you’re going to make things worse.”
“One last time. She needs to hear me out. I think if she can just see all that I gave up, she’ll know how deep my love runs. I just need her to know.”
I wanted to shake him. Did he not retain a single word of what I said? These people were dangerous!
“Please Angelo, don’t. Theo is already so angry.”
“The big bad wolf doesn’t scare me.” He checked himself in the mirror then puffed up his chest. He stopped at the doorway and looked back at me. “I’ll bring the papers over tomorrow so we can get the two of you squared away. I know Grandfather would want the money to go to the little one.”
“Okay. “My heart sank when I thought of my dear sweet grandfather who’d passed away almost a year ago. “Angelo?” I waited for him to look back at me from the doorway. “Please be careful.”
“Of course.” He smiled the way he used to when we were carefree kids. “I can’t wait to be an uncle.” He blew me a kiss and left.
“What do you want to do?” Oscar yanked me from my memory.
“I want to be left alone,” I snapped, and when his footsteps trailed off, I allowed my mind to slip back and travel to the painful part of my heart that held those old those memories.
As soon as I signed the paperwork, Angelo made sure everything was filed immediately. It was such a huge relief to know I had the money to leave if I needed it. My brother had given me exactly what I needed, and I felt a power shift within me. He hadn’t dropped by my room or joined me for drinks over the past day or so. I hadn’t seen Noemi around either. I wondered if she was upset. Perhaps he’d tried to talk to her again. When he didn’t come to dinner again that night, I made a conscious decision to seek him out the next day.
I woke the next morning with a bad feeling. I couldn’t shake it or describe what it was, but there seemed to be a tenseness in the air. I quickly got dressed and started to look for Angelo. I knew most of the places in the house you could disappear to, but I couldn’t find him anywhere.
“Pippo?” I called to the oldest of Theo’s uncles. He was a mean thing, but he was nicer than the rest of them. “Pippo, please.” I stopped as I felt a sharp pain in my belly. Lord, this baby was determined to split me in two.
“Are you all right?” He came over and took my arm, making sure I didn’t fall.
“Have you seen my brother? I need to speak to him.”
“Maybe you should sit down?” Something in his tone sent a shiver through me. I straightened my back and pushed through the pain to give him a warning look not to lie to me. He simply stood there and matched my demeanor. Pippo was an elder, not someone you ever questioned or challenged, but in that moment, I didn’t care. My gut told me something was wrong.
“Theo,” he called over my shoulder, “you need to attend to your wife.”
“Don’t,” I held up a hand, “treat me like a child.” I fought the urge to lose it as I knew something dark was coming. “Where’s my brother?”
“Elenora,” Theo’s attempt at kindness brushed over my skin like fire, “come with me.”
“Why?” I tried to raise a hand again, to stop him from touching me, but I doubled over in pain. “Don’t touch me! Just tell me.”
“Always so stubborn.” He leaned down and picked me up, cradling me in his arms like he cared about me. It was a lie, all of it was lies. It was a sick illusion until the baby was born. Once inside our bedroom, he rested me on the bed and let out a deep breath.
