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For the next hour and in five- minute intervals, Valentina ripped open packages while Gia peed for no less than three seconds, but no more than five seconds, on a wide variety of pregnancy indicator tests. Then together the girls watched in heartfelt horror for the results —two lines, no line, a plus sign or a negative sign or simply the words pregnant or not pregnant.
“There must be something wrong with these tests!” Gia cried out woefully as the tenth one proved positive.
“Here let me try one.” Valentina grabbed the last of the unopened packages and flew to the bathroom. With heads bent together they looked on as the minus sign slowly appeared. Now Gia cast a furtive glance across the room where the small waste basket was filled with a dozen sticks of desperate despair.
Gia collapsed against the bathroom wall and slumped down to the floor, her head in her hands.
“Well, the good news is that this is the twenty- first century and there are options.” Valentina stressed the word as she slumped down beside her cousin.
Gia felt those words like a shockwave throughout her system. Her body shuddered, and her head shook strongly in denial because the only thing she could imagine that would be worse than having a baby was not going through with the pregnancy. Although she supported pro-choice for others, Gia’s Catholic heart weighed heavy in her chest and would just not allow her to take that kind of out.
“Not for girls like us, there isn’t.” Gia fiddled with the small gold cross she had worn around her neck since her Confirmation many years before.
Valentina considered her cousin’s words and sighed. “No, I suppose not.”
It was just after the break of dawn and the girls had been up all night. Valentina had called Hal and told him that she would be ready to catch the flight bright and early, but that the cousins wanted to spend their last night together. Because the girls were so close, and the trip promised to be a lengthy one, the request seemed reasonable and Hal was fine with it.
The two girls didn’t even attempt to sleep but stayed up hatching and then discarding plans in rapid succession until their throats burned and their heads hurt. Finally, the sun rose on the new day and it was time for them to part and begin very different journeys.
“You can still come with me.” Valentina stood at the doorway unwilling to leave.
“And give birth to the baby in a third world country? I don’t think so.” Gia shook her head while she waved at Hal who was waiting in the car. She began to push her cousin through the door. “Besides, you’re going to have enough on your hands without worrying about me. I made this bed, now I’ll just have to figure out how I’m going to lie in it.” Then Gia added with a tone of confidence that she absolutely did not feel. “I’m gonna be just fine. Now get going. I’m sure Father Mike is pacing a hole in the church floor waiting for you to pick him up. I won’t be responsible for you missing that plane!”
Valentina shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but seeing the determined look on Gia’s face, she closed it again. Valentina patted Gia on the back and murmured words of reassurance as if Gia was six and Valentina was ninety- six.
Gia watched from the end of the driveway until the car was out of sight. Then she headed down the street to her own house and towards a very uncertain future. She had just barely made it home when the nausea hit her. Gia ran to the bathroom, collapsed on her knees and leaned over the toilet trying to breathe between the dry heaves that wracked through her body. Her nausea had gotten worse over the last week or so. Now the vomiting was so severe that Gia feared it would never stop.
God help her.
Because getting herself knocked up after a one-night stand at a wild biker party wasn’t enough, let’s throw in some marathon morning sickness. Gia rested her head against the cool tile floor and tried to still the rapid pounding of her heart. Then she slowly gathered herself together and stood on shaking knees. With trembling hands, Gia ransacked through the medicine cabinet until she found some mouthwash. After brushing her teeth for a good five minutes, the awful taste in her mouth began to subside.
Carefully, Gia stepped into the shower and let the steaming water envelope her in a mist of warmth and comfort as the hot water streamed over her sore back and stomach muscles. After cocooning herself in a soft, plush, fleece bathrobe, Gia crawled into bed and swallowed around the lump of worry in her throat. Among the millions of things that she had to consider was her Uncle Gianni’s reaction. Uncle Gianni was her mother’s brother. When Joe Bonzini had died in federal prison on a RICO charge, Uncle G had stepped in to fill that fatherly role.
Gia would be the first to admit she had not been easy. She had made mistakes, that was for sure, and the most recent had been a doozy. It was the night that Gia had talked her cousin into attending a Hells Saints MC party. That night had not only almost cost Valentina her sanitary but had resulted in Gia having unprotected sex with Riker Devlin. Bad, bad, very bad idea.
After that night, Uncle Gianni had sat Gia down and had a very serious talk with her. He had warned Gia that one more screw up and he would be done with her.
And this would definitely qualify.
To her Roman Catholic family, a pregnancy out of marriage would be a shame of epic proportions. In her heart, Gia knew that her uncle would never disown her, but she feared the alternative may be worse. And that alternative had a name …Julian Boscovi. Gia had made the mistake of getting herself entangled with the deceptively brutal mafia soldier once and had managed to escape marriage from him. She had no doubt that if she didn’t take matters into her own hands, her uncle would see that this time, Gia went through with the marriage to one of La Familia’s most loyal soldiers and top earners—if only to save face and give the child a name.
There were no good choices here.
There was only a bad choice and a very bad choice.
God help her.
It was only after Gia arose from the stupor of hours and hours of staring at binge-worthy television, eating meals that consisted solely of ice cream, and days of refusing to do even the lowest form of personal hygiene—like showering— that she was able to think clearly and rationally. After she got a firm hold of her emotions, Gia pulled herself up by her boot straps, and decided on her course of action.
Now armed with her plan and her last grain of courage, Gia sat across from the pretty, pale yellow, Cape Cod style house. The front yard was filled with a profusion of wild flowers—Black-eyed Susan, Yellow Daisies, Cinnamon Fern, Fringed Orchid, Mountain Laurel, Pink Lady-Slippers, and Johnny Jump ups—their colorful blossoms all corralled behind an honest to goodness white picket fence. At the end of the short stone path leading up to the house was a periwinkle blue door on which hung a huge lavender wreath.
Everything about the home screamed come in, come in! But despite the cheery welcome implied by the gracious curbside appeal, Gia sat glued to the black leather seat of her blood- red sports car. It was the third time, in as many days, that she had parked across from the house watching the comings and goings of the owner, like some weirdo stalker skulking down into her seat at the smallest chance of being discovered.
Despite feeling like a creepy psycho in a low budget movie, Gia simply had not been able to summon the courage it would take to walk down that stony path. Knocking on that door would be a game-changer for sure and one that Gia needed to do in small steps. Unfortunately, she couldn’t seem to get to the point where she could actually get out of the damn car and knock at the door. But Gia also knew that she could not go on like this forever and she was quickly running out of time
As the familiar wave of nausea hit her again, Gia dug into her purse for the crackers that she had started to carry everywhere she went. She moaned when a cold perspiration wet her brow and her stomach rolled inside her like a stormy sea. By Gia’s estimation, she was a little past three months along in her pregnancy and she seemed to just keep getting sicker and sicker.Shouldn’t the morning sickness have eased up by now?She lamented as she chewed on the last of the crackers and sipped carefully from the bottled water.
Gia caught her reflection in the rearview mirror and shuddered at the pale ghost- like creature who stared back at her. She rifled through her purse again, pulled out a tissue and set out to repair the runny mascara that slid down her cheeks courtesy of the near vomiting episode.
